But the stern resistance of the natives was not intermitted. On the contrary, active preparations were made to a.s.sault the irregular pile of stone buildings which formed the Palace of Axayacatl, in which the Spaniards were lodged. The furious populace rushed through every avenue towards this edifice, and encountered with wonderful nerve and endurance, the ceaseless storm of iron hail which its stout defenders rained upon them from every quarter. Yet the onset of the Aztecs was almost too fierce to be borne much longer by the besieged, when the Spaniards resorted to the lingering authority of Montezuma to save them from annihilation. The pliant Emperor, still their prisoner, a.s.sumed his royal robes, and, with the symbol of sovereignty in his hand, ascended the central turret of the palace. Immediately, at this royal apparition, the tumult of the fight was hushed whilst the king addressed his subjects in the language of conciliation and rebuke. Yet the appeal was not satisfactory or effectual. "Base Aztec,"--shouted the chiefs,--"the white men have made you a woman, fit only to weave and spin!"--whilst a cloud of stones, spears and arrows fell upon the monarch, who sank wounded to the ground, though the bucklers of the Spaniards were promptly interposed to shield his person from violence.
He was borne to his apartments below; and, bowed to the earth by the humiliation he had suffered alike from his subjects and his foes, he would neither receive comfort nor permit his wounds to be treated by those who were skilled in surgery. He reclined, in moody silence, brooding over his ancient majesty and the deep disgrace which he felt he had too long survived.
Meanwhile the war without continued to rage. The great Teocalli or Mound-Temple, already described, was situated at a short distance opposite the Spanish defences; and, from this elevated position, which commanded the invader"s quarters, a body of five or six hundred Mexicans, began to throw their missiles into the Spanish garrison, whilst the natives, under the shelter of the sanctuaries, were screened from the fire of the besieged. It was necessary to dislodge this dangerous armament. An a.s.sault, under Escobar, was hastily prepared, but the hundred men who composed it, were thrice repulsed, and obliged finally to retreat with considerable loss. Cortez had been wounded and disabled in his left hand, in the previous fight, but he bound his buckler to the crippled limb, and, at the head of three hundred chosen men, accompanied by Alvarado, Sandoval, Ordaz and others of his most gallant cavaliers, he sallied from the besieged palace. It was soon found that horses were useless in charging the Indians over the smooth and slippery pavements of the town and square, and accordingly Cortez sent them back to his quarters; yet he managed to repulse the squadrons in the court-yard of the Teocalli, and to hold them in check by a file of arquebusiers. The singular architecture of this Mound-Temple will be recollected by the reader, and the difficulty of its ascent, by means of five stairways and four terraces, was now increased by the crowds that thronged these narrow avenues. From stair to stair, from gallery to gallery, the Spaniards fought onward and upward with resistless courage, incessantly flinging their Indian foes, by main strength, over the narrow ledges. At length they reached the level platform of the top, which was capable of containing a thousand warriors. Here, at the shrine of the Aztec war-G.o.d, was a site for the n.o.blest contest in the empire. The area was paved with broad and level stones. Free from all impediments, it was unguarded at its edges by battlements, parapets, or, any defences which could protect the a.s.sailants from falling if they approached the sides too closely. Quarter was out of the question. The battle was hand to hand, and body to body. Combatants grappled and wrestled in deadly efforts to cast each other from the steep and sheer ledges.
Indian priests ran to and fro with streaming hair and sable garments, urging their superst.i.tious children to the contest. Men tumbled headlong over the sides of the area, and even Cortez himself, by superior agility, alone, was saved from the grasp of two warriors who dragged him to the brink of the lofty pyramid and were about to dash him to the earth.
For three hours the battle raged until every Indian combatant was either slain on the summit or hurled to the base. Forty-five of the Spaniards were killed, and nearly all wounded. A few Aztec priests, alone, of all the Indian band, survived to behold the destruction of the sanctuaries, which had so often been desecrated by the hideous rites and offerings of their b.l.o.o.d.y religion.
For a moment the natives were panic-struck by this masterly and victorious manuvre, whilst the Spaniards pa.s.sed unmolested to their quarters, from which, at night, they again sallied to burn three hundred houses of the citizens.
Cortez thought that these successes would naturally dismay the Mexicans, and proposed, through Mariana,--his faithful interpreter, who had continued throughout his adventures the chief reliance of the Spaniards for intercourse with the Indians,--that this conflict should cease at once, for the Aztecs must be convinced that a soldier who destroyed their G.o.ds, laid a part of their capital in ruins, and was able to inflict still more direful chastis.e.m.e.nt, was, indeed, invincible.
