Page:The Mastering of Mexico.djvu/81

Rh come to do them harm, but to treat them like brothers and share our things with them; we prayed them, therefore, not to begin a war they would regret. The more Aguilar talked, however, the more insolent the natives became, saying they had fortified their town with log barriers and stockades, that they would not permit us to take in fresh water and, if we passed beyond the palm trees, they should kill us. When Cortes found he could not have peace, he commanded the small vessels and boats made ready for battle, with three cannon and divisions of crossbowmen and musketeers in each boat.

Early next morning, after we had armed ourselves and said our prayers, Cortes ordered Alonzo de Avila with one hundred soldiers, among whom were ten crossbowmen, to go by a narrow path leading to the town, and as soon as they heard the firing of guns to attack the town on one side while we attacked on the other, Cortes himself at the same time moving up the river with the rest in boats and the small ships.

Meanwhile banks and thickets filled with warriors who were armed with their various weapons and making a horrible din by blowing their twisted shells and fifes and beating drums. Since Cortes wished to follow exact form in all he did, he now called us to halt and once more, through Aguilar, the king's notary witnessing, he asked the Indians to permit us peaceably to take in fresh water, and speak to