While Cortés was thus risking all on the cast of fortune at Cempoala the troops at Mexico had been exposed to even greater perils. At the time of his departure for the coast, Toxcatl, the fifth month, had begun, and with it the most solemn festival of the year. It was in honor of Tezcatlipoca, the highest of the divinities, and identified with a supreme god, although less conspicuous in the daily worship of the people, for they appealed rather to the nearer minor deities, whom they regarded as intercessors, than to their supreme divinity, whom they greatly feared, and who was very far away. The Mexicans had been permitted to hold the celebration in the great temple, which had
been partly dedicated to Christian worship, on condition that no human sacrifices should take place.14 A festival of this prominence could not fail to recall with all its force to the natives the indignities to which they and their gods had been subjected. We have seen how narrowly an uprising on account of the occupation of the great temple by strange religious emblems was escaped, and how it was restrained only by the promise of the speedy departure of the Spaniards. Before Cortés had left the capital he saw the smouldering fire, and it was this that led him to strengthen the defences of the fort, to obtain extra supplies from Tlascala, and to enjoin the strictest watchfulness and moderation.
The hostile feeling was by no means diminished by the tidings of another larger host of invaders with doubtful motives. At a meeting of native leaders it was admitted that the promises and statements of the newly arrived Spaniards could no more be relied upon than those of the deceitful Malinche, and the deferred proposition to drive out or to kill the Spaniards was renewed with ardor. A better opportunity for carrying out such a measure could never again be found. The great Cortés with his cunning controlling mind was absent. There remained only a small