Startled by the crime they had committed, awe fell upon the multitude as the stricken sovereign was led away. Taking advantage of this feeling Cortés beckoned the chiefs to a parley with a view to explain what Montezuma had intended to convey. He had always wished them well, he said, and felt grieved to wage war for what had occurred during his absence. He desired peace, yet the desire was not prompted by fear, but by consideration for their safety and that of the city. The chiefs replied that the Spaniards must leave the country to the natives, and depart at once. That was exactly what they wished to do, replied Cortés, but they would not be driven If the Mexicans desired them to go, they wished must abandon the siege, tear down the barricade, and retire to their homes; they must likewise restore the bridges and supply provisions. To this the chiefs declined to listen, declaring that they would not lay down their arms so long as there was a Spaniard left on whom to use them.[1] The evident desire of the besieged for peace served only to encourage the In-
- ↑ 'Esta Fortaleza casi no tiene exemplar,' exclaims Lorenzana, forgetting that Cortés' firmness was due to the justifiable fear that a trap was intended. Cortés, Hist. N. España, 136-7. Cortés concludes the sentence about Montezuma's being wounded by saying that he died within three days. He thereupon resumes the account of parleys and siege operations, leaving the impression that these took place after his death, while such was not the case. Nevertheless, Gomara, Herrera, and others, Bernal Diaz not excluded, are misled, by this vagueness evidently, into extending the siege and confounding the events, so that modern historians have all more or less remained mystified. Solis assumes that during Montezuma's illness the siege was conducted only by straggling parties, the main forces being occupied with crowning the new emperor. Hist. Mex., ii. 155-6. This is probably due to a misconstruction of Bernal Diaz.
Recop. tradiciones, MS., cap. vi. According to Bernal Diaz, the four chiefs who had approached to confer with him expressed their sympathy for his misfortunes. They had now chosen as leader Coadlabacan, señor de Iztapalapa,' and had sworn to the gods to continue the war till all Spaniards were exterminated. Yet they prayed daily to the gods for his safety, and if all went well he would more than ever be their lord. They had hardly finished when showers of missiles fell, of which three stones and an arrow hit him, on the head, arm, and leg. Hist. Verdad., 104. 'Remorse succeeded to insult,' and they fled, says Robertson, Hist. Am., 90, a statement which Prescott improves by stating that the square before the fort was left empty. But remorse must have been brief, for the main authorities, Cortés, Gomara, Bernal Diaz, and Torquemada, either declare or intimate that the assault never stopped. 'No por eso cesó la guerra y muy mas recia y muy cruda de cada dia.' Cortés, Cartas, 130.
