We had not been long here before our outposts brought intelligence that twenty Indians were approaching, who, to judge from their bearing, must either be caziques or men of distinction, and seemed to be coming with some message or to sue for peace. They proved, indeed, to be the caziques of the town, who approached Cortes with the utmost veneration, handed over to him a present in gold, and begged pardon for their recent behaviour towards us. In excuse for not having come earlier to demand peace of us, they said that Quauhtemoctzin had secretly commanded them to treat us as enemies, and that they had not been able to avoid this as their town formed one of the fortifications of the country, and was occupied by a Mexican garrison. They were now, continued they, convinced, that there was no fortification we could not take, and it was therefore their sincere wish to become friendly with us. Cortes was very kind to these caziques, and spoke to them of our emperor, and of his mercy to all those who willingly obeyed him; and it was in his name he now acknowledged them as his subjects. I still remember the extraordinary expression these caziques made use of on this occasion; namely, that our gods in punishment for their not having sued earlier for peace, had given their gods authority to chastise their persons and deprive them of their property.[16] CHAPTER CXLV. _The terrible thirst we suffered on our further march; our dangerous position at Xochimilco, and the many battles we fought there with the Mexicans, until our return to Tezcuco._ From Cuernavaca we marched towards Xochimilco, a large town lying about eleven miles from Mexico,[17] and of which the greater part was built in the water. On our march we adopted our usual military precautions, and arrived at a forest of pine trees, without being able to obtain a single drop of water all the way. Our arms were very heavy, and the day, which had been exceedingly hot, was now far spent, and we were almost parched with thirst, yet we had still several miles to go, nor did we know for certain whether we should find the wells, which, it was said, lay further on. By this time the whole of our troops were almost exhausted with fatigue, and our Tlascallan friends lost all courage after one of their countrymen and an old Spaniard died of thirst. Cortes, observing the great distress we were in, ordered us to halt under the shade of the pine trees, and despatched six of our horse in advance, along the road leading to Xochimilco, in search of some town or village where it was said we should find the wells, as our general proposed to encamp near them for the night.