But the day of successful threats had pa.s.sed. The force of the Aztecs was still undiminished; the bridges were destroyed; the numbers of the Spaniards were lessened; hunger and thirst were beginning to do their deadly work on the invaders; "there will be only too few of you left,"
said they in reply,--"to satisfy the revenge of our G.o.ds."
There was no longer time for diplomacy or delay, and, accordingly, Cortez resolved to quit the city as soon as practicable, and prepared the means to accomplish this desirable retreat; but, on his first attempt he was unable to reach the open country through the easily defended highway of the capital or the enfilading ca.n.a.ls and lanes.
From house tops and cross streets, innumerable Indians beset his path wherever he turned. Yet it was essential for the salvation of the Spaniards that they should evacuate the city. No other resource remained, and, desperate as it was, the conqueror persevered, unflinchingly, amid the more hazardous a.s.saults of the Mexicans, and all the internal discords of his own band, whom a common danger did not perfectly unite. He packed the treasure, gathered during the days of prosperous adventure, on his stoutest horses, and, with a portable bridge, to be thrown hastily over the ca.n.a.ls, he departed from his stronghold on the dark and rainy evening which has become memorable in American history, as the _noche triste_, or "melancholy night." The Mexicans were not usually alert during the darkness, and Cortez hoped that he might steal off unperceived in this unwatchful period. But he was mistaken in his calculations. The Aztecs had become acquainted with Spanish tactics and were eager for the arrival of the moment, by day or night, when the expected victims would fall into their hands.
As soon as the Spanish band had advanced a short distance along the causeway of Tlacopan, the attack began by land and water; for the Indians a.s.saulted them from their boats, with spears and arrows, or quitting their skiffs, grappled with the retreating soldiers in mortal agony, and rolled them from the causeway into the waters of the lake.
The bridge was wedged inextricably between the sides of a d.y.k.e, whilst ammunition wagons, heavy guns, bales of rich cloths, chests of gold, artillery, and the bodies of men or horses, were piled in heaps on the highway or rolled into the water. Forty-six of the cavalry were cut off and four hundred and fifty of the Christians killed, whilst four thousand of the Indian auxiliaries perished.[5] The General"s baggage, papers, and minute diary of his adventures, were swallowed in the waters. The ammunition, the artillery, and every musket were lost.
Meanwhile Montezuma had perished from his wounds some days before the sortie was attempted, and his body had been delivered to his subjects with suitable honors. Alvarado,--Tonatiuh, the "child of the sun," as the natives delighted to call him, escaped during the _noche triste_ by a miraculous leap with the aid of his lance-staff over a ca.n.a.l, to whose edge he had been pursued by the foe. And when Cortez, at length, found himself with his thin and battered band, on the heights of Tacuba, west of the city, beyond the borders of the lake, it may be said, without exaggeration, that nothing was left to rea.s.sure him but his indomitable heart and the faithful Indian girl whose lips, and perhaps whose counsel, had been so useful in his service.
[Footnote 5: These numbers are variously stated by different authorities.--See Prescott, vol. 2d, p. 377.]
CHAPTER VI.
1520.
RETREAT TO OTUMBA.--CORTeZ IS ENCOUNTERED BY A NEW ARMY OF AZTECS AND AUXILIARIES.--VICTORY OF THE SPANIARDS AT OTUMBA.--PROPOSED RE-ALLIANCE OF AZTECS AND TLASCALANS.--FORAYS OF CORTeZ--REDUCTION OF THE EASTERN REGIONS.--CORTeZ PROPOSES THE RECONQUEST--SENDS OFF THE DISAFFECTED.--CORTeZ SETTLES THE TLASCALAN SUCCESSION.
