He now addressed the monarch in a tone very different from that which he
had employed on former occasions, and a conversation ensued, very much
resembling that between the wolf and the lamb, in the fable, which you
no doubt remember.

Cortez bitterly reproached him as the author of the violent assault made
by the Mexican general upon the Spaniards, and with having caused the
death of some of his companions.

Montezuma, with great earnestness, asserted his innocence, but Cortez
affected not to believe him, and proposed that, as a proof of his
sincerity, he should remove from his own palace, and take up his
residence in the Spanish quarters.

The first mention of so strange a proposal almost bereaved Montezuma of
speech; at length he haughtily answered "That persons of his rank were
not accustomed voluntarily to give themselves up as prisoners, and were
he mean enough to do so, his subjects would not permit such an affront
to be offered to their sovereign."

Cortez now endeavoured to soothe, and then to intimidate him, and in
this way the altercation continued three hours, when Velasquez de Leon,
an impetuous young man exclaimed, "Why waste more time in vain? Let us
seize him instantly, or stab him to the heart." The threatening voice
and fierce gesture with which these words were uttered, struck Montezuma
with a sense of his danger, and abandoning himself to his fate, he
complied with their request: his officers were called, he communicated
to them his resolution. Though astonished and affected, they presumed
not to question the will of their master, but carried him in silent