Now, how would it be if these chanced to pick a quarrel with the nobles ?' 'I do not know why you should speak thus, Teule, for surely these white men are not cowardly murderers, still I take your words as an omen, and though the feast must be held, for see already the nobles gather, I will not share in it.' 'You are wise, Guatemoc,' I said.

'I am sure that you are wise.' Afterwards Otomie, Guatemoc, and I went into the garden of the palace and sat upon the crest of a small pyramid, a teocalli in miniature that Montezuma had built for a place of outlook on the market and the courts of the temple.

From this spot we saw the dancing of the Aztec nobles, and heard the song of the musicians.

It was a gay sight, for in the bright sunlight their feather dresses flashed like coats of gems, and none would have guessed how it was to end.

Mingling with the dancers were groups of Spaniards clad in mail and armed with swords and matchlocks, but I noted that, as the time went on, these men separated themselves from the Indians and began to cluster like bees about the gates and at various points under the shadow of the Wall of Serpents.
'Now what may this mean ?' I said to Guatemoc, and as I spoke, I saw a Spaniard wave a white cloth in the air.