After the disasters and fatigues of the _noche triste_, the melancholy and broken band of Cortez rested for a day at Tacuba, whilst the Mexicans returned to their capital, probably to bury the dead and purify their city. It is singular, yet it is certain, that they did not follow up their successes by a death blow at the disarmed Spaniards. But this momentary paralysis of their efforts was not to be trusted, and accordingly Cortez began to retreat eastwardly, under the guidance of the Tlascalans, by a circuitous route around the northern limits of lake Zumpango. The flying forces and their auxiliaries were soon in a famishing condition, subsisting alone on corn or on wild cherries gathered in the forest, with occasional refreshment and support from the carcase of a horse that perished by the way. For six days these wretched fragments of the Spanish army continued their weary pilgrimage, and, on the seventh, reached Otumba on the way from Mexico to Tlascala. Along the whole of this march the fainting and dispirited band was, ever and anon, a.s.sailed by detached squadrons of the enemy, who threw stones and rolled rocks on the men as they pa.s.sed beneath precipices, or a.s.saulted them with arrows and spears. As Cortez advanced, the enemy gathered in his rear and bade him "Go on whither he should meet the vengeance due to his robbery and his crimes," for the main body of the Aztecs had meanwhile pa.s.sed by an eastern route across the country, and placed itself in a position to intercept the Spaniards on the plains of Otumba. As the army of the conqueror crossed the last dividing ridge that overlooked the vale of Otompan, it beheld the levels below filled, as far as eye could reach, with the spears and standards of the Aztec victors, whose forces had been augmented by levies from the territory of the neighboring Tezcoco. Cortez presented a sorry array to be launched from the cliffs upon this sea of lances. But he was not the man to tremble or hesitate. He spread out his main body as widely as possible, and guarded the flanks by the twenty hors.e.m.e.n who survived the _noche triste_, and the disastrous march from Tacuba. He ordered his cavalry not to cast away their lances, but to aim them constantly at the faces of the Indians, whilst the infantry were to thrust and not to strike with their swords;--the leaders of the enemy were especially to be selected as marks; and he, finally, bade his men trust in G.o.d, who would not permit them to perish by the hands of infidels. The signal was given for the charge. Spaniard and Tlascalan fought hand to hand with the foe. Long and doubtfully the battle raged on both sides, until every Spaniard was wounded. Suddenly Cortez descried the ensignia of the enemy"s commanding general, and knowing that the fortunes of the day, in all probability, depended upon securing or slaying that personage, he commanded Sandoval, Olid, Alvarado, and Avila to follow and support him as he dashed towards the Indian chief. The Aztecs fell back as he rushed on, leaving a lane for the group of galloping cavaliers. Cortez and his companions soon reached the fatal spot, and the conqueror driving his lance through the Aztec leader, left him to be dispatched by Juan de Salamanca. This was the work of a moment. The death of the general struck a panic into the combined forces of Tenocht.i.tlan and Tezcoco, and a promiscuous flight began on all sides. At sunset, on the 8th of July, 1520, the Spaniards were victors on the field of Otumba, and gathering together in an Indian temple, which they found on an eminence overlooking the plain, they offered up a _Te Deum_ for their miraculous preservation as well as for the hope with which their success reinspired them.[6]
The next day the invaders quitted their encampment on the battle field and hastened towards the territory of their friends, the Tlascalans.
The Spaniards now presented themselves to the rulers of their allies in a different guise from that they wore when they first advanced towards Mexico. Fully equipped, mounted, and furnished with ammunition, they had then compelled the prompt submission of the Tlascalans, and, a.s.suring their alliance, had conquered the Cholulans, and obtained the control even of the capital and person of the Aztec Emperor himself. But now they returned defeated, plundered, unarmed, poor, scarcely clad, and with the loss of a large part of those Indian allies who had accompanied the expedition. There was reason for disheartening fear in the breast of Cortez, had it been susceptible of such an emotion. But the Lord of Tlascala rea.s.sured him, when he declared that their "cause was common against Mexico, and, come weal, come woe, they would prove loyal to the death!"
The Spaniards were glad to find a friendly palace in Tlascala, in which to shelter themselves after the dreadful storms that had recently broken on their head. Yet, in the quiet of their retreat, and in the excitement of their rallying blood, they began to reflect upon the past and the disheartening aspect of the future. Murmurs, which were at first confined to the barrack, at length a.s.sumed public significance, and a large body of the men, chiefly the soldiers of Narvaez, presented to Cortez a pet.i.tion which was headed by his own secretary, demanding permission to retreat to La Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz. Just at this moment, too, Cuitlahua, who mounted the throne of Mexico on the death of Montezuma, despatched a mission to the Tlascalans, proposing to bury the hatchet, and to unite in sweeping the Spaniards from the realm. The hours which were consumed by the Tlascalans in deliberating on this dread proposal were full of deep anxiety to Cortez; for, in the present feeble condition of his Spanish force, his whole reliance consisted in adroitly playing off one part of the Indian population against another. If he lost the aid, alliance, or neutrality of the Tlascalans, his cause was lost, and all hope of reconquest, or perhaps even of retreat, was gone forever.
