jewels of the Aztec war-god. But the small band of invaders had, for a moment only, appalled the Mexicans, who rallied in numbers at this daring outrage, and sprang vindictively upon the sacrilegious assailants. The Spaniards and their allies fled; but the panic with which they were seized deprived their retreat of all order or security. Cortéz, himself, was unable to restore discipline, when suddenly, a troop of Spanish horsemen dashed into the thick of the fight, and intimidating the Indians, by their superstitious fears of cavalry, they soon managed to gather and form the broken files of their Spanish and Indian army, so that, soon after the hour of vespers, the combined forces drew off with their artillery and ammunition to the barrack at Xoloc.
About this period, the inhabitants of Xochimilco and some tribes of rude but valiant Otomies gave in their adhesion to the Spaniards. The Prince of Tezcoco, too, despatched fifty thousand levies to the aid of Cortéz. Thus strengthened, another attack was made upon the city. Most of the injuries which had been done to the causeways in the first onslaught had been repaired, so that the gates of the capital, and finally the great square, were reached by the Spaniards with nearly as great difficulty as upon their former attempt. But this time the invaders advanced more cautiously into the heart of the city, where they fired and destroyed their ancient quarters in the old palace of Axayacatl and the edifices adjoining the royal palace on the other side of the square. These incursions into the capital were frequently repeated by Cortéz, nor were the Mexicans idle in their systematic plans to defeat the Spaniards. All communication with the country, by the causeways was permanently interrupted; yet the foe stealthily, and in the night, managed to evade the vigilance of the twelve cruisers whose numbers were indeed insufficient to maintain a stringent naval blockade of so large a city as Mexico. But the success of Cortéz, in all his engagements by land and water, his victorious incursions into the very heart of the city, and the general odium which