There happened to be in Cortes' division a soldier named Sotelo, who had served in Italy under the great captain,[26] and who had fought at Garayana,[27] and in other famous battles. This man was always talking about the different battering engines which had been used in that war, and said, he would himself engage to construct a species of catapult on the Tlatelulco, and batter down the houses in which the enemy still held out, and this so effectually that the Mexicans would soon find themselves obliged to sue for peace. Cortes allowed himself to be persuaded by the great things which this man promised, and issued the necessary orders for the construction of such a machine; and the stone, wood, lime, and iron, which this man required for his wonderful machine were soon provided for him. Two of these catapults were soon finished, by which large stones, of the size of buckets, were to be cast upon the houses. But these machines proved a complete failure, and the stones which they were to throw to a distance fell at the foot of the engine itself. Cortes was excessively annoyed with this soldier for having persuaded him to listen to his schemes, and ordered the machines to be destroyed. Cortes then determined that an attack should be made with the brigantines on that quarter of the town where Quauhtemoctzin had retreated. The manner in which this was done I will relate in the following chapter. CHAPTER CLVI. _How Quauhtemoctzin was taken prisoner._ Cortes finding the catapult of no manner of use, and that the Mexicans still refused to sue for peace, ordered Sandoval to penetrate with our twelve brigantines into that quarter of the city where Quauhtemoctzin had retreated with the flower of his army and the principal personages of Mexico. He at the same time gave orders to the men not to kill nor wound any Mexican, if it were at all possible to avoid it, and that they should not be the first to attack, but to level the houses to the ground, and destroy the numerous breastworks that had been constructed on the lake. Cortes then mounted to the summit of the chief temple on the Tlatelulco, in order from thence to view Sandoval's manoeuvres, and was accompanied by Alvarado, Luis Marin, Lugo, and other soldiers.