that the proper officers should be sent after the deputy, who lived nearly two hundred miles from the city of Mexico. Cortez expressed his satisfaction with this despatch; "But," he added, coolly, "my duty to my sovereign will not be accomplished until you have given me some hostage as a guarantee of your good faith. If you will come yourself to my quarters and remain there until this affair has been cleared up, I will be satisfied that you mean to see that justice is done." The startled Montezuma earnestly protested against the seeming lack of confidence in his honor, and offered to provide some one else in his place; but Cortez was firm in his demand, assuring the chief that in no sense would he be a prisoner, and that he should not only have the services of his own followers, but that all the soldiers would cheerfully obey his commands. In his ignorance of the principles of government among these Indians, Cortez put duty before the chief in its strongest light. It was the council which had plotted against the Spaniards. Montezuma, as their executive officer, had given the deputy his orders, and no one could be found so suitable as himself to act as their hostage until justice could be dealt out to those who had only obeyed their despotic commands.
While Cortez was arguing with Montezuma, Velasquez de Leon became very impatient lest the Indians who stood around should become excited and attack them. He cried out at last,
"Why do you waste words on this barbarian? We have gone so far that we cannot go back. Seize him; and if the Indians resist, we will plunge our swords into their bodies."
"But finally," says Cortez in his letter to the king, "he expressed his willingness to go with me, and imme-
