The reception he met was unusually friendly and respectful. The Tlaxcalan auxiliaries, being sworn enemies of the Cholulans, were not allowed to enter the city and were obliged to occupy a convenient spot outside the walls. They had already learned from their European friends how to intrench themselves, and they at once put their knowledge into practice. After a few days of rest, events gradually occurred which confirmed the suspicions of the Tlaxcalans. Provisions were supplied sparingly, the authorities displayed more coolness, and Montezuma’s representatives had frequent interviews with them. Two Tlaxcalans shortly appeared, who had stolen into the city in disguise and informed Cortes they had seen a multitude of women and children fleeing by night to adjacent places and that they learned from them that six young children had been sacrificed in a principal temple,—a custom always observed when any hostile movement was to be undertaken. They advised him, therefore, to be on his guard against attack. While Cortes was now using the utmost watchfulness to discover the secret purposes of the Cholulans, chance suddenly revealed the whole matter. A prominent Cholulan woman had conceived an unusual attachment for Marina, the interpreter. She was anxious to save her new friend from the universal massacre, which had been planned, and told her confidentially of the bloody designs of her people so that she might escape before it was too late. Marina, who was both shrewd and heartily devoted to the Spaniards, pretended she would follow the warnings of the Indian woman and induced her to disclose the whole plot without reserve. She learned that upon the day fixed for the massacre a force of Mexican soldiers would be concealed in the neighborhood of Cholula, for the purpose of rushing in at the appointed time, obstructing the streets by filling them with holes, lightly covered, into which horses would stumble and fall, and conveying great quantities of stones and other missiles to the roofs of houses and temples to be showered down upon the Spaniards, thus making their destruction inevitable. Marina hastened to bring the news to her friend Cortes and the latter lost no time in devising means to prevent the disaster which threatened him. His first step was to persuade the Indian woman and two high priests by threats and bribes to make a full confession of the plot. Then he decided to set such an example of revenge that Montezuma and his followers would never again engage in such an undertaking. To effect this, he drew up his people and the Zempoalans in battle order in the courtyard of the large building which had been assigned him as quarters. The Tlaxcalans were instructed to enter the city when they heard the first shot and under various pretences decoy the principal Cholulan leaders to the Spanish quarters where they would be arrested. Everything being arranged, Cortes gave the signal for attack and the massacre began.