To which they replied, that eight days further on there were numbers of people with beards, who had women of Castile, horses, and three acales (for so they term vessels) with them. Respecting our inquiries about the direction in which we were to march, they answered by laying before us a large piece of cotton cloth, on which were drawn all the rivers, swamps, morasses, and townships of the country.
Cortes was excessively rejoiced at all this, and he requested the caziques, as their population was so numerous, to bring their canoes, and throw bridges across the river for us. To this they answered, that their townships were indeed above twenty in number, but that the greater part of these refused obedience to them, particularly those which lay between the rivers. It would therefore be necessary, they added, for him to send a number of his teules—so they termed us—thither, and command them to furnish him with provisions.
Cortes followed their advice, and commissioned Diego de Mazariegos, cousin to the treasurer Estrada, whom Cortes had appointed governor of Mexico, to repair to the latter townships. Cortes was very partial to Mazariegos, and was desirous of distinguishing the man, by conferring this command upon him. But as Mazariegos had very little experience in the manners and customs of these countries, Cortes desired him in confidence to request me to accompany him, and advised him to act upon my advice in all matters. This hint was not lost upon Mazariegos, who did not neglect to follow our general's counsel. I have not mentioned this in praise of myself, for it was well known to the whole of the troops, and Cortes himself, in his despatches to the emperor respecting the expedition to the Honduras, and which I read myself, also detailed this circumstance.
The caziques readily furnished us with the necessary canoes, in which eighty of us, with Mazariegos, set out. We arrived safely in the townships above mentioned, met with the most friendly reception, and the inhabitants gave us as large a quantity of provisions as they could possibly spare. We therefore loaded one hundred canoes with maise, fowls, honey, and salt, taking along with us besides ten female slaves, who had been presented to us, and the caziques accompanied us themselves on our return, to pay their respects to Cortes. After the lapse of three days, however, most of the caziques suddenly left, and we had only three guides remaining, with whom we continued our march. We had two rivers to pass, one of which we crossed by means of a bridge, that broke down before we had all stepped on land; the other we ferried over in canoes, and in this way we reached another of the Acallan townships, which was quite deserted by its inhabitants; but we found abundance of provisions, which they had concealed among the hills on our approach.
I have now to relate a circumstance of a very different nature, which occasioned much grief to us all. Quauhtemoctzin and other Mexican chiefs who accompanied our army had, it would appear, spoken among themselves, or secretly determined to put the whole of us to death, then march back to Mexico, and assemble the whole armed power of the country against the few remaining Spaniards, and raise an insurrection throughout the whole of New Spain. This circumstance was discovered to Cortes by two distinguished Mexican chiefs, one of whom was named Tapia, and the other Juan Velasquez. This latter personage had been Quauhtemoctzin's captain-general during our war with Mexico, and his testimony was borne out by the investigation which Cortes made into the matter, and by the confession of several of the caziques themselves who were implicated in the conspiracy. These men fearlessly declared, that seeing how carelessly and dispiritedly we roamed about; that numbers of the men were ill from want of food; that four of our musicians, with the buffoon and five soldiers, had died of hunger; and that three other men had turned back, more willing to run the risk of reaching Mexico again than of moving forward, the thought struck them that they could not do better than fall suddenly upon us while we were crossing some river or marsh, particularly as they were upwards of 3000 in number, all armed with lances, and several of them with swords. Quauhtemoctzin did not hesitate to acknowledge that these men had spoken the truth, but added that the conspiracy did not emanate with him, and that he himself had never for a moment contemplated carrying it into effect, but had merely spoken about it with the other caziques. All the cazique of Tlacupa confessed was, his having declared to Quauhtemoctzin that it was better to die at once than daily to have death before their eyes on these fatiguing marches, and see their countrymen and relations perish with hunger.
These were sufficient proofs for Cortes, and without any further ceremony he sentenced Quauhtemoctzin and his cousin the king of Tlacupa to the gallows. Before, however, this sentence was executed, the Franciscan monks, with the assistance of Doña Marina, strove to comfort these unfortunate men, and commended their souls to God. When they were being led to the place of execution, Quauhtemoctzin turned to Cortes, and said: "Oh Malinche! I have for a long time perceived, from your false words, that you had destined me for such a death, because I did not lay violent hands on myself when you entered my city of Mexico! Why are you thus going to put me unjustly to death? God will one time ask this of you!"
The king of Tlacupa said, he could only rejoice in a death which he would be permitted to suffer with his monarch Quauhtemoctzin.
Previous to their being hung, both these unhappy caziques confessed to father Juan, who understood the Mexican language, and they begged of him to commend their souls to God. For Indians they were good Christians, and they died in the true faith, and fully believed in our holy religion.
The death of these two monarchs grieved me excessively, for I had known them in all their glory, and on our march they honoured me with their friendship, and showed me many little attentions; for instance, they would often order their servants to go in quest of fodder for my horse; besides which, they were innocent of the guilt imputed to them, and it was the opinion of all who accompanied this expedition that they were put to death unjustly.
But I will leave this miserable subject, and return to our march, on which we henceforth observed the utmost vigilance, for we greatly feared the Mexicans might rise up in arms against us, after they had thus beheld their monarch ignominiously hung by the neck from a tree. But hunger, fatigue, and sickness weighed heavier upon their minds than the misfortune of Quauhtemoctzin.