Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 2.djvu/210

 attacks, so much so that the latter gave themselves up for lost, as indeed they would have been had they not been prepared and collected where they could fortify themselves and withstand their adversaries. When things were in this state, I received news of what had happened by a messenger, who had escaped on foot from the contests and told me that all the province of Panuco had rebelled and had killed many of the adelantado's Spaniards who had remained there, and also some householders of the town I had established there in the name of Your Majesty; and, from his account, I fear that none of the Spaniards survive, for which God our Lord knows what I suffer! No such occurrence can happen in these parts without costing much and risking the loss of all. The adelantado was much impressed by this news, not only because it seemed to him that he was the cause of it, but also because he had left his son in that province with all his possessions; so much so indeed, that his chagrin brought on an illness from which he died within the space and term of three days.

That Your Highness may be better informed of what occurred, I relate that the Spaniard, who first brought  Rebellion in Panuco the news of the rising of the natives of Panuco, told me that he, a foot soldier, and three horsemen, had been surprised by the Indians in a village called Tacetuco ; that these Indians had killed the foot soldier, two of the horsemen, and the horse of the third, and that he and the surviving horseman had fled under cover of night; they had observed a house in the village where a lieutenant, fifteen horsemen, and forty foot soldiers should have waited for them, but the house was burned