the ill will of our allies of Chempoalla proceeded from
an ancient dispute about boundaries, and they now took the advantage of
our assistance to rob and murder them unjustly. They acknowledged that a
Mexican garrison had been in their town, but assured him that it had
retired when the officers of Montezuma were arrested at Chiahuitztla, and
earnestly entreated to be admitted into favour. Cortes gave immediate
orders, forbidding the allies to advance; but they were already engaged in
plundering the suburbs, at which Cortes was very angry, and ordering the
Chempoallan captains into his presence, he reproached them for their
misrepresentations, when their obvious purpose was to employ us, who were
bound to prevent and redress injustice, to aid them in plundering their
neighbours. He commanded them therefore, on pain of death, instantly to
liberate all their prisoners, to restore their plunder, and to withdraw
for the night with all their men from the town; with all which orders they
immediately complied. By this just conduct, Cortes won the hearts of the
people in this district to our cause, and the chiefs and priests listened
attentively to his exhortations to abandon their abominable idolatry and
barbarous human sacrifices, coming under engagements of allegiance to our
king, and making heavy complaints against the tyranny of the Mexican
government. Next morning, Cortes brought the chiefs of Chempoalla and
Cincapacinga together, and effectuated a complete reconciliation between
the two districts. We then set out on our return, taking a different route
from that by which we advanced, and halted after a fatiguing march, in a
village belonging to the district of Cincapacinga. While here, one of our
soldiers took two fowls from one of the inhabitants, and Cortes got notice
of the transaction, who was so highly incensed at the commission of such
an outrage in a peaceable district, that he immediately ordered the
soldier to be hanged; but captain Alvarado cut the rope with his sword in
time to save his life. We proceeded from that village to another in the
district of our first allies, where the cacique of Chempoalla waited for
us with a supply of provisions, and next day marched back to our quarters
at Chiahuitztla, into which we were escorted by all the chiefs. Our
conduct on this expedition raised us higher than ever in the esteem of the
natives, who could distinguish the excellence of justice, though untaught,
and saw that t