Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History

Book

Open Original Text

m with our cannon, and so at
last we obliged the enemy to give ground, though they fought bravely and
with a good deal of manoeuvring. On our side we had four wounded, of
whom one died a few days after, if I still remember rightly. Seventeen
of the enemy lay dead, and the number of their wounded was very
considerable. As it was growing very late they continued to retreat, and
we to follow them.

As soon as we had passed over the mountain we came into a plain, and
found numerous plantations of maise and maguey,[23] from which the
inhabitants make their wine. We took up our night's quarters near a
brook, and for want of oil we dressed the wounds of our men with the fat
of a corpulent Indian who had been killed. We made our supper off young
dogs, which we found here in great numbers; for, although the
inhabitants had left all their plantations and taken the dogs with them,
these animals during the night time had come back to their old places
again; and we were thus able to catch a good many, and so procured
ourselves some very delicious joints. The whole of this night we kept a
most vigilant look-out. We placed outposts in all quarters; our horses
stood ready saddled and bridled, and the rounds were regularly made. I
will, however, break off here, and relate our further battles in the
next chapter.

[22] Of this fortification Torquemada gives a different account. He says
it was a wall of twenty feet in thickness, that it could be defended
from the top; had only one entrance, defended by other works within, and
was built by a cazique of the country, whom he calls Yztacmixtitlan, to
protect the boundaries of his country against the incursions of the
Tlascallans. (p. 145.)

[23] Agava Americana. (p. 145.)

CHAPTER LXIII.

 _Of the terrible battles we fought with the Tlascallans, and what
 further happened._

The next morning, after we had commended ourselves to God in prayer, we
broke up our quarters. Each company marched in close order, and our
cavalry were to be particularly upon their guard; were either to advance
suddenly, or fall back upon us, according as circumstances might be, and
at all events to watch that our ranks were nowhere broken, and that no
one strayed from his own company.

After we had marched onwards for some time we came up with two large
bodies of the enemy, amounting to about 6000 men. They set up a most
terrific noise with their drums and trumpets, and yelled awfully. They
then let fly their arrows, threw their lances at us, and upon the whole
were most daringly valiant. Cortes now ordered us to halt, and
despatched three Indians, whom we had made prisoners the day before, to
the enemy, requesting them to stay hostilities, as we were very desirous
of looking upon them as brothers and friends. At the same time he
ordered one of our warriors, Diego de Godoy, who was the royal
secretary, to pay particular attention to everything that should take
place, in order that if any reproach were made us for having destroyed
any of the Indians, he might give evidence, and be able to prove that we
on our side had shown every disposition for peace.

The prisoners went off with this message to the enemy, but not the
slightest notice was taken of it; on the contrary, they attacked us so
furiously that we could no longer look idly on. "Forward! St. Jacob is
with us! On to the enemy!" cried Cortes; and in an instant we greeted
the Indians so sharply with our firearms, that numbers were immediately
killed and wounded; among the former three chiefs. After this first
volley they fell back to about the distance of a musket-shot, where they
took up their position. Here an army of above 40,000 warriors, commanded
by their general-in-chief Xicotencatl, lay in ambush. Their standards
bore his colours, white and variegated. As the ground here was full of
deep cavities our cavalry were completely useless, until by using the
greatest precaution they managed to pass over these. This was not done
without considerable risk, for the enemy plied their bows and lances
with great dexterity, having, moreover, the advantage of the higher
ground. The stones from their slings were no less annoying; but all this
only lasted until we had gained the level ground. For now we richly
rewarded them for their pains, and killed great numbers. Yet we durst
not venture to open our ranks; for the instant any one stepped out to
assist any other soldier or officer he was that moment dangerously
wounded. We were, therefore, obliged to keep our ranks firmly closed,
and by degrees had to contend with more than twenty different divisions,
which was, indeed, pretty hot work. Besides all this the Indians kept
continually throwing sand in our faces to blind us. Here, indeed, the
great mercy of God alone could save us. The chief object of the enemy
was to capture one of our horses, in which they did not altogether fail;
for, as Pedro de Moron on his well-trained mare, attended by three
others of our cavalry, was attempting to break through the enemy's
ranks, the Indians wrenched the lance out of his hand, and fell
furiously upon him with their broad swords, wounding him severely. They
gave his mare such a terrific cut with the same weapon in the neck, that
the animal instantly fell down dead. If Moron's three companions had not
immediately hastened to his assistance, he would have shared his horse's
fate; for this gave our whole company time to come up.

I must again repeat, that the worst was, we had to keep ourselves so
close together in order not to run the danger of being cut off, which of
course greatly encumbered our movements. Nevertheless, we were obliged
to open our ranks to rescue the mare and Moron whom they were already
dragging off half dead. The mare we were obliged to relinquish, though
we managed to cut the girth asunder in order at least to save the
saddle. In this battle we had nine wounded. As for the enemy I believe
on this occasion we killed four of their chiefs. We pushed forward
shoulder to shoulder, and made considerable havoc with our swords. The
enemy retreated, carrying off the dead mare, which was subsequently cut
into pieces to be sent into every township of Tlascalla. As we
afterwards learnt, the horse's shoes, the Flanders hat, and the letter
we sent them, were brought as an offering to their idols. The mare
belonged to Juan Sedeño, who, on the previous day, was wounded in three
several places, and had, therefore, lent her to Moron. This Moron was a
capital horse soldier, and died a few days after; at least, I do not
remember to have seen him again after this battle.

We had fought for a good hour, and our firearms must have done
considerable destruction among the enemy who stood so crowded together.
Every man among us did his duty, and we fought away like brave warriors,
for in all truth we were placed in greater jeopardy this time than we
had ever been before. Numbers of the Indians lay dead on the field of
battle; among whom were eight of the principal chiefs, all sons of old

Previous Next