nclined to this
belief, but not many. Besides, whatever the rest might be, the
horsemen must be of divine origin. Cuitlahua, the brother of
Montezuma, and one of the highest and most important of the Aztec
rulers was for attacking them whatever the consequences, but he was
alone in advising this. It was thought better to temporize. Perhaps
later on it might be decided whether these strange beings were of
common clay, and there would be plenty of time to exterminate them then.

Montezuma was therefore an opportunist, like Cortes, but there was a
vast difference between them. Montezuma was a man of great ability,
undoubtedly, or he never could have been chosen by the hereditary
electors to the position he occupied, and he could never have held it
if he had not been. He was a man over {137} fifty years of age, and
had maintained himself on the throne, in spite of many wars, in which
he had been almost universally victorious. His judgment and his
decision alike were paralyzed by superstition. He did the unwisest
thing he could possibly have done. He sent messengers to Cortes,
bearing rich gifts, gold, feather work, green stones, which the
Spaniards thought were emeralds, vast treasures. He acknowledged in
effect the wonderful wisdom of Cortes's overlord, the great emperor,
Charles V., in whose name Cortes did everything, taking care always to
have a notary to attest his proclamations to the Indians, but he told
Cortes not to come to Mexico City. He said that he was poor, that the
journey was a long and hard one; in short, he offered him every
inducement to come with one hand, while he waved him back with the
other.

Treasure was the only motive of the conquerors of Peru. Cortes was big
enough and great enough to rise above that. He was after larger things
than the mere filling of his purse, and on several occasions he
relinquished his own share of the booty to the soldiery. He was an
empire-builder, not a treasure-hunter.

As Cortes progressed through the country, the treasure sent by
Montezuma grew in value, and the prohibitions, which by and by amounted
to entreaties, increased in volume. We wonder what might have
happened, if young Guatemoc, whom we shall hear of later had occupied
the throne. Certainly, although the Spaniards would have died
fighting, they would undoubtedly have been overwhelmed, and the
conquest of Mexico might have been postponed for another generation or
two. It was bound to happ