72 CONDITION OF THE CAPITAL ATTACK RENEWED. 



The water was entirely excluded from the city. On all sides there 

 was fast and level land. But the Mexicans were not mere idle, 

 contemptible spectators of their imperial city's ruin. Day after 

 day squadrons sallied from the remains of the capital, and engaged 

 the harrassed invaders. Yet the indomitable constancy of the 

 Spaniards was not to be resisted. Cortez and Alvarado had toiled 

 onward towards each other, from opposite sides, till they met. 

 The palace of Guatemozin fell and was burned. The district of 

 Tlatelolco, in the north of the city, was reached, and the great 

 market-place secured. One of the great Teocallis, in this quarter, 

 was stormed, its sanctuaries burned, and the standard of Castile 

 placed on its summit. Havoc, death, ruin, starvation, despair, 

 hatred, were every where manifest. Every hour added to the 

 misery of the numerous and retreating Aztecs who were pent up, 

 as the besieging circle narrowed and narrowed by its advances. 

 Women remained three days and nights up to their necks in water 

 among the reeds. Hundreds died daily. Others became insane 

 from famine and thirst. 



The conqueror hoped, for several days, that this disastrous con- 

 dition of the people would have induced the Emperor to come to 

 terms ; but, failing in this, he resolved upon a general assault. 

 Before he resorted to this dreadful alternative, which his chivalrous 

 heart taught him could result only in the slaughter of men so fam- 

 ished, dispirited and broken, he once more sought an interview 

 with the Emperor. This was granted ; but, at the appointed 

 time, Guatemozin did not appear. Again the appeal was renewed, 

 and, again, was Cortez disappointed in the arrival of the sovereign. 

 Nothing, then, remained for him but an assault, and, as may 

 readily be imagined, the carnage in this combined attack of Span- 

 iards and confederate Indians was indescribably horrible. The 

 long endurance of the Aztecs ; their prolonged resistance and 

 cruelty to the Spaniards; the dreadful sacrifice of the captives 

 during the entire period of the siege ; the memory of the first ex- 

 pulsion, and the speedy hope of golden rewards, nerved the arms 

 and hearts of these ferocious men, and led them on, in the work of 

 revenge and conquest, until the sun sunk and night descended on 

 the tragic scene. 



On the 13th of August, 1521, the last appeal was made by 

 Cortez to the Emperor for a surrender of his capital. After the 

 bloody scenes of the preceding day, and the increased misery of 

 the last night, it was not to be imagined that even insane patriot- 

 ism or savage madness could induce the sovereign to refrain from 