The promised alliance of the Mexicans was warmly and sternly supported in the debates of the Tlascalan council by some of the n.o.bles; yet, after full and even pa.s.sionate discussion, which ended in personal violence between two of the chiefs, it was unanimously resolved to reject the proposal of their hereditary foes, who had never been able to subdue them as a nation in battle, but hoped to entrap them into alliance in the hour of common danger. These discussions, together with the positive rejection by Cortez of the Spanish pet.i.tion, seem to have allayed the anxiety of the invaders to return to Vera Cruz. With the a.s.sured friendship of the Tlascalans they could rely upon some good turn in fortune, and, at length, the vision of the conquest might be realized under the commander who had led them through success and defeat with equal skill.
Accordingly Cortez did not allow his men to remain long in idle garrisons, brooding over the past, or becoming moody and querulous. If he could not conquer a nation by a blow, he might perhaps subdue a tribe by a foray, while the military success, or golden plunder, would serve to keep alive the fire of enterprise in the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of his troopers. His first attack, after he had recruited the strength of his men, was on the Tepeacans, whom he speedily overthrew, and in whose chief town of Tepeaca, on the Mexican frontier, he established his head quarters, in the midst of a flourishing and productive district, whence his supplies were easily gathered. Here he received an invitation from the cacique of Quauhquechollan,--a town of thirty thousand inhabitants, whose chief was impatient of the Mexican yoke,--to march to his relief. Olid was despatched on this expedition; but getting entangled in disputes and frays with the Cholulans, whose people he a.s.saulted and took prisoners, Cortez himself a.s.sumed command of the expedition. In fact, the conqueror was singularly unfortunate in the conduct of his subordinates, for all his disasters arose from confidence in men whose judgment or temper was unequal to the task and discipline of control. In the a.s.sault and capture of this town, Cortez and his men obtained a rich booty. They followed up the blow by taking the strong city of Itzocan, which had also been held by a Mexican garrison; and here, too, the captors seized upon rich spoils, while the Indian auxiliaries were soon inflamed by the reports of booty, and hastened in numbers to the chief who led them to victory and plunder.
Cortez returned to Tepeaca from these expeditions, which were not alone predatory in their character, but were calculated to pave the way for his military approach once more to the city of Mexico, as soon as his schemes ripened for the conquest. The ruling idea of ultimate success never for a moment left his mind. From Tepeaca he despatched his officers on various expeditions, and marched Sandoval against a large body of the enemy lying between his camp and Vera Cruz. These detachments defeated the Mexicans in two battles; reduced the whole country which is now known as lying between Orizaba and the western skirts of the plain of Puebla, and thus secured the communication with the seacoast. Those who are familiar with the geography of Mexico, will see at a glance, with what masterly generalship the dispositions of Cortez were made to secure the success of his darling project. Nor can we fail to recognize the power of a single indomitable will over ma.s.ses of Christians and Indians, in the wonderful as well as successful control which the conqueror obtained in his dealings with his countrymen as well as the natives at this period of extreme danger. When Mexico was lost after the _noche triste_, the military resources of Cortez were really nothing, for his slender band was deprived of its most effective weapons, was broken in moral courage and placed on an equality, as to arms, with the Indians. The successes he obtained at Otumba, Tlascala, Tepeaca, and elsewhere, not only re-established the _prestige_ of his genius among his countrymen, but affected even the Indians. The native cities and towns in the adjacent country appealed to him to decide in their difficulties, and his discretion and justice, as an arbitrator, a.s.sured him an ascendancy which it is surprising that a stranger who was ignorant of their language could acquire among men who were in the semi-civilized and naturally jealous state in which he found the Aztec and Tlascalan tribes. Thus it is that, under the influence of his will and genius, "a new empire grew up, in the very heart of the land, forming a counterpoise to the colossal power which had so long overshadowed it."
In the judgment of Cortez, the moment had now arrived when he was strong enough, and when it was proper, that he should attempt the reconquest of the capital. His alliance with the Tlascalans reposed upon a firm basis, and consequently he could rely upon adequate support from the Indians who would form the majority of his army. Nor were his losses of military equipments and stores unrepaired. Fortune favored him by the arrival of several vessels at Vera Cruz, from which he obtained munitions of war and additional troops. One hundred and fifty well provided men and twenty horses were joined to his forces by these arrivals.
