excerpt
The horses galloped faster, in close formation. Losada took the
lead as the cavalry rode against the Indians’ vanguard, breaking it,
piercing natives with their long spears, crushing many under the
beasts’ hooves.
Several Indians, having eluded the spears, seized them with a
ferocity beyond their size, trying to unsaddle the riders. I recognized
Infante: he brandished his sword, cutting off the head of an Indian,
slicing another’s chest and another’s arm, and impaling yet another
in the throat.
From our vantage point, men moved as if in a dream. But, at the
first volley of harquebus shots, we jumped. The infantry charged,
clashing against the Indians left standing after the swords and
spears of the horsemen had finished their decapitating and
mutilating.
Horses knocked down and trampled naked bodies amid a cloud
of smoke from the harquebuses.
A movement on the hills caught my eye. Two more hosts
descended into the battle, discharging a volley of stones and arrows.
The reinforcements distracted the Spaniards long enough for the
remainder of the first host to recover. It was like watching a bear
attacking a beehive. The natives would die like bees defending their
hive, even though they never had a chance to start with.
A lump formed in my throat, and I fought back tears. The
helplessness of the Indians touched a sensitive spot in me. What
were axes made of wood, rock and reed against tempered iron?
What was naked skin against armour? Or bare feet against horses?
Arrows against bullets? Innocence against greed?
I briefly thought of myself as a boy fighting the tax collector off
my mother—just as cruel, just as futile.
I watched two riders being knocked off their mounts and found a
fairness to it. Josefa gasped and dug her fingers into my forearm as
Infante’s horse stumbled over the dead and fell. Infante didn’t get
back to his feet and a warrior was closing in on him, but one of the
governor’s sons, Francisco Ponce, captain of the cavalry, came to his
aid and fought the Indian off, destroying his macana with one blow
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