Alvarado said that only the dead remained behind, but Olid insisted that a number were still fighting the enemy. Cortés accordingly went back again and rescued several more. Castañeda, in Id., 44. Bernal Diaz also states that Cortés returned as far as the bridges. Hist. Verdad., 106.

The same who sprang into the sea, off Yucatan, to replace the rudder of his vessel, unshipped during the storm.

La Noche Triste, as it has ever since been called. Amid so much that is romantic the tendency to further romance is often uncontrollable. The truth of this statement is open to grave doubts. ‘Llegó [Alvarado] á Cortés, que estaba ençima de unas gradas de un qü, sentado diçiendo muchas lástimas.’ Oviedo, iii. 514. Zamacois describes the enormous tree, yet standing, which shaded the stone and bears the name of ‘Arbol de la Noche Triste.’ Hist. Méj., iii. 424. Prescott improves the occasion by allowing the army to file past in sad dilapidation, regardless of the fact that the army was already gathered in Tlacopan. Mex., ii. 371-2. Testimony confirms the statement of Cortés that ‘fuí en la rezaga, peleando con los indios hasta llegar á una ciudad que se dice Tacuba’ [Tlacopan]. Cartas, 135-6.