Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/528

508 fortresses. There were still assembled under Tenamaxtli a hundred thousand warriors. So strong was the position, and so bravely were the few accessible passes guarded, that after a siege of about three weeks, with continuous assaults, little progress had been made. But thousands of the patriotic defenders of their native soil had perished, swept down by Spanish cannon, and great suffering began to be experienced. Many of the christianized natives, and others who had joined in the rebellion on the sorcerer's assurances of an easy victory and abundant spoils, were tired of the hardships and slaughter, and leaving the peñol by secret passes they returned to their homes. The warriors of Teul openly declared they had come to the Mixton only to prove that they were no cowards, and proposed a sortie by the whole force. This being declined, they marched out alone against the Spaniards; but, traitors as they were, they shot their arrows into the air and allowed themselves to be easily captured. They were pardoned and accepted as auxiliaries or sent home, after having revealed a secret pass by which the viceroy's forces might reach the top of the peñol.

The disclosing of this pass was attributed by some to St James, who appeared to Father Segovia and led the Christians to the attack. Accounts of the final victory are conflicting; but it seems that one or two assaults, accompanied by great slaughter during which thousands cast themselves down the cliff, were made and repulsed; and that finally such survivors as could not escape or had not the courage to destroy themselves, surrendered to an embassy of friars who went unarmed among them. These friars permitted many of the Christian Indians to retire to their towns before the surrender, on promise of good behavior. The captives taken numbered over ten thousand. A large proportion of the force at Mixton was