Page:The Mastering of Mexico.djvu/268

230 the cannon before the gunners had time to fire more than four pieces, every ball of which passed over our heads save one that killed three of our comrades. Now we had gained the guns Narvaez was shooting down at us with arrows and musket-balls from the top of the temple. At this moment Sandoval came up and, in spite of Narvaez making strong resistence, he and his men made a rush to scale the steps. Seeing this and confident they had given up trying to recover the guns, we ran to Sandoval's aid. We got to him just as Narvaez had beaten him back five or six steps, and our arrival turned the scale against the enemy. With our long lances we did hard work, and when I was least expecting it we heard shouts from Narvaez, "Santa Maria, protect me! They have thrust out one of my eyes and are killing me! "At once we shouted" Victory! Victory! Narvaez is fallen! "Still, for all this, we were not able to force our way to the temple until one of us who was very tall, Martin Lopez (he of the sloop building), set fire to the straw on the top of the temple, and all the men of Narvaez came rolling down the steps. Then Pedro Farfan, a good soldier, was the first to lay hold of Narvaez, and in an instant we were shouting, "Long live the king! Long live the king! and in his royal name Cortes! Victory! Victory! Narvaez is dead!"

In the hurry of the moment we merely fastened