r the palace and receive
the attention due to her station, and the king was not long in publicly
declaring his love. The marriage soon after took place, in the presence of
his brother monarchs of Mexico and Tlacopan, and with great pomp and
ceremony.

Such was the one blot in the history of this famous monarch. Aside from
this act of treachery, it is remarkable to find so great and high-minded a
monarch in the early annals of the nations of Mexico, and one whose
history is so full of romantic adventure.

THE FAMOUS RETREAT OF CORTEZ AND THE SPANIARDS.

There is no chapter in all history more crowded with interesting and
romantic events than the story of the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards
under Cortez. And of all these records of desperate daring and wonderful
success, the most extraordinary is the tale of the _Noche Triste_, the
terrible night-retreat of the Spaniards from the Aztec capital. No one can
read this story, and that of the remarkable victory of Otumba which
followed it, without feeling that Cortez and his men were warriors worthy
of the most warlike age. This oft-told story we shall here again relate.

In a preceding tale we described how Cortez set out from Cuba on his great
expedition, with a few hundred soldiers and a small number of cannon,
muskets, and horses. It may briefly be stated here that he sought to
conquer a warlike and powerful nation with this insignificant force, less
than a modern regiment. We might relate how he landed in Mexico; won, with
the terror of his horses and guns and the valor of his men, victory in
every battle; gained allies among the foes of the Aztecs; made his way
into their capital; seized and held prisoner their emperor, Montezuma, and
for a time seemed to be full master of the land. We might go on to tell
how at length the Mexicans rose in fury, attacked the Spaniards with the
courage of desperation, mortally wounded their own emperor, and at length
brought the invaders into such terrible straits that they were forced to
fight their way out of the city as their last hope of life.

To understand what followed, it must be stated that the city of Mexico
lay, not in the open country, but on an island in the centre of a large
lake, and that all the roads leading to it passed over narrow causeways of
earth across this lake. Each of these causeways was broken at intervals by
wide ditches, with bridges crossing them. But the Aztecs had removed these
bridges, an