hope of eluding the forces in the rear, little suspecting that this was but a wing of the main body now preparing to surround them. They had proceeded about a league, and were on the point of entering the large plain of Otumba,33 when the scouts came galloping back with the information that the whole field was filled with warriors in battle array. The hearts of the Spaniards sank within them. They were hoping to escape an enemy such as this.34 Cortés ordered a halt, and with his captains talked over the situation. Retreat was out of the question, and to turn aside would be useless. “We must charge upon this host,” said Cortés; “we must make our path through its very centre. Remember your dead comrades; remember your God; comport yourselves like Christian soldiers, and this idolatrous horde will melt before you like the morning mist.” He thereupon issued the necessary instructions for charging and resisting, and for protecting the disabled. The horsemen were to ride with loose rein, lancing at the faces, so as to break the enemy’s lines, and open a path for the infantry, who were to follow and thrust their sidearms at the bowels of their assailants.35
Commending themselves to the virgin, and invoking the aid of Santiago, the troops advanced and entered the plain, skirted on the east by the lower ranges of the Tlaloc, which inclosed in the distance the town of Otumba. The sight was as grand as it was terrifying. In every direction were seemingly endless columns, with flowing plumage, brilliant shields of varied designs, and above and beyond these a forest of glittering iztli points. “It was the finest army Spaniards ever encountered in the Indies,” exclaims Bernal Diaz. Their number was legion, and the richness of their attire signified the presence of the strength and nobility of the empire. The original estimate was doubled, and that was increased fourfold, until, like Don Quixote’s sheep, two hundred thousand seemed small. Aware of the route taken and the destination of the Spaniards, Cuitlahuatzin had sent orders to the caciques of Otumba, Teotihuacan, Calpulalpan, and adjoining region, to mass their forces here and