By Right of Conquest; Or, With Cortez in Mexico

by G. A. Henty

  Chapter 18: The Rising In Mexico.

  The appearance of the vast crowd that surrounded the palacediffered much from that which they had presented on the previousday, when the Mexicans had fought in their usual garments, or intheir padded cuirasses. Today they had laid aside all theirgarments save their loincloths, having found by experience thattheir cotton armor was absolutely useless against the missiles ofthe Spaniards. The chiefs were now conspicuous, as they moved toand fro among the dark masses, by their gay dresses and the metalbreastplates worn over the bright feather work. They wore helmetsmade to resemble the heads of ferocious wild beasts, crested withbristly hair or surmounted by bright feather plumes. Some wore onlya red fillet round their head, having tufts of cotton hanging fromit; each tuft denoting some victory in which they had taken part,and their own rank in the army. Noble and citizen, priest andsoldier, had all united in the common cause.

  The assault was about to commence, when the Spaniards' artilleryand musketry poured death into the crowded ranks. The gates were atonce thrown open, and Cortez at the head of his cavalry dashed out,followed by the infantry and the Tlascalan allies. Confused by theslaughter made by the firearms, the Aztecs could offer noresistance to the onslaught. The cavalry trampled them underfoot,and mowed them down with sword and lance. The Spanish foot andTlascalans following close behind carried on the work ofdestruction, and it seemed to the Spaniards that the fight wasalready over, when the Aztecs fled before them.

  The movement of retreat, however, ceased the moment the Mexicansreached the barricades which they had thrown up across the streets;and forming behind these they made a gallant stand, while thoseupon the housetops poured showers of arrows, darts, and greatstones down upon the advancing Spaniards. In vain the Spanishartillery were brought up, and their fire swept away thebarricades; there were still others behind, and at each thedesperate fight was renewed.

  Coming down from the side streets, the Aztecs fell upon the Spanishflanks; and clouds of missiles were shot from the boats, whichcrowded the canals everywhere intersecting the streets.

  Cortez and his cavaliers continued to make desperate chargesthrough the Aztecs, who, although unable to withstand the weightand impetus of the horses, closed round them, striving to throw theriders from their backs and to stab the horses themselves--throwingaway their lives without hesitation, on the chance of getting oneblow at the Spaniards. The moment the horsemen drew back, theAztecs followed them; and although their loss was immense, theirranks were instantly filled up again, while the Spaniards could illspare the comparatively small number who fell on their side.

  At last, after hours of carnage, the Spaniards, exhausted by theirexertions and having eaten nothing since the night before, fellback to the palace. Diaz, one of the historians of the events, whowas present at the combat, expressed the astonishment felt by theSpaniards at the desperation with which the despised Mexicans hadfought.

  "The Mexicans," he said; "fought with such ferocity that if we hadhad the assistance of ten thousand Hectors, and as many Orlandos,we should have made no impression on them. There were several ofour troops who had served in the Italian wars; but neither there,nor in the battles with the Turk, have they ever seen anything likethe desperation shown by these Indians."

  As the Spaniards fell back the Aztecs followed them, pouring involleys of stones and arrows; and as soon as they had entered thepalace encamped around it, showing that their spirit was whollyunbroken. Although--as it was contrary to their custom to fight atnight--they did not renew the attack, they shouted insultingthreats as to the Spaniards' fate, when they should fall into theirhands; and were evidently well satisfied with the events of theday, and looked for victory on the morrow.

  Cortez had received a severe wound in the hand during the fight,and he and his companions felt how grievously they had mistaken thecharacter of the Aztecs. They had sallied out that morning,confident in their power to crush out the insurrection. Theyreturned, feeling that their situation was well-nigh desperate, andthat henceforth they must fight, not for dominion, but for life.

  As soon as day broke the fight was renewed, but this time it wasthe Aztecs and not the Spaniards who began it. There was no idea ofa fresh sortie. All that the garrison could hope was to defendtheir position. So furiously did the natives attack that, for atime, they forced their way into the entrenchments; but theSpaniards, whose turn it was to fight with the bravery of despair,fell upon them with such fury that none of those who had gained anentry returned.

