Cortés and his small band of rescuers came up as Alvarado appeared, pike in hand and bleeding, accompanied by a few stragglers.[1] Among these was Juan Tirado, who, in gratitude for his deliverance, erected at this bridge after the conquest a hermitage to San Acacio, known also as De los Mártires — martyrs to avarice, as Torquemada intimates.[2] The badly wounded were now mounted behind the horsemen,[3] and repelling the foes who still pressed on them, Cortés in person covered the remnant of the army in its retreat toward Tlacopan,[4] losing in this final struggle the gallant Captain Morla.[5] The route lay through Popotla village or suburb; and here, according to tradition, Cortés seated himself on a stone to weep over the misfortunes of this Sorrowful Night.[6]
By a similar process of annealing, gold is made soft and iron hard; so by misfortune the wise man is made wiser while the fool is hardened in his folly.
- ↑ Seven Spaniards and eight Tlascaltecs, all badly wounded. Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 106.
- ↑ 'Durò poco este nombre, pues tampoco les convenia à los muertos, que iban cargados de Oro.' Monarq. Ind., i. 504. Zamacois describes the site as he found it not long ago. Hist. Méj., iii. 421-3. Bernal Diaz implies that the 'martyr' name was given in honor of those captured and sacrificed during the siege, a year later. Hist. Verdad., 153.
- ↑ Alvarado was taken on Gamboa's horse, Laso on Sandoval's. Ramirez, Proceso contra Alvarado, 69, 119.
- ↑ Alvarado said that only the dead remained behind, but Olid insisted that a number were still fighting the enemy. Cortés accordingly went back again and rescued several more. Castañeda, in Id., 44. Bernal Diaz also states that Cortés returned as far as the bridges. Hist. Verdad., 106.
- ↑ The same who sprang into the sea, off Yucatan, to replace the rudder of his vessel, unshipped during the storm.
- ↑ La Noche Triste, as it has ever since been called. Amid so much that is romantic the tendency to further romance is often uncontrollable. The truth of this statement is open to grave doubts. 'Llegó [Alvarado] á Cortés, que estaba ençima de unas gradas de un qü, sentado diçiendo muchas lástimas.' Oviedo, iii. 514. Zamacois describes the enormous tree, yet standing, which shaded the stone and bears the name of 'Arbol de la Noche Triste.' Hist. Méj., iii. 424. Prescott improves the occasion by allowing the army to file past in sad dilapidation, regardless of the fact that the army was already gathered in Tlacopan. Mex., ii. 371-2. Testimony confirms the statement of Cortés that 'fuí en la rezaga, peleando con los indios hasta llegar á una ciudad que se dice Tacuba' [Tlacopan]. Cartas, 135-6.
