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…
During this sharp altercation, two of the brigantines which hadaccompanied Cortes as he
advanced along the causeway, made theirreappearance. Nothing had been seen or heard of
these for a lengthof time, and they had been given up as lost. It appears they hadbecome
jammed in between the stakes, in which awkward position theywere attacked by numbers
of canoes. At length, after a great deal ofhard fighting, they succeeded, with the assistance
of a strong breeze,and the utmost exertions of their oars, to break through the stakes and
gain the deep water, but the whole of the men on board were wounded. Cortes was
exceedingly rejoiced at their safe return, for he had given them up for lost, but had not
mentioned this to his troops, that they might not become more disheartened than they
already were.
Upon this Cortes despatched Sandoval in all haste to Tlacupa to seehow matters stood with
our division, to assist us in the defence of ourencampment, if, at least, we were not totally
overthrown. Franciscode Lugo was ordered to accompany him thither, as it was naturally to
be supposed that small detachments of the enemy were everywhere dispersed. Cortes
acquainted Sandoval at the same time that he hadpreviously despatched Tapia with three
horse there for the same purpose,but feared they must have been killed on the road.
When Sandoval was about to mount his horse, Cortes embraced him, with these words:
"Go, for heaven's sake! You see I cannot be everywhere at the same moment: to you I
intrust the chief command of the three divisions for the present, as I am wounded and
almost exhaustedwith fatigue. I beg of you rescue our three divisions fromdestruction. I
doubt not that Alvarado and his troops have defendedthemselves like brave warriors; yet I
cannot help fearing he has beenforced to succumb to the overwhelming numbers of these
dogs, for yousee how I have fared with my division, and it may have gone worsewith his."
Upon this Sandoval and Lugo threw themselves on horseback and galloped off for our
encampment, where they arrived about the hourof vespers, but we had received intelligence
of Cortes' defeat manyhours beforehand. They still found us engaged with the Mexicans,
who were doing their utmost to storm our camp from that side of thecauseway where we
had pulled down several houses, while, at the sametime, they attacked us with their canoes
from the side towards the lake.They had driven one of our brigantines between the stakes,
killed twoof the men, and wounded all the rest.
[Pg 88]
When Sandoval saw how I and many of my comrades stood up toour middles in the water
to get the brigantine clear of the stakes, heapplauded our courage, and bid us do our utmost
to save the vesselfrom falling into the hands of the enemy, as the Mexicans had already
fastened many ropes to her, and were trying to tow her off into the town behind their
canoes. Sandoval's encouraging words were not lost upon us, and we fought with such
determination that at length werescued the vessel. On this occasion I was wounded by an
arrow.
While we were fighting for the possession of this brigantine, freshbodies of the enemy kept
continually crowding up the causeway. Wereceived many more wounds, and even Sandoval
was hit in the face bya stone at the moment Alvarado was coming up to his assistance with
another small body of the cavalry; and when Sandoval saw how daringlyI, with many of
my comrades, opposed the enemy, he ordered us toretreat slowly, that all our horses might
not be sacrificed. As we didnot immediately obey his commands, he cried out to us, "Are
we thenall to perish for your sakes? For heaven's sake, my brave companions,make good
your retreat!" These words were scarcely out of his mouthwhen both he and his horse were
again wounded. We now orderedour Indian allies to move off the causeway, and we began
to retreatslowly but with our faces always turned towards the enemy. Our musketeersand
crossbow-men kept up a continued fire upon them; the cavalry at intervals charged the
enemy's line at half speed, and Pedro Moreno thundered away with the cannon. But
whatever number ofthe infuriated enemy we might mow down, it mattered not, they still
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