Note 314 — Chapter XIII · ENTRY INTO TLASCALA. September, 1519.

Cortés, Cartas, 63-4; Gomara, Hist. Mex., 78-9; Tapia, Rel., in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., ii. 569; Herrera, dec. ii. lib. vi. cap. viii. Bernal Diaz describes a night attack with 10,000 warriors, made a few days before, in which the Spaniards drive back the Indians and pursue them, capturing four, while the morning revealed twenty corpses still upon the plain. Two of the diviners appear to have been sacrificed for their bad advice. He now reappears with 20,000 men, but on meeting the mutilated spies he becomes disheartened, and turns back without attempting a blow. Hist. Verdad., 46, 49-50. He is the only authority for two night expeditions. Having already been defeated in one night attack, Xicotencatl would be less likely to attempt a second, particularly since nocturnal movements were contrary to Indian modes of warfare. Cortés distinctly intimates that the present occasion was the first attempt at a night raid. Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., 291.