CHAPTER XI.
SALAZAR'S USURPATION AND OVERTHROW.
1525-1526.
Overthrow of Paz — H is Terrible Fate — Persecution of the Friends of Cortés — Alvarado Considers the Matter — Search for Cortés — His Funeral Honors — Spoliation of his Property — Lashing a Wife — Tyrannical Proceedings of Salazar — It Leads to Revolt — General Alarm — Expeditions against Rebels — Chirinos' Fiasco — The Friars Hurl Anathemas — The Governors Humbled — The Mysterious Messenger — Rising of the Men of Cortés — Election of Estrada and Albornoz — Assault on the Government House — Salazar Encaged — Conspiracy to Release Him.
After aiding Salazar in the achievement of his plots, Paz was no longer indispensable; indeed, he was an obstacle to the free sway of the lieutenants. Their longing for uncontrolled action was fostered partly by rumors of disasters to Cortés, borne from the natives of the south, and all the more alarming in the absence of news from him. The ruling faction did not hesitate to magnify these reports and to circulate fantastic stories about Cortés, Marina, and Sandoval having been seen burning in vivid flames in the Tlateluco church-yard.[1] Machinations against the immediate adherents of Cortés could accordingly be ventured upon, but their leader must above all be removed. An additional incentive existed in the wealth of the captain-general, of which Paz was the guardian, and in the enmity of Chirinos, who had lost to him at the gambling-table the greater part of his fortune.[2]
