Montezuma was the incarnation of treachery, awaiting only an opportunity to get them into his power and to crush them. They were ready to join in an armed descent upon the tyrant, proposing to spare neither young nor old; the former, because they might grow up to be avengers, the latter because of their dangerous counsel. Cortés suggested that he might yet establish friendly relations between them and the Mexicans, and reopen the trade in salt, cotton, and other articles; but this aroused only an incredulous smile. With regard to the route, they favored either the Calpulalpan road, proposed by Ixtlilxochitl, or that leading through Huexotzinco, friendly to them, declaring that it would be preposterous to pass by the way of Cholula, as urged by the Mexican envoys, since this was the very hatching-place for Montezuma's plots. The road to it, and every house there, were full of snares and pitfalls; the great Quetzalcoatl temple-pyramid, for instance, being known to contain a mighty stream which could at any moment be let loose upon invaders, and Montezuma having a large army hidden near the saintly city.[1]
The extraordinary accounts of Cholula served to arouse Cortés' curiosity, and the representation of dangers made him the more resolved to encounter them, chiefly because he did not wish to appear intimidated. This route was beside easier, and passed through a rich country. He accordingly decided in
- ↑ Me dijeron . . . . que para ello habia enviado Muteczuma de su tierra . . . . cincuenta mil hombres, y que los tenia en guarnicion á dos leguas de la dicha ciudad . . . . é que tenian cerrado cl camino real por donde solian ir, y hecho otro nuevo de muchos hoyos, y palos agudos hincados y encubiertos para que los caballos cayesen y se mancasen, y que tenian muchas de las calles tapiadas, y por las azoteas de las casas muchas piedras.' Cortés, Cartas, 70. The stream within the temple was a myth, which the Cholultecs sought to maintain in order to frighten their enemies. Oviedlo and Gomara relate that Xicotencatl junior was concerned in these plots, and that, warned by his sister, the wife of Alvarado, Cortés had him quietly seized and choked to death. iii. 497; Hist. Mex., 90. Whoever may have been throttled, it certainly was not the general, for he met his fate at a later date. According to Bernal Diaz the whole arıny was consulted as to whether all were prepared to start for Mexico. Many of those owning estates in Cuba raised objections, but Cortés firmly declared that there was no other way open than the one to Mexico, and so they yielded. Hist. Verdad., 56.