Before his departure, however, he despatched the few discontented men from his camp and gave them a vessel with which they might regain their homes. He wrote an account of his adventures, moreover, to his government in Spain, and besought his sovereign to confirm his authority in the lands and over the people he might add to the Spanish crown. He addressed, also, the Royal Audiencia at St. Domingo to interest its members in his cause, and when he despatched four vessels from Vera Cruz for additional military supplies, he freighted them with specimens of gold and Indian fabrics to inflame the cupidity of new adventurers.
In Tlascala, he settled the question of succession in the government; constructed new arms and caused old ones to be repaired; made powder with sulphur obtained from the volcano of Popocatopetl; and, under the direction of his builder, Lopez, prepared the timber for brigantines, which he designed to carry, in pieces, and launch on the lake at the town of Tezcoco. At that port, he resolved to prepare himself fully for the final attack, and, this time, he determined to a.s.sault the enemy"s capital by water, as well as by land.
[Footnote 6: We have no accurate estimate of the numbers engaged in this battle, or of the slain.]
CHAPTER VII.
1520-1521.
DEATH OF CUITLAHUA--HE IS SUCCEEDED BY GUATEMOZIN.--AZTECS LEARN THE PROPOSED RECONQUEST--CORTeZ"s FORCES FOR THIS ENTERPRISE.--CORTeZ AT TEZCOCO--HIS PLANS AND ACTS.--MILITARY EXPEDITIONS OF CORTeZ IN THE VALLEY.--OPERATIONS AT CHALCO AND CUERNAVACA.--XOCHIMILCO--RETURN TO TACUBA.--CORTeZ RETURNS TO TEZCOCO AND IS REINFORCED.
After a short and brilliant reign of four months, Cuitlahua, the successor of Montezuma, died of small pox, which, at that period, raged throughout Mexico, and he was succeeded by Guauhtemotzin, or, Guatemozin, the nephew of the two last Emperors. This sovereign ascended the Aztec throne in his twenty-fifth year, yet he seems to have been experienced as a soldier and firm as a patriot.
It is not to be imagined that the Aztec court was long ignorant of the doings of Cortez. It was evident that the bold and daring Spaniard had not only been unconquered in heart and resolution, but that he even meditated a speedy return to the scene of his former successful exploits. The Mexicans felt sure that, upon this occasion, his advent and purposes would be altogether undisguised, and that when he again descended to the valley in which their capital nestled, he would, in all probability, be prepared to sustain himself and his followers in any position his good fortune and strong arm might secure to him. The news, moreover, of his firm alliance with the Tlascalans and all the discontented tributaries of the Aztec throne, as well as of the reinforcements and munitions he received from Vera Cruz, was quickly brought to the city of Mexico; and every suitable preparation was made, by strengthening the defences, encouraging the va.s.sals, and disciplining the troops, to protect the menaced empire from impending ruin.
Nor was Cortez, in his turn, idle in exciting the combined forces of the Spaniards and Indians for the last effort which it was probable he could make for the success of his great enterprise. His Spanish force consisted of nigh six hundred men, forty of whom were cavalry, together with eighty arquebusiers and crossbowmen. Nine cannon of small calibre, supplied with indifferent powder, const.i.tuted his train of artillery. His army of Indian allies is estimated at the doubtless exaggerated number of over one hundred thousand, armed with the _maquahuatil_, pikes, bows, arrows, and divided into battalions, each with its own banners, insignia and commanders. His appeal to all the members of this motley array was couched in language likely to touch the pa.s.sions, the bigotry, the enthusiasm and avarice of various cla.s.ses; and, after once more crossing the mountains, and reaching the margin of the lakes, he encamped on the 31st of December, 1520, within the venerable precincts of Tezcoco, "the place of rest."
At Tezcoco, Cortez was firmly planted on the eastern edge of the valley of Mexico, in full sight of the capital which lay across the lake, near its western sh.o.r.e, at the distance of about twelve miles.
Behind him, towards the seacoast, he commanded the country, as we have already related, while, by pa.s.ses through lower spurs of the mountains, he might easily communicate with the valleys of which the Tlascalans and Cholulans were masters.
