was no complaint or lamentation, but deep,
unutterable woe. In the midst of this appalling misery Guatemozin
remained calm and courageous, and as firmly resolved not to capitulate
as at the beginning of the siege. It is even said that when Cortes
persuaded a noble Aztec prisoner to bear his proposals for a treaty to
the emperor, Guatemozin instantly ordered him to be sacrificed. The
general, who had suspended hostilities for several days hoping for a
favourable answer to his message, now resolved to drive him to
submission by a general assault, and for that purpose led his men across
the dreary waste of ruins to the narrow quarter of the city into which
the wretched Mexicans had retreated. But he was met by several chiefs,
who, holding out their emaciated arms, exclaimed, 'Why do you delay so
long to put an end to our miseries? Rather kill us at once that we may
go to our god Huitzilopochtli, who waits to give us rest from our
sufferings!'

Cortes, moved by the piteous sight, replied that he desired not their
death but their submission. 'Why does your master refuse to treat with
me,' he said, 'when in a single hour I can crush him and all his
people?' Then once more he sent to demand an interview with Guatemozin.
This time the emperor hesitated, and agreed that next day he would meet
the Spanish general. Cortes, well satisfied, withdrew his force, and
next morning presented himself at the appointed place in the great
square, where a stone platform had been spread with mats and carpets and
a banquet made ready. But after all Guatemozin, instead of coming
himself, sent his nobles. Cortes, though greatly disappointed, received
them courteously, persuading them to partake of the feast he had
prepared, and dismissing them with a supply of provisions for their
master and a renewed entreaty that he would next day come in person. But
though he waited for three hours beyond the time appointed, neither the
emperor nor his chiefs appeared, and the general heard that the Mexicans
were preparing to resist an assault. He delayed no longer, but ordering
Sandoval to support him by bringing up the ships and directing his big
guns against the houses near the water, he marched at once into the
enemy's quarters. The Mexicans set up a fierce war-cry, and with their
usual spirit sent off clouds of arrows and darts; but the struggle soon
became a hand-to-hand one; and weakened by starvation and hemmed in as
they were the unhappy Aztecs had n