courts and open
places of our quarters were thickly strewed with arrows, stones, and darts,
which had been thrown at us; and we were occupied the whole day and night,
in repelling the incessant assaults, repairing the breaches in our
defences, dressing our wounds, and preparing for future assaults. At dawn
of the ensuing morning, we sallied out with our whole force, determined to
conquer or to impress them with respect. The Mexicans met us with the
utmost resolution, and though we fought almost in despair, their numbers
were so immense, and they continually brought up such strong
reinforcements of fresh troops, that even if we had all been Hectors or
Orlandos, we could not have forced them to give ground. It is quite
impossible to give any adequate idea of the obstinacy and violence of this
battle. Though in every reiterated charge we brought down thirty or forty
of the enemy, it had no effect, as they returned upon us with more
violence and desperation than before; our musketry and cannon made no
impression that was not instantly replaced; and if at any time they gave
ground, it was only to draw us farther from our quarters, to make our
destruction more sure. In the midst of all this, the stones and darts
which were launched upon us from the terraces of the house tops did us
astonishing injury. Some of our soldiers who had been in the wars of Italy
declared, that neither among Christians or Turks, nor even in the French
artillery, had they ever seen such desperate fighting as now among these
Indians. We were at length forced to retreat to our quarters, which we
reached with infinite difficulty, after losing ten or twelve of our men
killed, and almost every one of us severely wounded.

After our return, we were busily occupied in preparing for a general sally
on the next day after but one, with four military engines of strong timber
like towers, each of which was calculated to contain twenty-five men under
cover, with portholes for the artillery, and for muskets and crossbows.
During this interval we had likewise to repair the breaches which the
Mexicans had made in our walls, and to resist their attempts to scale them,
often in twenty places at once. The Mexicans constantly used the most
injurious language against us; saying that the voracious animals in the
great temple had been kept fasting for two days, that they might be ready
to devour our bodies, when we were sacrificed to their gods. They assured
us at the same t