Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/118

98 some foragers. During the fortnight required to obtain boats, build rafts, and make other preparations for a semi-naval attack, peaceful overtures were renewed in the hope that the gentle treatment so far observed might win the natives.

Everything being ready, advantage was taken of a dark night to cross the river. One hundred and fifty chosen soldiers, one third mounted, had already effected

the manœuvre when dawn revealed them to the Indians, who had all this time been massed to prevent the passage. They immediately attacked the invaders with a fierceness heretofore unsurpassed, says Cortés, killing two horses at the first onset, and inflicting other damage. The soldiers stood their ground, however, and, reënforced from the other bank, they took