by land and water, and fell upon us the next morning with such dreadful fury, that it was only by exerting ourselves to the utmost we were able to make a stand against them. In this engagement we lost two Spaniards and one horse, and great numbers of our men were wounded. By degrees, however, the enemy became less furious in their attacks, and we were thus enabled to retreat to Tezcuco, not a little annoyed at the defeat we had sustained. If we did not reap much honour for ourselves in this last battle, it must be remembered we had lost all our powder. We had, however, taught our enemies to respect us a little, for they remained perfectly quiet after our retreat to Tezcuco, and occupied their time in dressing their wounds, burying the dead, and repairing the houses which had been damaged. I must now return to Tezcuco, where in the meantime ambassadors had arrived from other townships to sue for peace.
CHAPTER CXXXIX
How ambassadors arrive in Tezcuco from three neighbouring townships, to sue for peace, and to beg forgiveness for the murder of several Spaniards who had fallen into their hands; and how Sandoval marched to Chalco and Tlalmanalco, to assist the inhabitants there against the Mexicans.
The second day after our return to Tezcuco, three of the neighbouring townships sent to Cortes, to sue for peace, and beg forgiveness, for having put some Spaniards to death; they strove to exonerate themselves from all guilt, by stating that they had been compelled to march against us by command of Cuitlahuatzin, who had ascended the Mexican throne after Motecusuma's death; they had merely done, they said, what they could not avoid, and had sent the Spaniards they had captured, with their horses, and everything else belonging to them, to Mexico. These townships, which thus came to sue for peace, were Tepetezcuco and Otumpan; the name of the third I have forgotten. This was the same Otumpan where the memorable battle took place which we fought against the flower of the Mexican army.
The inhabitants of these townships were terrified when they heard of our march against Iztapalapan, and concluded they might now also expect a visit from us; and though they would have been pleased to hear that we had perished in the water, or had been worsted in the last battle, yet they considered it more advisable, by seeking peace of us, to avert the castigation they feared.
Cortes, seeing he could not do better under the present circumstances, granted them a pardon for the past, but made them give a solemn promise to remain faithful to our emperor in future, to obey us in everything, and never again to enter into an alliance with Mexico; to all of which they faithfully adhered. After this, ambassadors arrived from another township, which lay in the midst of the lake, and was called Mizquic, though we called it Little Venice. The inhabitants of this place had never been upon intimate terms of friendship with the Mexicans, and now utterly detested them. An alliance with these people, from their situation in the midst of the lake, was of the utmost importance to us, and we also flattered ourselves we should, through them, gain the friendship of the other townships which lay on the lake. These ambassadors accordingly were most courteously received by our general, and he dismissed them with the most flattering assurances of our friendship and protection.
During this interview Cortes received information that a large body of Mexican troops were marching against the four townships which had been the first to solicit our friendship. The inhabitants there durst not venture of themselves to bid any defiance to the enemy, but intended to fly to the mountains, or seek refuge with us in Tezcuco. They begged so hard for assistance, that Cortes at length complied with their request, and marched thither with twenty horse, two hundred foot, thirteen crossbow-men, and ten musketeers, accompanied by Alvarado and Oli. These towns lay about nine miles from Tezcuco, and were threatened with total destruction by the Mexicans for having concluded peace with us. In particular they were afraid of losing the crops of maise in front of the lake, which were now ready for harvesting, and from which the inhabitants of Tezcuco and the four townships had thought to supply us. The Mexicans declared they were coming to cut this maise, as it was their property, and those townships had always till then cultivated those lands for the papas of Mexico; and indeed many lives had already been lost in disputes respecting these fields.
Cortes, being now well acquainted with the true state of the case, sent word to the inhabitants of those places that they had nothing to fear, but to remain quietly at home, and send him word when they were desirous of harvesting their maise crops. He would then despatch an officer, with several horse, to protect the reapers. With this they were perfectly satisfied, and we returned to Tezcuco.
When we found that our stock of maise was nearly all gone, we sent notice of it to those townships, and they immediately commenced reaping their crops; and we marched thither to protect them, with ten horse, one hundred foot, and a few musketeers and crossbow-men, besides the Tlascallan troops, and we took up our position on the maise plantations.
I myself was twice present on these expeditions. On one occasion we had a very sharp skirmish with the Mexicans, a large body of whom had arrived in upwards of 1000 canoes, and secreting themselves among the maise plantations, had commenced carrying off our allies. We instantly fell upon them, and though they fought courageously, yet we compelled them to take to their canoes again. In this skirmish we had one man killed and twelve wounded, of the Tlascallans from fifteen to twenty were killed, and five were carried off alive.
The day following this skirmish we learnt that the townships Chalco and Tlalmanalco, with their dependent villages, were desirous of making peace with us, but were prevented from doing so by the Mexican garrisons stationed there. They complained bitterly of the treatment which they suffered from them; their wives were dragged away, and if handsome were often violated in the presence of their parents and husbands.
About this time our carpenters in Tlascalla had proceeded so far with the building of the brigantines, that the timber was ready to be put together; we were therefore very awkwardly situated, from being so closely bound to Tezcuco, where we had no time to make any arrangements for transporting the brigantines hither; for now the inhabitants of this township, then those of Mizquic, or Little Venice, then again others which stood in alliance with us, came to beg assistance against the Mexicans; besides this, many of our Tlascallan friends longed to return home with their booty, consisting in gold, salt, and other matters, but durst not venture, on account of the insecurity of the road, as the Mexican troops were spread in all directions.
Under these circumstances, Cortes deemed that the inhabitants of Tlalmanalco and Chalco, before all others, required our more immediate assistance, that they might be enabled to form an alliance with us. The other townships might defend themselves as well as they could for the present, as it would not do to leave Tezcuco without any troops; indeed the utmost vigilance was necessary in that town. Lugo and Sandoval therefore received instructions to march out, with fifteen horse, two hundred foot, a few crossbow-men and musketeers, besides our friends of Tlascalla. They were to dislodge the Mexican troops from Chalco and Tlalmanalco, and clear the road leading to Tlascalla and Vera Cruz, along which the enemy had stationed small detachments.
Information of all this was previously conveyed to the inhabitants of Chalco by some trustworthy men of Tezcuco, that they might fall upon the Mexicans at the same moment with our troops. Nothing could have been more agreeable to the wishes of the inhabitants of Chalco, and they accordingly held themselves in readiness to rise up against the enemy at the proper time.
Sandoval composed his rearguard of five horse, an equal number of crossbow-men, and the greater part of the Tlascallans, who had all their booty with them. As the Mexicans had everywhere sent out scouts and spies to watch our movements, our present march to Chalco was no secret to them. They had therefore collected a strong body of their troops, and fell upon our rearguard, which was chiefly composed of Tlascallans. It may easily be supposed that our five horse and few crossbow-men could not stand long against these overpowering numbers; two were very soon killed, and the rest wounded. Sandoval had indeed hastened to their assistance with the first alarm, had succeeded in driving back the Mexicans, and killing seven of their men; yet they managed to gain their canoes, and retreat to a place of safety, which was the more easy for them to do, as the whole of the population of this district was subject
