ith
sacrifice, songs, and dances in the great court of the temple, that
court which was surrounded by a wall carved over with the writhing
shapes of snakes. It chanced that on this morning before he went to
join in the festival, Guatemoc, the prince, came to see me on a visit of
ceremony.

I asked him if he intended to take part in the feast, as the splendour
of his apparel brought me to believe.

'Yes,' he answered, 'but why do you ask?'

'Because, were I you, Guatemoc, I would not go. Say now, will the
dancers be armed?'

'No, it is not usual.'

'They will be unarmed, Guatemoc, and they are the flower of the land.
Unarmed they will dance in yonder enclosed space, and the Teules will
watch them armed. Now, how would it be if these chanced to pick a
quarrel with the nobles?'

'I do not know why you should speak thus, Teule, for surely these white
men are not cowardly murderers, still I take your words as an omen, and
though the feast must be held, for see already the nobles gather, I will
not share in it.'

'You are wise, Guatemoc,' I said. 'I am sure that you are wise.'

Afterwards Otomie, Guatemoc, and I went into the garden of the palace
and sat upon the crest of a small pyramid, a teocalli in miniature that
Montezuma had built for a place of outlook on the market and the courts
of the temple. From this spot we saw the dancing of the Aztec nobles,
and heard the song of the musicians. It was a gay sight, for in the
bright sunlight their feather dresses flashed like coats of gems, and
none would have guessed how it was to end. Mingling with the dancers
were groups of Spaniards clad in mail and armed with swords and
matchlocks, but I noted that, as the time went on, these men separated
themselves from the Indians and began to cluster like bees about the
gates and at various points under the shadow of the Wall of Serpents.

'Now what may this mean?' I said to Guatemoc, and as I spoke, I saw a
Spaniard wave a white cloth in the air. Then, in an instant, before the
cloth had ceased to flutter, a smoke arose from every side, and with it
came the sound of the firing of matchlocks. Everywhere among the dancers
men fell dead or wounded, but the mass of them, unharmed as yet,
huddled themselves together like frightened sheep, and stood silent and
terror-stricken. Then the Spaniards, shouting the name of their patron
saint, as it is their custom to do when they have some such wickedness
in hand, drew their swords, an