Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 1.djvu/325

Rh wounded in the head by two sling stones, and after binding up the wounds I made the Spaniards leave the town, because it did not seem to me a safe camp for us; and we marched thus with great numbers of Indians pursuing us, fighting so stoutly that they woimded four or five Spaniards and as many horses. They killed us a horse, also, and God only knows how great was its value to us, and what pain we suffered at its death, because, after God, our only security was the horses; but we consoled ourselves with its meat, and ate it without leaving even the skin, so great was our want; for, since leaving the capital, we had nothing to eat but roasted and boiled corn, and not always enough of that, and, in addition, some herbs which we gathered in the country.

Seeing that the enemy increased every day, and grew stronger, and that we were becoming weaker, that night I ordered the wounded and sick, whom  The Battle of Otumba we carried behind us on our horses, to provide themselves with crutches and other contrivances for supporting themselves, so that the horses and sound Spaniards would be free to fight. From what happened to us the next day, it seemed that the Holy Ghost had inspired me with this thought, for, after we had left this camp in the morning, and marched about a league and a half, so great a multitude of Indians came out to encounter me, that all about us we could not see the ground, so completely was it covered by them. They attacked us on all sides so violently that we could not distinguish each other, for being so pressed and entangled with them. Certainly we believed that to be our last day, so great was the force of the Indians and so feeble the resistance they encountered in us; for we were already exhausted, and almost all of us wounded and fainting from hunger. But Our Lord was pleased to show His great power and mercy to us, for, with all our weakness, we broke their great pride and haughtiness,