demoralization they were startled by the jingling of bells and the tramp of the dreaded horses, magnified by their fears and by the weird moonlight into a host. The next moment the Spaniards announced their presence by a ringing "Santiago!" and, undeterred by the few stray and feeble volleys of stones and arrows sent against them, they rode into the crowds of natives already in full flight, slashing and riding down in all directions.[1]
After this lesson Xicotencatl appears to have made no further attempts to molest the Spaniards, although small skirmishing parties, chiefly Otomis, continued to hover round the camp and give the soldiers opportunities for sallies. Gomara magnifies these skirmishes into daily attacks on the camp by the army, whose divisions take turns so as not to embarrass one another. This caused them to fight better, partly from a spirit of rivalry to surpass the preceding record. The ambition of the natives was to kill one Spaniard at least, but the object was never attained, so far as they knew. This continued for a fortnight, and daily came also messengers with food to sustain the strangers.[2]
- ↑ Cortés, Cartas, 63-4; Gomara, Hist. Mex., 78-9; Tapia, Rel., in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc, ii. 569; Herrera, doc. ii. lib. vi. cap. viii. Bernal Diaz describes a night attack with 10,000 warriors, made a few days before, in which the Spaniards drive back the Indians and pursue them, capturing four, while the morning revealed twenty corpses still upon the plain. Two of the diviners appear to have been sacrificed for their bad advice. He now reappears with 20,000 men, but on meeting the mutilated spies he becomes disheartened, and turns back without attempting a blow. Hist. Verdad., 40, 49-50. He is the only authority for two night expeditions. Having already been defeated in one night attack, Xicotencatl would be less likely to attempt a second, particularly since nocturnal movements were contrary to Indian modes of warfare. Cortés distinctly intimates that the present occasion was the first attempt at a night raid. Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., 291.
- ↑ He begins to suspect that their object may also have been to spy. Cortés was suffering from fever at this time, and one night he took pills, a course which among the Spaniards involved the strictest care and seclusion from affairs. Early in the morning three large bodies of Indians appeared, and regardless of his pills Cortés headed the troops, fighting all day. The following morning, strange to say, the medicine operated as if no second day had intervened.' No lo cue͏̄to por milagro, sine por dezir lo que passo, y que Cortes era muy sufridor de trabajos y males.' Gomara, Hist. Mex., 80. But Sandoval assumes 'que sin duda fvie milagro. Hist. Carlos V., i, 173. Soils applies this story to the night attack, which seems plausible, and smiles phil-
