Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 2.djvu/43

 to dare, on account of a certain garrison the Culuans had placed near them.

The said captain left, taking with him all the Indians of Tascaltecal who had carried our baggage, and others who had come with us and had obtained some  Sandoval's Expedition to Chalco plunder in the war. The latter marched some distance ahead, as the Captain believed that, if the Spaniards brought up the rear, the enemy would not dare to attack them; but the adversaries in the lake towns and along the coast, as soon as they saw them, attacked the rear of the Tascaltecans and captured, plundered, and even killed some of them. When the captain arrived with the horsemen and foot soldiers, he attacked them vigorously with lances, and killed many; those who escaped retreated to the water and the other towns near by. The Indians of Tascaltecal went back to their country with what remained to them, accompanied by the messengers I had sent. All these being placed in safety, Gonzalo de Sandoval continued his road to the province of [sic]Calco, which was very near at hand. Early next morning a large number of the enemy came out to attack him, and, both having formed on the field, our men opened the attack; the horsemen routed two squadrons in such wise that the others quickly abandoned the field, and our forces burned and killed amongst them.

This being accomplished, and that road cleared, the people of Calco came out to receive the Spaniards, all rejoicing together greatly. The chiefs said they wished to come and speak with me, so they left and came to sleep at Tesaico, where some of them appeared before me with two of the sons of the lord of Calco. They gave me about three hundred dollars of gold in pieces and told me how their father had died, and that, at the time of his death, he had told them that the greatest grief he took with him was not to see me before he died, for he had been