n friends were even more terrible. They threw among them the
bones of the legs and arms of their countrymen and of ours which had
been roasted and the flesh torn off, crying out at the same time, "We
have already satiated ourselves with the flesh of your countrymen and of
the teules; you may, therefore, as well enjoy what remains on these
bones! Do you see the ruins of those houses there which you have pulled
down? you will soon have to build us up much larger and finer ones. Only
remain faithful to the teules, and we promise you you shall be with them
when we sacrifice them to our gods!"

Quauhtemoctzin, after gaining this victory, forwarded the feet and hands
of our unfortunate countrymen, with their beards and skins, as also the
heads of the horses they had killed, to all our allies and his own
relations, accompanied by the assurance that more than half of the
Spaniards had been killed, and that he would soon have the rest in his
power. He therefore ordered those towns which had entered into our
alliance immediately to send ambassadors to Mexico, otherwise he would
march against them and put the whole of the inhabitants to death.

From this moment the enemy attacked us without intermission day and
night; but as we were always upon our guard, and kept in a body
together, we gave them no opportunity of taking us by surprise.

Our officers shared the hardships with the meanest soldiers, and the
horses stood always ready saddled, one half on the causeway, the other
at Tlacupa. Whenever we filled up any opening, the Mexicans were sure to
return and open it again, and throw up more formidable entrenchments on
the opposite side. Our allies of the towns which lay in the lake, who
had up to this moment assisted us with their canoes, began to fall off
after they had lost so many of their men and numbers of their canoes,
and though they lent no aid to the Mexicans, yet they only awaited the
final issue of the siege to forsake us altogether.

Sandoval, Tapia, Lugo, and the other officers who had arrived from the
other divisions, now thought it high time to return to their own troops
and inform Cortes as to how matters stood with us. They accordingly
hastened back to our general's head-quarters, and told him how valiantly
Alvarado and his men were defending themselves, and the great vigilance
which was observed in his camp.

Sandoval, who was always a good friend to me, told Cortes on this
occasion how he had found me, with s