The First Of These Reinforcements After Camargo Consisted Of
Fifty Soldiers With Seven Horses, Under The Command Of Michael Diaz De Auz.
These Men Were All Plump And Jolly, And We Gave Them The Nickname Of The
_Sir-Loins_.
Shortly after him another vessel brought forty soldiers with
ten horses, and a good supply of crossbows and other arms.
These were
commanded by an officer named Ramirez, and as all his soldiers wore very
thick and clumsy cotton armour, quite impenetrable by arrows, we called
them the _Pack-horses_.
Being thus unexpectedly reinforced by upwards of an hundred and fifty men,
and twenty horses, Cortes determined to chastise the Indians of Xalatcingo,
Cacatame, and other towns near the road to Villa Rica, who had been
concerned in the murder of those Spaniards who had been sent from Villa
Rica for the treasure. For this purpose he sent a detachment of two
hundred veterans, among whom were twenty horsemen, and twelve armed with
crossbows, under the command of Sandoval, who had likewise along with him
a strong detachment of Tlascalans. Being informed that the Indians of that
district were in arms, and reinforced by Mexican troops, Sandoval sent a
message, offering pardon for the murder of the Spaniards, if they would
submit to our government, and return the treasure. Their answer was, that
they would eat him and all his men, as they had done the others. Sandoval,
therefore, immediately marched into their country, and attacked them in
two places at once, and though both the natives and the Mexicans defended
themselves with great bravery, they were soon defeated with considerable
loss.
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