Page:The Mastering of Mexico.djvu/283

Rh which they had not lately fed that they might the more greedily devour us. As for our comrade Tlaxcalans, they said they would put them in cages to fatten and use them day by day in sacrifice. But "Deliver up Montezuma!" they yelled, while their whistles and missiles assailed us the whole night.

As soon as day had fairly broken, commending ourselves to God we sallied forth with our towers. If our enemy had fought desperately on the two previous days, they stood even more firm this time. Nevertheless we determined, although at the cost of all our lives, we must push to the great temple of Huitzilopochtli. I will not detail the terrible struggle we had, how they hurled darts, stones and arrows, how, if hotly pursued, they jumped into the canals, how they wounded our horses, which lost their foothold on the smooth pavement of the courtyard. Their numbers was so vast we could not beat them back, though our cannon mowed down ten or fifteen at a time. At last we had worked our way to the foot of the temple, when, all of a sudden above four thousand Mexicans rushed up the steps for its defense. Other troops armed with long lances, stones and darts were already on the top.

We now began to make our way up the stairs. Oh! what a perilous fight it was!—we streaming with blood and covered with wounds, our men falling dead at our feet! Cortes showed astonishing valor.