rses, intermixed with artillery, packs and bales of baggage, and
those who carried them, all heaped up in the water. Many of our companions
were drowned at this place, and many were forced into canoes and hurried
away to be sacrificed. It was horrible to hear the cries of these
unfortunate captives, calling upon us for aid which we were unable to give,
and invoking the blessed Virgin and all the saints in vain for deliverance.
Others of our companions escaped across those gaps in the causeway, by
clambering over the confused mass of dead bodies and luggage by which they
were filled, and were calling out for assistance to help them up on the
other side; while many of them, thinking themselves in safety when they
got to the firm ground, were there seized by the Mexicans, or killed with
war clubs. All the regularity which had hitherto guided our march was now
utterly lost and abandoned. Cortes and all the mounted officers and
soldiers galloped off along the causeway, providing for their own
immediate safety, and leaving all the rest to save ourselves as we best
might: Nor can I blame them for this procedure, as the cavalry could do
nothing against the enemy, who threw themselves into the water on both
sides of the causeway when attacked, while others, by continual flights of
arrows from the houses, or with long lances from the canoes on each side,
killed and wounded the men and horses. Our powder was all expended, so
that we were unable to do any injury to the Mexicans in the canoes. In
this situation of utter confusion and derout, the only thing we could do
was by uniting together in bands of thirty or forty, to endeavour to force
our way to the land: When the Indians closed upon us, we exerted our
utmost efforts to drive them off with our swords, and then hurried our
march to get over the causeway as soon as possible. Had we waited for each
other, or had our retreat been in the day, we had all been inevitably
destroyed. The escape of such as made their way to land, was due to the
mercy of God who gave us strength to force our way; for the multitudes
that surrounded us, and the melancholy sight of our companions hurried
away in the canoes to instant sacrifice, was horrible in the extreme.
About fifty of us, mostly soldiers of Cortes, with a few of those who came
with Narvaez, stuck together in a body, and made our way along the
causeway through infinite difficulty and danger. Every now and then strong
parties of Indians assa