creased with the difficulties which
surrounded him. During the night he selected a strong force of picked
men to make a vigorous sally in the morning. To nerve them to higher
daring, he resolved to head the perilous enterprise himself. He
availed himself of all his knowledge of Indian warfare, and of all the
advantages which European military art could furnish. In the early
dawn, these troops, in solid column, rushed from the gates of their
fortress; but the foe, greatly augmented by the fresh troops which had
been pouring in during the night, were ready to receive him. Both
parties fought with ferocity which has never been surpassed. Cortez,
to his inexpressible chagrin, found himself compelled to retire before
the natives, who, in numbers perfectly amazing, were crowding upon
him.

Most of the streets were traversed by canals. The bridges were broken
down, and the Spaniards, thus arrested in their progress and crowded
together, were overwhelmed with stones and arrows from the house-tops.
Cortez set fire to the houses every where along his line of march.
Though the walls of many of these buildings were of stone, the flames
ran eagerly through the dry and combustible interior, and leaped from
roof to roof. A wide and wasting conflagration soon swept horribly
through the doomed city, adding to the misery of the bloody strife.
All the day long the battle raged. The streets were strewn with the
bodies of the dead, and crimsoned with gore. The natives cheerfully
sacrificed a hundred of their own lives to take the life of one of
their foes. The Spaniards were, however, at length driven back behind
their walls, leaving twelve of their number dead in the streets, and
having sixty severely wounded.

Another night darkened over the bloodstained and smouldering city.
The Spaniards, exhausted by the interminable conflict, still stood
fiercely behind their ramparts. The natives, in continually increasing
numbers, surrounded them, filling the night air with shrieks
of defiance and rage. Cortez had displayed personally the most
extraordinary heroism during the protracted strife. His situation now
seemed desperate. Though many thousands of the Mexicans had been
slaughtered during the day, recruits flocked in so rapidly that their
numbers remained undiminished. Cortez had received a severe wound in
his hand which caused him intense anguish. His soldiers could hardly
stand from their exhaustion. Many had been slain, and nearly all wer