  Cortez now sent to Montezuma, to request him to interpose, as hehad done before, between them and his people. The emperor refusedto interfere. He had viewed the desperate fighting of the last twodays with bitter humiliation. He had seen his brother Cuitlahualeading on his troops, with the greatest gallantry; while hehimself, thanks to his own conduct, was a helpless prisoner. Hemourned over the terrible losses his people were suffering; and thefact that his kindness to the Spaniards had brought upon himnothing but ill treatment and insult at their hands, had earned himthe contempt of his people, and had involved his country inmisfortune and ruin, cut him to the heart.

  "What have I to do with Malinzin?" he said coldly. "I desire onlyto die."

  When still further urged, he added:

  "It is useless. They will neither believe me, nor the false wordsand promises of Malinzin. You will never leave these walls alive."

  On being assured that the Spaniards would willingly depart, andleave the country, if their assailants would open a way to them, heat last consented to address the people. Clothing himself in hisrichest robes of state, he ascended the central turret of thepalace; surrounded by a guard of Spaniards, and accompanied byseveral Aztec nobles. When he was seen, the din of war ceased as ifby magic. A dead silence fell upon the multitude, and they kneltand prostrated themselves before the sovereign they had so longheld in the deepest reverence.

  But when he addressed them, assuring them that he was a guest, andnot a prisoner, of the Spaniards; and ordered them to lay downtheir arms, and to allow the Spaniards to march to the coast,indignation at his cowardice overpowered their feelings ofreverence and respect. They burst into taunts and execrations, anda moment later a storm of missiles were hurled at the man who hadbetrayed them.

  The Spanish guards, seeing the effect his presence had produced,had stood aside, to enable him the better to be seen; and beforethey could close around him, and cover him with their shields,three missiles struck him; one, a stone hurled from a sling,smiting him on the head with such violence that he fell insensible.When the Aztecs saw him fall, their brief outburst of indignationwas succeeded by one of sorrow; and with a cry of grief the wholemultitude dispersed, and in a minute or two the crowded square waswholly deserted.

  Montezuma was carried to his chamber. When he recoveredsensibility, he refused absolutely to allow his wounds to bedressed, and tore off the bandages. Not a word passed his lips. Hesat in an attitude of the deepest dejection. His own peopledespised him, and had raised their hands against him. He had drunkdeeply of the cup of humiliation, at the hands of the Spaniards;but this last drop filled it to overflowing. There was nothing forhim but to die.

  The Spanish leaders tried, but in vain, to persuade him to submitto surgical treatment. He paid no attention to their words, andthey were soon called away by fresh danger from without.

  The Aztecs had speedily recovered from their emotion at seeing thefall of the emperor, and a body of five or six hundred of them,including many nobles and military leaders of high rank, had takenpossession of the great temple; and now from its summit, a hundredand fifty feet high, opened a rain of missiles upon the palace. TheSpaniards could not effectually return their fire, for the Aztecswere sheltered by the sanctuaries on the summit of the pyramids.

  It was absolutely necessary, for the safety of the defenders, todislodge them from this position; and Cortez ordered hischamberlain, Don Escobar, with a hundred men, to storm the teocalliand set fire to the sanctuaries. But the little force were threetimes rep
ulsed, and forced to fall back with considerable loss.Cortez then, though suffering much from the wound in his left hand,determined himself to lead the assault. As he was incapable ofholding his shield, he had it strapped to his left arm; and withthree hundred picked men, and some thousands of the Tlascalans,sallied out from the palace, and attacked the Aztecs in the templeat the foot of the pyramid.

  The Spaniards made their way through these without much difficulty,and then commenced the ascent of the pyramid. This offered greatfacilities for defense. There were five terraces connected bysteps, so placed that those mounting the pyramid had to make thewhole circuit, on each terrace, before reaching the steps leadingto the next. It was thus necessary to pass round the pyramid fourtimes, or nearly two miles, exposed to the missiles of those uponthe summit.

  Leaving a strong body of Spaniards and Tlascalans at the bottom, toprevent the natives ascending and attacking him in the rear, Cortezled the way up the staircase, followed closely by his principalofficers. In spite of the heavy stones and beams of wood which,with a storm of arrows, were hurled down upon them, the Spaniardswon their way from terrace to terrace, supported by the fire oftheir musketeers below, until at last they reached the greatplatform on the summit of the pyramid.

