When they see their barrier yielding to the flames, consternation falls on the besieged. As the fire eats its way into the wood, the impatient assailants rush at the door. It does not yet yield. Berzábal draws up in line before the entrance such soldiers as he can collect, to resist the attack. The deadly grenades are brought into play, and the havoc they cause is terrible. Gilberto Riaño, maddened at his father's death,[1] thinks only of revenge, and the infernal engines which he had contrived are hurled rapidly through the windows upon the multitude. Each bomb as it explodes sows the ground with dead and mangled bodies. But like the rushing-in of mighty waters, every space thus cleared is quickly filled.
The European civilians in the building are demoralized by panic fear. Some shower down among their foes money from the windows. Vain effort! As well throw crumbs to hungry wolves. Are not all the treasures of the alhóndiga theirs? Some throw aside their arms in despair and seek to disguise themselves; others wildly shout out that they will capitulate, and others betake themselves to prayer. A few, brave to the last, resolve to die rather than yield. Finally, confusion increasing and all hope abandoned, the asesor Valdés causes a white handkerchief to be hoisted as a signal of surrender. In denser crowds the besiegers surge forward. But Gilberto Riaño and others, ignorant of what Valdés has done, still cast their destructive bombs.[2]Whereat the besiegers in fury are beside themselves. The roar of the multitude as they raise the cry of Treachery! treachery! is heard all over the city,
- ↑ Bustamante relates that Gilberto, having embraced his father's body, seized a pistol with the intention of taking his own life. Those present, however, caused him to desist, by offering to post him at the most dangerous point, that he might have an opportunity of avenging his father's death. Ut sup., 38.
- ↑ Both Mora and Bustamante state that the mistake was caused by the firing from the hacienda de Dolores, the defenders of which could not possibly see the signal. But as Alaman and Liceaga were both in Guanajuato at the time, I prefer to follow the account adopted in the text, and in which they agree.
