eyes can reach. Our numbers are
scarcely diminished by our losses. Yours, on the contrary, are lessening
hour by hour. Your provisions and water are failing. You are perishing
from hunger and sickness; you must soon fall into our hands. _The
bridges are broken down, and you cannot escape!_ There will be too few
of you left to glut the vengeance of our gods.' With this they
discharged a volley of arrows, which compelled the Spaniards to beat a
speedy retreat from the turret. The fierce answer of the Aztecs filled
the besieged with dismay.

The general himself, pressed by enemies without and factions within,
was, as usual, only roused to more energetic action by a situation which
would have paralysed any ordinary mind. He calmly surveyed his position
before deciding what course he would pursue. To retreat was hazardous,
and it mortified him cruelly to abandon the city in which he had so long
been master and the rich treasure which he had secured, with which he
had hoped to propitiate the King of Spain. To fly now was to acknowledge
himself further than ever from the conquest and to give great
opportunity to his enemy, the Governor of Cuba, to triumph over him. On
the other hand, with his men daily diminishing in strength and numbers,
with the stock of provisions so nearly exhausted that one small daily
ration of bread was all the soldiers had, with the breaches in his
fortifications widening every day and his ammunition nearly gone, it was
manifestly impossible to hold the place much longer against the enemy.
Having reached this conclusion, the next difficulty was to decide how
and when it would be well to evacuate the city. He tried to fight his
way out, but he failed, and when night fell the Mexicans dispersed as
usual, and the Spaniards, tired, famished, and weak from their wounds,
slowly re-entered the citadel, only to receive tidings of a fresh
misfortune. Montezuma was dead. 'The tidings of his death,' says the old
Spanish chronicler, 'were received with real grief by every cavalier and
soldier in the army who had had access to his person, for we all loved
him as a father, and no wonder, seeing how good he was.'

Montezuma's death was a real misfortune for the Spaniards. While he
lived there was still a possibility of his influence with the natives
being of use to them. Now that hope was gone. The Spanish commander
showed all respect for his memory. His body, arrayed in its royal robes,
was laid upon a bier, and bo