Cortes
Added, That Certainly No Reparation Could Now Be Made For The Loss Of Our
Men, But He Expected They Would Restore The Gold And Other Property Which
Had Been Taken On That Occasion.
They asserted that the whole blame of
that transaction was owing to Cuitlahuatzin, the successor of Montezuma,
who had received the spoil and sacrificed the prisoners.
Cortes found that
very little satisfaction could be got from them for the past, yet wishing
if possible to make them now our friends, he earnestly entreated the
Tlascalan chiefs to prohibit their warriors from pillaging the country,
and his wishes were strictly complied with, except in regard to provisions.
After this conference was ended, we proceeded to a village named
Guatinchan or Huexotla, at a small distance from Tezcuco, where we halted
for the night.
Next morning, being the 31st December 1520, we marched into Tezcuco, where
neither women or children were to be seen, and even the men had a
suspicious appearance, indicating that some mischief was intended against
us. We took up our quarters in some buildings which consisted of large
halls and inclosed courts, and orders were issued that none of the
soldiers were to go out of their quarters, and that all were to be on the
alert to guard against surprize. On the soldiers being dismissed to their
respective quarters, the Captains Alvarado and De Oli, with some soldiers,
among whom I was, went up to the top of a lofty temple, from which we had
a commanding view, to observe what was going on in the neighbourhood.
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