ONCE MORE IN THE MEXICAN VALLEY
During the four months occupied by Cortes in reconquering the eastern
half of the Aztec kingdom, so that when he was ready to proceed
against its capital city he might leave no enemy behind him, events of
importance were taking place elsewhere. One of these was the death of
Cuitlahua, Montezuma's brother and successor. He fell before a dread
scourge now sweeping over the land, and reaping such a harvest of dead
as even that warlike country had never known. It was the small-pox,
introduced to the Western World by a negro, the first of his race to
set foot on the American continent, who had been one of the followers
of Narvaez. Breaking out at Cempoalla, it swept over the land with the
virulence of a plague, seizing alike upon hut and palace. In Tlascala,
the blind chieftain of Titcala was among its victims. Huetzin, hastily
summoned from a distant battle-field, stood at the bedside of his dying
grandsire, and as the old man breathed his last under the holy sign of
the Cross, the son of Tlahuicol was proclaimed head of the proud house
of Titcala, and ruled in his place.
At nearly the same time and in the same city, Marina closed forever the
eyes of her parents, who expired within a few minutes of each other,
of the same fatal disease. Thus the young chieftain and the orphaned
Indian girl became companions in sorrow, as they had been in seasons of
rejoicing.
In the proud city of Tenochtitlan the dead king was succeeded by his
nephew, Guatamotzin, a young man of twenty-five, well instructed in the
art of native warfare, fierce, energetic, and shrewd, hating the white
men and their religion with a bitter hatred, fanatically devoted to the
bloodthirsty gods of his own land, and influenced in all his actions by
their priests. In him the white conquerors were to encounter their most
formidable opponent.
But they were not to encounter him unprepared, and their most important
preparation was in progress during the four months of their military
activity. All that time Martin Lopez, the ship-builder, aided by a
few Spanish carpenters and a great force of natives, was hewing down
timber in the forests of Tlascala, and converting it into a fleet of
thirteen brigantines. These were to be completely set up and launched
for trial on a small lake near the city. Then they were to be taken to
pieces, transported on the shoulders of tamanes across the mountains
to Tezcuco, where they were to be again put together, and finally
launched on the great salt lake washing Tenochtitlan. Their rigging,
sails, iron-work, and anchors were transported on the backs of tamanes
from the distant port of Vera Cruz, where this material had been stored
ever since the destruction of the ships that had brought the conquerors
to the country.
When Cortes returned to Tlascala from the subjugation of the
neighboring provinces, he found this fleet well on its way toward
completion. Several of the brigantines with which he proposed to
conquer the distant island city were already floating bravely on the
tiny lake, beside which they were built, to the wonder and delight of
all Tlascala.
As the Christian leader and his companions entered the city, they
completely won the hearts of its inhabitants, by wearing badges of
deep mourning in honor of the late chieftain of Titcala. After causing
a solemn mass to be performed in memory of the dead, Cortes, in the
presence of the whole city, conferred the degree of knighthood upon the
aged chieftain's successor, who, with the accolade, formally received
the christian name of "Juan." Thus, for his own noble qualities and
unswerving loyalty to the faith of his fathers, even to the point of
death, Huetzin, the son of Tlahuicol, became a Knight of Castile, and
the first native of the New World to receive that honor.
By the Christmas of 1520, all preparations for again advancing on
Tenochtitlan were completed, and on the following day the Spanish army,
together with an allied force of ten thousand warriors under command of
Huetzin, marched forth from the friendly city of Tlascala. As on former
occasions, it was accompanied for miles by half the population, who
mingled their acclamations with tears and prayers to the gods for its
safety and success. Besides the Tlascalans, the present army contained
nearly six hundred Spaniards, forty of whom were cavaliers, and eighty
bore muskets. The rest were armed with swords and Chinantla pikes. In
addition to all this, Cortes had nine small cannon, and a fair supply
of powder, manufactured by himself with sulphur obtained at fearful
risk from the smoking crater of lofty Popocatepetl.
In two days this army had scaled the western Cordilleras, and were
again gazing, with mingled feelings and memories, into the fair valley
of Mexico that, bathed in its golden sunshine, lay outspread at their
feet.
In spite of the ominous beacon flames streaming from the tower-like
temples of every city in the valley, they marched at once to the city
of Tezcuco, from which the Prince, who had succeeded Cacama, and many
of the inhabitants fled at their approach. They entered the city, the
name of which is interpreted to mean "place of rest," on the last day
of the year that had been so filled with stirring events, and in which
defeat and victory, disaster and triumph, had succeeded each other with
such rapidity.
From Tezcuco as a base of operations, Cortes proposed to reduce, in
succession, every city of the valley, before proceeding to the attack
of Tenochtitlan. Many of these, and conspicuous among them Chalco,
on the fresh-water lake of the same name, he found heartily ready to
throw off the hated Aztec yoke, and enter into an alliance with the
whites. Others, such as the royal city of Iztapalapan, he assaulted and
captured.
Wishing to test the temper of the new king, and to avoid further
bloodshed if possible, Cortes liberated several Aztec nobles made
prisoners in Iztapalapan, and sent them with a message to the capital.
