the same manner.

When the news reached Zempoalla, the army were excited almost to open
mutiny. Cortes, however, was perfectly cool. Addressing the army
collectively, he assured them that the ships were not fit for service,
as had been shown by due inspection. "There is one important advantage
gained to the army, viz., the addition of a hundred able-bodied recruits
who were necessary to man the lost ships. Besides all that, of what use
could ships be to us in the present expedition? As for me, I will remain
here even without a comrade. As for those who shrink from the dangers of
our glorious enterprise, let them go back, in God's name! Let them go
home, since there is still one vessel left; let them go on board and
return to Cuba. They can tell how they deserted their commander and
their comrades, and patiently wait till they see us return loaded with
the spoils of the Aztecs."

Persuasion is the end of true oratory. The reply of the army to Cortes
was the unanimous shout "To Mexico! To Mexico!"

After beginning the gradual ascent in their march toward the table-land
of Mexico, the first place noted by the invaders was Jalapa, a town
which still retains its Aztec name, known to all the world by the
well-known drug grown there. It is a favorite resort of the wealthier
residents in Vera Cruz, and that too tropical plain which Cortes had
just left. The mighty mountain Orizaba, one of the guardians of the
Mexican Valley, is now full in sight, towering in solitary grandeur with
its robe of snow.

At last they reached a town so populous that there were thirteen Aztec
temples with the usual sacrificial stone for human victims before each
idol. In the suburbs the Spanish were shocked by a gathering of human
skulls, many thousand in number. This appalling reminder of the
unspeakable sacrifices soon became a familiar sight as they marched
through that country.

Cortes asked the cazique if he were subject to Montezuma. "Who is
there," replied the local prince, "that is not tributary to that
Emperor?" "_I_ am not," said the stranger general. Cortes assured him
that the monarch whom the Spaniards served had princes as vassals, who
were more powerful than the Aztec ruler. The cazique said:

Montezuma could muster thirty great vassals, each master of 100,000
men. His revenues were incalculable, since every subject, however
poor, paid something.... More than 20,000 victims, the fruit of his
wars, were annuall