e of Ayxacatl was at once besieged, the influx of
provisions was stopped, and the pueblo was surrounded by vast numbers
of thoroughly enraged citizens. Neither the Spaniards nor the allies
could leave the pueblo without being overwhelmed. Alvarado at last
compelled Montezuma to show himself on the walls and bid the people
stop fighting, to enable him to strengthen his position and hold it
until the arrival of Cortes, and some fifteen hundred men, his own
force and that of Narvaez combined.

When the conqueror met Alvarado he upbraided him and told him that he
had behaved like a madman. There was little or no provision. Cortes
now made the mistake of sending Cuitlahua, the brother of Montezuma,
out into the city with instructions for him to have the markets opened
at once and secure provisions for the Spaniards and their horses.
Cuitlahua, being free, called the council of priests. This council at
once deposed Montezuma and elected Cuitlahua {177} emperor and priest
in his place. The revolution and the religion now had a head.

The next morning an attack of such force was delivered that many of
even the stoutest-hearted Spaniards quailed before it. The slaughter
of the natives was terrific. The Spanish cannon opened long lanes
through the crowded streets. The Spanish horse sallied forth and
hacked and hewed broad pathways up the different avenues. Still, the
attack was pressed and was as intrepid as if not a single Aztec had
died. The roar that came up from every quarter of the city, from the
house tops, from the crowded streets, from the Temples, was in itself
enough to appall the bravest.

X. In God's Way

Finally Cortes resorted to Alvarado's expedient. He compelled the
unhappy Montezuma to mount the walls of the palace and bid the people
disperse. When he appeared in all his splendid panoply upon the roof
of the palace there was a strange silence. He was no longer priest, he
was no longer emperor, he was no longer a power, he was no longer a
god, but some of the old divinity seemed to cling to him, to linger
around him still. The situation was so tragic that even the meanest
soldier, Mexican or Spanish, felt its import. A long time the Aztec
looked over his once smiling capital, and into the faces of his once
subordinate people. Finally he began to address them. He bade them
lay down their arms and disperse.

The people, led by the great lords and Montezuma's brother, Cuitlahua,
and his neph