called Grijalva. The cazique had been
afraid that, if Roger had heard that other white men were in the
river, he would make an effort to join them; or if they heard that
a man of their color was in the town, they would insist upon his
being handed over to them. He had therefore hurried him away
inland, and had issued the most stringent orders that none should,
by signs or otherwise, acquaint the newcomers that a white man was
in the town. A guard had been placed over the house in which Roger
had dwelt, and none of those within it had been allowed to go out,
while the strangers were in the river.

These had sailed away, the day before Roger was fetched back. He
was not altogether disappointed at having missed the strangers, who
were of course Spaniards; for he wanted, if possible, to see
something more of this beautiful country before he left; and he
was, moreover, more than doubtful as to the reception he should
meet with at the Spaniards' hands, when, by his ignorance of their
language, they discovered that he was a foreign intruder, in what
they considered their territory.

Chapter 6: Anahuac.

It was now six months since Roger was wrecked on the coast of
Tabasco, he spoke the native language with perfect fluency, and had
learned all that was known as to the nations round Tabasco.
Malinche was his chief source of information. She herself did not
belong to the country, but, as she told Roger, to a tribe that had
been conquered by far mightier people, called Aztecs, who lived
farther to the west.

It was from them, she said, that the people of Tabasco obtained
their gold; which was there very plentiful, and was thought but
little of, as being useful only for ornaments, drinking cups, and
similar purposes. They dwelt in a city named Mexico, standing in
the midst of a lake. There were kindred peoples near them, and the
country generally was called Anahuac. All were subject to the
Aztecs, and their armies had gradually conquered all the
surrounding peoples.

They possessed great temples, compared to which those of Tabasco
were as nothing. Their gods were very powerful, and all prisoners
taken in war were sacrificed to them. They had rich mantles and
clothing, and the Tabascans were but savages, in comparison.

Being asked how it was that she, who was a native of such a nation,
came to be a slave among the Tabascans, she replied with tears that
she had been sold. Her father had been a rich and powerful caziq