Fortifying himself strongly in his dwelling and in the quarters of his men, in Tezcoco, he at once applied himself to the task of securing such military positions in the valley and in the neighborhood of the great causeway between the lakes as would command an outlet from the capital by land, and enable him to advance across the waters of Tezcoco without the annoyance of enemies who might sally forth from strongholds on his left flank. On his right, the chain of lakes, extending farther than the eye can reach, furnished the best protection he could desire. Accordingly, he first of all reduced and destroyed the ancient city of Iztapalapan,--a place of fifty thousand inhabitants, distant about six leagues from the town of Tezcoco,--which was built on the narrow isthmus dividing the lake of that name from the waters of Chalco. He next directed his forces against the city of Chalco, lying on the eastern extremity of the lake that bore its name, where his army was received in triumph by the peaceful citizens after the evacuation of the Mexican garrison. Such were the chief of his military and precautionary expeditions, until the arrival of the materials for the boats or brigantines which Martin Lopez, and his four Spanish a.s.sistant carpenters, had already put together and tried on the waters of Zahuapan; and which, after a successful experiment, they had taken to pieces again and borne in fragments to Tezcoco.
Early in the spring of 1521, Cortez entrusted his garrison at Tezcoco to Sandoval, and, with three hundred and fifty Spaniards, and nearly all his Indian allies, departed on an expedition designed to reconnoitre the capital. He pa.s.sed from his stronghold northwardly around the head of the lakes north of Tezcoco,--one of which is now called San Cristoval,--and took possession of the insular town of Xaltocan. Pa.s.sing thence along the western edge of the vale of Anahuac or Mexico, he reached the city of Tacuba, west of the capital, with which so many disastrous recollections were connected on his first sad exit from the imperial city. During this expedition the troops of the conqueror were almost daily engaged in skirmishes with the guerilla forces of the Aztecs; yet, notwithstanding their constant annoyance and stout resistance, the Spaniards were invariably successful and even managed to secure some booty of trifling value. After a fortnight of rapid marching, fighting and reconnoitering, Cortez and his men returned to Tezcoco. Here he was met by an emba.s.sy from the friendly Chalcans and pressed for a sufficient force to sustain them against the Mexicans, who despatched the warriors of certain neighboring and loyal strongholds to annoy the inhabitants of a town which had exhibited a desire to fraternize with the invading Spaniards. Indeed, the Aztecs saw the importance of maintaining the control of a point which commanded the most important avenue to their capital from the Atlantic coast. The wearied troops of Cortez were in no plight to respond to the summons of the Chalcans at that moment, for their hurried foray and incessant conflicts with the enemy had made them anxious for the repose they might justly expect in Tezcoco.
Nevertheless, Cortez did not choose to rely upon his naval enterprise alone; but, conscious as he was of holding the main key of the land as well as water, he despatched, without delay, his trusty Sandoval with three hundred Spanish infantry and twenty horse to protect the town of Chalco and reduce the hostile fortifications in its vicinity. This duty he soon successfully performed. But the Aztecs renewed the a.s.sault on Chalco with a fleet of boats, and were again beaten off with the loss of a number of their n.o.bles, who were delivered by the victors to Sandoval whom Cortez had sent back to support the contested town as soon as the news of the fresh attack reached him.
By this time the brigantines were nearly completed, and the ca.n.a.l dug by which they were to be carried to the waters of the lake, for, at that time, the town of Tezcoco was distant from its margin. He dared not trust these precious materials for his future success beyond the shelter of his citadel in Tezcoco, since every effort had been already made by hostile and marauding parties to destroy them; and he was therefore obliged to undergo the trouble of digging this ca.n.a.l, about half a league in length, in order to launch his vessels when the moment for final action arrived.
Nor was his heart uncheered by fresh arrivals from the old world. Two hundred men, well provided with arms and ammunition, and with upwards of seventy horses,--coming most probably from Hispaniola,--found their way from Vera Cruz to Tezcoco, and united themselves with the corps of Cortez.
In the meantime the Emperor again directed his arms against his recreant subjects of Chalco, which he seemed resolved to subdue and hold at all hazards, so as effectually to cut off the most important land approach to his capital. Envoys arrived in the Spanish camp with reports of the danger that menaced them, and earnest appeals for efficient support.
This time, Cortez resolved to lead the party destined for this service, and, on the 5th of April, set out with thirty hors.e.m.e.n, three hundred infantry and a large body of Tlascalans and Tezcocans, to succor a city whose neutrality, at least, it was important, as we have already shown, should eventually be secured. He seems to have effected, by his personal influence in Chalco and its neighborhood, what his lieutenant Sandoval had been unable to do by arms, so that, he not only rendered a large number of loyal Aztecs pa.s.sive, but even secured the co-operation of additional auxiliaries from among the Chalcans and the tribes that dwelt on the borders of their lake.