s filled with fury against the
Teules who had destroyed their army, and the Tlascalans that had aided
them. Never did the wit and eloquence of a woman cause a swifter change.
They screamed and tore their robes and shook their weapons in the air.
Maxtla strove to speak, but they pulled him down and presently he was
flying for his life. Then they turned upon the Tlascalan envoys and beat
them with sticks, crying:

'This is our answer to Malinche. Run, you dogs, and take it!' till they
were driven from the town.

Now at length the turmoil ceased, and some of the great chiefs came
forward and, kissing the hand of Otomie, said:

'Princess, we your children will guard you to the death, for you have
put another heart into us. You are right; it is better to die free than
to live as slaves.'

'See, my husband,' said Otomie, 'I was not mistaken when I told you that
my people were loyal and true. But now we must make ready for war, for
they have gone too far to turn back, and when this tidings comes to the
ears of Malinche he will be like a puma robbed of her young. Now, let us
rest, I am very weary.'

'Otomie,' I answered, 'there has lived no greater woman than you upon
this earth.'

'I cannot tell, husband,' she said, smiling; 'if I have won your praise
and safety, it is enough for me.'

CHAPTER XXXII

THE END OF GUATEMOC

Now for a while we dwelt in quiet at the City of Pines, and by slow
degrees and with much suffering I recovered from the wounds that the
cruel hand of de Garcia had inflicted upon me. But we knew that this
peace could not last, and the people of the Otomie knew it also, for had
they not scourged the envoys of Malinche out of the gates of their city?
Many of them were now sorry that this had been done, but it was done,
and they must reap as they had sown.

So they made ready for war, and Otomie was the president of their
councils, in which I shared. At length came news that a force of fifty
Spaniards with five thousand Tlascalan allies were advancing on the city
to destroy us. Then I took command of the tribesmen of the Otomie--there
were ten thousand or more of them, all well-armed after their own
fashion--and advanced out of the city till I was two-thirds of the way
down the gorge which leads to it. But I did not bring all my army down
this gorge, since there was no room for them to fight there, and I had
another plan. I sent some seven thousand men round the mountains, of
which the secret