Produced by Julia Miller, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) THE INFIDEL; OR, THE FALL OF MEXICO. A ROMANCE. BY THE AUTHOR OF "CALAVAR." SECOND EDITION. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. II. Philadelphia: CAREY, LEA & BLANCHARD. 1835. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1835, by CAREY, LEA & BLANCHARD, in the Clerk's office of the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. PHILADELPHIA C. SHERMAN & CO. PRINTERS, NO. 19 ST. JAMES STREET. --Un esforcado soldado, que se dezia _Lerma_--Se fue entre los Indios como aburrido de temor del mismo Cortes, a quien avia ayudado a salvar la vida, por ciertas cosas de enojo que Cortes contra el tuvo, que aqui no declaro por su honor: nunca mas supimos del vivo, ni muerto, mala suspecha tuvimos. BERNAL DIAZ DEL CASTILLO--_Hist. Verd. de la Conqista_. No hay mal que por bien no venga, Dicen adagios vulgares. CALPERON--_La Dama Duende_. THE INFIDEL. CHAPTER I. Before sunrise on the following morning, many a feathered band of allies from distant tribes was pouring into Tezcuco; for this was the day on which the Captain-General had appointed to review his whole force, assign the several divisions to the command of his favourite officers, and expound the system of warfare, by which he expected to reduce the doomed Tenochtitlan. The multitudes that were collected by midday would be beyond our belief, did we not know that the royal valley, and every neighbouring nook of Anahuac capable of cultivation, were covered by a population almost as dense as that which makes an ant-heap of the 'Celestial Empire,' at this day. While they were thus congregating together, marshalled under their native chiefs, emulously expressing their attachment to the Spaniard, and their enthusiasm in his cause, by the horrible clamour of drums and conches, Cortes was receiving, in the great Hall of Audience, the compliments and reverence of those cavaliers, distinguished soldiers, and valiant infidel princes, whom he had invited to the feast, with which he marked the close of his mighty preparations and the beginning of his not less arduous campaign.