Page:Vol 1 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/710

590 Aztec province against whose forces they had often been arrayed, but Cortés represented the true state of affairs and convinced the respective envoys of the important service they could render themselves and their new sovereign, to whom all owed allegiance, by forgetting occurrences for which their oppressors were to blame, and to combine for mutual aid. His arguments were convincing, and both Huexotzinco and Quauhquechollan promised immediately to support the Chalcans with a large force.

The Aztecs do not appear to have gone much beyond threats until after the Spanish retirement from Tlacopan, but two days after their return to Tezcuco Chalcan messengers appeared with such supplications that Sandoval was despatched to their aid with twenty horse, three hundred infantry, and a force of allies, largely reinforced at Chalco by Huexotzincas, Quauhquechollans, and Chalcans. On arriving before Chimalhuacan, he found the enemy drawn up in battle array in three large divisions. A rush at the invaders was made. The cavalry met them, breaking their ranks and throwing them into confusion. Retiring to more broken ground, where they were comparatively safe from the horses, they rallied to face the infantry, but the well directed volleys of fire-arms and cross-bows proved another surprise, which prepared the way for an effective charge from swordsmen and lancers. Now the retreat assumed more the form of a flight, the Spaniards pursuing eagerly. During this operation Gonzalo Dominguez was thrown from his horse, which fell upon him, inflicting such injuries that he died within a few days. In him the army lost one of its most dashing horsemen, and the equal of any in daring.

The troops then retired to the town for the night. Next day they marched to Huastepec, the objective point of the expedition, where fifteen thousand