The first pole jumper of New Spain.
Cortes and his companions were compelled to plunge again into the lake
— though all did not escape. Alvarado stood on the brink for a moment,
hesitating what to do.
Unhorsed as he was, to throw himself into the water in the face of the
hostile canoes that now swarmed around the opening, afforded but a
desperate chance of safety. He had but a second for thought. He was a
man of powerful frame, and despair gave him unnatural energy. Setting
his long lance firmly on the wreck which strewed the bottom of the
lake, he sprung forward with all his might, and cleared the wide gap
at a leap!
Aztecs and Tlascalans gazed in stupid amazement, exclaiming, as they
beheld the incredible feat, “This is truly the Tonatiuh — the child of
the Sun!”— The breadth of the opening is not given. But it was so
great, that the valorous Captain Diaz, who well remembered the place,
says the leap was impossible to any man.