THE END OF GUATEMOC Now for a while we dwelt in quiet at the City of Pines, and by slow degrees and with much suffering I recovered from the wounds that the cruel hand of de Garcia had inflicted upon me.

But we knew that this peace could not last, and the people of the Otomie knew it also, for had they not scourged the envoys of Malinche out of the gates of their city?
Many of them were now sorry that this had been done, but it was done, and they must reap as they had sown.
So they made ready for war, and Otomie was the president of their councils, in which I shared.

At length came news that a force of fifty Spaniards with five thousand Tlascalan allies were advancing on the city to destroy us.

Then I took command of the tribesmen of the Otomie--there were ten thousand or more of them, all well-armed after their own fashion--and advanced out of the city till I was two-thirds of the way down the gorge which leads to it.

But I did not bring all my army down this gorge, since there was no room for them to fight there, and I had another plan.