than if
surrounded by a host of false or cowardly men.

The troops of Narvaez had been the loudest in their complaints, but
they were silenced now by the enthusiasm with which the soldiers of
Cortez responded to the appeal of their leader; and all agreed to
postpone their departure, for the present.

A fresh source of danger speedily arose. Six Aztec ambassadors
arrived, bearing presents, and inviting the Tlascalans to forget
old animosities, and to enter into a treaty with them. All the
nations of Anahuac, they urged, should make common cause in defense
of their country; and they conjured them, by their common religion,
not to allow the white men to escape from their hands; but to
sacrifice them, at once, to their gods. These proposals were made
at a solemn council, called to receive them.

There had, even before the arrival of the ambassadors, been a
strong party in Tlascala who viewed the Spaniards, with hostility,
as the authors of the heavy losses they had suffered; and as
becoming, by their continued stay there, a burden to the state. The
head of this party was the young chief Xicotencatl, who had led the
Tlascalan armies in the desperate resistance they offered to the
Spaniards, on their first coming. When the ambassadors had made
their offers, he rose and urged his hearers to assent to the
proposal; saying that it were better to unite with their kindred,
and those of their own language, faith, and custom, than with these
fierce strangers.

The young warriors enthusiastically agreed; but, happily for the
Spaniards, the four great chiefs, one of whom was the father of
Xicotencatl, were opposed to the proposal. Maxixca especially
combated the idea.

"The Aztecs," he said, "are always false in speech, and false in
heart. It is fear that drives them, now, to offer their friendship
to the Tlascalans; and when the cause for fear has passed, they
will again be hostile. What? Are we to sacrifice the white men to
the gods--the men who have fought with us side by side against our
enemies, and who are now our guests? Were we to act thus, it would
be an act of the grossest perfidy."

Xicotencatl replied; but Maxixca, losing his temper, seized him
and, with sudden violence, thrust him from the chamber. So unusual
a step so astonished the assembly that it silenced all opposition,
and the alliance with the Mexicans was unanimously rejected.

Confident now that the Tlascalans were to be trusted, Cortez sent
out exped