Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 2.djvu/53

 avenging themselves or dying with us; I told them to rest and that very soon I would give them plenty to do.

When those warriors of Tascaltecal, who were certainly for hereabouts very dashing men, had rested in Tesaico three or four days, I prepared twenty-five horsemen, three hundred foot soldiers, five hundred archers and musketeers, and six small field pieces, and, without telling anyone where we were going, I left the city at nine o'clock in the morning. With me were the captains already named, with more than thirty thousand in their divisions, well organised after their fashion. When it was getting late, we met a body of the enemy's warriors four leagues from the city, and our horsemen broke through them and scattered them and, as the warriors of Tascaltecal were very fleet, they followed, and we killed many of our adversaries; and that night we slept in the field, keeping strict watch.

The next morning, we continued our march, and still I had not given out where I intended to go, because I distrusted some of the people of Tesiaco who were with us, for as yet I had no confidence in them, fearing that they might give information to the people of Mexico and Temixtitan of what I intended to do. We arrived at a town called Xaltoca, which is situated in the midst of the lake, and we found around it many trenches full of water and, as these surrounded the town, it was very strong because the horsemen could not enter. Our adversaries yelled a great deal, discharging darts and arrows at us, but the foot soldiers entered, although with some difficulty, and expelled them, and burnt a great part of the town. That night, we slept a league from there, and as day broke we continued our march, meeting the enemy who yelled at us from afar, as they are accustomed to do in war, a thing which is certainly