64 xicotencatl's treason and execution. 



although the waters of the lake have evidently shrunken since the 

 days of the conquest, it is not probable tha't it was more than 

 three or four feet deeper than at present. 1 The distance to be 

 traversed from Tezcoco to the capital was about twelve miles, and 

 the subsequent service was to be rendered in the neighborhood of 

 the causeways, and under the protection of the walls of the city. 



The Indian allies from Tlascala came up in force at the ap- 

 pointed time. These fifty thousand well equipped men were led 

 by Xicotencatl, who, as the expedition was about to set forth by 

 land and water for the final attack, seems to have been seized 

 with a sudden panic, and deserted his standard with a number 

 of followers. There was no hope for conquest without the alliance 

 and loyal support of the Tlascalans. The decision of Cortez upon 

 the occurrence of this dastardly act of a man in whose faith he had 

 religiously confided, although he knew he was not very friendly to 

 the Spaniards, was prompt and terribly severe. A chosen band 

 was directed to follow the fugitive even to the walls of Tlascala. 

 There, the deserter was arrested, brought back to Tezcoco, and 

 hanged on a lofty gallows in the great square of that city. This 

 man, says Prescott, "was the only Tlascalan who swerved from his 

 loyalty to the Spaniards." 



All being now prepared, Cortez planned his attack. It will be 

 recollected that the city of Mexico rose, like Venice, from the 

 bosom of the placid waters, and that its communication with the 

 main land was kept up by the great causeways which were described 

 in the earlier portion of this narrative. The object of the con- 

 queror, therefore, was to shut up the capital, and cut off all access 

 to the country by an efficient blockade of the lake, with his brigan- 

 tines, and of the land with his infantry and cavalry. Accordingly 

 he distributed his forces into three bodies or separate camps. The 

 first of these, under Pedro de Alvarado, consisting of thirty horse, 

 one hundred and sixty-eight Spanish infantry, and twenty-five thou- 

 sand Tlascalans, was to command the causeway of Tacuba. The 

 second division, of equal magnitude, under Olid, was to be posted 

 at Cojohuacan, so as to command the causeways that led eastwardly 

 into the city. The third equal corps of the Spanish army was 

 entrusted to Sandoval, but its Indian force was to be drawn from 

 native allies at Chalco. Alvarado and Olid were to proceed 



1 The writer sounded the lake in the channel from Mexico to Tezcoco in 1842. 

 and did not find more than 2| feet .in the deepest path. The Indians, at 

 present, wade over all parts of the lake. 



