CHOLULA THE SACRED
lent a sombre and sinister tone to the otherwise joyous city.
Here Quetzalcoatl, the benignant, had rested on his way to the coast, and here was erected in his honour a pyramid, great as that of Cheops, crowned with a temple. Hither flocked thousands of pilgrims to worship. Gorgeous was the image of the Fair God; round his neck was a collar of gold, from his ears hung pendants of turquoise, in one hand he bore a jewelled sceptre, in the other a painted shield with his device as lord of the air and the winds, while from his mitre sprang plumes of undying fire.
When the Spaniards had been entertained for two days in the spacious city, some Mexican nobles arrived who spoke privately to the Cholulan chiefs and then withdrew. The caciques who had been so friendly now became cold and haughty, and the supply of provisions ceased. The streets were almost deserted, and "the few inhabitants that we saw also," says Bernal Diaz, " avoided us with a mysterious kind of sneer on their faces." The Totonacs, who had wandered through the town, declared that the roads had been barricaded, and that stones and weapons had been placed on the roofs of the houses. Cortés grew anxious, and now an incident occurred which verified his worst fears.
The wife of one of the Cholulan caciques who had taken a great fancy to Doña Marina came one day to the Spanish quarters, eagerly begging that the Aztec girl should visit her house. When Marina refused, darkly whispered the Cholulan woman, "A fearful fate will befall you if you do not come." Suspecting
