where the mountain pass had been blocked up by felled trees, and a deep hollow had been made; but as we had great numbers of Tlascallans with us, we soon managed to clear away the trees, and to fill up the hole, so as to enable our cavalry to pass over, a company of crossbow-men and musketeers marching in advance. We now ascended the mountain for some time, and then descended a little, until we came to a spot whence we had a fine view of the lake of Mexico and its large towns standing in the midst of the water.
As soon as we beheld this city again, we thanked the Almighty for having conducted us thus far, and we promised ourselves to act more prudently in this campaign against Mexico than we had done previously. On descending this mountain, we observed numbers of signal fires about Tezcuco and the townships subject to it, and when we had arrived at another formidable pass, we came up with a large body of Mexicans and Tezcucans. They were waiting our arrival near a bridge which had been half burnt down, the water being of considerable depth. We, however, soon put the enemy to flight, and got safely on the opposite side, though our enemies still continued to yell fearfully from out the defiles and other places where we could not get at them, but that was all they did.
Although it was impossible for our cavalry to manœuvre here, our friends the Tlascallans did not remain inactive, for they spread themselves about the country, and carried off everything they could lay their hands on, although Cortes had ordered that no hostilities should commence unless the enemy attacked us first; the Tlascallans, however, maintained that if these Tezcucans had been friendly inclined towards us, they would not have marched out against us as far as the bridge to stop our further progress.
The night following we took up our quarters in another township under Tezcuco. Here the whole of the inhabitants had fled; nevertheless we took every precaution, as we were almost sure we should be attacked by a