f six days, came the important running fight in
the plains of Otumba, where the Spaniards were entirely surrounded, but
cut their way out after a desperate hand-to-hand struggle which really
decided the fate of Mexico. Cortez marched to Tlacala, raised an army of
Indians who were hostile to the federation, and with their help laid
siege to the City of Mexico. This siege lasted seventy-three days, and
was the most remarkable in the history of all America. There was hard
fighting every day. The Indians made a superb defence; but at last the
genius of Cortez triumphed, and on the 13th of August, 1521, he marched
victorious into the second greatest aboriginal city in the New World.

These wonderful exploits of Cortez, so briefly outlined here, awoke
boundless admiration in Spain, and caused the Crown to overlook his
insubordination to Velasquez. The complaints of Velasquez were
disregarded, and Charles V. appointed Cortez governor and
captain-general of Mexico, besides making him Marquis de Oaxaca with a
handsome revenue.

Safely established in this high authority, Cortez crushed a plot against
him, and executed the new war-captain, with many of the caciques (who
were not potentates at all, but religious-military officers, whose hold
on the superstitions of the Indians made them dangerous).

But Cortez, whose genius shone only the brighter when the difficulties
and dangers before him seemed insurmountable, tripped up on that which
has thrown so many,--success. Unlike his unlearned but nobler and
greater cousin Pizarro, prosperity spoiled him, and turned his head and
his heart. Despite the unstudious criticisms of some historians, Cortez
was not a cruel conqueror. He was not only a great military genius, but
was very merciful to the Indians, and was much beloved by them. The
so-called massacre at Cholula was not a blot on his career as has been
alleged. The truth, as vindicated at last by real history, is this: The
Indians had treacherously drawn him into a trap under pretext of
friendship. Not until too late to retreat did he learn that the savages
meant to massacre him. When he did see his danger, there was but one
chance,--namely, to surprise the surprisers, to strike them before they
were ready to strike him; and this is only what he did. Cholula was
simply a case of the biter bitten.

No, Cortez was not cruel to the Indians; but as soon as his rule was
established he became a cruel tyrant to his own countrymen, a tra