ntezuma to renounce his false gods and to embrace the
Christian faith. But superstition was too firmly enthroned in the
heart of the Mexican monarch to be easily supplanted. To every thing
but this the monarch was ready to yield; but every proposition to
renounce his gods he rejected with horror. Cortez at length firmly
ordered his soldiers to march to the temples and sweep them clean of
every vestige of paganism. This roused the priests. They seized their
arms, and the alarm was spread rapidly through the streets of the
city. Vast multitudes, grasping such weapons as they could get,
assembled around the temples, resolved to brave every peril in defense
of their religion. Matters assumed an aspect so threatening, that,
for the first time, Cortez found it necessary to draw back. He
contented himself with simply ejecting the gods from one of the
shrines, and in erecting in their stead an image of the Virgin.

There were now many indications of approaching trouble. The natives
were greatly provoked, and it was evident that they were watching
for a favorable opportunity to rise against their invaders. Cortez
practiced the most sleepless vigilance. Diaz speaks thus of the
hardships he and his comrades endured:

"During the nine months that we remained in Mexico, every
man, without any distinction between officers and soldiers,
slept on his arms, in his quilted jacket and gorget. They lay
on mats or straw spread on the floor, and each was obliged to
hold himself as alert as if he had been on guard. This became
so habitual to me, that even now, in my advanced age, I
always sleep in my clothes, and never in any bed."

Just in this crisis alarming intelligence was received from the
commander of the garrison at Vera Cruz. One of the ships of the
delegation sent to Spain, of which we have previously spoken, had,
contrary to the orders of Cortez, stopped at Cuba. In this way the
indignant governor, Velasquez, learned that Cortez had renounced all
connection with him, and had set up an independent colony. His anger
was roused to the utmost, and he resolved upon summary vengeance. It
so happened that Velasquez had just received from his sovereign the
appointment of governor _for life_, and was authorized to prosecute
discoveries in Mexico with very extensive and exclusive privileges and
powers.

He immediately fitted out an armament consisting of nineteen ships,
with eighty horsemen, fourteen hundred