Presently the Spaniards are conducted to a separate court, wherein are assembled several hundred nobles and leading men, arrayed in rich costumes glittering with gold and precious stones. The centre of attraction is the new image of Huitzilopochtli, of tzoalli dough, its jacket wrought with human bones. Before this image the mazehualiztli dance now begins.29 Rings are formed round the music-stand, where two leaders direct the movements, the highest nobles and the most aged composing the inner circles, and the
younger men the outer. When all is ready the music strikes up lightly to a well known tune, and the dancers move off, chanting a song bearing on the event of the day, and on gods and kings.30 Forewarned as the Spaniards are, they see treason in every act and word, and many who understand somewhat the Aztec language declare that the songs bear distinct allusions to the intended uprising.
As the dance progresses a few of the soldiers, together with a number of Tlascaltecs, take possession of the different entrances, while the rest distribute themselves in suitable positions and watch for the signal.31 Instructed by his native