The herald., 1895-05-12

though they came to peace and diu as re-
quired they did it with bad will.
Ii was ON ths feast of Saint John in
June of the year before that they had de-
feated us and driven us out OF Mexico,
and now on the anniversary of that day
Guatemoc marshaled all his forces. by
the advice of the Papas of lIuitzlipotzli;
for Simultaneous attack ON all three
camps. and about midnight OF that day
they came upon us with great fury. At
inst in our camp we were much embar-
'assed by the presence of the Tlasca-
lans, but after we had sent item
to the rear near Tacuba, we put ourselves
in good order and God gave MS strength to
resist them and finally drive them off
We had fifteen wounded in the attack
and two of them died of their wounds II
few days afterward. The attack was
equally fierce in the camp of Cortes and
that of Sandoval, and several were killed
and a great many wounded; the Mex can
loss in these attacks was also very great
Guatemoc, seeing that he could not
overcome us at that time, drew off his
forces and about daybreak hurled them
upon us at Tacuba. and they came on us
with such intrepidity that they were like
10 have overwhelmed us by sheer force OF
numbers but by standing firmly back to
back, by sheer stabbing and cutting, and
with the assistance of the brigantines.
which on this occasion stood us in good
tead. we finally drove them off the cause
wav.
| can well understand that the reader
will grow tired of these accounts of daily
com bats. but | cannot do otherwise than
relate them. for during the ninety-three
days we were engaged in the siege OF this
great city it was Il constant battle, day
and night, and | have avoided as much as
possible the putting of the history of the
siege in separate chapters. as otherwise,
like the story of Amadis OF Gaul or orher
stories of knight errantry, there would
be no end of it,and from here on | will re-
late as briefly as possible the events that
took place until the day of Saint Hippo
lite. when, glory be to oul Lord Jesus
Christ, we took the city and captured its
King, Guatemoc.
Cortes now seeing how slowly the siege
was progressing, and that the Mexcans
opened every night the apertures which
ne filled in during the day, and that they
were continually increasing the strength
OF the barricades ON the causeways, called
a council of war of those Captains he had
IN his camp. consisting OF Cristobal de
Oil and Francisco Nedugo and Andres de
Tapia and the Alfere1 Corral and Francis
CO de Lugo, and wrote also to those in our
camp and that of Sandoval to obtain the
opinions of all those Captains as to what
should be done, aud he proposed that all
three divisions should simultaneously at
tack the city and force their way IN and
unite in the great plaza of Tlatelolco and
pitch our camp there and thereafter re-
duce the CITY from that point, and al
though many opposed this plan, giving
strong reasons against It, particularly
urging that ii this plan were carried out,
there being such multitudes OF the Mexi-
cans and all brave warriors, they would
retake and reopen all the causeways and we
would become the besieged instead of the
besiegers; but the end of the discussion
was an order to move on the city the fol-
lowing day nd to force their way into
y,ioz nf Viato oil nd
all we're ordered to be ready and our al
lies also.
On the appointed morning, after hear
ing mass and commencing ourselves to
God, we marched out of our camp under
Pedro de AlvaIado, as did those of Cortes
and Gonzalo de Sandoval, under those
Captains. Our division pushed ahead rap
idly along the causewav, winning bridges
and capturing barricades and the divisions
of Sandoval and Cortes were meeting
with equal, success. The division under
Cortes pushed the enemy back along the
cazada until he came to q place where
great breach had been made in the cause
way, but leaving very narrow pathway
across the center, and the water on both
sides was very deep; this the Mexicans
had left for an occasion like the present,
for after brief resistance at this pace
they pretended to fly and Co, tes and his
men eagerlycrossed and pursued them
And thus we see how tickle fortune turns
the wheel, and often in the midst OF
the greatest prosperity occurs the
heaviest disaster, for Cortes following up
the retreat of the Mexicans either
through neglect or because it was the will
of our Lord Jesus Christ. neglected to fill
in this breach. and when the enemy saw
that his forces had crossed, and having
already great squadrons ready, they sud
denly turned on him with the fury of
mad dogs and with such ImpetuosIty that
our men could not resist it, and their
ranks became broken and their retreat be-
came a rout, although Cortes did all that
good commander could to stop them.
rushing amongst them and calling out:
Hold gentlemen hold! What; do you
turn your backs on these dogs?' But
nothing could stop the panic, and when
they reached the breach they found a
great fleet of canoes there, for the Mex
leans had placed so many stakes in the
water near the place that the brgantine s
could not approach. and here over seventy
of the men OF Cortes were taken prisoners
and he himself was severely wounded in
the leg and seized by six Mexicans. and
would have been carried Off but God was
pleased to give him strength to resist un-
til brave soldier named Crstobal de
Olea arrived. who stabbed four of those
who held him. and another soldier named
Levura also arriving at this time. between
them they rescued him. but Cristobal de
Olea 10 st his life in the act and Levura
nearly died of his wounds.
The other soldiers now came up, and
among others Antonio Quinones, the
Captain of his guard, and they drag gged
him from the water and placed him on
horseback. and during the struggle his
mayor domo, Cristobal de Guzman. also
came up, but he was taken prisoner and
carried off alive to Guatemoc.
The Mexicans followed Cortes to his
very camp, and even here they kept the
attack up. but were fought to more ad
vantage there and finally driven back.
In like manner, while we were pursuing
our victorious way along the causeway un-
der Alvarado there suddenly came upon us
great squadrons and they threw in front
of us five bleeding Spanish heads. saying.
I'VE will say the remainder of you, and
we have Malinche and S1ndoval and those
who were with them. and thereupon they
closed in on us with such audacity and
stubbornness, even seiZing us as we stood
in the ranks. so that neitner sword cuts
nor spear thrusts availed, nor crossbows
nor arquebuses, and 1t was fight man
to man and foot to foot; but our disc-
pine prevailed in the end. for they could
not break our ranks. we sending the
Tlascalans back usual and truly they
went back this time with u good Will, for
wh6u they saw the bloody heads they be-
ieved what the NJ ,xicans said and con
tnued their retreat to Tacuba. While we
were thus lighting, retreating step by
step, we suddenly heard the dismal and
devilish sound of the great drum on top
of the GU of Huitziipotzli. and the sound