Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/463

Rh information of gold supposed to be thereabout. Ávila purposed to establish a settlement there, giving to it the former name of Salamanca; but after failure to find gold they returned to Champoton, that is, those of them remaining alive.

Meanwhile the adelantado, leaving his son Francisco again in command, had returned to Tabasco, whence he purposed to send recruits and supplies. The troops had been allowed to disembark without opposition, and for a time were not molested; but at midnight, a few days after their landing, the approaches to their camp were crowded with stealthily gliding figures; and the Spaniards, roused from slumber by the cry of a sentinel as he fell pierced to the heart, had barely time to grasp their weapons when the foe was upon them. For hours the stillness of the night was broken by the yells of the wounded and the groans of the dying, as a desperate hand-to-hand struggle was maintained in which the Indians would not yield and their enemies had no alternative but to fight or die. At length the assailants were repulsed; and for a brief space hostilities were suspended, the natives taking advantage of the opportunity to send fleet messengers over the country summoning the caciques to arms. Soon the Spaniards were again in a state of siege. All provisions being removed they were compelled to live mainly on fish, and two of their number straying from camp were captured by the Indians, who sacrificed and ate them.

The caciques were now ready to attack, and the assault was made in such overwhelming force that after a stubborn resistance the Spaniards were compeed to retreat to their boats, whither the natives pursued them. Arraying themselves in the garments the Spaniards had left, the natives pointed the finger at them with scorn and gibe as the invaders pulled from shore. "Where now is the courage of you Spaniards?" they cried. Maddened by these taunts, Francisco and his men resolved to die rather than