Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 2.djvu/112

 so that when the enemy came in pursuit, those in ambush would fall upon their rear. The said alguacil mayor with his three brigantines and the three of Pedro de Alvarado were to take that bad pass, where Pedro de Alvarado had been routed, filling it up quickly, and in marching forward they were not to advance one step without having first filled it up and repaired it; and, if they could advance to the market-place without any great risk or danger, they were to make every effort to do so, as I would do the same; and they were to note well that, although I sent to say this, I did not oblige them to advance a single step which might expose them to any defeat or mishap, and that I communicated this to them because I knew them, and that they would put their face to what I ordered them, even though they knew that by it they might lose their lives. My two servants went to the camp and met the said alguacil mayor and Pedro de Alvarado there to whom they stated the case as we had agreed here in our camp. As they had to fight in one place only, and I in many, I had asked them to send me seventy or eighty foot soldiers who would enter with me next day; these came with my two servants and all slept that night in my camp according to the orders which I had sent them.

This order given, the next day, after having heard mass, the seven brigantines with more than three hundred canoes of our friends, left our camp, and I,  The Attack on the Market- place with twenty-five horsemen, my people, and the seventy men from the camp of Tacuba, began our march and entered the city, where I divided them in this manner: From the point we had already reached, three streets led to the marketplace, which the Indians called Tianguizco, and into the principal one, leading to the said market-place, I told Your Majesty's treasurer and accountant [Julian de Alderete] to enter, with seventy men and more than fifteen