’Nay, have no fear of that.  But for the rest I cannot say.  In an hour you may be dead or great among us, if any of us can be called great in these days of shame.  Otomie has worked well for you among the princes and the counsellors, so she says, and if you have a heart, you should be grateful to her, for it seems to me that few women have loved a man so much.  As for me, I have been employed elsewhere,’ and he glanced at his rent armour, ’but I will lift up my voice for you.  Now come, friend, for the torch burns low.  By this time you must be well seasoned in dangers; one more or less will matter as little to you as to me.’

Then I rose and followed him into the great cedar-panelled hall, where that very morning I had received adoration as a god.  Now I was a god no longer, but a prisoner on trial for his life.  Upon the dais where I had stood in the hour of my godhead were gathered those of the princes and counsellors who were left alive.  Some of them, like Guatemoc, were clad in rent and bloody mail, others in their customary dress, and one in a priest’s robe.  They had only two things in common among them, the sternness of their faces and the greatness of their rank, and they sat there this night not to decide my fate, which was but a little thing, but to take counsel as to how they might expel the Spaniards before the city was destroyed.

When I entered, a man in mail, who sat in the centre of the half circle, and in whom I knew Cuitlahua, who would be emperor should Montezuma die, looked up quickly and said: 

’Who is this, Guatemoc, that you bring with you?  Ah!  I remember; the Teule that was the god Tezcat, and who escaped the sacrifice to-day.  Listen, nobles.  What is to be done with this man?  Say, is it lawful that he be led back to sacrifice?’

Then the priest answered:  ’I grieve to say that it is not lawful most noble prince.  This man has lain on the altar of the god, he has even been wounded by the holy knife.  But the god rejected him in a fateful hour, and he must lie there no more.  Slay him if you will, but not upon the stone of sacrifice.’

‘What then shall be done with him?’ said the prince again.

’He is of the blood of the Teules, and therefore an enemy.  One thing is certain; he must not be suffered to join the white devils and give them tidings of our distresses.  Is it not best that he be put away forthwith?’

Now several of the council nodded their heads, but others sat silent, making no sign.

‘Come,’ said Cuitlahua, ’we have no time to waste over this man when the lives of thousands are hourly at stake.  The question is, Shall the Teule be slain?’

Then Guatemoc rose and spoke, saying:  ’Your pardon, noble kinsman, but I hold that we may put this prisoner to better use than to kill him.  I know him well; he is brave and loyal, as I have proved, moreover, he is not all a Teule, but half of another race that hates them as he hates them.  Also he has knowledge of their customs and mode of warfare, which we lack, and I think that he may be able to give us good counsel in our strait.’