He Said Farther, That After
All The Horses Were Slain, About Eighty Had Assembled In A Body And Passed
The First Gap On The Heaps Of Luggage And Dead Bodies; That At The Other
Bridge The Few Who Now Accompanied Him Were Saved By The Mercy Of God.
I
do not now perfectly recollect in what manner he passed that last aperture,
as we were all more attentive to what he related of the death of Velasquez
and above two hundred of our unhappy companions.
As to that last fatal
bridge, which is still called _Salto de Alvarado_, or the Leap of Alvarado,
we were too much occupied in saving our own lives to examine whether he
leaped much or little. He must, however, have got over on the baggage and
dead bodies; for the water was too deep for him to have reached the bottom
with his lance, and the aperture was too wide and the sides too high for
him to have leaped over, had he been the most active man in the world. In
about a year after, when we besieged Mexico, I was engaged with the enemy
at that very bridge which was called Alvarados Leap, where the enemy had
constructed breastworks and barricades, and we all agreed that the leap
was impossible. One Ocampo, a soldier who came with Garay, who used to
amuse himself with lampoons, made one on this supposed feat of Alvarado,
saying, "That fear made him give that prodigious leap, leaving Velasquez
and two hundred more to their fate as he leaped for his life." As Cortes
found, by the information of Alvarado, that the causeway was entirely
filled by the enemy, who must have intercepted all the rest of our
companions, he returned to Tacuba, where all who had escaped were now
collected. Messengers had been already sent from Mexico, ordering all the
people of Tacuba, Ezcapuzalco, Tenajocan, and other neighbouring cities on
that side of the lake, to collect and attack us; and they now began to
surround us in the inclosed courts of Popotla where we had taken shelter,
harassing us with stones and arrows, and even attacking us with lances,
many of which were headed with the swords which we lost during our retreat.
We defended ourselves against this attack as well as we could, and made
several sallies to drive them off. But, as the enemy continually increased
in number, it was determined to endeavour to reach Tlascala, for which
purpose we set out under the direction of six or seven of our allies who
were well acquainted with the country. After a fatiguing march by an
indirect road, during which we were much harassed by the enemy, who plied
us with stones and arrows, we reached some houses on a hill near a temple,
where we defended ourselves, and took such care as we could of our wounds;
but could get no provisions. After the conquest of Mexico, a church was
built on the site of this temple, and dedicated to _Nuestra Senora de los
Remedios_, our Lady of Succour, to which many ladies and other inhabitants
of Mexico, now go in procession to pay nine days devotion[7].
Our wounds had become extremely painful from cold, and want of proper
dressings, and we now bound them up as well as we could.
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