At the first corner we met the main array of Spaniards and their allies,
coming up slowly, for now they were sure of victory, and so great was
the shock of our encounter that many of them were hurled over the edge
of the path, to roll down the steep sides of the pyramid. Seeing the
fate of their comrades, those behind them halted, then began to retreat.
Presently the weight of our rush struck them also, and they in turn
pushed upon those below, till at length panic seized them, and with a
great crying the long line of men that wound round and round the pyramid
from its base almost to its summit, sought their safety in flight. But
some of them found none, for the rush of those above pressing with ever
increasing force upon their friends below, drove many to their death,
since here on the pyramid there was nothing to cling to, and if once
a man lost his foothold on the path, his fall was broken only when his
body reached the court beneath. Thus in fifteen short minutes all that
the Spaniards had won this day was lost again, for except the prisoners
at its summit, none of them remained alive upon the teocalli; indeed so
great a terror took them, that bearing with them their dead and wounded,
they retreated under cover of the night to their camp without the walls
of the courtyard.
Now, weary but triumphant, we wended back towards the crest of the
pyramid, but as I turned the corner of the second angle that was perhaps
nearly one hundred feet above the level of the ground, a thought struck
me and I set those with me at a task.
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