esied that they would find their grave there.
But the gods were wrong; and it may be that the God of the whites
is more powerful than ours. If not, how is it that they did not
avenge the indignities offered to them by the whites, at Cempoalla,
where their images were hurled down from their altars? And at
Cholula, where the most sacred of all the temples was attacked and
captured, and the emblem of the White God set up on its summit?

"You yourself, Roger Hawkshaw, warned us against these Spaniards.
You said that they were cruel masters to the people they had
conquered, and above all things cruel in the matter of religion,
forcing all who came under their sway to accept their God, under
pain of death; and that they would slay even you, a white man like
themselves, did they know that you did not belong to their people.
Tell us what is to be done. Why are these men in our capital? What
are their objects? Brave and strong as they are, they cannot hope
to overcome a nation, or to force all Anahuac to forsake their own
gods and to accept the God of the whites."

"I know not what are the designs of Cortez, the leader whom you
call Malinzin. I should say the Spaniards are here with several
motives. In the first place, there is the desire for wealth and
spoil; in the second, religious ardor--the desire to bring all
within the pale of their Church; in the third place, the love of
adventure; and, lastly, the honor they will receive, at the hands
of their sovereign, for opening so rich an empire to his arms."

"You do not think, then, they intend to conquer us?"

"Cortez cannot think of doing so, with the means at his disposal,
Cacama; but doubtless he has sent home reports of the richness of
the country, and forces many times more numerous than those under
his command may be sent out to his assistance."

"Does he know that you have come hither?" Cacama asked suddenly.

"He does," Roger replied. "I could not leave the palace without
permission, and Malinche told him of the kindness I had experienced
at your hands. He himself is uneasy at the position in which he
finds himself, uncertain of Montezuma's intentions, and fearful of
an assault; and he bade me try to find out, as far as might be,
what was the general opinion respecting the Spaniards."

"The opinion of the ignorant," Cacama said, with a contemptuous
wave of the hand, "is worth nothing. They go where they are led.
They believe what they are last told. They shout wh