CHAPTER XXXIV. THE CONQUEST ACHIEVED. July-August , 1521.

realms of strength and inclination. What then could be expected of an age and nation wherein it was not uncommon to cloak crime under the fair garb of religion. Hitherto came the Spaniards to murder and to rob: to rob and murder in the name of charity and sweet heaven. No excuses were necessary, however convenient to that end came the appeals of the Cempoalans groaning under terrible oppression at the hand of a race delighting in blood and extortion; a race which within two centuries had risen from a degrading servitude largely by means of intrigue and treachery; a race stamped with ignoble characteristics born of serfdom, and eager to retaliate on others for their past humiliation, yet energetic, enterprising, and advancing with rapid strides along the pathway of indigenous culture. Ambitious to rule, they sent their armies to bring province after province under the yoke. Rapacious collectors followed to press the substance out of the people, for the appetite of themselves and their masters. Confiscation, enslavement, and desolation marched in the train, and the fairest hopes of the land were dragged away in bondage, and to bleed on the stone of sacrifice.