[777] They would no longer recognize him as emperor, etc. Saying this, a chief threw a stone which struck Montezuma on the forehead. Duran, Hist. Ind., MS., ii. 468. Acosta attributes this first throw to ‘Quicuxtemoc,’ the later king of Mexico. Hist. Ind., 523. ‘Ma io nol credo,’ says Clavigero, Storia Mess., iii. 126. ‘Aunque vn Castellano tenia cuydado de arrodelar a Motezuma ... le acertò vna piedra en las sienes.’ Herrera, dec. ii. lib. x. cap. x. Had not the Spaniards held up a shield before Montezuma the people would have known it was he and not thrown the stone which killed him, says Cano, his later son-in-law. Oviedo, iii. 550. Gomara is inclined to believe this, for his people ‘no lo quisieran hazer mas que sacarse los ojos.’ Hist. Mex., 154. ‘Una saéta alcanzó al emperador en el estòmago que lo atravezó por el baso, y una piedra le dió en la sien izquierda.’ The people would never have thrown missiles, for they pitied him, and were prepared to obey his injunctions, but Cacama, who stood behind the emperor, made signs that they should continue the attack without regard for him or for the monarch. Tezozomoc, Recop. tradiciones, MS., cap. vi. According to Bernal Diaz, the four chiefs who had approached to confer with him expressed their sympathy for his misfortunes. They had now chosen as leader ‘Coadlabacan, señor de Iztapalapa,’ and had sworn to the gods to continue the war till all Spaniards were exterminated. Yet they prayed daily to the gods for his safety, and if all went well he would more than ever be their lord. They had hardly finished when showers of missiles fell, of which three stones and an arrow hit him, on the head, arm, and leg. Hist. Verdad., 104. ‘Remorse succeeded to insult,’ and they fled, says Robertson, Hist. Am., 90, a statement which Prescott improves by stating that the square before the fort was left empty. But remorse must have been brief, for the main authorities, Cortés, Gomara, Bernal Diaz, and Torquemada, either declare or intimate that the assault never stopped. ‘No por eso cesó la guerra y muy mas recia y muy cruda de cada dia.’ Cortés, Cartas, 130.
[778] ‘Esta Fortaleza casi no tiene exemplar,’ exclaims Lorenzana, forgetting that Cortés’ firmness was due to the justifiable fear that a trap was intended. Cortés, Hist. N. España, 136-7. Cortés concludes the sentence about Montezuma’s being wounded by saying that he died within three days. He thereupon resumes the account of parleys and siege operations, leaving the impression that these took place after his death, while such was not the case. Nevertheless, Gomara, Herrera, and others, Bernal Diaz not excluded, are misled, by this vagueness evidently, into extending the siege and confounding the events, so that modern historians have all more or less remained mystified. Solis assumes that during Montezuma’s illness the siege was conducted only by straggling parties, the main forces being occupied with crowning the new emperor. Hist. Mex., ii. 155-6. This is probably due to a misconstruction of Bernal Diaz.
[779] ‘En esta auia tres no mas, y en la de Yztapalapà, siete.’ Herrera, dec. ii. lib. x. cap. xi.; Native Races, ii. 561 et seq.
[780] Cortés, Cartas, 130, 133. ‘Quatro ingenios ... en que pudiessen yr veynte y cinco hombres,’ says Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 103. ‘Tres mantas ... cõ sus ruedas; leuauan treynta hombres a cada vna, cubierta con tablas gruessas de tres dedos.’ Herrera, loc. cit. Drawn by men within, adds Peter Martyr, dec. v. cap. v. ‘Cabia cada vno veynte hombres, con picas escopetas y ballestas y vn tiro.’ Gomara, Hist. Mex., 154.
[781] Herrera unwisely assumes that the three towers with their forces were respectively directed against the three causeway approaches.
[782] ‘De tres y quatro arrouas, que maltrataron a los que yuan en los ingenios, y rompieron las tablas.’ Herrera, dec. ii. lib. x. cap. xi.
[783] ‘Hirieron a mas de docientos Castellanos.’ Id., cap. ix.
[784] ‘Nos mataron un español y hirieron muchos.’ Cortés, Cartas, 130-1.
[785] ‘Subieron allá dos vigas rollizas para desde alli echarlas sobre las casas reales y hundirlas.’ Sahagun, Hist. Conq., 30. Peter Martyr supposes the temple to have been long held by the enemy, but this is contrary to what Cortés and Sahagun say.
[786] Three hundred, says Gomara.