Mexico, from Cortes to Carranza . follow them at once to their quarters. Iam confident they will pay you every respect, and treatyou as becomes a powerful monarch. But if you con-tinue to refuse, they will cut you down on the spot. In vain Montezuma asked if they would not take hisson and his two daughters instead. What will thegrandees of my empire say, he asked weakly, if theysee me taken prisoner ? His feeble remonstrances were of no avail. As weread the story, we feel as if poor, bewildered Montezumamust have indeed been hypnotized by the stronger willof the desperate Cortes. Else why shou
Mexico, from Cortes to Carranza . follow them at once to their quarters. Iam confident they will pay you every respect, and treatyou as becomes a powerful monarch. But if you con-tinue to refuse, they will cut you down on the spot. In vain Montezuma asked if they would not take hisson and his two daughters instead. What will thegrandees of my empire say, he asked weakly, if theysee me taken prisoner ? His feeble remonstrances were of no avail. As weread the story, we feel as if poor, bewildered Montezumamust have indeed been hypnotized by the stronger willof the desperate Cortes. Else why should he have lethimself be kidnapped in his own castle, in the midst ofthousands of his own people? Sadly he ordered hisrich and splendid sedan to be brought, sadly hestepped into it, and sadly, with tears, even, his at-tendants obeyed his orders to bear him from his were told that Montezuma in going with theSpaniards for a visit was obeying the command of thewar-god; but they knew that all was not as it should be; 112. Montezuma II and the Temple of HumanSacrifice. KIDISAPPING A MOJSTAKCH and the people, when they saw the royal litter sur-rounded by armed white men in the streets, gathered incrowds and made rebellious movements. Montezumaquieted them and told them to disperse. So, of hisown free will, apparently, he was carried to the templehe had assigned to the invaders. As soon as Cortes had Montezuma safely in his power,he took pains to make the monarch feel the change adlittle as possible. He was allowed to see his noblesevery day, to govern as usual, to have his own atten-dants, who carried on the same pomp and ceremonialand served the same luxurious meals as at his own Diaz says that the Emperor appeared happy andcontented. We can hardly believe it. He must havespent sad hours thinking of his former freedom, andrecalling those promises Cortes had given so many timeson his way to Mexico, when he assured the Emperor byhis messages that he was coming
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