CHAPTER LX.

_How Cortes arrived with us at the spot where the vessel lay at

anchor, and captured six soldiers and sailors of the said vessel,

who had stepped on shore; also what further took place._

As soon as we had arrived at Vera Cruz, Juan de Escalante came up to

Cortes and told him, it would be best to make off for the strange vessel

that very night, otherwise she might heave anchor and steer for the wide

ocean. Cortes himself might take his rest and allow him to manage the

affair with twenty men.

To this Cortes answered, he could not rest as long as there was any

thing to be done, and he was determined to go in person with the men he

had brought along with him. We accordingly set off on our march along

the coast, without even tasting a morsel of food before we left. On our

road we soon captured four Spaniards, who had been ordered to take

possession of the country in the name of Francisco de Garay, viceroy of

Jamaica. They had been sent on shore by an officer named Alonso Alvarez

de Pinedo, who a few days previous had left a settlement on the banks of

the Panuco. One of the four Spaniards, named Guillan de la Loa, had

drawn up a formal deed of having taken possession of the country, which

was signed by the three others.

After the prisoners had made this disclosure to Cortes, he inquired of

them under what pretence Garay had sent them out to take possession of

the country? To which they gave the following answer. In the year 1518,

when the fame of our having discovered this country, under Cordoba and

Grijalva, and of the twenty thousand pesos which it produced Diego

Velasquez, had spread through the whole of the West Indies, Anton de

Alaminos and another pilot who had made the voyage of discovery with us,

persuaded Garay to petition his majesty, that the discovery of all the

countries which might lie to the north of the river St. Peter and Paul

might be granted to him. Trusting to the patrons he had at the court of

Madrid, he despatched his house-steward, Torrolva, to Spain, who managed

to obtain for him the appointment of adelantado, and vice-regent of all

countries north of the river just mentioned. Garay, in consequence of

this appointment, fitted out three vessels with two hundred and seventy

men, besides horses and the necessary provisions. The command of these

he intrusted to an officer named Alonso Alvarez Pinedo, who at present

was lying at a distance of about 280 miles from this place, in the river

Panuco, where he intended to found a colony. For the rest, added the

prisoners, they had merely obeyed the commands of that officer, and were

therefore not answerable for anything they had done. Cortes was very

much pleased with these fellows, on account of the disclosure they had

made; he tried to gain them over to his interest, and inquired of them,

if it were possible to capture the vessel? Guillan de la Loa, the most

distinguished of the prisoners, thought it might be done, and he, with

his comrades, would hail the ship's shallop on shore. This they

accordingly tried, but, notwithstanding all their shouting and signals,

no one moved from the vessel. No doubt we must have been observed by

them, for the captain knew all about us, and he had particularly

cautioned his men to be upon their guard, not to fall into the hands of

Cortes. We had now, therefore, no other course left than to try to

entice the shallop on shore by some other stratagem. For this purpose

Cortes desired the prisoners to take off their clothes, and four of our

men to put them on, who were to remain behind. The rest of us marched

back along the road we had come, and halted behind a mountain, as soon

as we were out of sight of the vessel. Here we remained until midnight,

when all was dark around; we then, without the least noise, put

ourselves in motion, and made for the landing-place, in the

neighbourhood of which we concealed ourselves, so as to be invisible to

any one excepting our four disguised soldiers.

As soon as daylight had broken forth, the latter made signals to the

vessel with their cloaks and hats; upon which the shallop put off with

six sailors, two of whom had water-bottles in their hands, and

immediately stepped on shore. We watched until the four others should

have done the same. Our four disguised men were in the meantime washing

their hands, and doing everything else to hide their faces. Those in the

shallop cried out, "What the deuce are you about there? why don't you

come on board?" One of our men then answered, "Come on shore for a few

minutes, and see what the place is like!" They found, however, the voice

to be that of a stranger, and put off with the shallop to the vessel

again, notwithstanding all the signals our men were making. We others

were very desirous of sending a few musket-shots after them, but Cortes

would not permit us, saying, we ought to allow them to go off quietly,

and he would communicate with their commander himself. All the prisoners

we made, therefore, were the four above-mentioned, and the two who had

stepped out of the shallop, and we returned to Vera Cruz without having

tasted a morsel of food. Such are the true particulars of the whole

matter, and not as Gomara relates, who even makes Garay himself present

on this occasion, though he did not visit these parts in person until

some time after, having sent the three officers with the vessels before

him. I shall speak more particularly of this in the proper place.