We Were Even Forced To Abandon Our _Mantas_ Or
Turrets, Which The Enemy Had Demolished.
At length, by a desperate effort,
we forced our way up the steps, and in this assault Cortes shewed himself
a hero.
Our battle in this place was most desperate, every man among us
being covered with blood, and above forty of our number lay dead on the
spot. We reached with infinite difficulty the place where we had formerly
set up the image of the blessed Virgin, which was not to be found, as it
had been removed by order of Montezuma, either through fear or from
devotion to his idols. We set fire to the buildings, and burnt down a part
of the temples of Huitzilopochtli and Tezcatlipoca; and while some of us
were employed in setting fire to the buildings, and others fighting, in
which our Tlascalan allies seconded us most gallantly, above three
thousand Mexican nobles, headed by their priests, made a most severe
attack, and drove us down eight or ten of the steps. Others of the enemy
from the corridors, or within the railings and concavities of the temple,
assailed us on every side with arrows and other missiles, so that we were
unable even to maintain the ground we had gained. We were constrained
therefore to retreat, every man of us being wounded, and forty-six of our
number slain. We regained our quarters with the utmost difficulty, which
the enemy had almost gained possession of, as they had been continually
endeavouring to carry them by assault during our absence, or to set them
on fire.
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