wers by plunging into the water. The rest
followed as best they could. Many were drowned by the weight of the
gold they carried. Others got across by clinging to the tails and
manes of the horses.

Cortez, with Sandoval and other cavaliers, led the retreat until
they reached the end of the causeway. The din of battle was now far
behind, but those who came up brought the news that the rear guard
were so sorely pressed, that they would be destroyed unless aid
reached them.

Cortez and his companions did not hesitate. They dashed along the
causeway, again swam the canal, and made their way through the
crowd until they reached the rear guard. Morning was breaking now,
and it showed the lake covered with canoes filled with warriors.
Along the whole length of the causeway a desperate fight was
raging.

Cortez found Alvarado on foot, his horse had been killed under him.
With a handful of followers, he was still desperately defending the
rear against the Mexicans, who had poured out from the city in
pursuit. The artillery had at first done good service, sweeping the
causeway and mowing down hundreds of their assailants; but the
Aztecs were careless of life, and rushed on so furiously that they
swept over the guns, killing those who served them, and fell upon
the infantry.

The charge of Cortez and his companions for a moment bore back the
foe; but, pressed by those behind, they swept aside resistance, and
bore back the Spaniards to the edge of the canal. Cortez and his
companions plunged in and swam across. Alvarado stood on the brink,
hesitating. Unhorsed and defenseless, he could not make his way
across the gap, which was now crowded with the canoes of the enemy.
He set his strong lance on the bottom of the canal and, using it as
a leaping pole, sprang across. The feat was an extraordinary one,
for although the width is not given, it was declared, by those who
witnessed it, to be impossible for any mortal. It filled friends
and foes alike with astonishment; and the spot is, to this day,
known by the Mexicans as "Alvarado's Leap."

The Aztecs followed no farther. They were occupied, now, in
securing the enormous wealth the Spaniards had left behind them;
and the remnants of the army marched along the causeway unmolested,
and took possession of the village at its end.

Cortez, iron hearted as he was, sat down and burst into tears as he
viewed the broken remnant of his army. He was consoled, however, by
finding that ma