Page:The Mastering of Mexico.djvu/338

298 Our officers and soldiers now, after several unsuccessful encounters, determined that it was impossible to fight along the causeways into the city, unless the sloops covered us on each side. With the sloops keeping off canoes from which the Mexicans attacked us from the water, we would, and did have better success. We captured several bridges and entrenchments. But the Mexicans had two advantages: First, they could relieve their troops from time to time and pour in fresh men; second, they could shower stones, lances, arrows upon the sloops—I can find no word to tell the fact more clearly, their missiles fell from housetops thicker than hail. But if at times, and after much labor, we succeeded in capturing a barricade, or a bridge, the enemy would return in the night, make another opening, throw up stronger defences and dig deeper pits. These pits, at once filling with water, they would cover lightly so that in the midst of the battle next day we would get caught in them, and with canoes ready at hand they could carry us off prisoners. In another artful way they kept our sloops from coming to our aid, for they drove down stakes, hidden, for their tops came below the surface of the water, and often our boats stuck fast on the stakes and so became open to attacks from the canoes.

I have already told that our horsemen were of little use to us on the causeway. If they charged, or