this vast city, and took Quauhtemoctzin, with all his generals, prisoners. But, before we were so far successful, we suffered great hardships, and the whole of us were near perishing in the attempt, particularly the division under Cortes, as the reader will shortly see.
CHAPTER CLII
How the Mexicans defeated Cortes, and took sixty-two of his men prisoners, who were sacrificed to their idols; our general himself being wounded in the leg.
Cortes, finding at length that it was impossible to fill up all the canals, gaps, and openings in the causeway, and that the Mexicans always destroyed at night what we had completed in the day, reopening the apertures we had filled up, and throwing up new entrenchments, called the principal officers of his division together, to deliberate on the present state of the siege. He told them the men would not be able to continue this fatiguing mode of warfare much longer, and he therefore proposed to them that the three divisions should fall upon the city at the same moment, and fight their way up to the Tlatelulco, and there encamp with the troops. Cortes at the same time wrote to Alvarado and Sandoval, desiring them also to deliberate on this point with their officers and soldiers. From that place, he added, they would be able to attack the enemy in the streets, and not have to encounter such severe engagements, or make those dangerous retreats every evening, nor have everlastingly to toil in filling up the openings and canals.
As it always happens in such cases, opinions were very different. Some pronounced this plan to be altogether unadvisable, and were for pursuing the present plan of operation, which was, to pull down the houses as we advanced, and fill up the openings. Those of us who were of this opinion gave as our principal reason for so thinking, that if we fortified ourselves in the proposed way on the Tlatelulco, the causeways must fall into the hands of the Mexicans, who, with the vast number of men at their command, would undoubtedly reopen the hollows we had filled up, and make other fresh apertures in the causeways. In this great square we should night and day be assailed by the enemy; while our brigantines would not be able to come to our assistance, on account of the stakes driven in the water. In short, we should be surrounded on all sides, and the Mexicans would be masters of the town, of the lake, and of the surrounding neighbourhood.
This, our opinion,24 we took care to draw up in writing, to avoid a recurrence of what took place on our unfortunate retreat from Mexico.
Cortes indeed listened to our reasons for objecting to his plan, but nevertheless determined that the three divisions, including the cavalry, should make an attempt on the following day to fight their way up to the Tlatelulco, and that the Tlascallans, with the troops of Tezcuco, and of the towns which had recently subjected themselves to our emperor, should cooperate with us; the latter were more particularly to assist us with their canoes.
The following morning, accordingly, after we had heard mass, and commended ourselves to the protection of God, the three divisions sallied forth from their respective encampments.
On our causeway we had forced a bridge and an entrenchment, after some very hard fighting, for Quauhtemoctzin sent out terrific masses to oppose us; so that we had great numbers of wounded, and our friends of Tlascalla above one thousand. We already thought victory was on our side, and we kept continually advancing.
Cortes, with his division, had fought his way across a very deep opening, of which the opposite sides were merely connected by an extremely narrow path, and which the artful Mexicans had purposely so contrived, as they justly foresaw what would take place.
Cortes, with the whole of his division, now sure of victory, vigorously pursued the enemy, who from time to time faced about, to fly their arrows and lances at him; but all this was a mere stratagem on their part, to entice Cortes further into the city; and this object was entirely accomplished.
The wheel of fortune now suddenly turned against Cortes, and the joyous feelings of victory were changed into bitter mourning; for while he was eager in pursuit of the enemy, with every appearance of victory, it so happened that his officers never thought to fill up the large opening which they had crossed. The Mexicans had taken care to lessen the width of the causeway, which in some places was covered with water, and at others with a great depth of mud and mire. When the Mexicans saw that Cortes had passed the fatal opening without filling it up, their object was gained. An immense body of troops, with numbers of canoes, which lay concealed for this purpose in places where the brigantines could not get at them, now suddenly rushed forth from their hiding places, and fell upon this ill-fated division with incredible fierceness, accompanied by the most fearful yells. It was impossible for the men to make any stand against this overwhelming power, and nothing now remained for our men but to close their ranks firmly, and commence a retreat. But the enemy kept rushing on in such crowds, that our men, just as they had retreated as far back as the dangerous opening, gave up all further resistance, and fled precipitately. Cortes indeed strove to rally his men, and cried out to them, "Stand! stand firm, gentlemen! is it thus you turn your backs upon the enemy?" But all his commands were fruitless here, and every one strove to save his own life. Now the awful consequences of the neglect to fill up the opening in the causeway began to show themselves. In front of the narrow path, which the canoes had now broken down, the Mexicans wounded Cortes in the leg, took sixty Spaniards prisoners, and killed six horses. Several Mexican chiefs had already laid hands on our general, but with great exertion he tore himself from their grasp, and at the same moment the brave Christobal de Olea (who must not be confounded with Christobal de Oli) came up to his assistance, cut down one of the Mexican chiefs who had seized hold of Cortes, and rescued his general, by cutting his way through the enemy sword in hand, assisted by another excellent soldier, called Lerma. But this heroic deed cost Olea his life, and Lerma was very nigh sharing a like fate. During this dubious conflict for the rescue of our general's person several other of our men had by degrees hastened up to his assistance, who, though themselves covered with wounds, boldly risked their lives for Cortes. Antonio de Quiñones, the captain of his guards, had likewise hastened up; they now succeeded in dragging Cortes out of the water, and, placing him on the back of a horse, he reached a place of safety. At this instant his major-domo, Christobal de Guzman, came up with another horse for him; but the Mexicans, who had become excessively daring, took him prisoner, and instantly carried him into the presence of Quauhtemoctzin. The enemy in the meantime pursued Cortes and his troops up to their very encampment, hooting and yelling most fearfully.
We under Alvarado had likewise advanced along our causeway with like confidence of victory; but, when we least expected it, an immense body of Mexicans, completely clothed in their military costume, rushed out upon us with the most dissonant howls, and threw at our feet five bloody heads of our countrymen, whom they had captured of Cortes' division. "See these heads!" they cried; "we mean to kill you all in the same way we have Malinche and Sandoval, with the whole of their troops! These are some of their heads; you will certainly know them again." Under these and similar threats they continued to surround us on all sides, and fell so furiously upon us that all our courageous fighting was to no purpose: yet they were unable to break through our firmly closed ranks, and we began to retreat with a steady step, after we had sent the Tlascallans in advance to clear the causeway and the dangerous passages. The Tlascallans, at the sight of the five bleeding heads, had really credited the enemy's shout of triumph, that Malinche, with Sandoval and all their teules, had been killed; and they were seized with sudden terror.
As we were thus retreating, we continually heard the large drum beating from the summit of the chief temple of the city. Its tone was mournful indeed, and sounded like the very instrument of Satan. This drum was so vast in its dimensions that it could be heard from eight to twelve miles distance. Every time we heard its doleful sound, the Mexicans, as we subsequently learnt, offered to their idols the bleeding hearts of our unfortunate countrymen. But we had not near accomplished our retreat; for the enemy attacked us from the house-tops, from out their canoes, and from the mainland at the same time, while fresh troops were constantly pouring in. At this moment Quauhtemoctzin commanded the large horn to be sounded, which was always a signal to his troops that he allowed them no choice but
Cortes, in his despatches, tries to throw all the blame of this unfortunate attack upon the royal treasurer. (p. 81.)
