MONTEZUMA IS MADE PRISONER
That night Cortes convened a council of his captains, whom he told of
the plot to kill him. He proposed to defeat this by being first in the
field and making a prisoner of Montezuma himself. As an excuse for so
high-handed a proceeding, he would bring up an affair, of which he had
learned while at Cholula, but had deemed best to keep to himself until
now. It was nothing less than an attack on the Spanish garrison at Vera
Cruz, by an Aztec cacique named Quapoca, who claimed to have acted by
direct orders from the king. In this engagement, though the Indians
were ultimately defeated, the Spaniards, including Juan Escalante, the
commandant, had been killed.
Armed with this excuse, Cortes, having requested and been granted an
audience with the king, set forth for the palace at an early hour on
the following morning. He was accompanied by Sandoval, Alvarado, and
three other cavaliers in full armor. One of these was Huetzin, clad in
armor provided for the occasion, and differing in no point, that the
eye could detect, from a Spaniard. It was arranged that after Cortes
and his companions were admitted to the king, other Spaniards, to the
number of a score or so, should stroll into the palace, a few at a
time, and remain within supporting distance in case of need. The rest
of the troops, with the exception of a strong patrol on the avenue
leading to the palace, were drawn up, under arms, in the courtyard of
their quarters.
Montezuma received his guests with the utmost composure, and, through
Marina's interpretation, chatted pleasantly with them for half an hour.
At the end of that time Cortes, perceiving that a sufficient number of
his men had assembled just outside the audience chamber, demanded of
the king why he had ordered an attack to be made on Vera Cruz.
Although startled by the suddenness of the accusation, the king denied
that he had done so.
Cortes professed himself willing to believe this, but requested that
the cacique who had led the attacking force be sent for, that he might
be examined.
To this Montezuma consented, and handed his signet to an officer, with
the brief command that Quapoca be brought to Tenochtitlan.
After the officer had departed the Spanish commander proposed that,
in order to prove his sincerity and place himself beyond suspicion of
such an act of treachery against his Spanish friends, the king should
transfer his residence to the palace occupied by them and remain as
their guest until all questions in connection with this unfortunate
affair should be settled.
As he listened to this proposal Montezuma turned deadly pale, and then
his face flushed with indignation. "Do you dare doubt my word? The word
of a king!" he demanded.
"Did not your majesty inform me of the death of my chief of Tlascalans
but yesterday?" asked Cortes.
"If I did, it is because he is dead! A king cannot lie!" was the
passionate answer.
"But he may be mistaken, and if so in one case, possibly in another,"
replied Cortes. At the same time he beckoned to Huetzin to step forward
and unbonnet.
The young man did so, and as the king gazed on his well-remembered
features it seemed for a moment as though he would fall in a fit, so
terrified and horror-stricken was his expression. For a minute he could
not command his voice, then, in a low tone, he said:
"The victory is thine, Malinche! So long as this son of Tlahuicol
lives, the anger of the gods will not be averted from me or my kingdom.
I will go with you."
Cortes immediately issued orders for the royal litter to be brought,
and as the nobles who bore it hesitated to obey the stranger, the king
assured them that it was his pleasure to visit his white friends.
As the royal train, under a strong Spanish escort, passed through
the street, its nobles walking with bowed heads and sad faces, the
news spread like wildfire that the king had been taken prisoner, and
was being carried off by force. On every side armed men seemed to
spring from the ground. Ere they were half-way to their own place, the
Christians were confronted by such a furious mass of humanity that, but
for the intervention of Montezuma himself, they would have been forced
to fight against desperate odds. Actuated either by superstitious
cowardice or policy, the king assured his tumultuous subjects that he
was going, of his own free will, to visit his friends, and ordered them
to retire peaceably to their homes.
Thus, without a drop of bloodshed, was the powerful but superstitious
monarch of the great Aztec nation taken prisoner by a handful of
determined white men, and kept under their guard for months in the very
heart of his own capital. It seems incredible that such could have been
the case, but all historians vouch for its truth.
