The engagement which followed was exceptionably bloody. The Quichés approached over the extensive plains, and when they had arrived at a position favorable for the Spaniards to make the attack the horsemen charged upon them. But the Quichés were better on their guard than before. Recovered from their panic, and animated by the example of their leader, they displayed greater bravery this time, standing the shock unflinchingly,[XXIII-8] fighting foot to foot, or banded two and three together, endeavoring by their own strength to overthrow the horses, seizing them by mane and tail, and trying to pull them down, and laying hold of the riders to unhorse them. The Spaniards were indeed closely beset, and for a time it seemed by no means certain that victory would finally declare for them. But what naked power could long withstand the steady fire of arquebuse and cross-bow, the steady fall of sword-blow and lance-thrust!
Relaxing their efforts for a moment, the natives were charged by the cavalry with deadly result, and were trampled under foot by hundreds, and speedily routed. For a league they were followed with great havoc, till they took refuge in a stronghold of the sierra. By pretending flight, however, Alvarado drew them from their position to the open plain, and then wheeled and fell upon them. The carnage for a time was dreadful; the ground was covered with the mangled bodies of the dead and dying, and the waters of the Olintepec ran crimson with blood. And henceforth the stream was called Xequiqel, that is to say, River of Blood.[XXIII-9]
Among the fallen was Prince Ahzumanche, and a number of the nobility and chiefs. The contest being over, the army encamped for the night at the springs before mentioned. The loss to the Spaniards, as usual, was insignificant.[XXIII-10]
A MAGNIFICENT PRIZE.
Let us pause for a moment to review the position of the invaders. They had surmounted with irresistible progress the coast range, had crossed the summit, fought their way down the corresponding slopes, and were within a league of Xelahuh, the great stronghold of the Quichés, on their western confines. All the defences to it had been won, the Zacaha fortifications had been carried, passive nature's majestic guardianship had been overcome, and human opposition had proved futile. Far behind them stood the deadly forest through which they had struggled; over the golden-edged hills, the rugged steep by which they had made their way hither. Around them now were open pine woods,[XXIII-11] and at their feet the wide cultivated plains of the table-lands on which the sun shed its uninterrupted rays. Dotted with towns and parti-colored with maize-fields and orchards, silver-threaded by streams, the landscape displayed before the Spaniards the picture of a paradise. And this beautiful realm now lay helpless in the conqueror's grasp, its very air[XXIII-12] becoming traitorous by refreshing and invigorating the invaders, bracing their nerves and inspiring their hearts to new enterprise.
At dawn the Spanish camp was astir; and while the voices of Christian priests chanting praises to God for past victories floated over the hideous battle-field, Christian soldiers were buckling on their armor for the further butchering of helpless human beings who had done them no harm. A hermitage and a town were established at Zacaha, the former under the charge of Friar Francisco Martinez de Pontaza,[XXIII-13] whose memory was ever after fragrant in those parts, the latter under the direction of Juan de Leon Cardona.[XXIII-14] The natives of the subjugated neighborhood finally came in and helped to swell the numbers of the town, which was called Quezaltenango.[XXIII-15]
These measures taken,[XXIII-16] the army advanced on Xelahuh,[XXIII-17] only to find it abandoned. The inhabitants, terror-stricken at the success of the invaders, had fled to the mountains. Alvarado took up his quarters in the deserted city, where for six days he remained, resting and reconnoitring.[XXIII-18]
THE GRAND ARMY.
Tecum Umam was an ambitious prince and a brave commander. With no small concern he had seen defeated one after another the forces sent against the foe, and he now resolved to take the field in person. About noon on the seventh day of their sojourn at Xelahuh the Spaniards saw converging to that point from every quarter dense masses of warriors.[XXIII-19] Well aware that his great strength lay in the cavalry, Alvarado with a large part of his force[XXIII-20] hastened to occupy an open plain, three leagues in length, at no great distance from the city. Tecum Umam was shrewd enough to comprehend the manœuvre, and before the last Spaniard was a bow-shot from camp the Quiché army in two principal divisions was upon them. Alvarado had divided his cavalry into two bodies, commanded respectively by Pedro Puertocarrero and Hernando de Chaves, who were directed to assail at different points one of the opposing bodies when well in position, while the infantry, commanded by himself, were to engage with the other. The onset was terrible. Through and through the dense columns rush the horsemen, heedless alike of the flint-tipped arrow, the javelin with fire-hardened point, and the slung pebble. Resistance was not possible. Plunged through and hurled to earth, crushed beneath the horses' hoofs, the broken ranks of this division sought the protection of the other. Thus half of Tecum's last hope was lost, while the other half was fast dwindling. Early in the combat the Quiché king had recognized the conspicuous figure of the mounted Spanish commander, and as Tecum now saw his forces broken by the cavalry, he determined upon one last desperate effort. Gathering around him a few chosen warriors, he threw himself in person upon Alvarado, and with his own hand so wounded his horse that the Spaniard was obliged to fall back and mount another. A second and a third time the undaunted warrior assailed his superior foe, till pierced by Alvarado's lance he fell, staining with his life-blood the ground he had fought so bravely to defend.
It was not often that the heavenly powers deigned to help the poor natives in their dire struggle with the steel-clad Europeans, as was so frequently the case with the Spaniards. The gods usually prefer fighting on the strongest side; but here we find an exception. It is my duty to relate, as a truthful historian, that during the mortal combat between these two leaders an eagle with great pinions was observed by the Quiché army circling round and round the Spanish commander, ever and anon swooping down upon him, and with beak and claw attacking him about the head. It was the nagual, the guardian spirit of Tecum Umam. But less strong than Alvarado's lance, it was discomfited at the moment of the monarch's death, and disappeared from the sight of the vanquished Quichés.[XXIII-21]