and expected attack any moment. Our friends from Tlaxcala and Donna Marina said it was probable, and we all kept on the alert and narrowly watched Montezuma. I must here, and for the last time, say that neither by night nor day did we take off our armor or leggings. We even slept in them with our weapons in our hands. Our beds were a bundle of straw and a mat. Our horses stood saddled and bridled. In short, every soldier was ready for action at a moment's notice. Sentinels were posted and each of us in turn had at least one watch every night.
Another thing, but I do not mention it in praise of myself: I grew so accustomed to living in armor day and night that after the conquest of New Spain I kept to the habit of sleeping in my clothes, and without a bed, and I slept better in soldier fashion than on a down bed. Even now, in my old age, when I visit the towns of my commendary,[1] I do not take a bed, and if I do take one it is because the gentlemen who go with me may not think I take no bed because I have no good one. And from continuous watching at night I am only able to sleep for a short time together, and have to get up at intervals and take a couple of turns in the open air and look at the stars, and this I do without wearing a cap or kerchief round my head, and I am so used to it that, thank God, it
- ↑ Land and Indian towns given a Spaniard in those days often as reward for services.
