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e town. Cortes here posted
three sentinels to watch whether the Indians went home at night, if so,
to send him immediate notice. Information was soon brought in the
affirmative. The rest of the day was now spent in reconnoitring the
territory, and fitting out the vessels. The next morning early, after we
had attended mass and well armed ourselves, Cortes despatched Alonso de
Avila with one hundred men, among whom were ten crossbow-men, along the
narrow road above mentioned, leading to the town, which, as soon as he
should hear the firing of cannon, he was to attack on one side, while we
did the same from the other; Cortes himself, with the rest of our
officers and men, moving up the river in the small vessels and our
boats.

When the Indians, who were standing under arms along the coast between
the palm trees, saw us approaching, they leaped into their canoes and
stationed themselves where we were going to land, in order to prevent
us. The shore was covered with warriors armed with all kinds of
weapons, while a terrible noise assailed our ears from their twisted
shells, drums, and fifes. Cortes ordered us to halt for a few moments
and not to fire as yet. As he was very particular in doing everything in
proper form, he desired the royal secretary, who was with us, and Diego
de Godoy, once more to request the inhabitants to allow us to come
peaceably on shore to take in fresh water. Aguilar acted as interpreter.
They were also to give them some notion, if possible, of the Lord God,
and his imperial majesty, and explain to them, that if they attacked us,
and we in defending ourselves killed any of their men, the guilt would
be upon their heads, not ours. The Indians, however, continued their
defiances, threatening to destroy us all if we came on shore. Indeed the
battle now soon began, for immediately after they commenced pouring
forth showers of arrows, the drummers to give signals for the other
troops to fall upon us in a body, and in an instant they rushed bravely
forward. They completely surrounded us with their canoes, and shot off
their arrows so quickly, that many of us were soon wounded, we being
moreover compelled for a length of time to fight up to our waists, and
sometimes even higher in the water. The place where we were attempting
to land was disadvantageous in another way, for the ground was composed
of mud and clay, in which it was impossible to move very fast,
particularly as at the same time we had to defend ourselves against the
enemy's arrows and the thrusts of their lances. Cortes himself, while
fighting in this way was obliged to leave one of his shoes sticking in
the mud in order to get on firm land. We had all, indeed, hard work to
do before we could gain the dry ground; but having once obtained this we
fell so furiously upon our enemies, under the cry of our patron St.
Jacob! that they began to retreat, but immediately again drew themselves
up in order of battle behind the wood and the trees they had cut down.
Here they made an obstinate resistance, until we likewise drove them
from this place, having forced some passages leading to the town, which
latter we entered fighting our way in. The battle now continued in the
streets, until our progress was impeded by another barricade of fallen
trees, defended by a fresh set of men. Here the conflict was continued
with renewed obstinacy, the Indians incessantly crying out: _ala lala,
al calachoni, al calachoni!_ meaning in their language, kill the
commander-in-chief. While we were thus busily engaged, Alonso de Avila
appeared with his men, who had marched along from the palm-trees. He had
been detained by the morass and pools of water which lay in his road.
This delay now proved an advantage to us, as we had also lost time in
striving to make peace with the enemy by means of our two
parliamentaries, and the difficulty we had had to fight our way on
shore. With our united troops we now beat the Indians from this strong
post; though, like brave warriors, they set vigorously upon us with
their arrows and lances, which latter had been hardened in the fire; nor
did they turn their backs, until we had forced our way into a large
courtyard, adjoining which were several spacious apartments and halls.
Here also stood three temples, but the Indians had carried off all the
religious implements with them.

The enemy being now put to flight, Cortes ordered his men to halt, that
we might take formal possession of the country, in the name of his
majesty. He performed this ceremony by drawing his sword, and giving
therewith two deep cuts into a large ceiba tree, which stood in the
courtyard, crying out at the same time, that he would defend the
possession of this country with sword and shield against any one who
should dare dispute it. The whole of us who were present gave our assent
to these proceedings, swearing we would support him in its defence; all
of which was formally registered by the royal treasurer. The adherents
of Diego Velasquez alone were not pleased because the name of the latter
had not at all been mentioned therein.

In this engagement fourteen of our men were wounded, I myself was of the
number, being wounded by an arrow in the thigh, though not severely. The
Indians lost, altogether, eighteen men. We passed the night in this
spot, having taken the precaution to post sentinels in different places,
so necessary did we deem it to be upon our guard here.

CHAPTER XXXII.

 _How Cortes despatches two of our principal officers, each with one
 hundred men, to explore the interior of the country, and what
 further took place._

The next day Cortes despatched Alvarado with one hundred men, among whom
were fifteen crossbow-men and musketeers, to march six miles inland, in
order to explore the country. He was to take along with him Melchorejo,
of the punta de Cotoche, but he could nowhere be found. He had most
probably gone off in a canoe the night before with the inhabitants of
Tabasco. We conjectured this at least, because the day previous he had
left all his Spanish clothes behind him hanging in a tree. Cortes was
greatly vexed at his escape, as he might betray many things to the
inhabitants that would do us no good.

I will, however, leave the fugitive to his own fate, and continue my
narrative.

Cortes also sent out a second of our chief officers, named Francisco de
Lugo, with another hundred men; among whom were twelve crossbow-men and
musketeers, with similar instructions as to Alvarado, but to take
another direction and return to head-quarters towards evening.

Francisco de Lugo may have reached the distance of about four miles when
he fell in with vast numbers of Indians, commanded by their several
chiefs. They were armed as usual, immediately advanced towards our men,
whom they surrounded on all sides, and began pouring forth a shower of
arrows. The Indians, indeed, were in too great numbers for our small
detachment. They first threw in their lances and the stones from their
slings, then fell upon our 

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