At nightfall the attacking forces drew off, leaving the remainder of the inhabitants of the stricken city to consider their position. It is stated that the Tlascalans made a great banquet of the flesh of the fallen Aztecs, and that on this and other occasions they fished up the bloated bodies of their enemies from the lake and devoured them! At sunrise on the following day Cortes and a few followers entered the city, hoping to have a supplication for terms from Guatemoc. The army was stationed outside the walls, ready, in the event of a refusal--the signal of which should be a musket-shot--to pour in and strike the final blow. A parley was entered into as before, which lasted several hours. "Do you surrender?" Cortes demanded. The final reply of Guatemoc was, "I will not come: I prefer to die where I am: do your worst." A musket-shot rang out upon the air; the Spaniards and their allies fell on to merciless slaughter: cannons, muskets, arrows, slings, lances--all told their tale upon the huddled mass of panic-stricken people, who, after presenting a feeble and momentary front, poured forth upon the fatal causeways to escape. Drowned and suffocated in the waters of the lake, mowed down by the fire from the brigantines, and butchered by the brutal Tlascalans, women, children, and men struggled and shrieked among that frightful carnage; upon which it were almost impious to dwell further. Guatemoc, with his wife and children, strove to escape, and the canoe containing them was already out upon the lake, when a brigantine ran it down and captured him. All resistance was at an end. No sign of life or authority remained among the ruined walls; the fair city by the lake was broken and tenantless, its idols fallen, and its people fled. The Homeric struggle was over; the conquest of Mexico was accomplished. CHAPTER VI MEXICO AND THE VICEROYS General considerations--Character of Viceroy rule--Spanish civilisation--Administration of Cortes--Torture of Guatemoc--Conquests of Guatemala and Honduras--Murder of Guatemoc--Fall of Cortes--First viceroy Mendoza--His good administration--Misrule of the _Audiencias_-- Slavery and abuse of the Indians--The Philippine islands--Progress under the Viceroys--Plans for draining the Valley of Mexico--British buccaneers--Priestly excesses--Raid of Agramonte--Exploration of California--Spain and England at war--Improvements and progress in the eighteenth century--Waning of Spanish power--Decrepitude of Spain-- Summary of Spanish rule--Spanish gifts to Mexico--The rising of Hidalgo--Spanish oppression of the colonists--Oppression by the colonists of the Indians--Republicanism and liberty--Operations and death of Hidalgo--The revolution of Morelos--Mier--The dawn of Independence--The birth of Spanish-American nations.