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Show 174 BOOK X. ~ , H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E· X I C 0. of the market,. unwarily leaving behind them a,broad dit9h ~~dly filled up, and when they were moft ardently advancing, an.d ftnvmg who {1 uld firft enter in to that .(;quare, they heard the form1dable found of 10 1 . !1: . the horn of the god Painalton, which was blown . by t 1c pne s l1l cafes of public and prelling neccflity, to excite the people to ar~s. Immediately fuch a multitude of Me~icans ,a!fembled, and polU'ed ~tth fuch fury upon the Spaniards and allies, that they threw them Into confufion, and compelled them to return precipitately back tow~rds the ditch, which was apparently filled up with f.'1ggots, and other light materials; but when they attempted to pafs, it funk with the weight and violence of the multitude. Here the !harpeft conftjCl: and gre~teil: peril of the fugitives happened; for being unable at the fame time to defend the~- · felves and pafs by fwimming, they were woundGd and taken by the MexLcans. Cortes, who with the ufual diligence of a good general, had advanced to the ditch when his defeated troops arrived there, endeavoured to ftop their flight by his cries, that their diforcler and confufion might not increafe the !laughter made of them by the enemy; but words arc not capable; of reil:raining the flight of a difordcred multitude to whom fear adds wtngs. Pierced with vexation at the difail:ers of his people, and regardlcfs of his own perfonal danger, he approo.lched to the ditch to fuve all thofe he could. Some were got out difarmed, fame wounded, and fame almoft drowned. He at ]aft put them into fome order to proceed towards the camp, he himfdf remaining behind with from twelye to twenty men to guard their rear; but they had hardly beg;m to march, when he found himfelf in a narrow pafs furrounded by the enemy. That day would certainly have been his la!l:, in fpite of the extraordinary bravery with which he qell nded himfclf, and with his life all hopes would have fled of the conqu(;ft of Mexico, if the Mex'icans, inftcad of wifhing to kill him, which was frequently in their power, had not eagerly !hove to take him alive, to honour their gods with the facrifi e of fo illufl:rious a viCtim. They had already feizcd him, and were leading him off .for this purpofe, when his people, appriied of his being a.prifoner, came fpeedily to relieve him. Cortes ow~d his life and his liberty to a foldicr of his guard, called Chriftoval de Olea, a man of infinite courage and great dexterity in c.trms; who, upon another occafion, had refcued him from fimilar danger, and up- 011 , H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. 175 on this faved him at the ri!k of his own life, by cutting off with one B 0 0 K x. .ll:roke of his fword, ·the arm of that Mexican who had taken him. ._,_,.__ Cortes was indebted in like manner for his liberty to the prince D. C. Ixtlilxochitl, and to a brave 'flafcal~n, named Temacatzin. The Spaniards at lafi, though not without the greatefl: difficulty, and a numbet· of wounds, got upon the great road 0f Tlacopan, when Cortes was able· to raUy them, and took himfelf the rea~-guard· with the cavalry; but the boldncfs and fury with which the Mexicans purfued them wer~ fuch, that it appeared impoflible for them to efcape with their lives. The divilions which had entered by the other two roads, had alfo had terrible encounters; but, becaufe they had been more careful in filling up the ditches,· their retreat was lefs difficult when Cortes ordered them to march to the greater fquare of Tenochtitlan, where they. all colletl:ed. From thence th~y difcovered, with the utmo!l: mortification, the fmoke of copal arifing from the fiovei . of the greater Tc:mple, which the Mexicans were burning as a thankfgiving for the viCtory they had obtained ; but the vexation was ftill fironger, when they. faw the heads of fome Spaniards thrown towards . them by the. Mexicans, to difpirit them, and when they heard a repor.t that the commanders Alvarado and Sandoval were Dain. From the fquare they proceeded. by the road of Iztapalapan,. to their camp, .fiill purfued by a multitude of the enemy. Alvarado and Sandoval had made an effort to enter into the fquare of the market by a road,. which led from that of Tlacopan to Tlatelolco,. and had ad,anced their operations fo far as to a poft at a little diftance from that fq.uare, but upon feeing the facrifices of the Spaniards, and· having heard the Mexicans fay, that Cortes and his captains were kill:ed, they retired,. though with the greatefi: difficulty; for the enemy, with whom. they had been engaged, we1·e joined by thofe who had de,. feated the troops of ortes .. The lofs fuftained by the befiegers on that day was [even horfes, a. number of arms and boats, and a piece of artillery, upwards of one thoufand allie11,· and more than fixty Spaniards, part killed in battle, part made prironers, and immediately facrificed in the greater temple Qf Tlatelolco, in fight of the troops of Alvarado. Cortes received a wound· |