The herald., 1895-05-12
CHAPTER L.XIll
OF How COrtcs Assigned Certain Brgantines to
Each Division and Immediately Com
menced the Attack on the Causeway

menCeu inc AIIaCk on tne SauSeWuy
AS neither of the divisions could accom-
plish anything without the brigantines,
Cortes now divided them up. sending
four to Pedro de Alyarado and two to
Gonzalo de Sandpval, while he retained
six in his own Gimp. which was that of
Crist obal de Oil. The small brigantine
he ordered should no longer be used, as
it was not heavy enough to overturn tn e
canoes.
When the four brigantines Arrived at the
camp OF Alvarado. where | was, Alvara-
do Immediately commenced an at tack on
the causeway and ordered two brigantines
to go on each side of it, SO that while we
were fighting the enemy on the causeway
they could not attack us from the water
and although we succeeded In capturing
some bridges and forcing back the enc
my, yet such was the number of ar
rows and missiles which they fired at us
with slngs that, no matter how good our
armor nearly all OF us received wounds
in each fight, and after we had won a
bridge and filled in the aperture or cap
tured and destroyed a defense. if we left
it without protection over night, the next
morning we would find the aperture
opened and the defense repaired, and in
some places where the water was shallow
and we were accustomed to wade they
dug deep holes into which we often fell.
and being loaded with our arms were in
great danger of drowning; and near these
places they sunk great stakes so that the
brigantines could not approach, and they
always kept canoes hidden near there,
ready to rush out and seize us in case,
during a retreat from the causeway any of
us should fall in, and so the fight went
on from day to day.
In these attacks the horsemen were of
little use to us, for the causeways were
too narrow for them to operate. and be-
sides the Indians used against them the
long lances they had captured from us
when we fled from Mexico. and with
them they wounded or killed the horses
whenever they ventured on the cause
ways. Each night we spent dressing our
wounds with oil or repairing our arms for
the next days fight. and truly it was
nothing but the mercy of our Lord Jesus
Christ which gave us power to endure so
much, for wounded and tired as we were
we had to fight each day from sunrise to
sunset. ana if none but those who were
not wounded had gone against the enemy
not twenty men in each division would
have gone against them. Each day we
had to change our standard bearer, for
each one returned so badly wcu ided that
he could not again 60 out until his
wounds were healed. And all this time
we not only lacked wherewith to dress
our wounds, but we lacked food also. for
corn was scarce and We sustained life by
eating herbs supplied us by our Indian
allies. and the fruit of the cactus and
wild cherries; and it was the same in each
camp as 1T was i'll ours.
Guatemoc had also arranged a set of
signals which were given from the great
temple of Tlateclolco by which he could
direct the movements of his warriors
nit in Ja Inv ln,, hut
he could pour his whole force on one camp
or attack each one separately.
Seeing that it was useless to capture q
bridge by day and lose it by night Alva-
rado now moved his camp to Il portion of
the causeway which was wide enough and
where there were some towers and there
after when we captured n bridge rlled in
the aperture solidly and placed guard
over it.
Our former camp, where our baggage
and supplies were. we lett in charge of the
horse and wa used our Tlascaans to pro-
tect our rear and keep com munication
open with Tdcuba. From this on we also
threw down all the houses along the cause
way as we advanced, for it was useless
to fire them. as they burned too slowly
and the fire could not spread from one
house to another because of the water be-
tween.
About this time we learned from some
prisoners that Guatemoc was arranging
for great attack on us and that he was
going to attack us in front and rear and
at the same time attack Tacuba. where
our baggage was. He thus, by throwing
his whole force against us, expected to
destroy us and then take Cortes and San
doval in the same way aftcrward.
We Immediately took steps to prepare
for this attack. which commenced about
midnight. both on the causeway and at
Tacuba, and such was its violence that
nearly all OF us received wounds. The
attack lasted all night, but they were
finally beaten off. and thereafter for
many nights there was no sleep in our
camp, for we knew not at what mo-
ment they would core upon us.
have no words to uescrfhe
the misery of those nights. the
cold rain soaking our clothes and making
our armor like ice and the wind cutting