Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/58

38 the strangers. Subsequent reverses at Mexico, however, changed their minds: the old love for liberty revived, and after killing isolated parties, the hardy mountaineers began to harass even the provinces reconquered by Spaniards. The sufferers appealed to Orozco, the lieutenant at Segura, and with a score or two of soldiers he sought to repel the invaders. His force was wholly inadequate, and the mountaineers grew bolder. The fall of Mexico accomplished, Cortes was able to give attention to the subject, and since the conquest of the region was a needful preliminary to an advance southward, he reënforced Orozco with a dozen cavalry, fourscore infantry, and a large number of experienced allies.

Observing the strength of the army, the Miztecs, against whom the campaign was directed, retired from their several rocky strongholds, and concentrated at Itzquintepec, the strongest of them all, some six leagues from the present Oajaca. Protected by heavy stone walls, fully two miles in circumference, they held forth defiantly for several days, repelling every attack. Water began to fail, however, and under promise of good treatment they surrendered. This, together with the successful operations of a detachment under Juan Nuñez de Mercado, completed the subjugation of the province. The lieutenant sent so glowing a report of the fertility and the products,