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…
After Cortes had thus acquainted our allies with his designsagainst Mexico, he determined
to review the whole of his troops, andselected for this purpose the second day of Easter.
This review washeld in the large square of Tezcuco, and our muster-roll gave thefollowing
numbers: Eighty-four horse; six hundred and fifty footsoldiers, of whom some were armed
with swords and shields, and others with lances; one hundred and ninety-four crossbowmen
andmusketeers.
Out of these troops he selected the men who were to serve on thethirteen brigantines; each
of which required twelve rowers and acaptain, with twelve crossbow-men and musketeers.
In this way the thirteen brigantines required two hundred and eighty men, who, with the
additional number of artillerymen, amounted to three hundred and twenty-five. Next the
cannon, with the necessary powder was distributed among them; and when all this was
done, Cortes publishedthe articles of war, which ran as follows:
First of all it was forbidden under a heavy penalty to blaspheme either against our Lord
Jesus Christ, his blessed mother, the holyapostles, or against any of the saints in general.
Secondly, no one was to ill-use any of our allies, take anythingfrom them, not even of the
booty they might make, whether this consistedof gold, silver, jewels, or of anything else;
for we were to bear inmind that they joined us in this war at our own particular request.
Thirdly, none of the men, either during day or night time, were toleave our head-quarters,
whether to fetch provisions from any of thetownships allied to us, or for any other purpose
whatever. Any onefound guilty of this would be severely punished.
Fourthly, every soldier was to supply himself with a sufficient number of arms and keep
them in proper order; for we were to rememberhow well the Mexicans were provided with
everything in theshape of weapons.
Fifthly, all gambling for horses or weapons was strictly forbidden.
Lastly, none of the men, whatever company they belonged to, were tolay themselves down
to rest without being completely armed and were to keep their shoes on, to which an
exception was merely granted in cases of urgent necessity when a person was severely
wounded, or unable to do duty; for we should be prepared to receive the enemy at a
moment'snotice.
[Pg 58]
Besides these the usual articles of war were again read over, which, among other things,
threatened punishment of death to the sentinelwho deserted his post or fell asleep while on
duty. The same punishmentwould be inflicted on any soldier who left his quarters without
his captain's permission, or who left his commanding officer in a moment of danger and
took to flight.
CHAPTER CXLIX.
The manner in which Cortes selects the men who were to row thebrigantines;
of the commanders who were appointed to each, andof other matters.
Cortes on selecting the men who were to serve on board the brigantinescould not find a
sufficient number of sailors to row them. All the sailors who had come with us, with
Narvaez, and with the vessels which had recently arrived from Jamaica, had been duly
noteddown, but even then there was not a sufficient number. Besideswhich many would
not condescend to this work, saying, it was unreasonableto think of making rowers of them.
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