but the valiant and warm-hearted cavaliers did not hesitate when this cry
for aid was heard. Turning their horses, they galloped back, pushed
through the pass, swam the canal again, and rode into the thick of the
fight on the opposite section of the causeway.

The night was now passing, and the first gray light of day was visible in
the east. By its dim illumination the frightful combat could be seen in
all its horrid intensity. Everywhere lay dead bodies of Christian or
pagan; the dark masses of the warriors could be seen locked in deadly
struggle crowding the blood-stained causeway; while the lake, far and
near, was crowded with canoes, filled with armed and ardent Aztec
warriors, yelling their triumphant war-cry.

Cortez and his companions found Alvarado, who led the rear, unhorsed and
wounded, yet fighting like a hero. His noble steed, which had borne him
safely through many a hard fight, had fallen under him. With a handful of
followers he was desperately striving to repel the overwhelming tide of
the enemy which was pouring on him along the causeway, a dozen of the
Indians falling for every Spaniard slain. The artillery had done good work
in the early part of the contest, but the fury of the assault had carried
the Aztecs up to and over the guns, and only a hand-to-hand conflict
remained. The charge of the returning cavaliers created a temporary check,
and a feeble rally was made, but the flood of foes soon came on again and
drove them resistlessly back.

Cortez and the cavaliers with him were forced to plunge once more into the
canal, not all of them this time escaping. Alvarado stood on the brink for
a moment, uncertain what to do, death behind him and deadly peril before.
He was a man of great strength and agility, and despair now gave him
courage. Setting his long lance firmly on the wreck that strewed the
bottom, he sprang vigorously forward and cleared the wide gap at a bound,
a feat that filled all who saw it with amazement, the natives exclaiming,
as they beheld the seemingly impossible leap, "This is truly the
_Tonatiuh_,--the child of the Sun!" This name they had given Alvarado from
his fair features and flaxen hair. How great the leap was no one has told
us, though the name of "Alvarado's leap" still clings to the spot.

Thus ended the frightful _noche triste_, or "doleful night." Cortez led
the remnant of his men off the causeway, a feeble, wounded, straggling
few, faltering from weariness and loss o