Xelahuh was found deserted, and here Alvarado rested three days to remove the rusting blood from his arms. Then came the news that another Quiché army (Alvarado writes to Cortez that it was composed of twelve thousand men from Utatlan and countless numbers from the neighboring towns) was approaching; and the Spaniards marched out to meet them on the magnificent plain between Quezaltenango and Totonicapan. This was the decisive battle, and marvellous are the Indian legends gathering around it. Over the head of Tecum, the Quiché commander, hovered a gigantic quetzal (the _nagual_ of the chief), who savagely attacked the Spanish general. At last the Spanish lance killed the bird, and at the same moment the unfortunate Tecum fell lifeless at the feet of the Conquistador. In his report to Cortez, Alvarado writes: “That day I killed and captured many people, many of them captains and persons of rank.” All the prisoners taken in this war (both men and women) were branded on the cheek and thigh and sold as slaves at public auction, a fifth of their price belonging to the King of Spain. The last army of the noble Quichés being destroyed, and their utmost efforts being unavailing to turn aside the destroyers of their country, it is not difficult to imagine the terror in Utatlan or the hurried counsels of the two kings. In desperation they decided to sacrifice their city, if they might destroy at the same time these invincible Spaniards. The enemy was to be lured within the walls, and the only two means of entrance closed, and then the thatched and wooden roofs were to be fired, and so the imprisoned enemy destroyed. It was an effective plan, and might have been successful with a less wary general than Alvarado. He discovered the plot after he had entered Utatlan; but feigning friendship, he managed to get out of the city on the plea that his horses could not bear the paved streets, and the next morning begged the honor of a visit from the two kings. Oxib-Queh and Beleheb-Tzi came with a considerable retinue of nobles, and Alvarado received them with pretended friendship. When all the preparations were made, a party of soldiers loaded the guests with chains, and then their host bitterly reproached them (the poor heathen) for their plot. By a court-martial they were condemned to be burned alive. This horrible sentence was carried out, and during Holy Week, April, 1524, the last legitimate sovereigns of the most powerful nation in Central America perished in the flames. Bishop Marroquin named the city that succeeded Utatlan, Santa Cruz (holy cross), because the Indian capital was captured on Good Friday! Alvarado wrote to Cortez: “That I might bring them to the service of His Majesty, I determined to burn the lords; ... and for the well-being and peace of this land I burned them (_yo los quemé_), and commanded their city to be burned and razed to its foundations.”