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…
troops, and most of the horses, werewounded, and that he did not wish to advance farther
than Cortes hadordered him; besides which, several cavaliers of Narvaez's troops urgedhim
to return to Tezcuco, and represented to him that Acapalista wasa town of great strength,
where they might easily meet with a totaloverthrow. But the captain Luis Marin strongly
advised Sandoval tothe contrary, and thought he was not justified in returning before the
work was half finished, as the enemy would certainly renew the attackupon Chalco, and
thereby defeat the object of the expedition altogether. By these arguments Sandoval was
convinced of the necessity of marchingagainst this town, which lay only eight miles farther
on, and heset out for that place.
When he had arrived in the neighbourhood of the town, a large body of Mexicans came
advancing towards him, and attacked him so vigorously with their lances, slings, and
arrows, that three horses andseveral of his men were instantly wounded, nor was Sandoval
able toget at the enemy, who immediately retreated to the rocks and the fortifiedheights
above, making a terrific noise with their drums, shelltrumpets, and hideous yells.
Sandoval now despatched a few horse in advance, to see whether theMexicans, in case he
should attack the town itself, could march to itsassistance, and halted, with the rest of his
troops, in the plain. Asthe caziques of Chalco and the other Indian allies showed no desire
tocome to an engagement with the enemy, Sandoval determined to putthem to the proof,
and cried out to them: "Well, why do you stand looking idly on there? Why don't you
advance to the attack? Are wenot come here to protect you?" But they replied, they durst
notattack this strong place, and considered that the teules had come to dothe hardest part of
the work for them.
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Sandoval was soon convinced that there was not much dependence to be placed in these
Indians, and he therefore stormed the fortifiedheights with the whole of his Spanish troops.
Although numbers ofhis men were wounded, and he himself severely so on the head, he
continued to push forward, and forced his way into the town, whereconsiderable havoc was
made among the enemy's ranks, which wasincreased by the Chalcans and Tlascallans, who
now joined in the conflictwith great intrepidity. Our troops, indeed, gladly left the lastpart
of the work to them, as soon as the enemy was put to flight, forthey felt compassion for the
inhabitants, and satisfied themselves by capturing some few pretty females and other
objects of value. TheSpaniards even checked our allies in their horrid cruelties, and rescued
many a man and woman from their grasp who otherwise would havebeen sacrificed to the
idols.
The Mexicans had fled to some steep rocks beyond the town; and,as numbers of them were
wounded, they washed off the blood fromtheir bodies in a small brook, so that the very
water was tinctured byit, though for no longer a space of time than would take to repeat an
Ave Maria. Yet Gomara relates that the water was so completely mixedwith blood that our
men would not quench their thirst at it. [10] But itwas not necessary for them to go to this
brook for that purpose, as inthe town itself there were numbers of wells full of the purest
water.After this engagement, Sandoval marched back to Tezcuco, taking with him great
numbers of prisoners, among whom were many beautifulIndian females.
When Quauhtemoctzin received intelligence of this defeat of histroops, he was excessively
grieved; and the more so as the people ofChalco were his subjects, and had now, for the
third time, taken uparms against him. He was, however, determined to be revenged;and
while Sandoval was marching back to Tezcuco, he assembled anarmy of upwards of 20,000
men, and despatched these in 2000 canoesto Chalco. Here they arrived so suddenly, that
Sandoval had scarcely entered Tezcuco, and had but just seen Cortes, when messengers
arrived in canoes from Chalco to solicit his immediate return. Cortes, who was speaking
with Sandoval when this message arrived, was so enragedthat he would not hear his report
to the end; accused him of having neglected his duty, and commanded him to return
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