The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo Vol. 2

1/25/22, 8:50 PM The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo written by himself, containing a true an…
enemy less upon their guard, he suddenly broke up his camp, and, with the cavalry in
advance, forced his way through thenarrow passes, with the whole of his troops; but even
then it was withgreat difficulty he succeeded, and three of his horses were killed, besides
numbers of the troops wounded: however, as soon as he had theadvantage ground, he fell
with great impetuosity upon the enemy, who had received considerable reinforcements
during the night. So vastlyhad their numbers increased, that he began to entertain serious
doubtsas to the issue of the battle; he therefore firmly closed his ranks, andso continued to
combat with the enemy, who rushed upon the pointsof the swords with the savage ferocity
of so many tigers, and they even succeeded to wrest the lances from six of the less
experienced cavalrysoldiers. Sandoval was terribly enraged at this latter circumstance,and
swore he would rather go to battle with a few men who knew howto fight, than with a great
number who did not: and he then instructedthe cavalry how to aim at the enemy's face; and
if the Indians graspedthe lances, to hold them firmly with the hand placed under the arm,
give spurs to the horses, and, by a sudden jerk, wrest the lance fromthe enemy's grasp, or
drag him along with it.
After this battle, in which neither party had gained any advantageover the other, Sandoval
encamped for the night near a small river.Here he carefully posted his watches, and, having
been taught experiencein our battles with the Mexicans, he ordered his auxiliary troopsto
encamp at a good distance from the Spanish, to avoid all confusion if the enemy
commenced the attack in the dark. Sandoval had indeedevery reason to suppose that the
Indians would fall upon him in thenight, for they had taken up a position so very near to his
camp thattheir war-whoop and military music were quite audible; but they madeso sure of
victory, they said, (as Sandoval learnt from his auxiliaries,)that they would rather wait till
morning, and then put him, with allhis men, to the sword.
As soon as daylight broke forth, Sandoval marched out, with the whole of his troops in
close order, towards some houses whence the enemy's war-music resounded. He had
scarcely proceeded a mile when he came up with three large bodies of the enemy, who
immediatelybegan to hem him in on all sides. Sandoval, observing this,placed half of his
cavalry in each wing, and attacked the enemy withsuch determination that he completely
routed them, and slew greatnumbers. Two Spaniards, who had but recently come to New
Spain,were killed in this battle, besides three horses. The Mexicans andTlascallans then
spread themselves through the different townships,killed several more of the enemy, set fire
to every place, and broughtin great numbers of prisoners.
[Pg 160]
The road to Santisteban was now open, and when Sandoval arrived there he found the
garrison in a most deplorable condition: greater part of the troops were either sick or
wounded, but what was worse,they had neither food for themselves nor their horses.
The reader may easily imagine how welcome Sandoval's arrival was, and he soon learnt
how Garay's troops had behaved, and how the garrisonwould probably have been cut to
pieces if it had not been for theassistance of seven or eight veteran Conquistadores, who
each daymarched to the field of battle, kept Garay's troops outside the city,and so occupied
the enemy's attention in another quarter that they didnot even allow them time to think of
storming the town. Sandoval then embraced these brave men, and gave to each of the
Conquistadores,who were all his old companions in arms, a separate command, anddesired
them to divide all the foot and cavalry into two bodies, and sosally out of the town, forage
the country round, damage the enemy'sproperty as much as possible, and bring in as many
prisoners as theycould take, particularly of the chiefs. He himself, to his great sorrow,was
obliged to remain behind, as he was severely wounded in the leg,and had been struck in the
face by a stone.
The two detachments obeyed his commands in every respect; they soon brought in a
quantity of maise and other provisions, with severalwomen, a number of poor people, and
five chiefs who had fought inthe recent battles. Sandoval ordered all these prisoners to be
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