Spaniards. The people ceased fighting to gaze upon the issue above, and the tumbling of the struggling warriors down the sides of the precipice, raised alternate emotions of sorrow or triumph in the spectators. Cortes himself narrowly escaped death in this manner, at the hands of two of the most athletic of the Aztecs, who were dragging him to the edge, joyful in death to rid their beloved land of so terrible a foe. At length, however, the last warrior was overpowered, and the victors rushed into the sanctuaries. They found the statue of the Virgin and the cross removed from their temple; but the grim figure of Huitzilopotchli was still in the other, with the hearts and gore of their own countrymen lying before him. With feelings of joy and triumph, which such devoted missionaries only could experience, they dragged him from his niche and tumbled him headlong down the steps of the teocalli. They then set fire to the sanctuary, descended to the court yard, and marched to their own quarters, unmolested by the terrified natives. In the night they sallied forth and burned three hundred houses. The siege, however, continued, and the enemy continually taunted the Spaniards with the fact that all their losses did not lessen their numbers nor resources, while the Spaniards were becoming continually weaker, and could not escape, because the bridges were broken down.

After the death of Montezuma, Cortes determined to leave the city, and night was chosen for the attempt, in the hope that the enemy would then be less alert. The night selected was that of the 1st of July, 1520, still celebrated by the Spaniards as the Noche Triste. (sorrowful night.) They began to move, towards midnight, in

three divisions, Sandoval leading the van, Alvarado and de Leon the rear, and Cortes himself in the centre, where he placed the prisoners, among whom were a son and two daughters of Montezuma, and other Mexicans of distinction, the artillery, the baggage, and a portable bridge, made for the purpose of enabling them to pass the breaches in the causeway. They marched in silence along the causeway which led to Tacuba, because it was most remote from Tlascala, and had been less damaged by the enemy. The first breach in it was reached without molestation, and they were fixing their portable bridge to cross it, congratulating themselves on their success, when the signal was given for the most disastrous battle of the conquest. Instantaneously the lake was covered by canoes, from which the natives poured arrows and stones in upon them from every quarter, rushing forward to do battle on the causeway with a daring in which all thoughts were lost, save those of patriotism and revenge. The wooden bridge unfortunately became so wedged into the mud by the passage of the army over it, that it was impossible to move it, and the army pressed onward to the second breach in dismay. The Mexicans hemmed them in on every side, while their discipline and superior weapons could avail them little on such a narrow field, and amid the darkness of a rainy night. Fresh warriors instantly filled the place of the Mexicans who fell, driven on by those in the rear, until the Spaniards were compelled to give way. The confusion soon became universal, and each one sought only to save himself. Cortes, with a hundred foot soldiers and a few horse, succeeded in forcing his way over the two remaining breaches to the main land,

the bodies of the dead serving to fill up the chasms. He formed them on the shore, and returned with Sandoval and a few of the horse, to the place on the causeway, between the second and third breaches, where Alvarado and the rear guard were fighting desperately against the overwhelming numbers of the foe. With his terrible battle cry he reassured the despairing infantry, and led the cavalry to the charge with such furious valour, that the infantry were enabled to reach the other side of the trench. At length all had crossed except Cortes, Sandoval, Alvarado, and a few others. They all made their way over except Alvarado, who had lost his horse, and was bleeding from several wounds. The trench was filled with the enemy, looking at him with fiendish expectation of the moment when he should leap into the ditch and be borne away a sacrifice to the gods, whose servants he had shortly before so ruthlessly destroyed. Five or six were advancing along the causeway to seize him, when he glanced to the other side of the chasm, planted his long lance amid the rubbish in the centre, and clearing it at a bound, placed himself in safety amid his friends. The spot where this tremendous feat was executed, still bears the name of Alvarado's leap.

THE Mexicans now retired from the fight, and the Spaniards marched along the causeway to Tlacopan. Here, in the daylight, Cortes was enabled to compute the losses of the night. Four hundred and fifty Spaniards and four thousand of the brave Tlascalans had been slain, drowned, or made prisoners, and this number, with those who had fallen in the terrible conflicts within the city, reduced his army to a little more than onefourth what it had been. The cannon, firearms, and ammunition were all lost, not a musket remaining among the five hundred survivors. The number of the cavalry was reduced to twenty-three, and they were in a most miserable condition. But the loss most severely felt by Cortes was that of his friend, Velasquez de Leon, who, with Alvarado, had held the post of danger, and lost his life defending it. The sight of the wounds of the survivors, the thought of their sufferings, grief at the loss of so many gallant followers and faithful friends, pierced his soul with anguish, and the tears stealing down his cheeks, as he attempted to issue necessary orders, were remarked

RETREAT TO TLASCALA.

