On our approach, we heard the voices of Sandoval, De Oli, and Morla, calling on Cortes to return to the assistance of those who were still on the causeway, who loudly complained of being abandoned. Cortes replied, that it was a miracle any should have escaped, and that all who returned to the bridges would assuredly be slain: Yet he actually did return with ten or twelve of the cavalry and such of the infantry as had escaped unhurt, and proceeded along the causeway to attempt the succour of such as might be still engaged. He had not gone far when he met Alvarado badly wounded, accompanied by three of our soldiers, four of those belonging to Narvaez, and eight Tlascalans, all severely wounded and covered with blood. These Alvarado assured him were all that remained of the rear-guard, Velasquez de Leon and about twenty of the cavalry, and above an hundred of the infantry, who had belonged to his division, being all slain, or made prisoners and carried away to be sacrificed. He said farther, that after all the horses were slain, about eighty had assembled in a body and passed the first gap on the heaps of luggage and dead bodies; that at the other bridge the few who now accompanied him were saved by the mercy of God. I do not now perfectly recollect in what manner he passed that last aperture, as we were all more attentive to what he related of the death of Velasquez and above two hundred of our unhappy companions. As to that last fatal bridge, which is still called Salto de Alvarado, or the Leap of Alvarado, we were too much occupied in saving our own lives to examine whether he leaped much or little. He must, however, have got over on the baggage and dead bodies; for the water was too deep for him to have reached the bottom with his lance, and the aperture was too wide and the sides too high for him to have leaped over, had he been the most active man in the world. In about a year after, when we besieged Mexico, I was engaged with the enemy at that very bridge which was called Alvarados Leap, where the enemy had constructed breastworks and barricades, and we all agreed that the leap was impossible. One Ocampo, a soldier who came with Garay, who used to amuse himself with lampoons, made one on this supposed feat of Alvarado, saying, "That fear made him give that prodigious leap, leaving Velasquez and two hundred more to their fate as he leaped for his life." As Cortes found, by the information of Alvarado, that the causeway was entirely filled by the enemy, who must have intercepted all the rest of our companions, he returned to Tacuba, where all who had escaped were now collected. Messengers had been already sent from Mexico, ordering all the people of Tacuba, Ezcapuzalco, Tenajocan, and other neighbouring cities on that side of the lake, to collect and attack us; and they now began to surround us in the inclosed courts of Popotla where we had taken shelter, harassing us with stones and arrows, and even attacking us with lances, many of which were headed with the swords which we lost during our retreat. We defended ourselves against this attack as well as we could, and made several sallies to drive them off. But, as the enemy continually increased in number, it was determined to endeavour to reach Tlascala, for which purpose we set out under the direction of six or seven of our allies who were well acquainted with the country. After a fatiguing march by an indirect road, during which we were much harassed by the enemy, who plied us with stones and arrows, we reached some houses on a hill near a temple, where we defended ourselves, and took such care as we could of our wounds; but could get no provisions. After the conquest of Mexico, a church was built on the site of this temple, and dedicated to Nuestra Senora de los Remedios, our Lady of Succour, to which many ladies and other inhabitants of Mexico, now go in procession to pay nine days devotion31.
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This place is about nine miles W.N.W. from Mexico, and only about a mile and a half from Tacuba. Its Mexican name, according to Clavigero, was Otoncalpolco. It is almost in an opposite direction from the road to Tlascala, but was probably chosen on purpose to avoid the populous hostile vale of Mexico, and to get as soon as possible among the hills, and among some of the conquered tribes who bore the Mexican yoke with impatience. Clavigero says that the Spaniards procured at this place some refreshments from a tribe of Otomies, who inhabited two neighbouring hamlets. –E.