was
noble and had much in common with our own, such as the rite of baptism,
but I have told what it was in practice. And yet, when all is said, is
it more cruel to offer up victims to the gods than to torture them
in the vaults of the Holy Office or to immure them in the walls of
nunneries?

When I had lived a month in Tobasco I had learned enough of the language
to talk with Marina, with whom I grew friendly, though no more, and it
was from her that I gathered the most of my knowledge, and also many
hints as to the conduct necessary to my safety. In return I taught her
something of my own faith, and of the customs of the Europeans, and it
was the knowledge that she gained from me which afterwards made her
so useful to the Spaniards, and prepared her to accept their religion,
giving her insight into the ways of white people.

So I abode for four months and more in the house of the cacique of
Tobasco, who carried his kindness towards me to the length of offering
me his sister in marriage. To this proposal I said no as gently as I
might, and he marvelled at it, for the girl was fair. Indeed, so well
was I treated, that had it not been that my heart was far away, and
because of the horrible rites of their religion which I was forced to
witness almost daily, I could have learned to love this gentle, skilled,
and industrious people.

At length, when full four months had passed away, the messengers
returned from the court of Montezuma, having been much delayed
by swollen rivers and other accidents of travel. So great was the
importance that the Emperor attached to the fact of my capture, and
so desirous was he to see me at his capital, that he had sent his own
nephew, the Prince Guatemoc, to fetch me and a great escort of warriors
with him.

Never shall I forget my first meeting with this prince who afterwards
became my dear companion and brother in arms. When the escort arrived I
was away from the town shooting deer with the bow and arrow, a weapon in
the use of which I had such skill that all the Indians wondered at
me, not knowing that twice I had won the prize at the butts on Bungay
Common. Our party being summoned by a messenger, we returned bearing our
deer with us. On reaching the courtyard of the cacique's house, I found
it filled with warriors most gorgeously attired, and among them one more
splendid than the rest. He was young, very tall and broad, most handsome
in face, and having eyes like those of an eagl