The appalling and unnecessary slaughter at Cholula has called down upon the heads of Cortes and the Spaniards the execration of historians. Some have endeavoured to excuse or palliate it, but it remains as one of the indelible stains of the Spanish _Conquistadores_ upon the history they were making. Having accomplished this "punitive" act, an image of the Virgin was set up on the summit of the great pyramidal temple, and some order restored. "They are now your Highness's faithful vassals," wrote Cortes to the king of Spain! After this the way seemed clear. Far on the horizon loomed the white, snow-capped cones of Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl, beautiful and pure above the deserts, the canyons, and the forests beneath them--the gateway to Mexico. From the foremost, above its snow-cap, there belched forth a great column of smoke, for at that period Popocatepetl was an active volcano. Onwards the Spaniards pressed with buoyant hearts and eager feet, and when they stood upon the summit of the range their eyes beheld the beautiful valley of Mexico, the haven for which they had long toiled and fought, stretched below. There, shimmering in distance, lay the strange, unknown city of the Aztecs, like a gem upon the borders of its lakes: its towers and buildings gleaming white in the brilliant sun of the tropic upland beneath the azure firmament and brought to deceptive nearness by the clear atmosphere of that high environment. There at last was their longed-for goal, the mysterious Tenochtitlan. CHAPTER V THE FALL OF THE LAKE CITY The Valley of Mexico--The City and the Causeways--The _Conquistadores_ enter Mexico City--Meeting of Cortes and Montezuma--Greeting of the Aztec emperor to the Spaniards--Tradition of Quetzalcoatl--Splendid reception--The Teocalli--Spanish duplicity--Capture of Montezuma-- Spanish gambling--News from Vera Cruz--Forced march to the coast-- Cortes defeats Narvaez--Bad news from Mexico--Back to the capital-- Alvarado's folly--Barbarous acts of the Spaniards--The fight on the pyramid--Destruction of Aztec idols--Death of Montezuma--Spaniards flee from the city--Frightful struggle on the Causeway--Alvarado's leap--The _Noche Triste_--Battle of Otumba--Marvellous victory--Spanish recuperation--Cuitlahuac and Guatemoc--Fresh operations against the capital--Building of the brigantines--Aztec tenacity--Expedition to Cuernavaca--Xochimilco--Attack upon the city--Struggles and reverses-- Sacrifice of Spaniards--Desertion of the Allies--Return of the Allies-- Renewed attacks--Fortitude of the Aztecs--The famous catapult-- Sufferings of the Aztecs--Final attack--Appalling slaughter--Ferocious Tlascalans--Fall of Mexico.