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MARCH TOWARD MEXICO.
tain,[1] one accusing the other of mismanaging the late battle. The latter not only challenged the other, it seems, but withdrew his troops, and induced another division to follow him.[2] Thus left with only half his army, and that shattered and discouraged, Xicotencatl retired before the handful on whom his every effort seemed to have made no impression. He retreated in good order, carrying off most of the dead, for the opponents were too exhausted to pursue. Indeed, all the horses were wounded, and fully sixty men, of whom it appears several must have died soon after, though Cortés admits of no dead, and Bernal Diaz of only one.[3]
- ↑ 'Son of Chichimeclatecle,' says Bernal Diaz, a name which should read Chichimeca-tecuhtli.
- ↑ That of Guaxolcingo-meaning Huexotzinco. Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 45. That of Tlehuexolotzin. Clarigero, Storia Mess., iii. 46. Solis exaggerates this into an actual battle between the leaders and their followers. Hist. Mex., i. 255-8. Herrera intimates that a secret arrangement had been formed between Cortés and the seceding captain, the latter appearing with his officers at the camp, the evening after the previous battle, and, declaring himself convinced that the Spaniards were invincible, offered not only to remain neutral, but to aid them in entering Tlascala. Cortés agreed. When the captain returned to Xicotencatl's canp he was so badly beaten that he came back to Cortés for medical treatment. Certain signs were to be worn, so that the Spaniards might respect the neutral troops. dec, ii. lib. vi. cap. vi. . He also relates that one Tlascaltec maintained himself so long and bravely against two Spanish soldiers that Láres, the smith, rushed up, cried shame upon the twain, and lanced the warrior. Id., cap. vii.
- ↑ This soldier himself received two wounds, which did not prevent him from fighting, however. 'Nos mataron vn soldado,' he says, and a few lines further down, 'y enterramos los nuertos . . . . porque no viessen los Indios que eranios mortales.' Hist. Verdad., 45. Thus even the 'True Historian' reveals the common weakness. Hazart, Kirchen-Geschichte, ii. 512-14; West-Indische Spieghel, 224-35; Franck, Weltbuch, ccxxix.
