Note 310 — Chapter XIII · ENTRY INTO TLASCALA. September, 1519.

Bernal Diaz assumes that the lords consult the diviners, and allow a night attack to be made; but then he describes two night attacks, while Cortés and others distinctly allow only one, and he forgets his former admission that, in addition to the peace party, half the army had actually abandoned Xicotencatl. It is after this first night attack, ignored by other writers, that the senate send in their submission, and order Xicotencatl to desist from hostilities. He refuses to obey, and detains the envoys on their way to the Spaniards, whereupon his officers are ordered to desert him. Finally he repents and is forgiven. Hist. Verdad., 46-7. The detention of the envoys must be placed on their return from the Spanish camp, for Cortés distinctly states that the peace proposals from the lords arrived before the night attack.