that we should not be allowed to pass.  That he had lately consulted his gods, who had revealed that we were all to be put to death, or made prisoners in Cholula, to facilitate which he had sent 20,000 of his troops to that place, half of whom were now in the city, and the rest concealed at the distance of a league.  They added, that the plan of attack was all settled, and that twenty of our number were to be sacrificed in the temples of Cholula, and all the rest to be conveyed prisoners to Mexico.  Cortes rewarded them liberally for their intelligence, and enjoined them to preserve the strictest secrecy on the subject, commanding them to bring all the chiefs to his quarters at an appointed time.  He then convened a council of all the officers, and such soldiers as he most confided in, before whom he laid an account of the information which he had received, desiring their advice as to the best conduct to be pursued in the present alarming emergency.  Some proposed to return immediately to Tlascala, and others proposed various measures, but it was the universal opinion that the treachery of the Cholulans required to be severely punished, as a warning to other places.  It was accordingly resolved to inflict condign punishment on the Cholulans within the courts where we were quartered, which were surrounded by high walls, but in the meantime, to continue our preparations for resuming the march, in order to conceal our intentions.  We then informed the Mexican ambassadors, that we had discovered the treacherous intentions of the Cholulans, who pretended that they acted by orders of Montezuma, which we were convinced was a false aspersion.  They solemnly declared their ignorance of these transactions; but Cortes ordered them to have no farther intercourse with the inhabitants of the city, and sent them to his own quarters under a strong guard for the night, during the whole of which we lay upon our arms, ready to act at a moments warning.

During this anxious night, the wife of one of the caciques, who had taken a great liking to Donna Marina, came secretly to visit that lady, informing her of the plot, invited her to take refuge in her house from the danger which was about to overwhelm us, and proposed to give her for a husband the brother of a boy who was along with her.  Donna Marina, with her usual presence of mind, agreed to every thing proposed with a profusion of thanks, and said she only wanted some one to take charge of her effects before leaving the Spanish quarters.  In course of this conversation, Marina acquired particular information of every part of this mysterious affair, which the old woman told her had been communicated to her three days before by her husband, who was chief of one of the divisions of the city, and was now with his warriors, giving directions for their co-operation with the Mexican troops, and who had lately received a gold drum from Mexico, as an ensign of command.  Donna Marina desired the old woman and her son to remain in her apartment till she went in search of her valuables; but went immediately to Cortes, to whom she communicated all the information she had received, adding that her informer was still in her apartment.  Cortes immediately sent for the old woman, who being confronted by Donna Marina, repeated every thing exactly as before, which agreed in all respects with the information he had already received from others.