Cortez tried to make peace, but the Mexicans would not listen to him. In a few days the fighting began all over the city, and the streets were stained with the blood of tens of thousands. Then Cortez compelled Montezuma to go upon the top of the palace, in front of the great square, and ask his people to make peace with the Spaniards. The Aztecs worshipped Montezuma as a god, and when they saw him standing on the palace roof, they dropped their weapons on the ground, and every head was bowed with reverence. But when he asked them to make peace with the Spaniards, they grew very angry and immediately began fighting again. Montezuma was wounded twice by their arrows, which so alarmed the Aztecs, that they stopped fighting again; but soon the battle re-commenced, and in a few days Cortez was compelled to leave the city. In the meantime, Montezuma had died in the Spanish camp; the Spaniards had treated him kindly toward the end, and had nursed his wounds, but he refused to take any food, and died at last from a broken heart. Cortez now saw that there would have to be a great battle fought, so he made ready his men. On the morning of the battle he looked out from his camp and saw the Mexican soldiers extending as far as the eye could reach; he trembled when he saw this great army of men, knowing that his own troops were few, but he resolved to conquer or die. Without giving his men time to think, he began to attack the enemy; at first the Aztecs gave way, but others came in their stead, for the whole valley was lined with armed Indians. The Spaniards gave up hope, and prepared to die, but just then, Cortez advanced to the Mexican standard-bearer and snatched the sacred standard from his hand. The Mexicans believed that on this standard depended the fate of every battle, and that if it were captured, there was no use in fighting any longer. Cortez knew this, and when they saw it in his hands, they threw down their arms and fled to the mountains, and thus the Spaniards won the battle. And so Cortez conquered Mexico, and all its vast wealth passed into the hands of the Spaniards; its fertile valleys and rich plains, its beautiful capital and prosperous villages, its great mines of gold and silver, its thousands and thousands of inhabitants, all became the property of the King of Spain, a man who cared nothing for the conquered people, but thought only of the great wealth that had so unjustly become his. The gold and silver mines of Mexico were then the richest in the world, and the conquered Aztecs were obliged to work in these mines as slaves, but the gold and silver was no longer used to ornament their temples and palaces; it was sent across the sea to Spain, who thought more of gold than she did of honor or justice.