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CHAPTER XXI

Cortes's occupations at Trinidad, and of the cavaliers and warriors who there joined our expedition, and other matters.

On the first notice of our arrival at Trinidad, the inhabitants came out to welcome us and our commander Cortes. Among the great body of cavaliers in this place, every one strove hardest to have Cortes for his guest. Cortes immediately planted his standard in front of his dwelling, and made the public acquainted with the particulars of the expedition in the same way as he had done at Santiago, and further collected whatever he could in the shape of firearms with other necessaries. Here we were also joined by the Alvarados, namely, Pedro, who has often been mentioned in this history, his brothers Gonzalo, Jorge, Gomez, and his natural brother the elder Juan Alvarado. Further we were here joined by Alonso de Avila of Avila, who had a command in the last expedition, under Grijalva; Juan de Escalante, Pedro Sanchez Farsan of Sevilla; Gonzalo Mexia, subsequently treasurer at Mexico; Vaena, Juanes de Fuentarabia, and Christobal de Oli, who had a command at the taking of Mexico, and in all the battles fought in New Spain. Further, Ortiz, the musician, and Gaspar Sanchez, nephew to the treasurer of Cuba; Diego de Pinedo, Alonzo Rodriguez, who possessed some lucrative gold mines, and Bartolome Garcia. To which may be added many other cavaliers whose names at present I cannot remember, all personages of influence and respectability. From this place Cortes also wrote letters to Santispiritus, fifty-four miles from Trinidad, and made our expedition known to the public there. He knew so well how to mix up his sentences with inviting expressions and great promises, that many of the first personages of that town were thereby induced to join us. These were Hernando Puertocarrero, cousin to the earl of Medellin, and Gonzalo de Sandoval, who had been eight months alguacil-major and governor, and was afterwards a commander in New Spain; also Juan Velasquez de Leon, a relation of Diego Velasquez; Rodrigo Rangel, Gonzalo Lopez de Ximena, with his brother Juan Lopez, and Juan Sedeño. This latter gentleman was an inhabitant of Santispiritus, and had joined Cortes because of the two other Sedeños who were among us. These gentlemen, who were all men of consequence, had arrived at the same time in Trinidad, when Cortes, accompanied by the whole of us, went out to meet them. Cannons were fired, and other rejoicings took place on this occasion, while professions of esteem and friendship were past from one party to the other. All these men possessed land in the neighbourhood of this town, where they ordered cassave-bread to be made, and bacon to be cured, and otherwise collected all the provisions they possibly could for our vessels. Here also we hired soldiers, and purchased some horses, which latter, at that time, were very scarce, and only to be had at exorbitant prices. Alonso Hernandez de Puertocarrero, whom I had previously known, had not sufficient money to purchase himself a horse; Cortes, therefore, bought one for him, and paid for it with the golden borders of the velvet robe he had procured at Santiago. About this time there also arrived in the port of Trinidad a vessel belonging to a certain Juan Sedeño, of the Havannah, laden with cassave-bread and salted meat, which was destined for the mines of Santiago. This Sedeño, who had called upon our commander to pay his respects, was soon persuaded, by the eloquence and address of Cortes, to sell him his ship with the lading and all, and himself to join the expedition. We had now eleven ships in all, and everything, thanks to Providence, was going on well, when letters arrived from Diego Velasquez with peremptory orders that Cortes was to be deprived of the command. But I will detail this matter in the following chapter.

CHAPTER XXII

How the governor Diego Velasquez sends two of his officials in all haste to Trinidad, with full power and authority to deprive Cortes of his appointment of captain, and bring the squadron away, &c.

I must now carry my narrative back a few days, in order to relate what happened at Santiago de Cuba after our departure. We had scarcely set sail when Diego Velasquez's friends left him not a moment's peace, harassing him until they had totally revolutionised his sentiments with regard to Cortes. They now plainly told him that he might consider Cortes as lost to his interests from his having so secretly sneaked away from the harbour. Neither had he made any secret of his determination to have the chief command of the armament, whether Diego might wish it or not; for which reason he had embarked his men at night-time, that if any attempt were made to deprive him of the squadron, he would resist it by main force. He, the governor, had been deceived by his private secretary Duero, and De Lares the royal treasurer, who had both made some previous agreement with Cortes to procure him the command. But in particular the relatives of Velasquez were constantly urging him to cancel the recent appointment of Cortes, in which they were backed by a certain old man, named Juan Millan, commonly termed the astrologer, who was considered by many not to be exactly in his proper senses. This old man repeatedly told the governor that Cortes would now revenge himself for his having, some time ago, thrown him into prison: "Sly and artful as he is, he will be the means of ruining you, if you are not upon your guard."

