confidence: “The mighty God of the Christians, who loves them well, will let no harm befall them.”28 The commander rode back and forth cheering the men, and giving orders to press onward, and to keep well together. Fortunately the pass was not long, and soon the Spaniards emerged into an open field, where the greater part of the enemy awaited them, estimated in all, by different authorities, at from thirty thousand to one hundred thousand.29
How long was this to continue, each new armed host being tenfold greater than the last? Yet once again the Spaniards whet their swords, and prepare for instant attack, as determined to fight it out to the death, as Leonidas and his brave Spartans at the pass of Thermopylæ. The cavalry charged with loose reins, and lances fixed on a range with the heads of the enemy, opening a way through the dense columns and spreading a confusion which served the infantry well. Bernal Diaz relates how a body of natives, determined to obtain possession of a horse, surrounded an excellent rider named Pedro de Moron, who was mounted upon Sedeño’s fine racing mare, dragged him from the saddle, and thrust their swords and spears through the animal in all directions. Moron would have been carried off but for the infantry coming to his rescue. In the struggle which ensued ten Spaniards were wounded, while four chiefs bit the dust. Moron was saved only to die on the second day, but the mare was secured by the natives and cut into pieces, which were sent all over the state to afford opportunity for triumphal celebrations. The loss was greatly regretted, since it would divest the horses of their terrifying character. Those previously killed had been secretly buried. The battle continued until late in the afternoon, without enabling the Indians to make any further impression on the Spanish ranks than inflicting a few wounds, while their own were rapidly thinning under the charges of the cavalry and the volleys of artillery and firelocks. The slaughter had been particularly heavy among the chiefs,