They were instructed to say that, if the city would return to the
allegiance sworn to by Montezuma, and renounce human sacrifices to its
gods, the authority of Guatamotzin should be confirmed, and the persons
and property of his subjects respected by the Christians.
To this message no direct answer was received, but a royal proclamation
was made, commanding that every Spaniard or Tlascalan captured within
the kingdom should be immediately sent to Tenochtitlan for sacrifice.
It also offered tempting rewards for every one thus taken, or for his
dead body.
Then Cortes knew that the war must be fought out to its bitter end, and
immediately set forth with another expedition for the reduction of the
surrounding country. This time he advanced as far as Tlacopan, where,
in his mind and in those of his veterans, sad memories of the terrible
night, the _noche triste_, were revived. Two well-fought battles were
necessary for the reduction of this city, and after its capture Cortes
occupied it for several days, during which he made sorties into the
neighborhood.
In one of these he, with a small body of troops, pursued a flying party
of Aztecs out over the fatal causeway. The enemy fled as far as the
first bridge, and there, suddenly opening to either side, displayed
to the astonished Spaniard a large and well-appointed force advancing
rapidly toward them. At the same time a great fleet of canoes appeared,
and directly Cortes found himself engaged in another desperate struggle
on this sadly remembered battle-ground. Ere they could make good their
retreat, a dozen of the Spaniards and twice that number of Tlascalans
had been killed or borne off to a more horrible fate in the canoes, and
all were more or less wounded. It was a severe lesson in the tactics of
Guatamotzin, and the Conqueror meditated it deeply, as he led his force
back to Tezcuco.
At this place he received word from Tlascala that his brigantines were
finished and ready for transportation across the mountains. Thereupon,
he immediately despatched Sandoval and Huetzin, with two hundred
Spanish foot, fifteen horsemen, and two thousand Tlascalan warriors,
to convoy them to the scene of their intended usefulness. On their way
these passed through the little town of Zaltepec, the place in which
the five-and-forty Spanish explorers had been treacherously captured
and sacrificed.
The inhabitants fled at Sandoval's approach; but in their deserted
temples he found many traces of his unfortunate countrymen. Not only
were their armor and clothing hung about the walls as trophies, but
their heads were found embalmed and suspended before the altars. Here,
too, were the skins of their horses, so skilfully mounted that for a
moment the Spaniards stared at them in amazement, thinking them live
animals. As a punishment for this crime Sandoval ordered that the town
be destroyed by fire, and that such of its inhabitants as might be
captured should be branded as slaves.
From Zaltepec, Sandoval and Huetzin rapidly crossed the mountains; but
before they reached Tlascala they met the advanced guard of an immense
army, headed by Xicoten, and threading its sinuous way through the
narrow defiles of the sierra. Old Martin Lopez, having finished his
vessels, tested them, and taken them to pieces again, was impatient
to see them in action. So he persuaded the Tlascalan councillors to
furnish him with a convoy to Tezcuco. Xicoten, the war-chief, refused
to march at the head of less than fifty thousand men. Consequently
this number of warriors had to be gathered and placed under his
command. His instructions were to join his forces with those already at
Tezcuco, and place them at the disposal of Cortes, for the capture of
Tenochtitlan.
Sandoval, knowing that it would be almost impossible to feed such an
army at Tezcuco, kindly but firmly dismissed two-thirds of Xicoten's
force as soon as he met it; the remainder, still under Xicoten's lead,
he allowed to act as a vanguard. With his Spaniards he protected the
flanks of the army of Cortes bearing the precious brigantines, and to
Huetzin he entrusted the responsibility of the rear.
For twenty leagues was this inland-built fleet of war-ships thus
transported over rugged mountains. The thousands of tamanes bearing
its timbers, spars, sails, rigging, anchors, and, in fact, its entire
equipment, formed a compact line of over six miles in length; and as,
on the fifth day after leaving Tlascala, this unique procession filed
into the streets of Tezcuco, joyfully welcomed by Cortes and his entire
army, it occupied six hours in passing a given point. On this great
occasion Sandoval had insisted that to Huetzin and his tried warriors
should be accorded the honor of heading the brilliant train. This so
filled Xicoten with mortification and jealous rage, that from that
moment he plotted, not only the overthrow of his rival, but of the
Christian army.
That very night he caused Huetzin to be seized in his own quarters and
hurried away toward the mountains. At the same time he ordered the
secret departure of the entire Tlascalan army. In the morning he was
the first to report to Cortes this defection of the allied force. He
attributed it to Huetzin, who, he declared he had reason to know, had
deserted to the enemy.
To his confusion, even while he was making this statement, the young
Toltec, who by the aid of some of his own faithful followers, had
succeeded in making his escape, returned and confronted the Tlascalan
war-chief. Greatly incensed at this baseness, and at the same time
desirous of making an example that should impress his allies as well as
his enemies, Cortes caused Xicoten to be tried by court-martial. By it
he was without hesitation condemned to death, and that same evening he
was publicly executed, in the presence of the entire army.