The desertion of numerous allies, which we have noticed in the last chapter, was not alone prompted by the judgment of the flying Indians, but was stimulated in a great degree by the prophecy of the Aztec priests, that, within eight days from the period of prediction, the beleaguered city would be delivered from the Spaniards. But the sun rose on the ninth over the inexorable foes still in position on the causeways and on the lake. The news was soon sent by the allies who had remained faithful, to those who had fled, and the deficient ranks were quickly restored by the numbers who flocked back to the Spanish standard as soon as they were relieved from superstitious fear.

About this time, moreover, a vessel that had been destined for Ponce de Leon, in his romantic quest of Florida, put into Vera Cruz with ammunition and military stores, which were soon forwarded to the valley. Thus strengthened by his renerved Indian auxiliaries, and reinforced with Spanish powder and guns, CortÉz was speedily again in train to assail the capital; for he was not content to be idle except when the most serious disasters forced him to endure the slow and murderous process of subduing the city by famine. There may, perhaps, be something noble and chivalrous in this feeling of the Castilian hero. His heart revolted at the sight of misery inflicted without a chance of escape, and it delighted in those conflicts which matched man with man, and gave the ultimate victory to valor and not to stratagem. Accordingly the conqueror resolved again to commence active hostilities. But, this time, he designed to permit no hazards of the moment, and no personal carelessness of his officers to obstruct his entry or egress from the city. As he advanced the town was to be demolished; the canals filled up; the breaches in the dykes perfectly repaired; and, as he moved onwards to the north and west, he determined that his path should be over a level and solid surface on which he might encounter none of the dangers that had hitherto proved so disastrous. The necessity of this course will be evident when it is recollected that all the houses were terraced with flat roofs and protecting parapets, which sheltered the assailants, whilst the innumerable canals bisecting the streets served as so many pitfalls for cavalry, footmen and Indians, when they became confused in the hurry of a promiscuous onset or retreat.

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Meanwhile the Aztecs within the city suffered the pangs of famine. The stores that had been gathered for the siege were gone. Human bodies, roots, rats, reptiles, served for a season, to assuage the famished stomachs of the starving crowds;—when suddenly, CortÉz despatched three Aztec nobles to Guatemozin, who were instructed to praise his defence, to assure him he had saved the honor of himself and soldiery, and to point out the utter uselessness of longer delay in submitting to inevitable fate. The message of the conqueror was weighed by the court with more favor than by the proud and spirited Emperor, whose patriotic bosom burned at the disgraceful proposal of surrender. The priests turned the tide against the white men; and, after two days, the answer to the summons came in a warlike sortie from the city which well nigh swept the Spanish defenders from the dykes. But cannon and musketry were too strong for mere numbers. The vessels poured in their volumes of iron hail on the flanks, and the last dread effort of defensive despair expired before the unflinching firmness of the Castilian squadrons. At length, CortÉz believed that the moment for final action had arrived. He gave orders for the advance of the several corps of the army simultaneously by their several causeways; and although it pained him greatly to destroy a capital which he deemed "the gem of the world," yet he put into execution his resolve to raze the city to its foundation unless it surrendered at discretion. The number of laborers was increased daily by the hosts that flocked like vultures to the carcase of an expiring victim. The palaces, temples and dwellings were plundered, thrown down, and cast into the canals The water was entirely excluded from the city. On all sides there was fast and level land. But the Mexicans were not mere idle, contemptible spectators of their imperial city's ruin. Day after day squadrons sallied from the remains of the capital, and engaged the harrassed invaders. Yet the indomitable constancy of the Spaniards was not to be resisted. CortÉz and Alvarado had toiled onward towards each other, from opposite sides, till they met. The palace of Guatemozin fell and was burned. The district of Tlatelolco, in the north of the city, was reached, and the great market-place secured. One of the great Teocallis, in this quarter, was stormed, its sanctuaries burned, and the standard of Castile placed on its summit. Havoc, death, ruin, starvation, despair, hatred, were every where manifest. Every hour added to the misery of the numerous and retreating Aztecs who were pent up, as the besieging circle narrowed and narrowed by its advances. Women remained three days and nights up to their necks in water among the reeds. Hundreds died daily. Others became insane from famine and thirst.

