influential of the four
great chiefs of the Tlascalans. He had been their most cordial
friend, on their first arrival; and his sentiments were in no wise
changed by the misfortunes that had befallen them. Indeed, his
admiration for them was heightened, by the manner in which they had
withstood the whole power of the Aztec nation.

The cordial greeting, given to them by one whose counsels were of
the highest authority in the Tlascalan nation, restored the
confidence of Cortez; and he accepted the invitation to continue
his march, at once, to the capital, which was some fifteen miles
away. The sick and wounded were placed in hammocks, which were
carried on the shoulders of the friendly natives; and as the army
approached the capital, crowds of people flocked out to meet them,
with cries of welcome, and escorted them into the city.

Cortez and his officers took up their abode in the palace of
Maxixca, and the rest of the army were quartered in that part of
the city over which he exercised special authority. Here they
remained for some weeks, during which the wounded recovered from
their injuries, the sick regained their strength in the bracing
mountain air, and the whole army shook off the effects of the
terrible hardships they had undergone, while retreating from
Mexico.

Cortez, during this time, was confined to his couch. The wound on
the hand, which he had received in the conflict in the capital, had
been so inflamed and aggravated that he had lost the use of two
fingers; and he had, in the retreat, received two severe wounds in
the head, one of which became so inflamed from inattention, and
from the fatigue and excitement he had gone through, that a portion
of the bone had to be removed; and the general lay, for some time,
at the point of death.

The news came, in a day or two after the army reached its resting
place, that a party of five horsemen and forty foot, who had gone
forward in charge of invalids and treasure from Tlascala, had all
been massacred; and twelve other soldiers, marching in the same
direction, had also been killed. Upon the other hand, they heard
that all was quiet on the coast; and the friendly demeanor of the
natives, there, was in no way changed.

Roger, seeing that for a time nothing could be done, and that the
troops were all eager to retire to the coast, dispatched Bathalda,
a few days after his arrival at Tlascala, to Amenche; to say that
he considered it certain that the Spaniards