In This Action One Only Of Our Allies Was Killed, And
Two Spaniards Wounded; But Our Situation Was Far From Consolatory.
Besides
being dreadfully hard harassed by fatigue, we had lost fifty-five of our
soldiers from wounds, sickness, and severity of the weather, and several
were sick.
Our general and Father Olmedo were both ill of fevers: And we
began to think it would be impossible for us to reach Mexico, after the
determined resistance we had experienced from the Tlascalans.
In this extremity several of the officers and soldiers, among whom I was
one, waited on Cortes, and advised him to release his prisoners and to
make a fresh offer of friendship with the Tlascalans through these people.
He, who acted on all occasions like a good captain, never failing to
consult with us on affairs of importance, agreed with our present advice,
and gave orders accordingly. Donna Marina, whose noble spirit and
excellent judgment supported her on all occasions of danger, was now of
most essential service to us, as indeed she often was; as she explained in
the most forcible terms to these messengers, that if their countrymen did
not immediately enter into a treaty of peace with us, that we were
resolved to march against their capital, and would utterly destroy it and
their whole nation. Our messengers accordingly went to Tlascala, where
they waited on the chiefs of the republic, the principal messenger bearing
our letter in one hand, as a token of peace, and a dart in the other as a
signal of war, as if giving them their choice of either.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 18 of 796
Words from 4676 to 4944
of 221091
