The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1923-09-12
CAPTAINS OF
ADVENTURE
By ROGER POCOCK
By ROGER POCOCK
Copyright By obb sAerrnC Company
THE OF MEXICO
A. D. 1919

"Hernando Cortes spent an idle and
Improbable youth"
So did l.. And every other duffer
Is with me In being pleased with Cor
ties for setting an example. We, not
the good boys, need a little eneour
agement.
He was seven years old when Column
bus found the Indies. That was a
time when boys hurried to get grown
up and join the search for the FaNn-
tain of Youth, the trail 20 Eldorado.
All who had time TO sleep dreamed
tremendous dreams.
Cortes became a %colonist In Cuba,
a sore puzzle to the rascal in com
mand. When he clapped Cortes in
Irons the youngster slipped free and
defied him. When he gave Cortes
command of an expedition the fellow
checked him. When he tried TO arrest
him the bird had flown, and was de-
clared an outlaw.
The soldiers and seamen Of the ex-
petition We're Mortified by this adyen-
turer who landed them in newly dis
covered Mexico, then sank the ships
lest they should wish to go home. They
stood in the deadly miSts of the trop-
ic plains, and far above them Slowed
the Star of the Sea, white Orizaba
crowned with polar SHOWS They
marched up a hill a mile and a half
in sheer height through many zones
of climate. and every circumstance of
pain and famine to the edge of a pla-
teau crowned by immense volcanoes.
a land of plenty. densely peopled. full
Of opulent cities. They found that
this realm was ruled by an emperor.
famous for his victorious wars. able.
IL seemed, to place a million warriors
In the field. and hungry for captiTes
to be first sacrificed to the gods, and
afterward eaten at the banquets of
the nobility and gentry. The temples
were actually fed with twenty thou
sand victims a year. The Spanish In
vading force of four hundred men be-
gan to feel uncomfortable.
Yet IL this Cortes puzzled the COVER
nor of Cuba, and Mortified his mea, he
paralyzed the Emperor Montezuma.
Hundreds of years ago a stranger had
come TO Mexico from the eastern sea.
q bearded man who taught the people
the arts OF civilized life. Then birds
first sans and flowers blossomed. the
fields were fruitful and the sun shone
in glory upon that plateau Of eternal
spring. The hero. B~ird-Serpent, was
remembered, loved and w%orshiped as
a god. It was known to all men that
as he had gone down into the east
ern sea so he would return again IN
later ages. Now the prophecy vas
fulfilled. He had come with his follow
ers, all bearded white men out of the
eastern sea in mysterious winged YES
sells. Bird-Serpent and his people were
dressed In cleaning armor. had weap-
ons that flashed lightning. were
mounted on terrible beasts-where
steel and guns and horses were un-
known: and Montezuma felt as We
should do if our land were invaded
by winged men riding dragons. To
the supernatural visitors the emperor
sent embassy after embassy, loaded
with treasure, begging the hero not
to approach his capital.
Set in the midst of Aontezuma's en-
pire was the poor valiant republic of
Tlascala, at everlasting war with the
Aztec nation. Invading this republic
Cortes was met by a horde of a hun
bred thousand warriors, whom he
thrashed in three engagements, and
when they were humbled, accepted as
allies against the Aztecs. Attended
by a Tlasealan force he entered the
ancient Aztec capital. Cholula. famed
for its temple. This is a s~tone-faeed
mound of rubble. four times the size
and half the height Of the Great Pyra-
mid, a ~forty-acre building larger by
four acres than any structure yet at
tempted by white men.
By the emperor's orders the Cholu-
lans welcomed the Spaniards, trapped
them within their city, and attacked
them. In reply. Cortes used their
temple as the scene Of a public mas
sacre. slaughtered three thousand men,
and having nus explained things.
marched on the City of Mexico.
In those days a salt lake, since
drained, filed the central hollow Of
the vale Of Mexico. and in the midst
of it stood the city built on piles, and
threaded with canals, a barbaric Ven
ice, larger, perhaps even grander than
Venice with its vast palace and gar
dens, and numberless mound temples
whose flaming affairs lighted the town
at night. Three causeways crossed
the lake and met just as they do to-
day at the central square. Here. Oh
the site OF the mound temple, stands
one Of the greatest of the worlds ca
thedrals, and across the square are
public buildings marking the site OF
Montezuma's palace, and that In which
he entertained the Spaniards. The
white men were astOnished at the zoo
logical gardens, the aviary, the float
ing market gardens on the lake, the
cleanliness of the streets, kept by a
thousand s~weepers, and a metropoli-
tan police which numbered ten thou
sand men, arrangements far in ad-
vance of any city of Europe. Then,
as now. the place was a great and
brilliant capital.