ascala when the Spaniards reached
it, and it is easy to see how important it was to Cortes to form an
alliance with it, but that was not an easy thing to do.

The Tlascalans had heard about the Christians and their victorious
advance, but they had not expected that they would come their way. So
they were much embarrassed by the embassy demanding a passage through
their territories. The council was assembled, and a great difference of
opinion was found among its members. Some believed that these were the
white-skinned, bearded men whose coming was foretold, and at all events
they were enemies to Mexico, and might help them in their struggle
against it. Others argued that this could not be: the march of the
strangers through the land might be tracked by the broken images of the
Indian gods, and desecrated temples. How could they be sure that they
were not friends of Montezuma? They had received his embassies, accepted
his gifts, and were even now on their way to his capital in company with
his vassals. This last was the opinion of an aged chief, one of the four
rulers of the republic. His name was Xicotencatl, and he was nearly
blind, for he was over a hundred years old. He had a son of the same
name as himself, an impetuous young man, who commanded a powerful force
of Tlascalans and Otomies on the eastern frontier where the great
fortification stood. The old chief advised that this force should at
once fall upon the Spaniards. If they were conquered they would be at
the mercy of the Tlascalans, but if by any mischance his son should
fail, the council could declare that they had nothing to do with the
attack, laying the whole blame of it upon the young Xicotencatl.
Meantime the Cempoallan envoys were to be detained under pretence of
assisting at a religious sacrifice. By this time, as we know, Cortes and
his gallant band had passed the rocky rampart, from which, for some
reason or other, the Otomie guard was absent. After advancing a few
leagues he saw a small party of Indians, armed with sword and buckler,
who fled at his approach. He made signs for them to halt, but they only
fled the faster.

The Spaniards spurred their horses, and soon succeeded in overtaking
them, when they at once turned, and, without showing the usual alarm at
the horses and strange weapons of the cavaliers, attacked them
furiously. The latter, however, were far too strong for them, and they
would soon have been cut to pieces had not a body of sev