CHAPTER XXIII.
UPRISING OF THE AZTECS.
May-June, 1520.
Character of the Aztecs — Spanish Quarters — The City in Arms — Growing Hatred toward the Invaders — Perilous Position of Alvarado — Montezuma Called to Interfere — Failing Provisions — Miraculous Water — Cortes to the Rescue — Rendezvous at Tlascala — The City and its People — The Army Joins Alvarado — Desperate Encounters.
The Spaniards had mistaken somewhat the character of the Aztecs. Ground to the dust by political despotism and bloody superstition, their features had assumed a melancholy cast and their form the attitude of humility. Yet beneath all slumbered a ferocity the most blood-thirsty among the Nahua nations. And now, though their nature might be as cold and impassive as the stone of the pavement, the iron heel of the conqueror had struck fire from it.
Before the fort the angry throng increased, until the whole city seemed to have gathered there. On the roofs and in the courts fell showers of arrows, stones, and darts, and charge after charge was made at the entrances. Attempts were also made both to scale and undermine the walls, and some resorted to battering, until it seemed to the besieged as if the whole habitation was coming down upon their heads.
The structure consisted of a vast irregular pile of stone buildings, one story in height, and raised, like most of the pretentious edifices, on a pyramidal foundation, which was low and difficult to undermine or beat down. An occasional tower relieved the monotony of the outline and offered a view over the neigh-