  Here a terrible conflict commenced. The Aztecs, brought to bay, andfighting not only for life, but in the presence of their country'sgods, displayed a valor at least equal to that of the Spaniards.Numbers were slightly in their favor, but this was far more thancounter-balanced by the superior arms of the Spaniards; and by thearmor, which rendered them almost invulnerable to the comparativelypuny weapons of the Mexicans. And yet, for three hours the fightcontinued. At the end of that time, all the Mexicans, save two orthree priests, were killed; while forty-five of the Spaniards hadfallen, and almost all the others were wounded.

  While this fight had been raging the combat had ceased, elsewhere;the combatants on both sides being absorbed in the struggle takingplace at the summit of the temple. They could not, of course, judgehow it was going; though they caught sight of the combatants asthey neared the edges of the platform, which was unprotected bywall or fence; and many in the course of the struggle fell, or werehurled, over it.

  The moment the struggle was over, the Spaniards rushed withexulting shouts into the sanctuary of the Mexican god, reeking withthe blood of fresh-killed victims; cast the image from itspedestal; rolled it across the platform to the head of the steps;and then, amid shouts that were echoed by their comrades below,sent it bounding down, while a cry of anguish and dismay rose fromthe Mexicans.

  The image dethroned, fire was applied to the sanctuary; and thesmoke and flames, rising up, must have told countless thousands,watching the capital from the housetops of the neighboring cities,that the white men had triumphed over the gods of Mexico; and that,as at Cholula so at the capital, these had proved impotent toprotect their votaries from the dread invaders. So dismayed werethe Mexicans, at the misfortune, that they offered no resistance tothe return of the Spaniards from the temple, and retired to theirhouses without further fighting.

  At night the Spaniards sallied out again, relying upon the habit ofthe Mexicans to abstain from fighting at night, and burnt severalhundred houses.

  Believing that the spirit of the Mexicans would be broken now,Cortez, on the following morning, mounted the turret from whichMontezuma had addressed them. Malinche was by his side; and when heheld up his hands, to show that he wished to address them, asilence fell upon the multitude; and Malinche's voice was heardplainly by them, as she translated the words of Cortez. He toldthem they must now feel that they could not struggle against theSpaniards. Their gods had been cast down, their dwellings burnt,their warriors slaughtered. And all this they had brought onthemselves, by their rebellion. Yet if they would lay down theirarms, and return to the obedience of their sovereign, he would stayhis hand. If not, he would make their city a heap of ruins, andleave not a soul alive to mourn over it.

  But Cortez learned, at once, that the spirit he had roused in theMexicans was in no way lowered by their reverses. One of the greatchiefs answered him that it was true he had hurled down their gods,and massacred their countrymen; but they were content to lose athousand lives for every one that they took.

  "Our streets," he said, "are still thronged with warriors. Ournumbers are scarcely diminished. Yours are lessening every day. Youare dying with hunger and sickness. Your provisions and water arefailing. You must soon fall into our hands. The bridges are brokendown, and you cannot escape. There will be too few of you left tosatisfy the vengeance of the gods."

  When he had finished, a shower of arrows showed that hostilitieshad recommenced.

  The garrison were now completely disheartened. Of what use thetremendous exertions they had made, and the lives that had beenlost? They were still, as they had been on the first day of theirarrival, hemmed in in their fortress, surrounded by foes thirstingfor their blood. Great numbers were wounded, more or less severely.Their provisions were well-nigh gone. The enemy were bolder thanever. They had been promised wealth and honor--they were starving,and death stared them in the face. They loudly exclaimed that theyhad been deceived, and betrayed.

  But the men who had served all along with Cortez stood firm. Theyhad still every confidence in their leader. It was not his faultthat they had been brought to this pass, but by the misconduct ofothers, during his absence. At any rate, as they pointed out totheir comrades, the only chance of escape was unity and obedience.

  Cortez himself was, as always in a moment of great danger, calm andcollected. The thought of having to leave the city, to abandon allthe treasures they had taken, was even more painful to him than tothe soldiers. It was not the loss of his own share of the booty,but of that of the emperor, that he regretted; for he felt thatthis, together with the downfall of all his plans, and the loss ofthe kingdom he had already counted won, would bring upon him thedispleasure of his emperor, would give strength to his enemies atcourt, and would probably ensure his being recalled in disgrace.

