text: A portable bridge had been prepared for crossing the canals which intersected the causeway ; the intention being that it should be laid across a canal , that the army should pass over it , and that it should then be carried forward to the next gap in the causeway . This was a most faulty arrangement , necessitating frequent and long delays , and entailing almost certain disaster . Had three such portable bridges been constructed , the column could have crossed the causeway with comparatively little risk ; and there was no reason why these bridges should not have been constructed , as they could have been carried , without difficulty , by the Tlascalans . At midnight the troops were in readiness for the march . Mass was performed by Father Olmedo ; and at one o'clock on July 1st , 1520 , the Spaniards sallied out from the fortress that they had so stoutly defended . Silence reigned in the city . As noiselessly as possible , the troops made their way down the broad street , expecting every moment to be attacked ; but even the tramping of the horses , and the rumbling of the baggage wagons and artillery did not awake the sleeping Mexicans , and the head of the column arrived at the head of the causeway before they were discovered .
tokens: A portable bridge had been prepared for crossing the canals which intersected the causeway ; the intention being that it should be laid across a canal , that the army should pass over it , and that it should then be carried forward to the next gap in the causeway . This was a most faulty arrangement , necessitating frequent and long delays , and entailing almost certain disaster . Had three such portable bridges been constructed , the column could have crossed the causeway with comparatively little risk ; and there was no reason why these bridges should not have been constructed , as they could have been carried , without difficulty , by the Tlascalans . At midnight the troops were in readiness for the march . Mass was performed by Father Olmedo ; and at one o'clock on July 1st , 1520 , the Spaniards sallied out from the fortress that they had so stoutly defended . Silence reigned in the city . As noiselessly as possible , the troops made their way down the broad street , expecting every moment to be attacked ; but even the tramping of the horses , and the rumbling of the baggage wagons and artillery did not awake the sleeping Mexicans , and the head of the column arrived at the head of the causeway before they were discovered .