who, he said, was the mightiest in the world, and he demanded of the embassadors how soon he could march into the interior and deliver his embassy to their own king, Montezuma. The two Mexican lords were astonished, as well as offended, at the impudence of this audacious leader of a band of vagrants, that he should speak so lightly of his sacred majesty, Montezuma, and one of them, the lord Teuhtlile, haughtily replied: "How is this? You are but just arrived, and yet you talk of seeing our monarch. I have listened with pleasure to what you have told me concerning the grandeur and bounty of your sovereign; but, know ye, our king is not less bountiful and great. I rather wonder that there should exist another in the world more powerful than he; but as you assert it I will make it known to my sovereign, from whose goodness I trust that he will not only have pleasure in receiving intelligence of that great prince, but will likewise do honor to his embassador. Accept, in the meantime, this present which I offer you in his name." Thereupon, the Mexican lord presented Cortez with some beautifully wrought pieces of gold, ten loads of fine cotton mantles, and a great supply of provisions.
In return,—and how it disgusts one to read of the paltry baubles the Spaniards, these adventurers who boasted so loudly of the magnificence of their sovereign, sent in return,—Cortez gave the Mexican an old arm-chair, painted and carved, some glass beads and a crimson cap with a gold medal on it representing St. George killing the dragon! These, this impudent braggart, in a grandiloquent speech, begged the embassador he would present the great Montezuma in the name of the King of Spain, and at the same time request him to name a time when he could wait on him.
One of the soldiers had on a gilded helmet, which the embassador observed resembled one upon the head of