  Nevertheless, he saw that retreat was necessary, for the positioncould not be maintained. Every day the defenses became weaker, themen more exhausted by fighting, and there would soon be no longer amorsel of bread to serve out to them. A retreat must therefore bemade.

  The question was, which route should be chosen? In any case, one ofthe narrow dikes connecting the island city with the shore must betraversed; and on these causeways the Spaniards would fight undergreat disadvantage. Finally, he settled upon that leading toTlacopan, which was much the shortest, being only two miles inlength.

  For some days a large party of men had been at work constructingmovable towers, similar to those used, centuries before, in sieges.They moved on rollers, and were to be dragged by the Tlascalanallies. From their summits the soldiers could shoot down upon thehousetops, from which they had been hitherto so annoyed. The towerswere also provided with bridges, which could be let down on to theroofs, and so enable the soldiers to meet their opponents hand tohand.

  When the structures were completed, the Spaniards again took theoffensive. The gates were opened, and the three towers, dragged bythe Tlascalans, moved out. The Mexicans, astonished at the sight ofthese machines, from whose summits a heavy fire of musketry werekept up, fell back for a time. The towers were moved up close tothe terraces, and the soldiers, after partly clearing them by theirfire, lowered the light bridges and, crossing, engaged in ahand-to-hand fight with the Mexicans, and drove them from theirpositions.

  But from the lofty houses of the nobles, the Mexicans stillmaintained their resistance. The towers were not high enough tooverlook these and, as they came up, beams of wood and huge stoneswere cast down upon them; striking with such force that it soonbecame evident, to those within them, that the towers would nothold together.

  They were dragged on, however, until a canal crossed the road. Thebridge had been removed, and both the cavalry and the towers werebrought to a standstill. The latter were abandoned, and Cortezordered his tr
oops to make a road forward, by filling up the canalwith stones and wood from the houses near.

  While engaged in this operation, they were exposed to an incessantfire from every point of advantage in the neighborhood, and fromthe opposite bank of the canal. The work was, however, completed;and the cavalry, crossing, drove the Mexicans headlong down thegreat street; until they came to another canal, where the same workhad again to be performed. No less than seven canals crossed thestreet, and it took two days of constant fighting before the lastof these was crossed, and the whole street in their hands.

  Just as the last canal had been captured, Cortez, who was ever atthe head of his men, received news that the Mexicans desired toopen a parley with him, and that some of their nobles had arrivedat the palace for that purpose. Delighted at the news, he rode backwith his officers. The Mexicans requested that the two priests whohad been captured in the great temple should be released, andshould be the bearers of his terms, and discuss the negotiations.

  Cortez at once consented, and the priests left with the envoys;with instructions that, if the Mexicans would lay down their arms,the past should be forgiven. The mission was, however, a meretrick. The Mexicans were most anxious to rescue the priests, one ofwhom was the high priest, and therefore most sacred in their eyes.Cortez had scarcely sat down to a meal, which he sorely neededafter his fatigues, when the news was brought that the Mexicans hadagain attacked, with greater fury than ever; and, at three points,had driven off the detachments placed to guard the newly-madecauseways across the canal.

  Cortez and his companions leaped on their horses and, riding downthe great street, again cleared it. But no sooner had he reachedthe other end than the Mexicans, gathering in the lanes and sidestreets, poured in again, and overpowered the guard at one of theprincipal canals.

  Swarms of warriors poured in on all sides, and a storm of arrowsand other missiles was poured down upon Cortez and his cavaliers.The confusion at the broken bridge was tremendous. The cavalry andinfantry struggled fiercely with the crowds of foes, while othersstrove again to repair the bridge which the Mexicans had again torndown.

  Cortez himself performed prodigies of valor in covering the retreatof his men, dashing alone into the midst of the ranks of the enemy,shouting his battle cry, and dealing death with every blow of hissword. So far did he penetrate among his foes, that reports spreadthat he was killed; and when at last he fought his way back, andleaped his horse over a chasm still remaining in the bridge, hisescape was regarded by his troops as absolutely miraculous; and itwas said that he had been saved by the national Apostle, SaintJames, and the Virgin Mary, who had fought by his side. At nightthe Mexicans, as usual, drew off; and the Spaniards, dispirited andexhausted, fell back to their citadel.

