ew, Guatemoc, answered with a roar of rage, and the roar
spread as the purport of the message was communicated to those {178}
further back. Montezuma stood appalled. The next instant a rain of
missiles was actually launched at him and the Spaniards who stood by
his side. A stone hurled, it is said by young Guatemoc, struck him in
the forehead. He reeled and fell. With the bitter words: "Woman!
woman!" ringing in his ears, he was carried away by the Spaniards. His
face, says Lew Wallace, was the face of a man "breaking because he was
in God's way!" He lived a few days after that, but he refused to eat,
and repeatedly tore the bandages from his wounds until death put an end
to his miseries. The stone that had struck him had broken his heart.
Neither Cortes nor Montezuma himself knew that he had been deposed.
Cortes and the principal Spaniards visited him and endeavoured to
console him, but he turned his face to the wall and would have none of
them. It was said afterward that he became a Christian, but it is most
probably not true. He died as he had lived. Helps thus describes the
scene and the great Montezuma's end:

[Illustration: The Death of Montezuma. From an old engraving.]

"He was surrounded by Spanish soldiers, and was at first received with
all respect and honor by his people. When silence ensued, he addressed
them in very loving words, bidding them discontinue the attack, and
assuring them that the Spaniards would depart from Mexico. It is not
probable that much of his discourse could have been heard by the raging
multitude. But, on the other hand, he was able to hear what their
leaders had to say, as four of the chiefs approached near him, and with
tears addressed him, declaring their grief at his imprisonment. They
told him that they had chosen his brother as their leader, that they
had vowed to their gods not to cease fighting {179} until the Spaniards
were all destroyed, and that each day they prayed to their gods to keep
him free and harmless. They added, that when their designs were
accomplished, he should be much more their lord than heretofore, and
that he should then pardon them. Amongst the crowd, however, were,
doubtless, men who viewed the conduct of Montezuma with intense
disgust, or who thought that they had already shown too much disrespect
toward him ever to be pardoned. A shower of stones and arrows
interrupted the parley; the Spanish soldiers had ceased for the moment
to pro