d thus added immensely to the difficulty of the night-march
which the desperate Spaniards were obliged to make.

It was at midnight on the 1st of July, 1520, that Cortez and his men threw
open the gates of the palace fortress in which they had long defended
themselves against the furious assaults of thousands of daring foes. The
night was dark and cloudy, and a drizzling rain was falling. Not an enemy
was to be seen, and as they made their way with as little noise as
possible along the great street of Tlacopan, all was hushed in silence,
Hope rose in their hearts. The tramp of the horses and the rumble of the
guns and baggage-wagons passed unheard, and they reached the head of the
causeway without waking a sleeping Aztec warrior.

Here was the first break in the causeway, and they had brought with them a
bridge to lay across it. But here also were some Indian sentinels, who
fled in haste on seeing them, rousing the sleeping city with their cries.
The priests on the summit of the great temple pyramid were also on the
watch, and when the shouts of alarm reached their ears from below, they
sounded their shells and beat their huge drum, which was only heard in
times of peril or calamity. Instantly the city broke from its slumber, and
as the leading Spaniards crossed the bridge a distant sound was heard,
which rapidly approached. Soon from every street and lane poured enemies,
flinging stones and arrows into the crowded ranks of the Spaniards as they
came. On the lake was heard a splashing sound, as of many oars, and the
war-cry of a host of combatants broke on the air. A brief interval had
sufficed to change the silence into a frightful uproar of sound and the
restful peace into the fast growing tumult of furious battle.

The Spaniards pushed steadily along the causeway, fighting only to drive
back the assailants who landed from their canoes and rushed in fury upon
the marching ranks. The horsemen spurred over them, riding them down; the
men on foot cut them down with their swords, or hurled them backward with
the butts of their guns; the Indian allies of the Spaniards attacked them
fiercely, and the roar of war spread far through the gloom of the night.

Onward marched the Spaniards, horse and foot; onward creaked and rumbled
the artillery and the wagons; and the second canal in the causeway was
reached while the rear files were not yet across the first. The Spaniards
had made a fatal mistake in bringing with them only on