old Guatimozin that he and his people had done all that brave men
could, and that there remained no hope, no chance, of escape. Their
provisions were exhausted. Their communications cut off. Their
vassals had deserted them, and the nations of Anahuac were banded
against them. He prayed him, therefore, to have compassion on his
brave subjects, who were daily perishing before his eyes, and on
the fair city now fast crumbling into ruins. He begged him to
acknowledge his allegiance to the sovereign of Spain; in which case
he should be confirmed in his authority, and the persons, the
property, and all the rights of the Aztecs should be respected.

The young monarch would have instantly refused the terms, but he
called a council to deliberate upon them. Many would have accepted
them, but the priests threw all their influence in the scale
against it; reminding the king of the fate of Montezuma, after all
his hospitality to the Whites, of the seizure and imprisonment of
Cacama, of the massacre of the nobles, of the profanation of the
temple, and of the insatiable greed that had stripped the country
of its treasures.

The answer to the Spaniards was given in the form of a tremendous
sortie along each causeway; but the guns of the Spanish batteries
and ships drove the assailants back, and the operations of
destruction went on. Day by day the army of workers leveled the
houses and filled the canals, although the Mexicans made incessant
attacks upon the troops who covered the workmen. For several weeks
the work continued, while the wretched inhabitants were fast
wasting away with hunger. All the food stored up had long since
been consumed, and the population reduced to feed on roots dug up
in the gardens, on the bark of trees, leaves, and grass, and on
such rats, mice, and lizards as they could capture.

The houses, as the besiegers advanced, were found to be full of
dead; while in some lay men, women, and children in the last stage
of famine. And yet, weakened and suffering as they were, the Aztecs
maintained their resolution, rejecting every overture of Cortez.

At last the division of Alvarado cleared its way into the great
square, and a party, mounting the great temple where so many of
their comrades had been massacred, defeated the Aztecs who guarded
the position, slaughtered the priests, and set fire to the
sanctuary; and the next day the division of Cortez won their way to
the same spot, and joined that of Alvarado.