Montezuma did not these things of himself, but because the hand of destiny worked with his hand, and the voice of destiny spoke in his voice.

The gods of the Aztecs were false gods indeed, but I for one believe that they had life and intelligence, for those hideous shapes of stone were the habitations of devils, and the priests spoke truth when they said that the sacrifice of men was pleasing to their gods.
To these devils the king went for counsel through the priests, and now this doom was on them, that they must give false counsel to their own destruction, and to the destruction of those who worshipped them, as was decreed by One more powerful than they.
Now while we were talking the sun had sunk swiftly, so that all the world was dark.

But the light still lingered on the snowy crests of the volcans Popo and Ixtac, staining them an awful red.

Never before to my sight had the shape of the dead woman whose everlasting bier is Ixtac's bulk, seemed so clear and wonderful as on that night, for either it was so or my fancy gave it the very shape and colour of a woman's corpse steeped in blood and laid out for burial.

Nor was it my phantasy alone, for when Montezuma had finished upbraiding me he chanced to look up, and his eyes falling on the mountain remained fixed there.
'Look now, Teule!' he said, presently, with a solemn laugh; 'yonder lies the corpse of the nations of Anahuac washed in a water of blood and made ready for burial.