told me to watch them, because they were bad men who had come to spy and see what damage they could do us, and that I might rest assured they had come for no other purpose. With some dissimulation, I had one of them taken, without being observed by the others, and leading him and the interpreters apart, frightened him so that he should tell me the truth. He confessed to me that Sintengal,[1] the captain-general of this province, was behind one of the hills opposite the camp, with a great number of people, ready to fall upon us that night, for they said that they had tried by day against us, and had gained no advantage, and now they wished to try by night, when their people would fear neither our horses, our cannon, nor our swords; and they had been sent in order to examine our camp, and those points where they could attack us, and how they could burn the straw huts. I at once had another of the said Indians taken, and also asked him, and he confessed the same as the other in the same words, so I took another five or six, and they all agreed in their statements. Seeing this I had all the fifty taken, and cut off their hands, and returned them to their chief, ordering them to sav to him, that, by day or night or at any or all times he might come, he would see who we were. I then had my camp fortified as best I could, and posted the people as seemed most suitable, and we rested thus on our guard until sunset.
When it was growing late, our opponents began to descend into two valleys, thinking they were surrounding us secretly, and to get nearer to us for carrying out their
- ↑ Xicotencatl, son of the lord of Titzatlan, was a brave and able commander. He bore the same name as his father, which has led some writers to merge the two into one person, and others to confuse their deeds. The father was a very old man, though he was probably not one hundred and forty years old, as some have stated, when he met Cortes he asked to be allowed to feel his face, for he was blind.
