altogether far below the expectation of even the most moderate among the fortune-hunters. Talk of fraud was heard, and many threatened to complain to the king of the manner in which their services were rewarded.
None would believe the statement of the captive princes that they knew of no more treasures, and it was demanded that torture should be applied to extort the secret from them. To the credit of Cortés be it said that he remonstrated against this suggestion, though chiefly because his word had been given to respect the prisoners. Or, indeed, his opposition may have been for effect. At all events this effort to shield the princes directed the outburst of the soldiers against himself. "He is conniving with Quauhtemotzin," they said, "in order to secure possession of the treasures."[1] Thus pressed, the general yielded a perhaps not unwilling assent, and to his never ending shame he surrendered the emperor and the king of Tlacopan[2] to the executioners. Their method was simple and effective: the roasting of the feet before a slow fire, oil being applied to prevent a too rapid charring of the flesh, for this might lessen the pain and defeat the purpose.[3]
Quauhtemotzin is said to have borne his suffering with the usual stoicism of an Indian, and when his
- ↑ The chief accuser, says Herrera, was the treasurer Alderete, a creature of the bishop of Burgos, the enemy of Cortés, dec. iii. lib. ii. cap. viii.
- ↑ Chimalpain enumerates Cohuancoch, the ex-king of Tezcuco, the Cihuacoatl, Aquici the prince of Azcapuzalco, the city of goldsmiths, and several others. Hist. Cong., ii. 76. Oviedo, iii. 549, mentions the tripartite sovereigns, while Gomara, followed by Herrera, allows merely the emperor and his favorite courtier to be tortured, Bernal Diaz calling the latter king of Tlacopan.
- ↑ 'The feet and hands were burned.' Testimony of Doctor Ojeda, who cared for the wounds. Cortés, Residencia, i. 106, 126. 'Bruciargli a pocoa poca i piedi dopo avergli unti d'olio.' Clavigero, Storia Mess., iii. 233. 'Por O que quedó casi impossibilitado de andar.' Bustamante, in Sahagun, Hist. Conq. (ed. 1840), 237. 'Un violente ecsamen,' is the mild term used by Panes, in Monumentos Domin. Esp., MS., 58. Robertson condemns the tor-
and Urrutia, Real. Hac., i. 5. The bar gold was equivalent to '19.200 oncie.' Clavigero, Storia Mess., iii. 232. Bernal Diaz appears to estimate the bars alone at 380,000 pesos de oro, yet subsequent lines indicate this to represent all the treasure, loc. cit. 'los mexicanos el sacaron todas las joyas que tenian escondidas en una canoa llena.' Sahagun, ubi sup.
