Page:Vol 1 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/327

Rh The following day Cortés sallied forth with the horses, one hundred infantry, and seven hundred allies, partly to forage before the enemy appeared, but also to inflict some damage, and to show that they were as fresh as ever. "I burned five or six small villages," he says, "each of about one hundred families, and returned with four hundred prisoners. After being consoled with food and beads, the captives, including fifteen taken during the late battle, were despatched to the camp of Xicotencatl, two leagues off, with a letter to serve as credentials, and a message assuring him of the friendly intentions of the Spaniards, although they had been obliged to resort to severe measures. By no means impressed either with his defeat or with the assurances, Xicotencatl replied that peace would be celebrated at his father's town with a feast on the Spaniards' flesh, while their hearts and blood were delighting the gods. They would receive a more decisive answer on the morrow. With this defiant message came the report that the Tlascalan army, largely reinforced, was preparing to march on and overwhelm them. "When we learned this," says Bernal Diaz, "being men, we feared death, many of us; and all made confession to the Merced father, and the clergyman Juan Diaz, who all night remained present to listen to the penitent; and we commended ourselves to God, praying that we might not be conquered." Cortés applied himself energetically to supervise preparations and give the enemy a welcome. A fresh supply of arrows, and of Indian shields of plaited cane and cotton, were made, and the arms and accoutrements inspected. He impressed upon the soldiers the necessity of keeping close together, round the banner to be carried well aloft by Alférez Corral, in order that they might not be cut off. As for the cavalry they