“A delay of three hours longer, and none of us would have escaped,” writes Cortés. Failing in their desperate sacrifice to catch the invaders in the flooded houses, there to be imprisoned all night by the rushing waters, the enemy were at hand in canoes with early dawn, showering missiles and sallying against the flanks of the invaders. The Spaniards could only reply with sword and lance, for the powder was wet, and since nothing more could be done under the circumstances, they continued the retreat to Tezcuco. A number of allies fell, and even the soldiers, who had suffered no casualties in the capture of Iztapalapan, now lost one out of their
Notwithstanding the loss of booty and the humiliating retreat, the expedition had succeeded in its main object, to inflict a severe lesson on the foe by desolating one of the finest cities in the valley, at the very threshold of the capital. The effect was noticed