to the caziques of this township, desiring them to send him messengers of peace, and assured them a free pardon for all the past. They, however, sent word that they durst not comply with this summons, from fear of the Mexicans. Offers of a similar nature, which Sandoval made to another large township, met with no better success. This latter place was called Acapalista,9 and lay about eight miles from Huaxtepec. It was in vain that Sandoval desired them to consider the difference between war and peace, and to ask themselves what benefit their neighbours of Huaxtepec had derived from all the Mexican troops they had harboured. He desired them to drive away the Mexican garrison, or he would himself march against them, and treat them as enemies. Their reply to this was as follows: "He might come when he liked: they had made up their minds to make a sumptuous repast off their bodies, and to offer up savoury sacrifices to their gods."
The caziques of Chalco, who were with Sandoval being aware that there was a much stronger body of Mexicans lying in Acapalista than had yet appeared in the field of battle, and that they merely awaited a favorable opportunity to renew the attack upon their town, urgently requested him to march thither, and drive the enemy out of that town. Sandoval at first refused to comply with their request, considering that he himself, with many of his troops, and most of the horses, were wounded, and that he did not wish to advance farther than Cortes had ordered him; besides which, several cavaliers of Narvaez's troops urged him to return to Tezcuco, and represented to him that Acapalista was a town of great strength, where they might easily meet with a total overthrow. But the captain Luis Marin strongly advised Sandoval to the contrary, and thought he was not justified in returning before the work was half finished, as the enemy would certainly renew the attack upon Chalco, and thereby defeat the object of the expedition altogether. By these arguments Sandoval was convinced of the necessity of marching against this town, which lay only eight miles farther on, and he set out for that place.
When he had arrived in the neighbourhood of the town, a large body of Mexicans came advancing towards him, and attacked him so vigorously with their lances, slings, and arrows, that three horses and several of his men were instantly wounded, nor was Sandoval able to get at the enemy, who immediately retreated to the rocks and the fortified heights above, making a terrific noise with their drums, shell trumpets, and hideous yells.
Sandoval now despatched a few horse in advance, to see whether the Mexicans, in case he should attack the town itself, could march to its assistance, and halted, with the rest of his troops, in the plain. As the caziques of Chalco and the other Indian allies showed no desire to come to an engagement with the enemy, Sandoval determined to put them to the proof, and cried out to them: "Well, why do you stand looking idly on there? Why don't you advance to the attack? Are we not come here to protect you?" But they replied, they durst not attack this strong place, and considered that the teules had come to do the hardest part of the work for them.
Sandoval was soon convinced that there was not much dependence to be placed in these Indians, and he therefore stormed the fortified heights with the whole of his Spanish troops. Although numbers of his men were wounded, and he himself severely so on the head, he continued to push forward, and forced his way into the town, where considerable havoc was made among the enemy's ranks, which was increased by the Chalcans and Tlascallans, who now joined in the conflict with great intrepidity. Our troops, indeed, gladly left the last part of the work to them, as soon as the enemy was put to flight, for they felt compassion for the inhabitants, and satisfied themselves by capturing some few pretty females and other objects of value. The Spaniards even checked our allies in their horrid cruelties, and rescued many a man and woman from their grasp who otherwise would have been sacrificed to the idols.
The Mexicans had fled to some steep rocks beyond the town; and, as numbers of them were wounded, they washed off the blood from their bodies in a small brook, so that the very water was tinctured by it, though for no longer a space of time than would take to repeat an Ave Maria. Yet Gomara relates that the water was so completely mixed with blood that our men would not quench their thirst at it.10 But it was not necessary for them to go to this brook for that purpose, as in the town itself there were numbers of wells full of the purest water. After this engagement, Sandoval marched back to Tezcuco, taking with him great numbers of prisoners, among whom were many beautiful Indian females.
When Quauhtemoctzin received intelligence of this defeat of his troops, he was excessively grieved; and the more so as the people of Chalco were his subjects, and had now, for the third time, taken up arms against him. He was, however, determined to be revenged; and while Sandoval was marching back to Tezcuco, he assembled an army of upwards of 20,000 men, and despatched these in 2000 canoes to Chalco. Here they arrived so suddenly, that Sandoval had scarcely entered Tezcuco, and had but just seen Cortes, when messengers arrived in canoes from Chalco to solicit his immediate return. Cortes, who was speaking with Sandoval when this message arrived, was so enraged that he would not hear his report to the end; accused him of having neglected his duty, and commanded him to return immediately to Chalco with those of his men who were not wounded. Sandoval's feelings were greatly hurt at Cortes' reproaches; but what grieved him more than all was, that he would not even listen to him. He, however, instantly returned to Chalco, which he and his men reached excessively fatigued by the weight of their arms and the great distance they had marched. The Chalcans, in the meantime, had begged assistance from their neighbours the Huexotzincans and Tlascallans on the first information they received that the Mexicans intended to invade their territory again; and these two powers had made such haste that they arrived that very night, with an army of above 20,000 men. This inspired the Chalcans with fresh courage; they attacked the Mexicans in the open field, fought with uncommon bravery, and of the enemy's chief officers alone they killed and captured as many as fifteen, without mentioning the numbers they made prisoners. This defeat was most humbling to the Mexicans, and they were much more ashamed of it than if they had suffered it from us.
When Sandoval arrived in Chalco, he found the enemy was already vanquished; and, as there was no fear of the Mexicans returning, he marched back to Tezcuco, taking the prisoners along with him, and now Cortes appeared highly delighted. Sandoval, however, had not forgotten the harsh treatment he had so recently suffered from him, and peremptorily refused, in his anger, to call upon him, although Cortes had sent an invitation to him, and assured him that he had now been informed of the true state of the case, and was convinced that no blame could be attached to him. They subsequently became reconciled, and Cortes strove, by every means in his power, to regain Sandoval's friendship.
CHAPTER CXLIII
How we marked our slaves at Tezcuco with a red-hot iron, and received intelligence that a vessel had run into Vera Cruz.
As Sandoval had brought a great many slaves with him, and there were besides numbers we had taken on previous occasions, Cortes resolved they should be marked with a red-hot iron. It was, therefore, announced that each person was to bring his slaves to a certain house for that purpose. Our men accordingly came with their slaves, and imagined they would merely have to pay the fifth of their value to the emperor, and that then they would be entirely their own without any further deduction.
If, however, Cortes and others had acted meanly towards us in Tepeaca, the meanness they now displayed was still greater. First, the emperor's fifths were deducted; then a second fifth was set apart for Cortes, and other portions for our officers; and, during the night preceding the last division, all the finest females had disappeared. Cortes had faithfully promised the men that all the slaves should be sold by public auction, but this was not done, for the officers of the crown acted in this matter just as they pleased. This was a good hint for us in future; so that afterwards, when we had captured any beautiful Indian females, we concealed them, and gave out that they had escaped, as soon as it came to marking day; or if any one of us stood in favor with Cortes, he got them secretly marked during the night-time, and paid a fifth of their value to him. In a short time we possessed great numbers of such slaves; and if we were questioned about them, we merely said they were Naborias11 of the neighbouring tribes near Tlascalla, who had come to sue for peace. I must also observe that two months had scarcely elapsed
Gomara calls this place Accapichtlan; Torquemada, Yacapichtla. (p. 29.)
Gomara most likely followed Cortes' despatches, where we find that the stream was coloured with the blood of the Indians, to the distance of four miles. (p. 30.)
Indian servants. (p. 32.)