109 by his soldiers with affection, as evidence of the goodness of his heart. He wasted no time, however, in vain regrets, but exerted himself to prepare for a future which seemed and proved to be full of danger. The greater part of the treasure was lost. The general had suffered the men to take as much of the gold in the treasury as they wished before setting out, telling them at the same time, however, that those travelled safest who travelled lightest. Very many, however, disdained to follow his advice, and their inconsiderate avarice greatly added to the number of the victims of the night.

At this very moment, however, the spirit of the unconquerable leader was filled with plans for the future, in which no thought save of ultimate success, was allowed to enter. The safety of Donna Marina and Aguilar was a source of great satisfaction to him, but he rejoiced in his heart to find that his skilful shipwright, Martin Lopez, had escaped uninjured. Anticipations of the distant future, however, gave place to the care against immediate danger. The army was on the west side of the lake, and a march was to be made around the north end of it before they could go towards Tlascala, which lay sixtyfour miles east of it. They marched for six days through a barren country incessantly annoyed by the enemy, whose attacks required the constant exercise of courage and activity, while want of food was fast reducing their strength. One source of consolation, however, remained to the suffering army; the presence of their leader, foremost in every danger, and sharing with cheerfulness every hardship. He shared with them in a feast off the dead body of a horse, whose decease furnished them with a substitute for the berries and roots on which they had been subsisting.

As they marched along, the enemy, who harassed them repeatedly, uttered the same cry which attracted the attention of the Spaniards. Donna Marina translated it for them, but could not tell its meaning. "Hasten on! you will soon find yourselves where you cannot escape!" Time furnished an explanation. As the army came to the summit of an eminence, they saw in the spacious valley before them, the plain of Otumba, an immense army, extending as far as the eye could reach, and directly in the road they had to follow. This was the main army of the Mexicans, of which the body which had accompanied their retreat, and was now in their rear, was but a small detachment. The boldest of the Spaniards despaired at the prospect of death in the attempt to force a passage at such odds; but Cortes giving them no time for reflection, led on the charge. Every where he made head against them; but all his efforts were unavailing, so far as the end in view was concerned, for one battalion was no sooner dispersed than new ones occupied its place; and as the day wore on, the Spaniards

K

felt their strength failing without seeing any end to their toil, or any hope of victory. The most daring feats of arms had been achieved by the

He

young captain, Sandoval, on whom the admiration of the army was fixed, when the quick eye and daring hand of Cortes himself effected their deliverance. had noticed at a distance, in the throng, a chieftain whom he judged to be the commander of the enemy from the splendour of his dress, and the standard of the Aztecs, which was a golden net at the end of a short staff, attached to his back between the shoulders. Summoning Sandoval, Olid, Alvarado, and others to his aid, he rushed headlong into the thickest of the enemy, beating them to the earth by the very impetuosity of his attack, and clearing every obstacle in the way to the chief, before the especial object of this onslaught could be discovered. The nobles around the cacique made a gallant resistance; but the fate of this day, and the lives of his whole army, depended now upon his efforts alone, and he overturned them as men of atoms, until he was in the presence of the cacique himself, whom he hurled to the ground with his lance.

Sandoval.

Juan de Salamanca, a brave young cavalier had kept close beside his leader in the charge: he now dismounted and despatched the fallen chief, tearing away his banner, and presenting it to Cortes as the victor. The whole was the work of a moment: the nobles of the guard fled, panic-stricken; every standard among the Aztecs was lowered; weapons were cast aside, and flight to the mountains commenced. Wounds, hunger, fatigue, every thing was forgotten by the Spaniards and Tlascalans in the eagerness of revenge. The work of slaughter continued until no more victims could be reached, when the conquerors returned to indemnify themselves for the treasures they had lost, in taking the spoils of their enemies. These were exceedingly valuable, as the Mexican army numbered among its slain, many of the principal warriors, who had marched into the battle-field in their richest ornaments, assured of victory. Next day the Spaniards entered the territories of the Tlascalans, whose chiefs soon put to flight their misgivings as to the reception they would meet. We have inade common cause together," said Maxixca, "and we have com

• Prescott, vol. ii. p. 407.