Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 1.djvu/322

298 went in the vanguard did not have less fighting than those on the flanks, although the strongest force was the one at our backs where the people of the city pursued us.

When I reached the city of Tacuba, I found all the people in a panic in the square, not knowing where to go, so I made great haste to get them out into the country, before more of the inhabitants should gather in the said city and capture the roofs, from which they could do us great injury. The vanguard said they did not know the way, so I sent them to the rear, and took the lead myself until we had got clear of the city, where I awaited them at some farms. When the rear-guard came up, I learned that they had sustained some injury, and that some of the Spaniards and Indians had been killed, and that much gold had been lost and left on the road, where the Indians gathered it up. I held the Indians in check there until all the people had passed on, so that the foot-soldiers might take the hill, on which there stood a strong tower and buildings. These they captured without sustaining any injury, for I did not leave my place, nor allow the enemy to advance, until they had secured the hill. God only knows the trouble and fatigue we sustained, for no horse of the twenty-four was left which could still run, nor any horseman who could raise his arms, nor a sound foot-soldier who could move. When we reached the buildings, we fortified ourselves in them, and the enemy surrounded us and besieged us until night, not leaving us an hour's rest. We found that over one hundred and fifty Spaniards were killed in this fight, forty-five mares and horses, and more than two thousand of the Indians who had aided the Spaniards; amongst the latter, they killed the son and daughters of Montezuma, and all the other chiefs whom we carried prisoners.

At midnight, believing we were not observed, we left the said lodgings very silently, leaving many fires burning in it, not knowing any road, nor where we were going.