ridden to Mexico over palm branches, midst hosannas, had he but known it; but had he done so, there would have been no greatness attending the act. The door of peaceable exit from the city of Mexico had long been open to him; but to have accepted Montezuma's invitation hence would not have raised Cortés in the estimation either of himself or of his soldiers.
After all the terrible disasters of the Noche Triste the Spaniards were not wholly forsaken by fortune, though they called it the irrepressible Santiago on his milk-white steed who caused the Mexicans to neglect their opportunity of vigorously pursuing the fugitives beyond the last channel, and in their helpless state to exterminate them. Yet we cannot help asking why Santiago did not come to their assistance sooner, and save them untold woe. The Spaniards, however, were not captious in their criticisms of benefactors, and so a small stone was erected on the Tacuba road in honor of the mounted saint.[1] If we would have the real cause why the Mexicans did not follow up the Spaniards, we may find it in their greed for spoils, as Sahagun observes, which detained the warriors, especially round the channels. A thorough search was soon instituted by them; the canals were dragged, and quantities of arms, baggage, and personal effects were secured, beside the gold and jewels which had been taken by the Spaniards. Their own dead they decently buried, while those of the Spaniards and their allies were more summarily disposed of, and the whole road cleared of obstructions and whatever might infect the atmosphere.[2]
According to Gomara the discovery of the bodies of Montezuma's son and heir and other princes created such sorrow that pursuit was on this account suspended. It seems not unreasonable that the na-
- ↑ 'Esto despues lo declararon los mismos Indios.' Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt. iii. 143. Nor do they omit the ever recurring story of the virgin image casting dust into the eyes of the pursuers.
- ↑ The Tlascaltec and Cempoalan bodies were thrown among the reeds, and the Spanish into deeper water. Sahagun, Hist. Cong. (ed. 1840), 126-7.
