CHAPTER CV.

_How all the gold presented by Motecusuma, and collected from the

different townships, was divided; and what happened to one of our

soldiers on the occasion._

First of all, one fifth of the treasure was set apart for the crown, and

a second for Cortes, as had been promised him when we elected him

captain-general and chief justice. After this had been deducted, Cortes

brought in the expenses of fitting out the armament at Cuba; then the

sum due to Velasquez for the vessels we had destroyed, and, lastly, the

travelling expenses of our agents whom we sent to Spain. Next were

deducted the several shares due to the garrison at Vera Cruz, which

consisted of seventy men; then the value of the two horses which had

been killed, one in the engagement with the Tlascallans, the other at

Almeria.

Not until all this had been deducted were the rest of our men allowed to

take their shares. Double shares were also set apart for the two

priests, the officers, and the cavalry, likewise for the musketeers and

crossbow-men. After these and other nibblings, there remained, for the

greater part of our men, who could only claim one share, such a mere

trifle, that many of them would not even accept of it, which Cortes then

took himself. At that time, indeed, we thought it best to say nothing

about this unjust division; for what would it have availed us had we

demanded justice? Besides which, Cortes had secretly bribed some with

presents and large promises, and many of the most noisy he presented

with a hundred pesos to stop their mouths.

The portion belonging to the garrison at Vera Cruz was forwarded to

Tlascalla for safe keeping. Most of our officers employed Motecusuma's

goldsmiths of Escapuzalco to make them heavy chains of the gold; and

Cortes, among other things, ordered a grand dinner service. Several of

our soldiers, who had learnt how to fill their pockets, had other things

made; and it was not long before a number of the stamped bars and

trinkets came into circulation; for gambling was now commenced to a

great extent, after a certain Pedro Valenciano had managed to

manufacture playing cards from parchment, which were as well painted and

as beautiful to the eye as those manufactured in Spain.

I will, however, show what impression this unfair division of the gold

made upon our men. Among our troops there was a man named Cardenas, a

sailor by profession, who had left behind him in Spain a wife and

children in great want, and had the ill-luck, with many of us, to

continue in poverty.

When this man beheld the great heap of gold piled up in bars, plates,

besides the gold dust, and found his share of the spoil was a mere

hundred pesos, he became excessively low-spirited. One of his friends,

who had observed this, asked him the cause of his grief and heavy sighs?

He answered, "Why, how the devil can I do otherwise, when I see the gold

which we have so hardly earned find its way into Cortes' pockets, with

his fifths, monies laid out for horses, vessels, and other such like

vile trickeries, while my wife and children are perishing at home for

want of food? I could even have sent them a little help when our agents

went to Spain, for there was sufficient gold at that time to have

divided it among us." "What gold are you speaking of?" inquired his

friend. "Why," answered Cardenas, "of that which our agents took with

them to Spain. If Cortes had granted me my share of that, my wife and

children would not have wanted: but he employed every species of

artifice to persuade us to send the whole treasure as a present to the

emperor, with the exception, however, of above 6000 pesos to Martin

Cortes, his father: I will not even mention the gold which he has

secretly stowed away. We others who have fought about courageously night

and day at Tabasco, Tlascalla, Zinpantzinco, and Cholulla; we who at

present live in continual fear, with almost certain death before our

eyes as soon as the inhabitants of this great city get it into their

heads to rise up against us,--we all remain, as before,

poverty-stricken, and all our remonstrances are in vain! Cortes, on the

contrary, acts as if he were the emperor himself, and runs away with a

fifth of our hard earnings!"

In this strain the poor fellow continued his complaints, and was of

opinion that we should not have allowed Cortes to deduct a fifth for

himself; and that we required no other sovereign than our own emperor.

"And are you really," returned the other, "going to embitter your

happiness with such thoughts? All this will avail you nothing. You know

we fare equally bad with respect to provisions, for Cortes and his

officers nearly eat up all themselves; but it is of no use for us to

complain, therefore drive away, all such melancholy thoughts from your

mind, and pray to the Almighty that we may not meet with our total

destruction in this city."

Cortes was duly apprized of all this and similar complaints; and as the

discontent among the men respecting the unfair division of the gold

became pretty general, he ordered the whole of us into his presence, and

addressed us in a speech abounding with the sweetest sentences

imaginable. He was indebted, he said, for all he had to us; that he had

not required the fifth part, but the share which was promised him when

we elected him captain-general, and he was quite ready to bestow

something on those who stood in need. The gold we had collected up to

this moment, he continued, was a trifle to that which was to come. We

ought to remember what great cities were dispersed through the country,

and the rich mines which were in our possession; these certainly would

enrich every man in his army. In this way he continued for some time,

and spoke feelingly to the heart! but, finding all this had no effect,

he employed other means. Many he secretly silenced with gold, and others

by great promises, and the provisions sent us by Motecusuma's orders

were from this moment justly divided, so that every man among us had an

equal share of food with himself. He likewise took Cardenas aside, and

quieted him with a present of 300 pesos, and the promise that he would

allow him to return home to his family with the first vessel that left

for Spain. This Cardenas I shall have occasion to mention on some future

occasion, for he did Cortes considerable injury in Spain during the

subsequent complaints which were laid before the emperor against him.