Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 2.djvu/133

 the most miserable class who had come out to search for something to eat, most of them being unarmed, and women and boys. We did much damage amongst them all over the city, wherever we were able to move about, so that between prisoners and killed they exceeded more than eight hundred, and the brigantines also captured people in canoes who were fishing, making great havoc amongst them. As the captains and chiefs of the city saw us moving about at an unaccustomed hour, they became as frightened as by the recent ambush, and none dared to come and fight with us, so we returned to our camp well satisfied with great spoils and food for our friends.

The next morning, we entered the city, and, as our friends had observed the systematic order we followed in the destruction of it, the multitude which daily came with us was beyond all reckoning. We finished taking the whole street of Tacuba that day and filling up the bad places in it, so that the people from Pedro de Alvarado's camp could communicate with us through the city. We won two other bridges on the principal street leading to the market-place, filling them up, and we burned the houses of the lord of the city, who was a youth of eighteen, called Guatimucin, being the second ruler since the death of Montezuma; and the Indians had many strong places amongst these houses, as they were large and solid and surrounded by water. Two other bridges were also captured in other streets which run near the one leading to the market, and many passes were filled up, so that three of the four quarters of the city were already ours, and the Indians could only retreat to the strongest part of it only, which comprised the houses furthest out in the water.

The following day, which was the feast of the Apostle Santiago [July 25th], we entered the city in the same order as before, following the large street to the