us canoes
attacked the brigantines, from one of which the enemy succeeded in
carrying off one man alive, besides killing three others, and wounding
the captain, with all the men on board. This brigantine would certainly
have fared much worse if the one under the command of Juan Xaramillo had
not come up to its assistance.

One of these brigantines, under Juan de Limpias Carvajal, had got so
jammed in between the stakes that it was with difficulty she was got
afloat again. It was on this occasion that Carvajal lost his hearing, by
over exertion of his strength. He now lives at Puebla, and fought on
that day so courageously, and knew so well how to spur on the men at the
oars, that he succeeded in breaking through the stakes and rescuing the
brigantine from falling into the enemy's hands. This was the first of
our brigantines which had succeeded in breaking through the stakes.

By this time, Cortes, with his division, had also reached his
encampment; but here the enemy fell upon him anew, threw three of our
countrymen's heads among his troops, crying out, at the same time, that
these were some of the heads of Sandoval's and Alvarado's men, whom they
had put to death, with all their teules!

At this sight Cortes was completely dismayed; nevertheless he strove to
hide his feelings, and commanded his officers to keep the ranks firmly
closed, and oppose a solid front to the enemy. At the same time he
despatched Tapia, with three horse, to Tlacupa, to see how matters stood
with our division, and, in case we had not suffered an entire defeat, to
keep in a firm body together, and observe the utmost vigilance both
night and day; but this we had of course done without requiring to be
reminded of it.

Tapia and his companions fulfilled their commands with the utmost
expedition; and, though they had a skirmish in a dangerous pass where
Quauhtemoctzin had posted a strong detachment, intending thereby to cut
off our line of communication, yet they arrived safe in our camp, though
all four were wounded. They still found us hotly engaged with the enemy,
but rejoiced exceedingly to see how courageously we defended ourselves.
After conveying Cortes' instructions to us, they related what had taken
place with his division, but took care not to tell the whole truth, for
they said there were only twenty-five killed, and that all the rest of
the troops were in excellent condition.

We must now turn to Sandoval, who was advancing victoriou