. The true story book . ne of them over the brink with his own arm. The battle raged unceasingly for three hours. The number ofthe Mexicans was double that of the Spaniards, but the armour ofthe latter and their skill as swordsmen outweighed the odds againstthem. Resistance grew fainter and fainter on the side of the priests, who had run to and fro among them with streaminghair and wild gestures, encouraging and urging them on, were allslain or captured. One by one the warriors fell dead upon the blood-drenched pavement, or were hurled from the dizzy height, until atlast the wild st
. The true story book . ne of them over the brink with his own arm. The battle raged unceasingly for three hours. The number ofthe Mexicans was double that of the Spaniards, but the armour ofthe latter and their skill as swordsmen outweighed the odds againstthem. Resistance grew fainter and fainter on the side of the priests, who had run to and fro among them with streaminghair and wild gestures, encouraging and urging them on, were allslain or captured. One by one the warriors fell dead upon the blood-drenched pavement, or were hurled from the dizzy height, until atlast the wild struggle ceased, and the Spaniards stood alone upon 300 THE CONQUEST OF MONTEZUMAS EMPIRE the field of battle. Their victory had cost them dear, for forty-fiveof their comrades lay dead, and nearly all the remainder were moreor less seriously wounded ; but there was no time for regrets. Thevictorious cavaliers rushed to the sanctuaries to find that the crossand the image of the Virgin had disappeared from the one they had. appropriated, and that in the other, before the grirn figure of Huitzi-lopochtli, lay the usual offering of human hearts, possibly those oftheir own countrymen! With shouts of triumph the Spaniardstore the hideous idol from its niche, and in the sight of the horror-stricken Aztecs hurled it down the steps of the teocalli, and, after THE CONQUEST OF MONTEZUMAS EMPIRE 301 having set fire to the sanctuaries, descended joyfully into the court-yard. Passing through the ranks of the Mexicans, who were too muchdismayed by all they had witnessed to offer any resistance, theyreached their own quarters in safety, and that very night they fol-lowed up the blow they had struck by sallying forth into the sleepingtown and burning three hundred houses. Cortes now hoped thatthe natives were sufficiently subdued to be willing to come to termswith him. He therefore invited them to a parley, and addressedthe principal chiefs, who had assembled in the great square, from theturret
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