General Assault on the City.—Defeat of the Spaniards.—Their Disastrous Condition.—Sacrifice of the Captives.—Defection of the Allies.—Constancy of the Troops.

The Spaniards pushed on, carrying one barricade after another, and carefully filling up the gaps with rubbish, so as to secure themselves a footing. Besides the killed, and a long file of wounded, sixty-two Spaniards, with a multitude of allies, had fallen alive into the hands of the enemy,— an enemy who was never known to spare a captive. The unfortunate captives, then stripped of their sad finery, were stretched, one after another, on the great stone of sacrifice. In some respects their condition was even worse, exposed as they were to the cold, drenching rains, which fell with little intermission, rendering their situation dreary and disastrous in the extreme. The army, taken by surprise, and shaken by the fury of the assault, was thrown into the utmost disorder. Amidst all the distresses and multiplied embarrassments of their situation, the Spaniards still remained true to their purpose.