Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1898-04-01

Ing to the banks with spear and
"maquatl.' Aztec and Spaniard close in
the deadly struggle. The shouts and
curses of men. the screams of women,
the triumphant war cry of the nsail-
luilonesl the rattle of musketry and
olashing of Spanish steel against the
hint of Aztec maquatl, heard far out
across the lake. awoke the sleeping
villagers ON its shores. who said.
Surely the battle of the gods Is being
fought"
Some appealed to the saints and Holy
Virgin for succor; some cursed their
fate and him who brought them to this
dire extremity; others. fighting sullen-
~. fell, appealing to the gods to avenge
them of their enemies; some sank un-
der their weight of gold and yielded up
the ghost without a struggle.
So. fighting. cursing and struggling
| on. the first breach was crossed and
orders given to raise the bridge and
bear 1t forward. Calamity Magazine
| strove to carry out his orders, gal
lantly Alvarado and his little band
charged and charged again. driving
back the Aztecs to facilitate his work,
| but the structure had become i'm
bedded in the soft banks and refused
to yield. and when finally released, 1t
| was only to be destroyed by the enc
| my.
The situation was now desperate.
| The vanguard had reached the second
aperture. gaping gulf of murky
| water before. a foe whose onslaughts
| had never for a moment ceased, on
every side a mass of panic-stricken
| fugitives sweeping onward from be-
| hind. A moments hesitation, and men
and horses plunge into the dark abyss;
a human bridge is formed and over
the shrieking, struggling mass their
comrades move on toward the main
land. The third and last breach in the
causeway is reached. To their dis
may 1t is wider and deeper than any
yet crossed, and Is defended by
stronger force of warriors. A messen-
ger Is sent back to communicate the
| fact TO Cortez, but before he can come
up Gonzalo de Sandoval urges his
horse into the lake, and followed by
his fellow horsemen fights his way to
the opposite bank. The fugitives rush
inter and another human bridge Is
formed. As the main land is reached
the first signs of day appear in the
east Cortez, hurrying to the front, is
Mortified as he crosses this bridge of
human forms. He hastily calls his
scattered force together and notes
that many valiant men are missing,
among them the peerless Alvarado,
and gallant Juan Velazguez de Leon.
coming. he turns, and followed by
Cristobal de Old. Alonzo de Avila,
| Gonzalo de Sardoval, Francisco de
Morla and Gonzaio Dominguez. men
| worthy to have fought In a better
cause, fights his way back along the
causeway. beyond the first breach.
where he meets Alvarado, on foot,
| with spear in hand, CALAMITY fighting
| his way toward the mainland followed
Dy a small remnant of his command
me chestnut mare which had SO
often carried him to victory. and
which ne loved tenderly. as a sweet
| heart, had been killed, and us she
ieaped forward in her death struggle,
her hoof with its iron shoe had struck
ana Killed the daughter of the Aztec
king.
Where was Juan Velazguez de Leon.
valiant soldier. gallant courtier. trust
ed comrade in arms? How he fell was
never known. "Senor," said Alvarado.
addressing Cortez. at Is needless to 20
farther. All who are behind are
| dead"
As that band of resoiute men stood
around this grand old tree the historian
says. Cortez. looking at the shattered
| Ieninant OF mis- little army, oallinr In
VAN the names of his comrades who
| would never again answer. sat down
upon a stone and went.
As SIT there on the same spot. after
| a lapse of three hundred and seventy
eleht years, the scenes of the past
come Vividiy before me and in fancy
l. see the struggle of the "Nocbo
| Triste" re-enacted.
| SLOWLY the Spaniards fight their way
| 70 temple on an adjacent hill where
they fortify and seek relief from their
wounds In rest and sleep.
bernal Diaz says: There was not
man among us who WINS not
wounded" and Cortez In his letters
says There was not a horse among
twenty-four that We're left ms ,hat
could run, nor q horseman that could
RAISE MN arm. nor a soldier that could
move" e'"iu
That fatal night had cost the ,t,,os
OF seven hundred and fifty Snnn,arSs
ana four thousand Tlascaian allies :
blow which would have crushed a -
fesolute spirit. To tell how cortez
avenged II must leave for another
II the sons have In them the mett,s
OF their sires, when American aud
spaniard meet there will be n fipbt
Now another matter. / am roo ,or
from nome to know what the conditian
OF public sentiment may be, hut here
war IL IN the air. From the informa-
ton at my disposal Ia looks as tbn,,gh
TO avert II Will be impossible.
What the attitude OF the Iatter.doy
saints will be l cannot tell; but This
much I want to say: If we are TO fi,re
nish our quota Of men and the breth-
rem desire my services am
ready to go to the front. War mnv
be averted, I pray that 1t may. II it
comes pray that We may not be asked
to participate. do not wish TO aban-
don my post. but more than all / do
not want To see this land of the free
lmperlled by power whose history in
America for 400 years has been one
continual round of murder and plum
der, idolatry and prostitution.
Spain to regain her lost American
possessions would gladly unite with
othre European powers to destroy the
great republic which is teaching the les
son OF human liberty and endangerlng
the institutions of the Old World. The
republic must be maintained II II takcs
us all to do II.
| am in earnest. II Mormon boys
go. to the front want to be with them.