The dead bodies were now collected, and carried outside the city by the inhabitants.
Cortez, in his letter to the Emperor Charles, says that three thousand were slain; but most contemporary writers put down the number of victims at six thousand, and some at even a higher figure.

Order was promptly restored.

The inhabitants who had left the town speedily returned, and the people of the neighborhood flocked in with supplies.

The markets were re-opened, and only the lines of blackened ruins told of the recent strife.
The massacre was a terrible one, and is a stain upon the memory of Cortez; who otherwise throughout the campaign acted mercifully, strictly prohibiting any plundering or ill treatment of the natives, and punishing all breaches of his orders with great severity.

The best excuse that can be offered is, that in desperate positions desperate measures must be taken; that the plot, if successful, would have resulted in the extermination of the Spaniards; and that the terrible lesson taught was necessary, to ensure the safety of the expedition.