If Cortes failed to conquer, by
peaceful means or otherwise, nothing was more certain than that he and
all of his followers not killed in the fighting would be butchered on
the top of those terrible pyramids sooner or later. Yet he looked about
him and said, under his breath,
"This is the most beautiful city in the world."
"And you think we shall win it for the Cross and the King?" asked
Saavedra in the same quiet tone.
"We must win," said Cortes, with a spark in his eyes like the flame in
the heart of a black opal. "There is nothing else to do."
NOTE
In the spelling of the Aztec Emperor's name Cortes' own form is
used,--"Moteczuma," instead of the commoner "Montezuma." One must read
Prescott's "Conquest of Mexico" for even an approximately adequate
account of this extraordinary campaign.
MOCCASIN FLOWER
Klooskap's children, the last and least,
Bidden to dance at his farewell feast,
Under the great moon's wizard light,
Over the mountain's drifted white,
The Winag'mesuk, the wood-folk small,
Came to the feasting the last of all!
Magic snowshoes they wore that night,
Woven of frostwork and sunset light,
Round and trim like the Master's own,--
Their lances of reed, with a point of bone,
Their oval shields of the woven grass,
Their leader the mighty Kaktugwaas.
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