In this way the siege continued many days, until three townships in alliance with Mexico, named Matlaltzinco and Malinalco, the third I have forgotten, which lay about thirty-two miles from Mexico, agreed to fall upon our rear with their united forces, while the Mexicans, at the same moment, were to attack us from the city. In this way they thought they could not fail to destroy the whole of us; but we shall soon see how this scheme terminated. CHAPTER CLV. _How Gonzalo de Sandoval marches against the provinces which had sent their troops to cooperate with Quauhtemoctzin._ In order that these events may be rendered more intelligible, I must recur to the defeat which Cortes' division sustained on the causeway, when sixty of his men, or rather sixty-two, as subsequently appeared, were taken prisoners. The reader will remember that Quauhtemoctzin, after that unfortunate day, sent the feet and hands, with the skins torn from the faces of the murdered Spaniards, and the heads of the dead horses to Matlaltzinco, Malinalco, and other townships. This he did to blazon forth the victory he had gained over us; and he summoned the inhabitants to cooperate with him, and carry on the war with us day and night without intermission, and on a certain day to fall upon our rear, while he with his troops sallied out upon us from the city; in that way, he assured them, they could not fail to give us a total overthrow, as above half of our men had been killed in the last battle. This message from Quauhtemoctzin met with the more favorable reception in Matlaltzinco, as the monarch had many relations on his mother's side in this township. It was therefore resolved that the whole armed force of the country should be called out, and march to the relief of Mexico. The warriors of these three townships accordingly put themselves in motion, and commenced hostilities by plundering and ill-using the inhabitants of the districts they passed through, and carrying off their children to sacrifice them to their idols. The inhabitants of these places, therefore, applied to Cortes, who instantly despatched Andreas de Tapia, with twenty horse, one hundred Spanish foot, and a strong body of our allies to their assistance. Tapia soon dispersed the enemy, with considerable loss, and they fled precipitately to their own country. Cortes was excessively pleased with the promptness that Tapia had displayed, who, however, had scarcely returned to head-quarters, when messengers arrived from Quauhnahuac, praying for immediate assistance against these same tribes of Matlaltzinco and Malinalco, who had fallen hostilely into their country.