This Request Was Immediately Complied With, And As Abundance
Of Timber And Native Workmen Were Sent Immediately, It Was Completed In
Three Days.
In this new chapel mass was celebrated every day, though we
lamented the want of wine for the holy eucharist, as it had been all
expended during the illness of Cortes, Olmedo, and others, while we were
in the dominions of Tlascala.
We were extremely regular in our devotions,
both because it was our duty, and that we might impress a favourable
opinion of our holy religion on Montezuma and his subjects. While our
carpenters were looking out for a proper place in which to fix the holy
cross of our chapel, they observed the appearance of a door in one of the
walls of our quarters which had been closed up. Cortes caused this to be
privately opened, and an apartment was found within, in which countless
riches were deposited. The secret soon transpired, and we went all to view
the concealed treasury. I was then a young man, and it seemed to me that
all the treasures of the world gathered together could not have reached
the amount of what we then saw. It was thought prudent to close up the
door of this place, and to conceal our knowledge of it and its contents to
a proper opportunity.
About this time Cortes convened a council of four captains and twelve
soldiers, of those in whom he had most confidence, among whom I was, in
order to consult upon our present situation and future procedure.
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