continued during the siege, and left little remaining of the splendid Aztec capital. A retreat to camp was with great difficulty effected, the Tlascallans carrying off the arms and legs of many Mexicans, which, we are told, they ate that night for their supper. It was impossible for Cortez to keep a garrison in the city to hold what he each day gained, owing to the fury of its defenders, so he instituted this system of daily advances from the outside posts, demolishing the buildings on the outskirts and laying waste as far as he went. Notwithstanding all his efforts to fill the ditches in the causeway, the Mexicans kept them open, removing everything at night that had been thrown into them during the day, and thus making them a great obstacle to a successful advance, and especially to a swift retreat. The first to seriously feel the disastrous effect of an advance into the city, with open canals in the rear, were the troops of Alvarado, who, in the heat of pursuit, penetrated as far as the market-place. When they had drawn them far enough the Mexicans turned upon them in such numbers that they fled in confusion. In passing one of the ditches, nearly fifty feet in width, several Spaniards were taken, and at once hurried to the great temple and sacrificed. As this terrible scene was enacted in sight of the army, it had a most depressing effect upon the soldiers, and taught them to act more cautiously. In spite of this dreadful warning, however, the zeal of the allies, and the impatience of the soldiers to get the treasures of the city into their hands, overcame their prudence. After twenty days of constant skirmishing, in which the gains, though slight, were sure, the Spaniards, wearied of their slow progress, pressed Cortez for a general assault. A council of war was held; it was decided to advance, from the three different posts occupied by Cortez, Sandoval, and Alvarado, upon the city, with the object of meeting in the great
