he crest of the earthwork, and the fight began. Thrice we drove
them back with our spears and arrows, but at the fourth charge the wave
of men swept over our defence, and poured into the dry ditch beyond.

Now we were forced to fly to the next earthwork, for we could not hope
to fight so many in the open street, whither, so soon as a passage had
been made for their horse and ordnance, the enemy followed us. Here the
fight was renewed, and this barricade being very strong, we held it
for hard upon two hours with much loss to ourselves and to the Spanish
force. Again we retreated and again we were assailed, and so the
struggle went on throughout the live-long day. Every hour our numbers
grew fewer and our arms fainter, but still we fought on desperately. At
the two last barricades, hundreds of the women of the Otomie fought by
the sides of their husbands and their brothers.

The last earthwork was captured by the Spaniards just as the sun sank,
and under the shadow of approaching darkness those of us that remained
alive fled to the refuge which we had prepared upon the teocalli, nor
was there any further fighting during that night.

CHAPTER XXXV

THE LAST SACRIFICE OF THE WOMEN OF THE OTOMIE

Here in the courtyard of the teocalli, by the light of burning houses,
for as they advanced the Spaniards fired the town, we mustered our array
to find that there were left to us in all some four hundred fighting
men, together with a crowd of nearly two thousand women and many
children. Now although this teocalli was not quite so lofty as that of
the great temple of Mexico, its sides were steeper and everywhere faced
with dressed stone, and the open space upon its summit was almost as
great, measuring indeed more than a hundred paces every way. This area
was paved with blocks of marble, and in its centre stood the temple of
the war-god, where his statue still sat, although no worship had been
offered to him for many years; the stone of sacrifice, the altar of
fire, and the storehouses of the priests. Moreover in front of the
temple, and between it and the stone of sacrifice, was a deep cemented
hole the size of a large room, which once had been used as a place for
the safe keeping of grain in times of famine. This pit I had caused to
be filled with water borne with great toil to the top of the pyramid,
and in the temple itself I stored a great quantity of food, so that we
had no cause to fear present death from thirst or fa