The conqueror hoped, for several days, that this disastrous condition of the people would have induced the Emperor to come to terms; but, failing in this, he resolved upon a general assault. Before he resorted to this dreadful alternative, which his chivalrous heart taught him could result only in the slaughter of men so famished, dispirited and broken, he once more sought an interview with the Emperor. This was granted; but, at the appointed time, Guatemozin did not appear. Again the appeal was renewed, and, again, was CortÉz disappointed in the arrival of the sovereign. Nothing, then, remained for him but an assault, and, as may readily be imagined, the carnage in this combined attack of Spaniards and confederate Indians was indescribably horrible. The long endurance of the Aztecs; their prolonged resistance and cruelty to the Spaniards; the dreadful sacrifice of the captives during the entire period of the siege; the memory of the first expulsion, and the speedy hope of golden rewards, nerved the arms and hearts of these ferocious men, and led them on, in the work of revenge and conquest, until the sun sunk and night descended on the tragic scene.

On the 13th of August, 1521, the last appeal was made by CortÉz to the Emperor for a surrender of his capital. After the bloody scenes of the preceding day, and the increased misery of the last night, it was not to be imagined that even insane patriotism or savage madness could induce the sovereign to refrain from saving, at least, the unfortunate non-combatants who still were loyal to his throne and person. But the judgment of the conqueror was wrong. "Guatemozin would die where he was!" was the reply of the royal stoic.

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Again the infuriate troops were let loose, and again were the scenes of the day before re-enacted on the bloody theatre. Many escaped in boats by the lake; but the brave or reckless Guatemozin, who seems, at the last moment, to have changed his mind as to perishing, was taken prisoner and brought, with his family, into the presence of CortÉz. As soon as his noble figure and dignified face were seen on the azotÉa or terraced roof, beside the conqueror, the battle ceased. The Indians beheld their monarch captive! And she who had witnessed the beginning of these adventures,—who had followed the fortunes of the General through all their vicissitudes—the gentle but brave Indian girl—Mariana—stood by the intrepid CortÉz to act as his interpreter in this last scene of the splendid and eventful drama.

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It was on the following day that the Mexicans who still survived the slaughter and famine, evacuated the city. It was a desert—but a desert covered with dead. The men who rushed in to plunder,—plundered as if robbing graves. Between one and two hundred thousand people perished during the three months' siege, and their festering bodies tainted the air. The booty, though considerable, was far beneath the expectations of the conquerors; yet there was doubtless enough to reward amply the stout men at arms who had achieved a victory unparalleled in the annals of modern warfare.

"What I am going to say is truth, and I swear, and say Amen to it!"—exclaims Bernal Diaz del Castillo, in his quaint style—"I have read of the destruction of Jerusalem, but I cannot conceive that the mortality there exceeded that of Mexico; for all the people from the distant provinces, which belonged to this empire, had concentrated themselves here, where they mostly died. The streets, and squares, and houses, and the courts of the Tlatelolco were covered with dead bodies; we could not step without treading on them; the lake and canals were filled with them, and the stench was intolerable.

"When all those who had been able, quitted the city, we went to examine it, which was as I have described; and some poor creatures were crawling about in different stages of the most offensive disorders, the consequences of famine and improper food. There was no water; the ground had been torn up and the roots gnawed. The very trees were stripped of their bark; yet, notwithstanding they usually devoured their prisoners, no instance occurred when, amidst all the famine and starvation of this siege, they preyed upon each other. [8] The remnant of the population went, at the request of the conquered Guatemozin, to the neighboring villages, until the town could be purified and the dead removed."