amp. I learned that Cortes had come back, bringing Guatemoc and several
of the princes with him, together with many of the noble Aztec ladies.
Indeed I saw and heard the soldiers gambling for these women when they
were weary of their play for money, a description of each of them
being written on a piece of paper. One of these ladies answered well to
Otomie, my wife, and she was put up to auction by the brute who won her
in the gamble, and sold to a common soldier for a hundred pesos. For
these men never doubted but that the women and the gold would be handed
over to them.

Thus things went for several days, during which I sat and slept in my
prison untroubled by any, except the native woman who waited on me and
brought me food in plenty. During those days I ate as I have never eaten
before or since, and I slept much, for my sorrows could not rid my body
of its appetites and commanding need for food and rest. Indeed I verily
believe that at the end of a week, I had increased in weight by a full
half; also my weariness was conquered at length, and I was strong again.

But when I was neither sleeping nor eating I watched at my window,
hoping, though in vain, to catch some sight of Otomie or of Guatemoc.
If I might not see my friends, however, at least I saw my foe, for one
evening de Garcia came and stared at my prison. He could not see me, but
I saw him, and the devilish smile that flickered on his face as he went
away like a wolf, made me shiver with a presage of woes to come. For ten
minutes or more he stood gazing at my window hungrily, as a cat gazes at
a caged bird, and I felt that he was waiting for the door to be opened,
and KNEW that it would soon be opened.

This happened on the eve of the day upon which I was put to torture.

Meanwhile, as time went on, I noticed that a change came over the temper
of the camp. The soldiers ceased to gamble for untold wealth, they even
ceased from drinking to excess and from their riotous joy, but took to
hanging together in knots discussing fiercely I could not learn of what.
On the day when de Garcia came to look at my prison there was a great
gathering in the square opposite my prison, to which I saw Cortes ride
up on a white horse and richly dressed. The meeting was too far away for
me to overhear what passed, but I noted that several officers addressed
Cortes angrily, and that their speeches were loudly cheered by the
soldiers. At length the great captain answered them at