Ojeda was instructed to see that no somnolent or sick person was left.
He found one man asleep on the roof and roused him. Herrera, dec. ii. lib. x.
cap. xi. Gomara takes the trouble to deny the statement of Cano that 270
men, ignorant of Cortés’ departure, were left behind to perish. Oviedo, iii.
551. A later note will explain the cause of this rumor.
The ravaging sallies of the preceding days, which had involved the destruction
of houses in the vicinity and along the approaches to Tlacopan, had
evidently obliged the enemy to retire from these streets and seek shelter elsewhere
for the night. Oviedo assumes that Cortés led the way, but Diaz and
Herrera let him advance only when the first troops are guided into Tlacopan.
‘Pasaron cuatro acequias, y antes que pasasen las demas salió vna
muger á tomar agua y viólos.’ Sahagun, Hist. Conq., 32. ‘A devil, without
doubt,’ adds Camargo, who describes her as a keeper of an eating-house, and
indicates exactly the location of her house. Hist. Tlax., 167. Cortés states
that the alarm was given by the guard at the first breach held by the
Mexicans, where the portable bridge was laid down. Cartas, 136.