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…
Xochimilco. Our officers enteredthese dwellings without delay, in search of water, which
they found, to their inexpressible joy. One of my Tlascallans, who had followed them,
instantly returned to me with a large earthen jug full of water, withwhich I and my servants
quenched our thirst. I now again returned to the wood where Cortes had halted with our
troops, and it was hightime I did, as the inhabitants were beginning to assemble, and they
followed us with hootings and yells. I had ordered the jug to bereplenished with water, and
gave it to one of my Tlascallans to carry.On my return, I met Cortes, who had again put his
troops in motion.I informed him that we had found water in a small village not far off,and
that I had brought him a jug full. My Tlascallans had taken theprecaution to cover up the
jug carefully, that no one might take it fromthem, for thirst knows no law. Cortes and the
other officers by whomhe was surrounded were highly delighted, and drank their fill; we
then continued our march, and reached the small village before sunset.There was still some
water left in the houses, but not sufficient for thewhole of our troops, so that several of the
men, in order at least tomoisten their mouths, chewed a kind of thistle, the sharp prickles of
which wounded their tongues and lips. The small detachment of horsenow also returned,
and informed our general that they had found thewells where we were to encamp for the
night, but these were still a good way off, and the whole neighbourhood was beating to
arms.
We encamped near the wells for the night, ordered the pickets andoutposts as usual, and
otherwise took every precaution. I myself formed one of the night watch, and, if I still
remember rightly, it blew a stronggale of wind, and some rain was falling.
The next morning very early we marched towards Xochimilco, andarrived in front of that
town about eight in the morning. Here an immense body of the enemy stood ready to
oppose us, part of whomwere stationed in the open fields, and the rest in front of a bridge
whichhad been destroyed, and near which large entrenchments had beenthrown up. At the
end of their pikes they had fastened the swordswe had lost on our unfortunate retreat from
Mexico, and many of thechiefs were armed with our own broadswords, which had been
beautifullypolished. The whole of the Mexicans appeared to be well-armed,and the entire
plain was filled with warriors.
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The conflict for the possession of the bridges lasted about half an hour, yet, with all our
firing and hard fighting, we were not able to force them. Our situation became truly
perilous, for large bodies nowfell upon our rear, so that the only choice we had left was to
cross thewater at all hazards. In this we fortunately succeeded, partly swimming,and partly
wading through. Several of our men, while thuscrossing over, drank so much water that
their stomachs swelled out toan enormous size. In crossing this water, we lost two men, and
hadseveral wounded; nevertheless, we succeeded, by dint of our swords,to drive the enemy
before us along a causeway which led to the mainland. Cortes, who was advancing with the
cavalry from anotherquarter, fell in with a body of more than 10,000 Mexicans, who were
coming to the assistance of the town. The Mexicans, on this occasion,received the charge
of the cavalry with fixed lances, and wounded four ofour horses. Cortes himself had got
into the midst of the enemy, androde a dark brown horse, which we commonly termed the
flatnose.Whether this animal, which was otherwise an excellent horse, hadbecome too fat,
or was over-fatigued, I cannot say; but, to be short,it fell down with its rider, and numbers
of Mexicans instantly laid holdof our general, tore him away from the saddle, and were
already carryinghim off. When some of the Tlascallans and the brave Christobalde Olea
saw this, they immediately flew to his assistance, and, by dint of heavy blows and good
thrusts, they cut their way through to ourgeneral, and assisted him into his saddle again.
Cortes fortunatelyescaped with only a wound on the head, but Olea had received threevery
severe wounds. [17*] Those of us who stood nearest now also hastenedto the assistance of
Cortes; for, as every street was crowded withthe enemy, we were obliged to attack them in
separate bodies and fromdifferent points, so that, for some time, we had totally lost sight of
him; but we concluded, from the terrific yells of the Mexicans, thatthere must be a severe
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