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Rh came to the meeting-place, but the summons to lay down their arms met with a calm resistance. They answered that they were determined to make an end of the Spaniards if they all died in the attempt.

That night Cortez followed up his advantage by burning three hundred houses. The men who were not doing

this were up all night repairing the movable fortresses under cover of which they hoped to reach those on the house-roofs. But on dragging out these clumsy machines the next morning it was found impossible to use them. The Aztecs had fulfilled their threat of destroying the bridges over the canals; the Spaniards were now obliged