ear lest the great force of those dogs should have
routed them.'

"The scene now changes to the ground near Alvarado's camp. Sandoval
succeeded in making his way there, and arrived about the hour of
Vespers. He found the men of that division in the act of repelling a
most vigorous attack on the part of the Mexicans, who had hoped that
night to penetrate into the camp and carry off all the Spaniards for
sacrifice. The enemy were better armed than usual, some of them using
the weapons which they had taken from the soldiers of Cortez. At last,
after a severe conflict, {213} in which Sandoval himself was wounded,
and in which the cannon shots did not suffice to break the serried
ranks of the Mexicans, the Spaniards gained their quarters, and, being
under shelter, had some respite from the fury of the Mexican attack.

"There, Sandoval, Pedro de Alvarado, and the other principal captains,
were standing together and relating what had occurred to each of them,
when, suddenly, the sound of the sacrificial drum was heard again,
accompanied by other musical instruments of a similar dolorous
character. From the Camp of Tlacuba the great Temple was perfectly
visible, and the Spaniards looked up at it for the interpretation of
these melancholy tones; they saw their companions driven by blows and
buffetings up to the place of sacrifice. The white-skinned Christians
were easily to be distinguished amidst the dusky groups that surrounded
them. When the unhappy men about to be sacrificed had reached the
lofty level space on which these abominations were wont to be
committed, it was discerned by their friends and late companions that
plumes of feathers were put upon the heads of many of them, and that
men, whose movements in the distance appeared like those of winnowers,
made the captive dance before the image of Huitzilopochtli. When the
dance was concluded, the victims were placed upon the sacrificial
stones; their hearts were taken out and offered to the idols; and their
bodies hurled down the steps of the temple. At the bottom of the steps
stood 'other butchers' who cut off the arms and legs of the victims,
intending to eat these portions of their enemy. The skin of the face
with the beard was preserved. The rest of the body was thrown to the
lions, tigers, and serpents. 'Let the curious {214} reader consider,'
says the chronicler, 'what pity we must have had for these, our
companions, and how we said to one another, 'Oh,