vides all things !" was the fervent utterance of the general, while the soldiers sent up shouts of joy mingled with discharges of fire-arms. "Surely," they said, "Puertocarrero and Montejo have returned in good time." Further consideration of the matter, however, convinced Cortés that these were not the ships of his friends, but that they belonged to his archenemy of Cuba. His captains thought the same, and talked with calculated effect to the men of the great wrong to them if the hirelings of Velazquez were to step in and reap the results of their hardships.
Anxious to learn something definite, Cortés sent two messengers by different routes to bring news about the expedition, a third being instructed to follow Velazquez de Leon with instructions to await orders before proceeding to Goazacoalco; a fourth messenger was despatched to Villa Rica.[1] Learning meanwhile from Sandoval that the expedition was inimical to him, Cortés sent letters from himself and his regidores to the commander, stating the progress of conquest on behalf of the Spanish king, and demanding his object. If he needed no succor, and came not provided with royal authority, he must at once depart; otherwise Cortés would march against him, supported by the vast forces of the empire.[2] The letters were
- ↑ Monjaras gives their names. Fuesen. . . .tiznados como los yndios,' et seq. Cortés, Residencia, i. 442-3; ii. 47-49, 134-5. Andrés de Tapia, who had just returned from Cholula, after settling a boundary dispute with Tlascala, was the fourth messenger. He followed by-paths, walking by day and being carried by Indians at night, so that he reached his destination in three days and a half. Finding that Sandoval had already sent messages, he remained with him. Rel., in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., ii. 586-7. Cortés writes that after being informed by Montezuma he received a letter, by a Cuban Indian, from a Spaniard who had been stationed on the coast to watch for vessels. This announced that a vessel had anchored at San Juan de Ulua, which was supposed to be that of the returning procuradores. The general now despatched his four messengers. Fifteen days passed without further news-this is probably a misprint — after which native paintings were received showing the number of men landed, and with them the report that the messengers from Mexico were detained by the new arrivals. Cartas, 114-15. A man named Pinedo, who fled from the capital, was overtaken by Aztecs, at Cortés' order, and brouglht back dead. Demanda de Ceballos, in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., i. 440.
- ↑ Cortés intimates that a friar carried this message, and that one of the questions was the nationality of the expedition. Cartas, 115. The friar appears to have carried a later message. Gomara assumes that Cortés already knew who the commander was, and offered his friendship. Hist. Mex., 142.
