red because I must, though there was
much in the oath that I liked little enough. And yet mark how strangely
things came to pass. Within fifteen years from that night the volcan
Popo had ceased to vomit smoke and fire, the kings had ceased to reign
in Tenoctitlan, the priests had ceased to serve the altars of the gods,
the people of Anahuac were no more a people, and my vow was null
and void. Yet the priests who framed this form chose these things as
examples of what was immortal!

When I had sworn Guatemoc came forward and embraced me, saying:
'Welcome, Teule, my brother in blood and heart. Now you are one of us,
and we look to you for help and counsel. Come, be seated by me.'

I looked towards Cuitlahua doubtfully, but he smiled graciously, and
said: 'Teule, your trial is over. We have accepted you, and you have
sworn the solemn oath of brotherhood, to break which is to die horribly
in this world, and to be tortured through eternity by demons in the
next. Forget all that may have been said in the hour of your weighing,
for the balance is in your favour, and be sure that if you give us no
cause to doubt you, you shall find none to doubt us. Now as the husband
of Otomie, you are a lord among the lords, having honour and great
possessions, and as such be seated by your brother Guatemoc, and join
our council.'

I did as he bade me, and Otomie withdrew from our presence. Then
Cuitlahua spoke again, no longer of me and my matters, but of the urgent
affairs of state. He spoke in slow words and weighty, and more than once
his voice broke in his sorrow. He told of the grievous misfortunes
that had overcome the country, of the death of hundreds of its bravest
warriors, of the slaughter of the priests and soldiers that day on the
teocalli, and the desecration of his nation's gods. What was to be done
in this extremity? he asked. Montezuma lay dying, a prisoner in the camp
of the Teules, and the fire that he had nursed with his breath devoured
the land. No efforts of theirs could break the iron strength of these
white devils, armed as they were with strange and terrible weapons. Day
by day disaster overtook the arms of the Aztecs. What wisdom had they
now that the protecting gods were shattered in their very shrines, when
the altars ran red with the blood of their ministering priests, when the
oracles were dumb or answered only in the accents of despair?

Then one by one princes and generals arose and gave counsel according
t