Page:The Mastering of Mexico.djvu/148

116 they offered to their idols her shoes, along with the red Flemish hat and the letter we had sent.

We had fought for a good hour. Every man had done his duty. On this second day of September, 1519, we had been in greater jeopardy than ever before, and now as our enemy retreated we could hardly stand from over-fatigue. We gave hearty thanks to God who had delivered us from such peril, and fell back to some temples, which were strong and lofty. Posting patrols and scouts, we dressed the wounds of our men and horses, made a good supper off dogs and poultry and lay down to rest and sleep until morning. We never could discover how many Tlaxcalans we had slain and wounded, for it is their custom to carry any Indian off the field as soon as he is hurt or dead.

The next we made a day of rest, laying in a stock of arrows and repairing our crossbows. Cortes said it would do no harm if our horsemen should gallop up and down the country a little, otherwise the Tlaxcalans might think we had had enough of fighting. Of the Indians we had captured, two we set at liberty to tell the chief of the Tlaxcalans that we merely wished to take the road through their country to Mexico, there to speak with Montezuma. The two went to Xicotenga's camp, and punctually returned with the message that we might go to the town where his father lived, where they would make peace after