Aztec

ever been any hope that he might someday wield his own drumsticks, so to speak, that hope vanished when he relinquished to Cortes the resolution of the Cuaupopoca affair.

For our war chief Cuitlahuac soon afterward ascertained what Cuaupopoca had in fact achieved—an advantage that could have put the white men and all their allies at our mercy—and Cuitlahuac used no brotherly words in telling how Motecuzoma had so hastily and weakly and disgracefully thrown away the one best chance for saving The One World. That revelation of his latest and worst mistake drained away any strength or will or lordliness still inherent in the Revered Speaker. He became a hollow drum indeed, too flabby even to make a noise when beaten. Meanwhile, as Motecuzoma dwindled into lethargy and enfeeblement, Cortes stood taller and bolder. After all, he had demonstrated that he held a power of life and death, even inside the stronghold of the Mexica. He had snatched from near-extinction his Vera Cruz settlement and his ally Patzinca, not to mention himself and all the men with him. So he did not hesitate to make of Motecuzoma the outrageous demand that he voluntarily submit to his own abduction.

'I am not a prisoner. You can see that,' said Motecuzoma, the first time he summoned the Speaking Council and me and some other lords to call upon him in his displaced throne room. 'There is ample space here for my whole court, and comfortable chambers for us all, and ample facilities for me to continue conducting the affairs of the nation—in which, I assure you, the white men have no voice. Your own presence at this moment is evidence that my counselors and priests and messengers have free access to me and I to them, without any of the outlanders present. Neither will they interfere with our religious observances, even those requiring sacrifices. In brief, our lives will go on exactly as always. I made the Captain-General give me those guarantees before I agreed to the change of residence.'

'But why agree at all?' asked the Snake Woman, in an anguished voice. 'It was not seemly, my lord. It was not necessary.'

'Not necessary, perhaps, but expedient,' said Motecuzoma. 'Since the white men entered my domains, my own people or allies have twice made attempts on their lives and property—first at Chololan, more recently on the coast. Cortes does not hold me to blame, since those attempts were made either in defiance or in ignorance of my promise of truce. But such things could happen again. I myself have warned Cortes that many of our people resent the white men's presence. Any aggravation of that resentment might make our people forget their obedience to me, and rise up again in troublesome disorder.'

'If Cortes is concerned about our people's resentment of him,' said a Council elder, 'he can easily allay it. He can go home.'

Motecuzoma said, 'I told him exactly that, but of course it is impossible. He has no means of doing so until, as he expects, his King Carlos sends more ships. In the meantime, if he and I are resident in the same palace, it demonstrates two things: that I trust Cortes to do me no harm, and that I trust my people not to provoke him into doing harm to anybody. So those people should be less inclined to cause any further contention. It was for that reason that Cortes requested my being his guest here.'

'His prisoner,' said Cuitlahuac, almost sneering.

'I am not a prisoner,' Motecuzoma insisted again. 'I am still your Uey-Tlatoani, still the ruler of this nation, still the chief partner in The Triple Alliance. I have made only this minor accommodation to insure the keeping of peace between us and the white men until they depart.'

I said, 'Excuse me, Revered Speaker. You seem confident that they will go. How do you know? When will it be?'

He gave me a look of wishing I had not asked. 'They will go when they have the ships to take them. And I know they will go because I have promised that they can take with them what they came for.'

There was a short silence; then someone said, 'Gold.'

'Yes. Much gold. When the white soldiers were assisting in my change of residence, they searched my palace with great thoroughness. They discovered the treasury chambers, although I had taken the precaution of walling over the doors of them, and—'

He was interrupted by cries of chagrin from most of the men present, and Cuitlahuac demanded, 'You will give them the nation's treasury?'

'Only the gold,' said Motecuzoma defensively. 'And the more valuable gems. It is all they are interested in. They care nothing for plumes and dyes and jadestones and rare flower seeds and the like. Those stores we will keep, and those riches will adequately sustain the nation while we work and fight and increase our tribute demands to make up the treasury's depletion.'

'But to give it away!' someone wailed.

'Know this,' Motecuzoma went on. 'The white men could demand that, and the wealth of every single noble besides, as the price of their departure. They could make it a cause of war, and call for their mainland allies to help them take it from us. I prefer to avert any such ugliness by offering the gold and jewels as a seeming gesture of generosity.'

The Snake Woman said between his teeth, 'Even as High Treasurer of the nation, ostensibly the keeper of the treasure my lord is giving away, I must concede that it would be a small price to pay for the expulsion of the outlanders. But I remind my lord: every other time they have been given gold, they have only been stimulated to want more.'

'I have no more to give, and I believe I have convinced them of that truth. Except for what gold is in circulation as trade currency, or in the keeping of private individuals, there is no more in the Mexica lands. Our treasury of gold represents the collection of sheaves and sheaves of years. It is the hoard of all our past Revered Speakers. It would take lifetimes to scratch even a fraction more from the earth of our lands. I have also made the gift conditional. They do not take it until they depart from here, and they are to take it directly to their King Carlos, as a personal gift from me to him—a gift of all the treasure we have. Cortes is satisfied, and so am I, and so will their King Carlos be. When the white men leave, they will not come back.'

None of us said anything to dispute that—until after we had been dismissed and had passed through the palace gate in the Snake Wall and were making across the plaza.

Someone said, 'This is intolerable. The Cem-Anahuac Uey-Tlatoini being held prisoner by those filthy and stinking barbarians.'

Someone else said, 'No. Motecuzoma is right. He is not a prisoner. All the rest of us are. As long as he meekly sits hostage, no other Mexicatl dares even to spit on a white man.'

Someone else said, 'Motecuzoma has surrendered himself and the proud independence of the Mexica and the bulk of our treasury. If the white men's ships are long in coming, who can say what he will surrender next?'

And then someone said what was in all our minds: 'In the entire history of the Mexica, no Uey-Tlatoani has ever been deposed while he still lives. Not even Ahuitzotl, when he was totally incapable of ruling.'

'But a regency was appointed to act in his name, and it worked well enough while it bridged the succession.'

'Cortes might take it into his head to kill Motecuzoma at any time. Who knows the white men's whims? Or Motecuzoma might die of his own self-loathing. He looks ready to.'

'Yes, the throne might suddenly be left vacant. If we make provision for that eventuality, we would also have a provisional ruler standing ready... in case Motecuzoma's behavior becomes such that we must depose him by order of the Speaking Council.'

'It should be decided and arranged in secret. Let us spare Motecuzoma the humiliation until and unless there is no choice. Also, Cortes must not be given any least reason to suspect that his precious hostage can suddenly be rendered worthless to him.'

The Snake Woman turned to Cuitlahuac, who had until then made no remark at all, and said, using his lordly title, 'Cuitlahuatzin, as the Speaker's brother you would normally be the first candidate considered as his successor on his death. Would you accept the title and responsibility of regent if, in formal conclave, we determine that such a post should be created?'

Cuitlahuac walked on some paces farther, frowning in meditation. At last he said, 'It would grieve me to usurp the power of my own brother while he lives. But in truth, my lords, I fear he now only half lives, and has already abdicated most of his power. Yes, if and when the Speaking Council may decide that our nation's survival depends on it, I will rule in whatever capacity is asked of me.'

As it happened, there was no immediate need for an overthrow of Motecuzoma, or any other such drastic action. Indeed, for a considerable while, it seemed that Motecuzoma had been right to counsel that we all simply be