Page:The Mastering of Mexico.djvu/147

Rh They now retired to some ravines where forty thousand warriors, all wearing his red and white colors, lay in ambush with their general in chief, Xicotenga. The ground of the ravine was uneven and our horsemen were useless in the passage of it, while the enemy plied us with arrows, lances and stones; but when we had gained level ground we paid them back richly. We dared not break our ranks, for the instant any soldier left the formation he was set upon and wounded. Then, too, we had to keep close together in order not to be cut off. We could do little contending with twenty different divisions and completely surrounded. And then the Indians kept constantly trying to blind us by throwing handfuls of sand in our faces. It was pretty hot work.

But shoulder to shoulder we pushed forward and saved ourselves from defeat. One of their objects was to capture one of our horses, and in this they did not fail, for as Pedro de Moron on his well trained mare was charging with three other horsemen, the Indians wrenched the lance out of his hand and gave his mare such a terrific cut with a broadsword that she fell dead. We saved Moron, whom they were dragging away half killed, but the mare we had to let go, cutting her girths in order to save the saddle. They carried her off and afterwards cut her in pieces to show in the towns of Tlaxcala, and we learned that