Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/150

134 guards and battalion of provincial infantry were hastily formed into line, while the principal citizens and the commercial class, hurriedly seizing their weapons, rushed with crowrds of the populace to the buildings of the intendencia. All was confusion and terror; the stores were closed and house doors barred; the plazas were deserted by the hucksters; frightened women hurried along the thoroughfares for their homes; while horsemen at full speed spread wider the consternation as they galloped in different directions through the streets with orders from headquarters. Riaño explained to the assembled throng the cause of the alarm, and the populace expressed a desire to engage the enemy, believing that the insurrection was a demonstration in favor of the French. At two o'clock in the afternoon the intendente convoked a junta of the ayuntamiento, the prelates of the religious orders, and the principal citizens, at which he expressed his apprehension that the danger was great, but declared that he was determined to take every defensive measure possible.

After some consultation it was decided to defend the city, and during the day barricades were thrown up at the entrances of the principal streets. Spaniards and Americans—as the creoles and Indians are now called —were assembled in arms, and outlying