Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 2.djvu/99

 than those of Suchimilco, and who were slaves of Montezuma, came to offer themselves as vassals of Your Majesty, begging me to pardon their tardiness. I received them very well, and was pleased at their coming, for they constituted the only danger to our camp in Cuyoacan.

From the camp on the causeway we had, with the help of the brigantines, burned many houses in the outskirts of the city, and not a canoe dared venture there. I deemed it sufficient for our safety to keep seven brigantines about our camp, and I therefore decided to send three to each of the other camps of the alguacil mayor and Pedro de Alvarado, instructing the captains that, as supplies of fresh water, fruits, maize, and other provisions came from the mainland on those sides, they should cruise about both day and night, taking turns, and moreover that they should back up our people when we planned an assault to force an entrance into the city. The allotment of these six brigantines to the two other camps was a very necessary and profitable measure, for every day and night they captured many canoes and prisoners.

These measures being decided, and the people above mentioned having come peaceably to our help, I told them I had determined to enter and fight in the city two days hence, that therefore they should all assemble, by that time, well prepared and furnished for war; for by this I would recognise whether they were our true friends; and they promised to be ready. The next day, I had the people prepared and equipped, and I wrote to the camps and two brigantines what I had determined and what they should do.

After having heard mass next morning, and having instructed the captains as to what they should do, I left our quarters with fifteen or twenty horsemen and three hundred Spaniards and all our allies, who were an