As the dance progresses a few of the soldiers, together with a number of Tlascaltecs, take possession of the different entrances, while the rest distribute themselves in suitable positions and watch for the signal.[741] Instructed by his native allies, Alvarado waits the time when the Indians shall install the war-god image in the chapel. And now the sanguinary moment has come. Falling on the assembly with pike and sword, some strike the idol and some its worshippers. They hew down the priests and drive the cruel steel through the bodies of the nobles. Few of the Indians possess any weapons with which to defend themselves from the sharp Toledo blades. Taken thus by surprise, panic-stricken, they tread one upon another, and then fall helpless under the merciless thrusts of the enemy. Their first impulse has been to rush for the gates, but lines of bristling pikes oblige them to press back against the crowd, thereby increasing the confusion. Some attempt to climb over the high walls, some to hide in the temple buildings, even burrowing beneath the heaps of the slain. Before an hour has passed there is nothing left in sight deemed worthy of Spanish swords, so suddenly has this brilliant assembly been transformed into loathsome masses of mangled bodies. The pathway of the conquerors is everywhere slippery with the blood of their victims.
In this horrible butchery, as we have seen, the lower classes suffered less than the nobles. Desolation was brought home to nearly every prominent family in the city. Their grief, shared by dependants and adherents throughout the provinces, was commemorated in plaintive ballads, by which the people kept alive the hatred of their oppressors long after the conquest. The estimates of the killed vary from four hundred to over three thousand, the most common number being six hundred; and as this generally refers to prominent personages it may be accepted as not too low.[742]
Finding no more to kill, or rather no more worth the killing, the Spaniards and the Tlascaltecs proceeded to plunder. The reward was rich, but even in the eyes of their national historians odium attached to every trinket, for by such action, as Herrera observes, they gave currency to the charge that the deed had been prompted by avarice. But this interesting occupation was destined to be interrupted. Shouts from the maddened multitude without were soon heard, roaring in response to the death clamor of their countrymen. Warned by the guard at the gates, the plunderers hastened to regain the fort. Yells of execration greeted them as they issued from the temple, and showers of stones and darts fell thick, while the front ranks of the assailants pressed them with swords and clubs.[743] Short as was the distance to the fort, much time was occupied in reaching it, and hardly a man escaped injury. Alvarado was severely wounded, while one soldier and a number of allies were slain.
FOOTNOTES
[711] Cartas, 124; Cortés, Residencia, ii. 12. Bernal Diaz confirms that this was effected long before dawn, while Herrera states that 300 held out till morning; but he is contradictory. Carrasco, whom he assumes to be free, urged them to fall upon the attacking party, who were scattered to plunder. But this was not done for want of a leader. Nor did they favor his advice to plunder the baggage of Cortés, which was protected only by Indians, and to embark with Diego Velazquez. Carrasco accordingly proceeded alone to the baggage camp, and securing a horse and lance he returned and urged them to follow. He had evidently supernatural means wherewith to penetrate the besieging force. dec. ii. lib. x. cap. iv. Duran allows Cortés to form ambuscades and leap walls, so that the arms are secured ere the men of Narvaez can form in defence. Hist. Ind., MS., ii. 453. Peter Martyr disposes briefly of the matter, and assumes that the chief captains of Narvaez were seduced. dec. v. cap. v.; Castellanos, Varones ilustres de Indias, 71-2; Galvano’s Discov., 144-5.
[712] ‘Cortes se mandò pregonar por Capitan general, y justicia mayor, de ambos exercitos.’ Carrasco was three days in stocks before he yielded obedience. Herrera, ubi sup. ‘Y todo esto era de noche, que no amanecia.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 99.
[713] ‘Viua, viua la gala de los Romanos, que siẽdo tan pocos, han vencido a Narvaez!’ to which Guidelo, the negro jester of Narvaez, added, ‘Behold! the Romans never performed such a feat.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 99. Herrera speaks more at length of the sayings of this negro, who was rewarded with a crown of gold worth 600 ducats. dec. ii. lib. x. cap. iv.
[714] ‘I saw Narvaez in Spain in 1525, and heard him publicly denounce Cortés as a traitor. He asked but royal permission to prove it, face to face with his enemy; furthermore, he was a liar, a tyrant, and an ingrate. Narvaez had been betrayed by those in whom he confided.’ Oviedo, iii. 316. Still, the chronicler cannot excuse his carelessness nor his entering into parley with Cortés; and he told him so. iii. 316.
[715] Bernal Diaz mentions fifteen dos for doce makes it only five deaths among Narvaez’ men, including Captain Rojas, Alférez Fuentes, who was an hidalgo of Seville, and Carretero, one of the deserters from Cortés’ explorers. Cortés lost four. Hist. Verdad., 99. Cortés prudently mentions to the king only two deaths, but leaves it uncertain to what side they belonged. Cartas, 124. Gomara claims them for Cortés, and states that Narvaez lost his eye, his honor, and sixteen men. Hist. Mex., 148. Cortés lost two men and one wounded; Narvaez eleven. Herrera, dec. ii. lib. x. cap. iv. Cortés four, Narvaez eleven, besides many wounded on both sides. Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt. iii. 138. Solis supposes that two wounded of Cortés’ army died, making four in all, while Narvaez lost fifteen. Hist. Mex., ii. 101. One version claims that Narvaez lost fifteen by arms and six by fire in the burning of the quarters, which is probably an exaggeration. Narvaez lost all his property, including notes of hand. Demanda de Ceballos, in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., i. 442. The testimony in Cortés, Residencia, i. ii., varies from twelve to sixteen for Narvaez.
[716] Oviedo looks on Cortés’ reasons as insufficient to justify his procedure, such as ordering Narvaez to be seized, and demanding of him to exhibit a royal commission, ‘as if Cortés had been appointed by the king.’ Velazquez, as the principal who sent him forth, had every right to remove him. iii. 316.