  That evening Montezuma died. He had refused all nourishment, aswell as medicine, from the time he had been wounded. Father Olmedodid his best to persuade him to embrace the Christian faith, butMontezuma stoutly refused. Just before he died he sent for Cortez,and recommended his three daughters by his principal wife to hischarge; begging him to interest his master, the emperor, on theirbehalf, and to see that they had some portion of their rightfulinheritance.

  "Your lord will do this," he said, "if only for the friendlyoffices I have rendered the Spaniards; and for the love that I haveshown them, though it has brought me to this condition; but forthis I bear them no ill will."

  This Cortez promised and, after the conquest, took the three ladiesinto his own family. They were instructed in the doctrines ofChristianity, and were married to Spanish nobles, and handsomedowries assigned to them.

  The news of Montezuma's death was received with real grief by theSpaniards, to whom his generosity, and constant kindness, andgentleness of manner had endeared him. There can be but littledoubt that, in spite of the accusations against him of meditatingtreachery, Montezuma was, from the time they entered the capital,sincere in his goodwill towards the Spaniards. He was devoted tohis own gods, and believed implicitly in the prophecy thatQuetzalcoatl, or his descendants, would return to rule Mexico.Their superior science and attainments confirmed him in his beliefthat the Spaniards fulfilled the prophecy, and he was willing toresign alike his power, his possessions, and himself to theirhands. In his early days he had shown great personal bravery; andthe cowardice he displayed, throughout the whole of his dealingwith the Spaniards, was the result of superstition, and not that ofpersonal fear.

  Cortez paid all respect to the remains of his late unhappy captive.The body was arrayed in royal robes, and laid on a bier; and wascarried, by the nobles who had remained faithful to him during hisimprisonment, into the city. It is uncertain where Montezuma wasfinally buried.

  With the death of the emperor, the last hope of the Spaniards ofmaking terms with their assailants vanished. There was nothing,now, but retreat. After some debate, it was settled that thisshould take place at night, when they would find the Mexicansunprepared. The difficulties of passage would be greater; but thesewould, it was thought, be counterbalanced by the advantage of beingable to make at least a portion of their retreat unobserved.

  It was determined that no time should be lost. The Mexicans woulddoubtless be mourning over the body of Montezuma, and would beunprepared for such prompt action on the part of the Spaniards.

  The first question was the disposal of the treasure. The soldiershad, for the most part, converted their share of the gold intochains; which they wore round their necks. But there was a vastamount in bars and ornaments, constituting the one-fifth which hadbeen set aside for the crown, the one-fifth for Cortez himself, andthe shares of his principal officers.

  One of the strongest horses was laden with the richest portion ofthe crown treasure, but all the rest was abandoned. The gold lay ingreat heaps.

  "Take what you like of it!" Cortez said to his men, "but be carefulnot to overload yourselves. 'He travels safest, in the dark, whotravels lightest.'"

  His own veterans took his advice, and contented themselves withpicking out a few of the most valuable ornaments; but the soldiersof Narvaez could not bring themselves to leave such treasuresbehind them, and loaded themselves up with as much gold as theycould carry.

  Cortez now arranged the order of march. The van was composed of twohundred Spanish foot, and twenty horsemen, under the orders ofGonzalo de Sandoval. The rearguard, with the main body of theinfantry and the greater portion of the guns, was commanded byAlvarado and Velasquez de Leon. Cortez himself led the center,which was in charge of the baggage, some of the heavy guns, and theprisoners; among whom were a son and two daughters of Montezuma,Cacama, and the other nobles who had been in prison with him. TheTlascalans were divided among the three corps.

  A portable bridge had been prepared for crossing the canals whichintersected the causeway; the intention being that it should belaid across a canal, that the army should pass over it, and that itshould then be carried forward to the next gap in the causeway.This was a most faulty arrangement, necessitating frequent and longdelays, and entailing almost certain disaster. Had three suchportable bridges been constructed, the column could have crossedthe causeway with comparatively little risk; and there was noreason why these bridges should not have been constructed, as theycould have been carried, without difficulty, by the Tlascalans.

