imbrels, horns, and trumpets on the
temple. We all directed our eyes thither, and, shocking to
relate, saw our unfortunate countrymen driven by blows to the
place where they were to be sacrificed, which bloody ceremony
was accompanied by the dismal sound of all the instruments
of the temple. We perceived that when they had brought the
wretched victims to the flat summit of the body of the
temple, they put plumes upon their heads, and made them dance
before their accursed idols. When they had done this, they
laid them upon their backs on the stone used for the purpose,
where they cut out their hearts alive, and having presented
them, yet palpitating, to their gods, they drew the bodies
down the steps by the feet, where they were taken by others
of their priests. Let the reader think what were our
sensations on this occasion. O heavenly God! said we to
ourselves, do not suffer us to be sacrificed by these
wretches. Do not suffer us to die so cruel a death. And then,
how shocking a reflection, that we were unable to relieve our
poor friends, who were thus murdered before our eyes."

This victory elated the Mexicans exceedingly. They cut off the heads
of the sacrificed Spaniards, and sent them to the adjacent provinces,
to prove that their gods, now appeased by this signal offering of
blood, had abandoned the enemy. The priests sent the assurance far
and wide that victory was now certain, as the oracles had returned
the response that in eight days the detested enemy should be
entirely destroyed. This prediction exerted a great influence upon
a superstitious people. Many of the natives who had joined Cortez
deserted his cause, and even the Tlascalans began to waver. The
prudence and shrewdness of Cortez again met the danger and averted it.
For eight days he made no advance, but merely stood on the defensive.
The predicted time having expired, he said, "You see that the gods
have deceived the Mexicans. They have espoused our cause."

The fickle people immediately returned to their stations, and others
joined them, so that Cortez, according to his own account, now found
himself at the head of one hundred and fifty thousand Indians. Gomara
and Herrera assert that there were not less than two hundred thousand.
The number of defenders in the Mexican capital can not with accuracy
be ascertained. It is estimated, however, from various considerations,
that th