Page:The Mastering of Mexico.djvu/82

54 them of God and the king; and he added that if they attacked us, and we defending ourselves killed any of them, the guilt would be on their heads, not on ours.

For answer they shot their arrows off so quickly, drums signaling other troops should attack us, that many of us were at once wounded. Much mud and swamp was before us and we could not easily defend ourselves from arrows and lances. Cortes himself in the contest left one shoe in the mire. But by hard work we finally got to dry land, and with the cry of "Santiago" fell so furiously upon our assailants that they retreated behind their log walls. Stoutly fighting our way we forced a passage into the town, and then through the streets to fresh defences they had built. Alonzo de Avila and his troops, who had been detained by the swamps, came up at this juncture, and our united forces now drove the Indians from their stronghold. Like the brave warriors they were, however, they kept shooting arrows and darts hardened by fire, and they did not turn their backs until we had gained a large courtyard with rooms, halls and three temples adjoining.

Here Cortes ordered us to halt and take formal possession of the land in the name of the king of Spain. The way he did this was by drawing his sword and as sign of possession making three deep