At this time, three of our Chempoallan allies called Cortes aside, and told him that they had discovered several pitfals close to our quarters, covered over with wood and earth, and that on examining one of these they found its bottom provided with sharpened stakes. They informed him also that all the terraces of the houses near our quarters had been recently provided with parapets of sod, and great quantities of stones collected on them, and that a strong barricade of timber had been erected across one of the streets. Eight Tlascalans arrived also from their army on the outside of the town, who warned Cortes that an attack was intended against us, as the priests of Cholula had sacrificed eight victims on the preceding night to their god of war, five of whom were children; and that they had seen crowds of women and children withdrawing from the city with their valuable effects, all of which were sure signs of some impending commotion. Cortes thanked the Tlascalans for this instance of their fidelity, and sent them back to the camp with orders to their chiefs to hold themselves in readiness for any emergency. He then returned to the chiefs and priests, to whom he repeated his former orders, warning them not to deviate from their obedience, on pain of instant condign punishment, commanding them at the same time to prepare 2000 of their best warriors to accompany him next day on his march to Mexico. The chiefs readily promised to obey all his commands, thinking in this manner to facilitate their projected treachery, and took their leave. Cortes then employed Donna Marina to bring back the two priests who had been with him before, from whom he learnt, that Montezuma had been lately very unsettled in his intentions towards us, sometimes giving orders to receive us honourably, and at other times commanding that we should not be allowed to pass. That he had lately consulted his gods, who had revealed that we were all to be put to death, or made prisoners in Cholula, to facilitate which he had sent 20,000 of his troops to that place, half of whom were now in the city, and the rest concealed at the distance of a league. They added, that the plan of attack was all settled, and that twenty of our number were to be sacrificed in the temples of Cholula, and all the rest to be conveyed prisoners to Mexico. Cortes rewarded them liberally for their intelligence, and enjoined them to preserve the strictest secrecy on the subject, commanding them to bring all the chiefs to his quarters at an appointed time. He then convened a council of all the officers, and such soldiers as he most confided in, before whom he laid an account of the information which he had received, desiring their advice as to the best conduct to be pursued in the present alarming emergency. Some proposed to return immediately to Tlascala, and others proposed various measures, but it was the universal opinion that the treachery of the Cholulans required to be severely punished, as a warning to other places. It was accordingly resolved to inflict condign punishment on the Cholulans within the courts where we were quartered, which were surrounded by high walls, but in the meantime, to continue our preparations for resuming the march, in order to conceal our intentions. We then informed the Mexican ambassadors, that we had discovered the treacherous intentions of the Cholulans, who pretended that they acted by orders of Montezuma, which we were convinced was a false aspersion. They solemnly declared their ignorance of these transactions; but Cortes ordered them to have no farther intercourse with the inhabitants of the city, and sent them to his own quarters under a strong guard for the night, during the whole of which we lay upon our arms, ready to act at a moments warning.
During this anxious night, the wife of one of the caciques, who had taken a great liking to Donna Marina, came secretly to visit that lady, informing her of the plot, invited her to take refuge in her house from the danger which was about to overwhelm us, and proposed to give her for a husband the brother of a boy who was along with her. Donna Marina, with her usual presence of mind, agreed to every thing proposed with a profusion of thanks, and said she only wanted some one to take charge of her effects before leaving the Spanish quarters. In course of this conversation, Marina acquired particular information of every part of this mysterious affair, which the old woman told her had been communicated to her three days before by her husband, who was chief of one of the divisions of the city, and was now with his warriors, giving directions for their co-operation with the Mexican troops, and who had lately received a gold drum from Mexico, as an ensign of command. Donna Marina desired the old woman and her son to remain in her apartment till she went in search of her valuables; but went immediately to Cortes, to whom she communicated all the information she had received, adding that her informer was still in her apartment. Cortes immediately sent for the old woman, who being confronted by Donna Marina, repeated every thing exactly as before, which agreed in all respects with the information he had already received from others.
When day appeared, the hurry of the chiefs, priests and people in coming to our quarters as appointed, and their apparent satisfaction, was as great as if we had been already secured in their cages. They brought a much greater number of warriors to attend us than had been required, insomuch that the large courts in which we were quartered were unable to contain them. We were all prepared for the event, having a strong guard of soldiers posted at the gate of the great court, to prevent any one from escaping. Cortes mounted on horseback, attended by a strong guard; and as he saw the people crowding in at the gate, he said to us, "See how anxious these traitors are to feast on our flesh! But GOD will disappoint their hopes." He ordered the two priests who had given him the information to retire to their houses that they might escape the intended slaughter. Every one being arrived in the great court, he commanded the chiefs and priests to draw near, to whom he made a calm remonstrance on the treachery of their conduct towards us, which was explained by Donna Marina. He asked them why they had plotted to destroy us, and what we had done to deserve their enmity, except exhorting them to abandon their barbarous and abominable customs, and endeavouring to instruct them in our holy religion? Their evil intentions, he said, had been obvious, by withdrawing their women and children from the city, and by insultingly sending us only wood and water, when we required provisions. He said he was perfectly acquainted with the ambush which was placed in the road by which we meant to march, and with all the other contrivances they had made for our destruction; and that in recompence of our proffered friendship, and of all the holy services we intended them, he knew that they meant to kill and eat us, and that the pots were already on the fire, prepared with salt, pepper, and tomatas, in which our dissevered limbs were to be boiled. He knew that they had doomed twenty of us to be sacrificed to their idols, to whom they had already immolated seven of their own brethren. "Since you were determined to attack us," said he in conclusion, "it had been more manly to have done so openly like the Tlascalans, and not to have resorted to mean and cowardly treachery. But be assured that the victory which your false gods have promised is beyond their power, and the punishment of your treason is now ready to burst on your guilty heads."
The astonished chiefs confessed every thing which was laid to their charge, but endeavoured to excuse themselves, by laying the whole blame on the orders they had received from Montezuma. "Wretches," said Cortes, "this falsehood is an aggravation of your offence, and such complicated crimes can never be permitted to pass unpunished." He then ordered a musket to be fired, as a signal to commence the slaughter, for which we all stood prepared. We immediately fell furiously on the multitudes who were inclosed within the walls of our quarters, and executed their merited punishment in such a manner as will be long remembered by the remaining natives of Cholula. A vast number of them were put to death on the spot, and many of them were afterwards burned alive. In less than two hours, our Tlascalan allies arrived in the city, having been previously instructed in our plan, and made a terrible slaughter in the streets of the city; and when the Cholulans ceased to make resistance, they ravaged the city, plundering it of every thing valuable they could lay hold of, and making slaves of all the inhabitants who fell in their way. On the day following, when intelligence reached Tlascala of the transactions at Cholula, great numbers crowded to the devoted city, which they plundered without mercy. It now became necessary to restrain the fury of the Tlascalans, and Cortes gave orders to their chiefs to withdraw their troops from the city, with which they immediately complied.