Ch. I.]

TORTURE OF GUATEMOZIN.

235

his anguish by his groans, Guatemozin coldly re-buked him by exclaiming, “ And do you think I,then, am taking my pleasure in my bath! ” 1 Atlength Cortes, ashamed of the base part he was ledto play, rescued the Aztec prince from his torment-ors before it was too late ; — not, however, before itwas too late for his own honor, which has sufferedan indelible stain from this treatment of his royalprisoner.

All that could be wrung from Guatemozin by theextremity of his sufferings was the confession, thatmuch gold had been thrown into the water. But,although the best divers were employed, under theeye of Cortés himself, to search the oozy bed of thelake, only a few articles of inconsiderable value weredrawn from it. They had better fortune in search-ing a pond in Guatemozin’s gardens, where a sun,as it is called, probably one of the Aztec calendarwheels, made of pure gold, of great size and thick-ness, was discovered. The cacique of Tacuba hadconfessed that a quantity of treasure was buried inthe ground at one of his own villas. But, when theSpaniards carried him to the spot, he alleged that“ his only motive for saying so was the hope of dy-ing on the road ! ” The soldiers, disappointed intheir expectations, now, with the usual caprice of anunlicensed mob, changed their tone, and openly ac-cused their commander of cruelty to his captive.

1 “ ¿Estoi yo en algún deleite, so poetical as “the bed of flow-ó baño? ” (Gomara, Crónica, cap. ers,” into which this exclamation145.) The literal version is not of Guatemozin is usually rendered.