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…
We had not been long here before our outposts brought intelligence that twenty Indians
were approaching, who, to judge from their bearing, must either be caziques or men of
distinction, and seemed to becoming with some message or to sue for peace. They proved,
indeed,to be the caziques of the town, who approached Cortes with the utmostveneration,
handed over to him a present in gold, and begged pardonfor their recent behaviour towards
us. In excuse for not having come earlier to demand peace of us, they said that
Quauhtemoctzin hadsecretly commanded them to treat us as enemies, and that they hadnot
been able to avoid this as their town formed one of the fortificationsof the country, and was
occupied by a Mexican garrison. Theywere now, continued they, convinced, that there was
no fortificationwe could not take, and it was therefore their sincere wish to becomefriendly
with us.
Cortes was very kind to these caziques, and spoke to them of ouremperor, and of his mercy
to all those who willingly obeyed him; andit was in his name he now acknowledged them
as his subjects. I stillremember the extraordinary expression these caziques made use of on
this occasion; namely, that our gods in punishment for their not having sued earlier for
peace, had given their gods authority to chastise their persons and deprive them of their
property. [16]
CHAPTER CXLV.
The terrible thirst we suffered on our further march; our dangerousposition
at Xochimilco, and the many battles we fought there withthe Mexicans, until
our return to Tezcuco.
From Cuernavaca we marched towards Xochimilco, a large townlying about eleven miles
from Mexico, [17] and of which the greater part was built in the water. On our march we
adopted our usual militaryprecautions, and arrived at a forest of pine trees, without being
ableto obtain a single drop of water all the way. Our arms were veryheavy, and the day,
which had been exceedingly hot, was now far spent, and we were almost parched with
thirst, yet we had still severalmiles to go, nor did we know for certain whether we should
find thewells, which, it was said, lay further on.
By this time the whole of our troops were almost exhausted withfatigue, and our Tlascallan
friends lost all courage after one of their countrymen and an old Spaniard died of thirst.
Cortes, observing thegreat distress we were in, ordered us to halt under the shade of the
pine trees, and despatched six of our horse in advance, along the road leading to
Xochimilco, in search of some town or village where it wassaid we should find the wells,
as our general proposed to encamp nearthem for the night.
[Pg 43]
This small body of cavalry, among which were Oli, Valdenebro,Truxillo, and other brave
men, had scarcely left, when I slipt awaywithout being observed by Cortes and the others,
taking with me three of my Tlascallan naborias, who were active young fellows, and I
followedthe three above-mentioned cavalry officers until I was observed,and they halted to
wait my coming up. They advised me to returnimmediately, that I might not fall into the
hands of the Mexicans. Iwas not, however, to be deterred by this; and Oli, with whom I
stoodon a very friendly footing, at length gave me permission to accompanythem, but to
hold my hands ready for battle and my legs for flight.I would at that moment have risked
my life to obtain a drink of water,so painful was my thirst.
We may have advanced about a couple of miles in a straight linewhen we came up to a
number of country houses which lay scattered among the hills, and were subject to
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