Hush!" said the Indian. "Don Esau, as you shall now hear, was the father
of the sons of Tenochtitlan."

At this new piece of intelligence, the crowd opened their eyes wider than
before.

"Well, senores," continued the Indian, "Don Esau had his dish of frijolos,
and Don Jago the inheritance which he had long coveted. Then Jago went
back to the Madre Patria, and Esau, having lost his birthright, wandered
out into the wide world. You all know, senores, that Mexico is the world,
for Tenochtitlan is the capital of the world."[13]

The Leperos nodded.

"To Tenochtitlan, then, did Esau betake himself, with his wives and his
sons, and built the great city on the lake, and made the Chinampas; and
soon the city became greater than any one in Mexico. For many hundred
years did the sons of Don Esau rule in Tenochtitlan and Anahuac, and his
younger sons in Mechoacan and Cholula; and the children of his concubines
lived as freemen in Tlascala."

"_Es verdad_," murmured one of the Leperos.

"_Es verdad_," they all repeated.

"Well," continued the narrator, "the sons of Don Esau throve and
multiplied, and had dollars and tortillas in plenty, when of a sudden it
came into the heads of Don Jago's children's children that their father
had had the share of the first-born, and that they, as his descendants,
inherited the right over the whole world; that is to say, over Mexico, and
that the sons of Esau owed them a tribute. Thereupon, as they were a
daring and knavish race, they got upon their ships and landed in Yucatan
and Vera Cruz, and ascended the heights of Xalappa and Tlascala, and by
sweet words enticed the men of Tlascala into their nets, and with their
help got through the barrancas and over the mountains of Tenochtitlan.
Then they besieged and destroyed the city, put to death all those who bore
spears and machetes, and made slaves of the rest."

"_Malditos hereges!_" muttered the Leperos.

"And when they had taken Tenochtitlan," continued the Indian, "they said,
'See, here it is good to dwell. Here let us build our ranchos, and the
sons of Esau shall plant our maize and sow our chili, dig our gardens, and
tap our agave-trees; and their daughters shall spin our cotton, their
wives bake our tortillas, their children seek for gold in the rivers, and
their men, instead of warriors, shall be caballitos and tenatores.' And so
it came to pass."

The Indian who had given this _resume_ of Father Hippolito's sermon, now
paused,