The Project Gutenberg EBook of By Right of Conquest, by G. A. Henty

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Title: By Right of Conquest
Or, With Cortez in Mexico

Author: G. A. Henty

Release Date: September 28, 2006 [EBook #19398]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BY RIGHT OF CONQUEST ***

Produced by Martin Robb

By Right of Conquest:
Or, With Cortez in Mexico
by G. A. Henty.

Contents

Preface.
Chapter 1: A Startling Proposal.
Chapter 2: Bound To Unknown Parts.
Chapter 3: The Voyage.
Chapter 4: Among The Islands.
Chapter 5: Shipwrecked.
Chapter 6: Anahuac.
Chapter 7: A Wonderful Country.
Chapter 8: At Tezcuco.
Chapter 9: Life In A Palace.
Chapter 10: News From The Coast.
Chapter 11: Cortez.
Chapter 12: The Fugitives.
Chapter 13: The Massacre Of Cholula.
Chapter 14: In Mexico.
Chapter 15: Again At Tezcuco.
Chapter 16: A Treasure Room.
Chapter 17: The Insurrection.
Chapter 18: The Rising In Mexico.
Chapter 19: The Passage Of The Causeway.
Chapter 20: At Tlascala.
Chapter 21: A Victim For The Gods.
Chapter 22: Home.

Preface.

The conquest of Mexico, an extensive empire with a numerous and
warlike population, by a mere handful of Spaniards, is one of the
romances of history. Indeed, a writer of fiction would scarcely
have dared to invent so improbable a story. Even the bravery of the
Spaniards, and the advantage of superior arms would not have
sufficed to give them the victory, had it not been that Mexico was
ripe for disruption. The Aztecs, instead of conciliating by wise
and gentle government the peoples they had conquered, treated them
with such despotic harshness that they were ready to ally
themselves with the invaders, and to join with them heartily
against the central power; so that instead of battling against an
empire single-handed, the Spaniards had really only to war with a
great city, and were assisted by a vast army of auxiliaries.

Fortunately, the details of the extraordinary expedition of Cortez
were fully related by contemporary writers, several of whom were
eyewitnesses of the scenes they described. It was not necessary for
me, however, to revert to t