lways talking
about the different battering engines which had been used in that war,
and said, he would himself engage to construct a species of catapult on
the Tlatelulco, and batter down the houses in which the enemy still held
out, and this so effectually that the Mexicans would soon find
themselves obliged to sue for peace.

Cortes allowed himself to be persuaded by the great things which this
man promised, and issued the necessary orders for the construction of
such a machine; and the stone, wood, lime, and iron, which this man
required for his wonderful machine were soon provided for him. Two of
these catapults were soon finished, by which large stones, of the size
of buckets, were to be cast upon the houses. But these machines proved a
complete failure, and the stones which they were to throw to a distance
fell at the foot of the engine itself. Cortes was excessively annoyed
with this soldier for having persuaded him to listen to his schemes, and
ordered the machines to be destroyed. Cortes then determined that an
attack should be made with the brigantines on that quarter of the town
where Quauhtemoctzin had retreated. The manner in which this was done I
will relate in the following chapter.

CHAPTER CLVI.

_How Quauhtemoctzin was taken prisoner._

Cortes finding the catapult of no manner of use, and that the Mexicans
still refused to sue for peace, ordered Sandoval to penetrate with our
twelve brigantines into that quarter of the city where Quauhtemoctzin
had retreated with the flower of his army and the principal personages
of Mexico. He at the same time gave orders to the men not to kill nor
wound any Mexican, if it were at all possible to avoid it, and that they
should not be the first to attack, but to level the houses to the
ground, and destroy the numerous breastworks that had been constructed
on the lake.

Cortes then mounted to the summit of the chief temple on the Tlatelulco,
in order from thence to view Sandoval's manoeuvres, and was accompanied
by Alvarado, Luis Marin, Lugo, and other soldiers.

When Sandoval appeared with the brigantines in the quarter where
Quauhtemoctzin's palace stood, the latter soon saw it would be
impossible to hold out much longer, and he began to think of making his
escape, lest he should be put to death, or taken prisoner. He had for
some time past ordered that fifty large pirogues should always be ready
at hand, with which, when the danger was at its heig