It pleased God, that the enemy should relax in their efforts immediately on learning the death of their general and of the numerous chiefs who surrounded him. On perceiving that they began to retreat, we forgot our hunger, thirst, fatigue, and wounds, and thought of nothing but victory and pursuit. Our scanty cavalry followed them up close, dealing destruction around them on every side; and our faithful allies fought like lions, mowing down all before them with the arms which the enemy threw away to facilitate their flight. On the return of our cavalry from the pursuit, we gave humble thanks to God for our unexpected victory and miraculous preservation. Never had the Mexican empire collected together so large a force as on this occasion; being composed of all the warriors of Mexico, Tezcuco, and Tlalcopan, headed by the whole nobility of these nations, magnificently armed and adorned, and all determined not to leave a single trace of us upon earth. This great and decisive battle was fought in the neighbourhood of a place called Obtumba, Otumba, or Otompan. I have frequently seen it, and all the other battles we fought against the Mexicans, antecedent to the final conquest, admirably represented in Mexican paintings. It is now proper to mention, that we entered Mexico to relieve Alvarado on the 24th of June 1520, with upwards of 1300 soldiers, including 97 cavalry, 80 musketeers, and 80 armed with crossbows; having with us a great train of artillery, and 2000 warriors of our allies the Tlascalans. Our flight from Mexico was on the 1st of the succeeding month of July, and the battle of Obtumba on the 4th of that month. In Mexico, during our passage of the causeway, on our march, and in the battle, we lost above 870 soldiers, including 72 of those belonging to Narvaez, and five Spanish women, who were put to death at a place called Tustepeque. Upwards of 1200 of our Tlascalan allies were also killed; as were Juan de Alcantara and two more who had been sent from Chempoalla for the share of the gold assigned to the garrison of Villa Rica, who were robbed and murdered. Upon the whole, all who were concerned in the treasure came to bad fortune; and thus a much greater proportion of the soldiers of Narvaez perished in the flight from Mexico than of our veterans, as they had avariciously loaded themselves with gold on that unhappy night36.

Immediately after the victory, we resumed our march for Tlascala, cheered by our success, and subsisted on a kind of gourds, called ayotes, which we found in the country through which we passed. We halted for the night in a strong temple, being occasionally alarmed by detached parties of the Mexicans, who still kept hovering about us, as if determined to see us out of their country. From this place we were rejoiced at seeing the mountains of Tlascala, being anxious to ascertain the fidelity of these allies, and to hear news from our friends at Villa Rica. Cortes warned us to be exceedingly cautious of giving any offence to the Tlascalans, and particularly enforced this advice on the soldiers of Narvaez, who were less accustomed to discipline. He said that he hoped to find our allies steady in their attachment; but if they should have changed in consequence of our misfortunes, although we were now only 440 strong, all wounded and ill armed, we still possessed vigorous bodies and firm minds to carry us through, if necessary, to the coast. We now arrived at a fountain on the side of a hill, where we came to a rampart built in ancient times as a boundary between the state of Tlascala and the dominions of Mexico. We halted here, and then proceeded to a town called Gualiopar, or Huejotlipan, where we halted one day, and procured some food for which we were obliged to pay. Immediately on our arrival being announced at Tlascala, our friends Maxicatzin, Xicotencatl, Chichimecatl, the chief of Huexatcinco, and others, came to wait upon Cortes, whom they embraced, yet kindly blamed him for having neglected their advice to distrust the treachery of the Mexicans. They wept for the losses we had sustained, yet rejoiced at our escape, and praised our valiant actions; assuring us that they were assembling 30,000 of their warriors to have joined us at Obtumba. They were rejoiced to see Donna Marina and Donna Luisa, and lamented the loss of the other ladies. Maxicatzin in particular bewailed the fate which had befallen his daughter and Velasquez de Leon, to whom he had given her. They invited us to their city, where we were kindly received, and where we reposed in peace and safety after our many and severe hardships. Cortes lodged in the house of Maxicatzin, Alvarado in that of Xicotencatl, and the other officers were distributed among the houses of the nobles, all the soldiers being likewise supplied with comfortable quarters and abundant food. Here in the midst of our friends, we recovered from our wounds and fatigues, all except four who died.

Soon after our arrival, Cortes made inquiry after certain gold to the value of 40,000 crowns, the share belonging to the garrison of Villa Rica, which had been sent here from Mexico; and was informed by the Tlascalan chiefs, and by a Spanish invalid left here when on our march to Mexico, that the persons who had been sent for it from Villa Rica had been robbed and murdered on the road, at the time we were engaged in hostilities with the Mexicans. Letters were sent to Villa Rica, giving an account of all the disastrous events which had befallen us, and desiring an immediate supply of all the arms and ammunition that could be spared, and to send us a strong reinforcement. By the return of the messengers, we were informed that all was well at Villa Rica and the neighbourhood, and that the reinforcement should be immediately sent. It accordingly arrived soon after, consisting in all of seven men, three of whom were sailors, and all of them were invalids. They were commanded by a soldier named Lencero, who afterwards kept an inn still known by his name; and for a long while afterwards, a Lencero reinforcement was a proverbial saying among us. We were involved in some trouble by the younger Xicotencatl, who had commanded the Tlascalan army against us on our first arrival in their country. This ambitious chieftain, anxious to be revenged upon us for the disgrace he had formerly sustained, on hearing of our misfortunes and our intended march to Tlascala, conceived a project for surprising us on our march and putting us all to death. For this purpose, he assembled many of his relations, friends, and adherents, to whom he shewed how easily we might all be destroyed, and was very active in forming a party and collecting an army for this purpose. Although severely reproached by his father for this treacherous design, he persevered in his plan; but the intrigue was discovered by Chichimecatl, his determined enemy, who immediately communicated the intelligence to the council of Tlascala, before whom Xicotencatl was brought prisoner to answer for his treacherous intentions. Maxicatzin made a long speech in our favour, representing the prosperity which their state had enjoyed ever since our arrival, by freeing them from the depredations of their Mexican enemies, and enabling them to procure salt from which they had been long debarred. He then reprobated the proposed treachery of the younger Xicotencatl, against men who certainly were those concerning whom the prophecy had been handed down by their ancestors. In reply to this, and to a discourse from his father to the same purpose, the young man used such violent and disrespectful language, that he was seized and thrown down the steps of the council-hall into the street, with such violence that he narrowly escaped with his life. Such was the faithful conduct of our Tlascalan allies, and Cortes did not think it prudent to push the matter any farther in our present ticklish situation.