An army of twenty thousand mountain men waits upon your word, and when those are spent there are more to follow.' 'Well done, daughter of Montezuma, and you, white man,' gasped the dying king.

'The gods were wise when they refused you both upon the stone of sacrifice, and I was foolish when I would have slain you, Teule.

To you and all I say be of a steadfast heart, and if you must die, then die with honour.

The fray draws on, but I shall not share it, and who knows its end ?' Now he lay silent for a while, then of a sudden, as though an inspiration had seized him, he cast the sheet from his face and sat upon his couch, no pleasant sight to see, for the pestilence had done its worst with him.
'Alas!' he wailed, 'and alas! I see the streets of Tenoctitlan red with blood and fire, I see her dead piled up in heaps, and the horses of the Teules trample them.

I see the Spirit of my people, and her voice is sighing and her neck is heavy with chains.