  At midnight the troops were in readiness for the march. Mass wasperformed by Father Olmedo; and at one o'clock on July 1st, 1520,the Spaniards sallied out from the fortress that they had sostoutly defended.

  Silence reigned in the city. As noiselessly as possible, the troopsmade their way down the broad street, expecting every moment to beattacked; but even the tramping of the horses, and the rumbling ofthe baggage wagons and artillery did not awake the sleepingMexicans, and the head of the column arrived at the head of thecauseway before they were discovered. Then, as the advanced guardwere preparing to lay the portable bridge across the first opening,some Aztec sentinels gave the alarm.

  The priests on the summits of the temples heard their cries, and atonce sounded
their horns and the huge war drum. Instantly the cityawoke, and the silence was succeeded by a roar of sound. Thevanguard had scarcely got upon the causeway when canoes shot outupon the lake, and soon a storm of stones and arrows burst upon thecolumn. More and more terrible did it become, as fresh canoes,crowded with the warriors, came up. Many of these pushed up to thecauseway itself; and the natives, landing, fell upon the Spaniardswith fury.

  The latter made no stay. Fighting their way through their foes theypressed on until they reached the next opening in the causeway, andthere waited for the bridge to come up. But a column many thousandsstrong, with baggage and artillery, takes a long time to cross abridge; and the advanced guard had reached the opening long beforethe rear had passed the bridge, and there stood helpless, exposedto the terrible storm of missiles, until at last the column wereall across the bridge.

  Then forty picked men, who had been specially told off for thetask, tried to raise it so that it might be carried to the front;but the weight of the baggage wagons and artillery had so wedged itinto the earth, that they were unable to move it. They perseveredin their efforts until most of them had fallen. The rest bore theterrible news to the army that the bridge was immovable.

  A terrible cry of despair arose, as the news spread. All hopeseemed lost and, regardless of order or discipline, all pressedforward to endeavor, in some way or other, to cross the obstaclethat barred their way.

  Pressed on by those behind them, Sandoval and his cavaliers dashedinto the water. The distance was short, but the horses were weakfrom hunger, and burdened by their own heavy armor and that oftheir riders. Some succeeded in swimming across. Others sank; whilesome reached the opposite side, only to fall back again, as theytried to climb the steep bank.

  The infantry followed them, throwing away their armor to enablethem to swim. Some succeeded, others were pressed down by theircomrades. Many were killed by the war clubs or spears of theMexicans in their canoes. Others again, half stunned by the clubs,were dragged into the canoes and carried off to the city to besacrificed.

  All along the causeway the fight raged unceasingly; the Aztecs inthe boats alongside leaping ashore, and grappling with their foes,and rolling with them down the causeway into the water; while thosein the distance kept up their rain of missiles. The opening in thecauseway was at last filled--choked up with ammunition wagons andguns, bales of rich goods, chests of gold, and the bodies of menand horses--and over these the Spaniards made their way.

  Cortez had swum or waded across on his horse, and he rode on untilhe joined Sandoval and the remains of the advanced guard, who werechecked at the third and last opening. The cavaliers set theexample to their followers by plunging into the water. The restfollowed as best they could. Many were drowned by the weight of thegold they carried. Others got across by clinging to the tails andmanes of the horses.

  Cortez, with Sandoval and other cavaliers, led the retreat untilthey reached the end of the causeway. The din of battle was now farbehind, but those who came up brought the news that the rear guardwere so sorely pressed, that they would be destroyed unless aidreached them.

  Cortez and his companions did not hesitate. They dashed along thecauseway, again swam the canal, and made their way through thecrowd until they reached the rear guard. Morning was breaking now,and it showed the lake covered with canoes filled with warriors.Along the whole length of the causeway a desperate fight wasraging.

  Cortez found Alvarado on foot, his horse had been killed under him.With a handful of followers, he was still desperately defending therear against the Mexicans, who had poured out from the city inpursuit. The artillery had at first done good service, sweeping thecauseway and mowing down hundreds of their assailants; but theAztecs were careless of life, and rushed on so furiously that theyswept over the guns, killing those who served them, and fell uponthe infantry.

