eir master, and then conferred apart with the Mexicans who were still
in the Spanish camp, presently departing, and taking one of them away
with them. From this time the Cholulans visited the Spanish quarters no
more, and when invited to do so excused themselves, saying they were
ill. Also, the supply of provisions ran short, and they said it was
because maize was scarce. Naturally, Cortes became very uneasy at this
change, and his alarm was increased by the reports of the Cempoallans,
who told him that in wandering about the city they had seen several
streets barricaded, and in some places holes had been dug, and a sharp
stake planted upright in each, and branches strewn to conceal them,
while the flat roofs of the houses were being stored with stones and
other missiles. Some Tlascalans also came in from their camp to inform
him that a great sacrifice, mostly of children, had been held in a
distant quarter of the town, to secure the aid of the gods in some
intended enterprise, and numbers of the people had taken their wives and
children out of the city.

These tidings confirmed the worst suspicions of Cortes, but just then
the Lady Marina made a discovery which changed his doubts into
certainty. The wife of one of the Cholulan caciques had taken a great
fancy to the Mexican girl, and continually urged her to visit her house,
hinting mysteriously that she would in this way escape a great danger
which threatened the Spaniards. Marina pretended to be delighted with
this proposal, and glad of the chance of escaping from the white men,
and by degrees she thus won the confidence of the Cholulan, who
presently revealed the whole plot to her. It originated, she said, with
the Aztec emperor, who had bribed the caciques of Cholula, her husband
among the number, to assault the Spaniards as they marched out of the
city, and to throw them into confusion all sorts of obstacles had been
placed in their way. A force of twenty thousand Mexicans was already
quartered near the city to support the Cholulans, and the Spaniards
would, it was confidently expected, fall an easy prey to their united
enemies. A sufficient number of them were to be reserved to be
sacrificed in Cholula, and the rest led in fetters to the capital of
Montezuma. While this conversation was taking place, Marina was making a
show of collecting and packing up such dresses and jewels as she was to
take with her to the house of her new friend. But after a while she
manag