Next morning, when told that two of the Aztec captives had broken their bonds and escaped, the Totonacs were more urgent than ever for the immolation of the others. But Cortés again said no, and arranged that they should be sent in chains on board one of his vessels, determined afterward to release them, for they were worth far more to his purpose alive than dead.
It is refreshing at this juncture to hear pious people censure Cortés for his duplicity, and to hear other pious people defend him on the ground of necessity, or otherwise. Such men might with equal reason wrangle over the method by which it was right and honorable for the tiger to spring and seize the hind. The one great wrong is lost sight of in the discussion of numerous lesser wrongs. The murderer of an empire should not be too severely criticised for crushing a gnat while on the way about the business.42
At the suggestion of Cortés, messengers were sent to all the towns of the province, with orders to stop the payment of tribute and to seize the collectors, but to spare their lives. Information was likewise to be given to the neighboring nations, that all might prepare to resist the force which Montezuma would probably send against them. The Totonacs became