by forced marches gained the coast,
journeying with great speed, and under grave apprehension.

Fortune on this occasion favoured the _Conquistador_ in a remarkable
way. With only a third of his small force--140 men had remained in the
capital--Cortes, under cover of a fearful storm at night, attacked
Narvaez and the Spaniards of his command, routing them and taking the
leader prisoner. The defeated soldiers soon enrolled themselves under
Cortes's successful banner, stimulated by tales of gold and glory in
the interior. But whilst the _Conquistadores_ were resting and
congratulating themselves upon the addition of men, horses, and
ammunition to their forces, grave tidings came from Mexico. The Indians
of Tenochtitlan had arisen, assaulted the fortifications of the
Spaniards on all sides, and unless Cortes desired to see all his work
undone, his people massacred, and his hard-won prestige ruined, he must
make his way as fast as God would let him again to the city on the
lakes of Anahuac.

Up, up they went once more. Up through the tropical forests and among
the appalling escarpments of the Sierra. Again they descended the
valley slopes, approached the lakes--round which an ominous abandonment
prevailed--and crossing the long causeway, entered the Spanish camp.
The fault of the insurrection, Cortes learned now, lay with the
commander in charge--the foolish and cruel Alvarado, whose barbarous
acts on other occasions had needlessly embroiled the Spaniards with the
natives. A great celebration and religious festival was being
held--Cortes learned--and whilst the Aztec nobles and people were
occupied, unsuspecting any hostile act of their guests, Alvarado and
the Spaniards, armed to the teeth, had mingled with the crowd with
their purpose all planned, fallen upon the unarmed worshippers, and
perpetrated a frightful massacre--"without pity or Christian mercy, so
that the gutters ran with blood as in a rain-storm," say the
chroniclers.

The result of this barbarous act was a vengeance and punishment which
cost the _Conquistadores_ dear, and stripped them in a few days of all
they had won. For the maddened people, roused by sorrow and hate, and
urged on by the priests, assailed the Spanish dwelling with frenzied
attack. A rain of darts and missiles descended day after day upon the
quarters of the Christians, so numerous that they had to be gathered in
heaps and burnt in the courtyard. The main point of attack by the
Mexicans