ut there is
nothing to be done."

"But I cannot march away and leave her," he said. "Rather than
that, I will disguise myself and take all risks, even though I know
that I must fail."

"You must have patience, Roger," she said. "Cortez will, I feel
sure, recover."

"But if so, it will only be to march down to the coast," Roger
broke in. "The whole army are eager to be off, before the Mexicans
can gather their forces and be ready to fall upon them."

"The army may think what it likes, and wish what it likes,"
Malinche said, quietly. "I am sure that Cortez will not go down to
the coast; and what he wills, he does. The others may grumble, but
Cortez leads them like tame deer. When he is well enough to speak
to them, they will listen and obey him. His thoughts, ill as he is,
are all of a fresh march to Mexico."

Hitherto, Roger had been as desirous as any of his comrades of a
return to the coast. It had seemed to him that there was no
possibility of success, and he longed to be on his way to Europe,
with his Indian bride.

But now everything was changed. He had come to have a faith in
Cortez, almost as absolute as that entertained by the general's
devoted followers; and he well knew that, if he still thought there
was a possibility of a successful march to Mexico, that march would
be made. He now, therefore, waited with impatience for Cortez to be
on his feet again.

But the waiting was long and tedious. Four weeks passed before the
general was again himself.

As soon as he became convalescent, the regulations which he issued
for the army, and the orders that he sent to the coast, for every
available man to be sent up to reinforce him, showed the soldiers
that he had no intentions of retiring; and a remonstrance was
signed, by a large number of officers and soldiers, against a
further stay in the country. But Cortez was not shaken. He prayed
them not to discredit the great name they had won, nor to leave
their glorious enterprise for others, more daring, to finish. How
could they, with honor, desert their allies who, at their
persuasion, had taken up arms, and had shared their fortunes, and
so leave them to the vengeance of the Aztecs? To retreat now would
be but to proclaim their weakness, and give confidence to their
foes.

If, however, there were any who preferred going home to the glory
of this great enterprise, then in God's Name let them go. He would
feel stronger, with but a few brave spirits with him,