None of the natives showed any inclination to betray him, despite the
richness of the promised rewards.
"Would you not deliver up the prince if he came in your way?" he asked of
a peasant who did not recognize him.
"Not I," was the reply.
"What! not for a fair lady's hand, and a rich domain as dowry?"
The peasant shook his head decisively and laughed in disdain.
But, in spite of the loyalty of the people, the prince was in constant
danger, and his situation, in the rough fastnesses of the hills and
forests, became very distressing.
"Leave me," he said to the faithful few who kept with him in his
wanderings and shared his sufferings. "Leave me to my fate. Why should you
throw away your lives for one whom fortune steadily persecutes?"
But they clung to his fortunes still, despite their danger and the fact
that most of the great nobles of the land had sought safety and reward by
an adhesion to the usurper.
Meanwhile, events were working in favor of the fugitive. Maxtla had shown
himself an oppressor, and his ambition and military successes had caused
much alarm in the surrounding states, where his tyranny was contrasted
with the mild rule of the former monarchs of Tezcuco.
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