  The charge of Cortez and his companions for a moment bore back thefoe; but, pressed by those behind, they swept aside resistance, andbore back the Spaniards to the edge of the canal. Cortez and hiscompanions plunged in and swam across. Alvarado stood on the brink,hesitating. Unhorsed and defenseless, he could not make his wayacross the gap, which was now crowded with the canoes of the enemy.He set his strong lance on the bottom of the canal and, using it asa leaping pole, sprang across. The feat was an extraordinary one,for although the width is not given, it was declared, by those whowitnessed it, to be impossible for any mortal. It filled friendsand foes alike with astonishment; and the spot is, to this day,known by the Mexicans as "Alvarado's Leap."

  The Aztecs followed no farther. They were occupied, now, insecuring the enormous wealth the Spaniards had left behind them;and the remnants of the army marched along the causeway unmolested,and took possession of the village at its end.

  Cortez, iron hearted as he was, sat down and burst into tears as heviewed the broken remnant of his army. He was consoled, however, byfinding that many of his most trusted companions had escaped.Sandoval, Alvarado, Olid, Ordaz and Avila were safe; and so, to hisgreat joy, was Marina. She had, with a daughter of a Tlascalanchief, been placed under the escort of a party of Tlascalanwarriors, in the van of the column, and had passed unharmed throughthe dangers of the night.

  The loss of the Spaniards in their retreat is variously estimated;but the balance of authority, among contemporary writers, places itat four hundred and fifty Spaniards, and four thousand Tlascalans.This, with the loss sustained in the previous conflicts, reducedthe Spaniards to about a third, and the Tlascalans to a fifth ofthe force which had entered the capital. The greater part of thesoldiers of Narvaez had been killed. They had formed the rearguard, and had not only borne the brunt of the battle, but hadsuffered from the effect of their cupidity. Of the cavalry buttwenty-three remained mounted, all the artillery had been lost, andevery musket thrown away in the flight.

  Velasquez de Leon had fallen in the early part of the retreat,bravely defending the rear; and several others among the leadershad also fallen, together with all the prisoners whom they hadbrought out from the capital.

  The remains of the army straggled on into the town of Tlacopan, butCortez would allow of no halt there. At any moment the exultantAztecs from the capital might arrive and, in a battle in thestreets, the Spaniards would stand no chance, whatever, with theirfoes. He therefore hurried the soldiers through and, when outside,endeavored to form them into some sort of order.

  It was necessary to give them a few hours of repose, and he ledthem towards an eminence, crowned by a temple, which commanded theplain. It was held by a party of natives; and the troops,dispirited and exhausted, refused at first to advance against them;but the influence of Cortez, backed by the example of his officers,had its usual effect. The column moved forward against the temple,and the natives, after a few discharges of missiles, abandoned theplace.

  It was a large building, affording ample shelter for the Spaniardsand their allies. Provisions were found there, and a large supplyof fuel intended for the service of the temple. Here, lightinggreat fires, they dried their clothing, bound up their wounds and,after partaking of food, threw themselves down to sleep.

  Fortunate it was for the Spaniards that the Mexicans, contentedwith the slaughter they had inflicted, the plunder they hadcaptured, and most of all with the prisoners whom they had carriedoff to be sacrificed on their altars, retired to the capital, andallowed the invaders twenty-four hours' breathing time. Had theypressed them hotly and relentlessly, from the moment when theyemerged from the causeway, they would have annihilated them; for atthat time the Spaniards were too worn out, and dispirited, to becapable of any effectual resistance. Food and rest, however, didwonders for them. They were hardy veterans, and with Cortez and theleaders they most trusted with them, they soon came to look atmatters in a more cheerful light.

  They were still stronger than they were when they first marchedupon Mexico. Why, then, should they despair of making their wayback to Tlascala, where they would have rest and friends? They knewthere was a long and painful march b
efore them, and probablydesperate battles to fight; but in a fair field, they feltthemselves a match for any number of the enemy; and when, late inthe evening, their officers bade them form up and prepare for anight's march, they fell in steadily and willingly; and Cortez feltthat they could again be relied upon, under every emergency.