Montezuma was allowed spacious quarters and every semblance of royal
authority, but was never again given his liberty. Quapoca came, was
tried, condemned, and executed by the Spaniards, but their greater
prisoner was not released. His subjects were granted daily audience
with him, but they were only admitted a few at a time, and must pass
the scrutiny of a strong Spanish guard always maintained in the royal
antechamber.
This new order of things was hardly established before Sandoval began
making inquiries as to the name, rank, and nationality of the beautiful
girl with whom he had held so delightful, and, at the same time, so
unsatisfactory an interview in the royal gardens. To his dismay he
could learn nothing. No one to whom he applied could tell him aught
concerning her, and she seemed to have disappeared as absolutely as
though translated to another sphere. Even the page who had conducted
him to her was not to be found. Sandoval enlisted the services of both
Marina and Huetzin in the search, but they were equally unsuccessful
with himself.
The young Toltec had, by this time, acquired so fair a knowledge of
Spanish that he was able, after a fashion, to converse with his friend
without the aid of an interpreter. Taking advantage of this, Sandoval
would talk with him for hours concerning the object of his incessant
thoughts. He declared his willingness to resign all the treasure he had
acquired since coming to Mexico, if, by so doing, he could gain another
interview with the maiden. This was no mean sum, for, in one way and
another, the Spaniards had collected some six and a half millions of
dollars in gold alone, to say nothing of an immense quantity of silver,
jewels, and costly fabrics.
With all his wealth and bravery, poor Sandoval could discover no means
of accomplishing the desire of his heart, and so sank into such a state
of melancholy as to attract the attention and arouse the anxiety of
Cortes himself. This acute observer, believing hard work to be the best
lightener of a heavy heart, and being in want of a trusty governor for
the important post of Vera Cruz, forthwith appointed the unhappy young
soldier to the position, and despatched him to his new sphere of action.
By this time the entire Aztec kingdom seemed truly to have passed
under the dominion of the white conquerors, and that almost without
a struggle. Not only did Cortes levy tribute and dispense justice in
the name of the king, but he compelled Montezuma to publicly announce
himself a vassal of Spain. Although the Aztec priesthood and religion
were not yet overthrown, the Spaniards had erected a cross on the
summit of the great temple, and here their worship was conducted
by the side of that of the Aztec gods. Two brigantines, or small
sailing vessels, were built and armed, for the command of the Tezcucan
lake, and in no direction was the power of the Spaniards disputed.
Several incipient rebellions had been so promptly reported to the
Conqueror, though in so mysterious a manner that he could not trace his
information to its source, that he was enabled to crush them before
they came to a head. In the name of the king, who was but a passive
tool in his hands, he arrested and held captive several reputed leaders
of these rebellions, and among them Cacama, Prince of Tezcuco.
Some months were passed thus peacefully, and Huetzin, tired of
inactivity, as well as hopeless of discovering the fate of Tiata, whom
he mourned as dead, was about to apply for permission to return to
Tlascala, when one day there came a letter from Sandoval that changed
the whole current of events. It contained the intelligence that a
Spanish hidalgo, named Narvaez, in command of a fleet of eighteen
vessels, and an army of a thousand men, well supplied with horses,
artillery, muskets, and ammunition, had landed on the coast. This
new-comer claimed to have authority from the Governor-General of the
New World to supersede Cortes, and assume supreme control of the
great kingdom he had conquered. By virtue of this authority he had
summoned Sandoval to surrender Vera Cruz, and announced his intention
of immediately marching on Cortes in Tenochtitlan. Upon this Sandoval
had placed his little garrison in the best possible state of defence,
answered Narvaez that he would surrender when he had orders from his
commander to do so, but not before, and now awaited instructions.
In this grave emergency the white conqueror did not hesitate a moment
to consider his course of action. Taking with him two hundred troops,
he set out at once for the coast, where he proposed to at least test
the strength of the new-comer before submitting to his authority. He
left Alvarado, the "Tonatiah" of the Aztecs, behind in command of the
city; with him were also left one hundred and forty Spaniards, Huetzin
with his Tlascalans, and all the artillery.
As Cortes and his little army marched out of the city, Montezuma, in
the royal litter, accompanied him as far as the great causeway. There,
on the spot where they had first met, these two parted, with every mark
of mutual esteem.