One of his pages brought up his horse, but fell, wounded in the throat by a javelin.

Guzman, the chamberlain, then seized the bridle, and held it while Cortez was helped into the saddle; but was himself seized by the Aztecs, and carried off in a canoe.
Cortez, wounded as he was, would still have fought on; but Quinones, taking his horse by the bridle, turned it to the rear, exclaiming that his leader's life was "too important to the army to be thrown away there!" The mass of fugitives poured along the causeway.

The road was soft, and was so cut up that it was knee deep in mud; and in some places the water of the canals beside it met across it.

Those on the flanks were often forced, by the pressure, down the slippery sides; and were instantly captured and carried off by the canoes of the enemy.

Cortez's standard bearer was among those who fell in the canal, but he succeeded in recovering his footing, and saved the standard.
At last the fugitives reached the spot where the cannon and cavalry had been placed in reserve.