These hints were not thrown away upon Velasquez; they brought about a revolution in his mind, which ended in his despatching two trustworthy persons out of his establishment, with private instructions to his brother-in-law Francisco de Verdugo, then alcalde major of Trinidad, by which he was peremptorily commanded, under all circumstances, to deprive Cortes of the squadron, whose appointment of captain had been withdrawn, and given to Vasco Porcallo. At the same time he wrote letters to Diego de Ordas, Francisco de Morla, and to his relations and friends, desiring them, at all events, to leave the squadron.

As soon as Cortes got information of this, he had a secret interview with Ordas and all those officers and inhabitants of Trinidad, who, he thought, might feel inclined to obey the orders of Velasquez. To these he spoke so feelingly, and in such kind terms, accompanied by such great promises, that they were all soon gained over to his side. Diego de Ordas even undertook to advise the alcalde major Francisco de Verdugo not to put these commands immediately into execution, and to keep them secret; telling him, at the same time, he had seen nothing in Cortes which gave the slightest reasons for suspecting him of anything wrong; on the contrary, he had, on every occasion, given proofs of his adherence to the governor. He assured him, moreover, that it would be an impossibility to deprive Cortes of the command of the squadron, in which he had so many friends among the cavaliers, and Diego Velasquez so many enemies, who would not easily forgive him that he had neglected to bestow on them more profitable commendaries. Besides the number of friends Cortes had among the officers, he could rely upon most of the soldiers, and thus it would be useless to attempt anything against him. The whole town would become mixed up in the quarrel, which would be plundered by our men, and even worse consequences might follow. By these arguments, Ordas prevented all violent measures; and one of the above-mentioned officials, whom Diego had sent with despatches to his nephew, named Pedro Laso, even joined our expedition. The other, Cortes sent back with a letter to the governor, in which he made use of every kind sentiment, and expressed his utter astonishment at the resolution he had taken, particularly as he had no other design than to serve God, his majesty the king, and the governor. He earnestly advised him not to listen any further to his cousin Velasquez, nor to allow the kind feeling he entertained for him to be poisoned by such an old fool as Juan Millan. Cortes, at the same time, wrote to his other friends, and in particular to his two confederates, the private secretary and royal treasurer.

The next step he took was to command his men to put their arms into good repair. Every smith in the town was set to work to fix points to our lances, and the gunners were ordered to search every magazine for arrows. He at last even persuaded the very smiths to join the armament.

We remained altogether twelve days at Trinidad, and thence sailed for the Havannah. From the foregoing statement, the reader will readily perceive how differently all this has been related by Gomara, who even makes Velasquez confer the chief command on Ordas; the latter, he says, invited Cortes to dine with him on board his vessel, had him seized while at dinner, and taken off prisoner to Santiago. I could cite many similar errors from Gomara's history, and thereby convince the reader that it is better to believe an eyewitness than an author who writes about things he never saw. However, enough of Gomara; let us return to our subject.

CHAPTER XXIII

Cortes embarks with all his cavaliers and soldiers in order to sail along the south side of the island to the Havannah, and sends off one of the vessels to go around the north coast for the same port.

Cortes, finding that he had nothing further to do at Trinidad, acquainted his officers and men with the hour of departure, leaving it to each one's choice either to proceed to the Havannah by sea, or march thither overland, under the command of Pedro de Alvarado, who would be joined by some men from one of the colonies, on his road. Alvarado was a kind-hearted man, who knew best how to deal with soldiers; wherefore I myself, with fifty other military men, gladly joined him; our numbers were, moreover, increased by all our horse. Cortes also sent a vessel, under the command of Juan de Escalante, which was to shape its course around the north coast to the Havannah. Cortes then embarked, and proceeded, with the whole squadron, for the same port. The transport ships must, however, have missed the vessel of our commander-in-chief in the night, as they all arrived safe at the Havannah without it. The troops under Pedro de Alvarado also arrived in good time, and the vessel under the command of Escalante, which had sailed around the north coast.

Cortes alone remained behind; nor could any one account for his delay, or what could possibly have detained him. Five days passed away without our obtaining the least tidings of him, and we already began to fear that he had been shipwrecked off the Jardines,⁹ which lie from thirty to thirty-six miles from the Havannah, near the Pinos isles, where the sea is very shallow: we therefore determined to send out our three smaller vessels in quest of her; but what with the fitting-out of these vessels, added to the manifold opinions and advices, two more days elapsed, and Cortes still remained behind. All manner of artifices were now had recourse to, as to whom the command should be given, until some certainty was gained respecting the fate of Cortes, in which Diego de Ordas, in his capacity of steward over the household of Velasquez, and secret observer of our movements, was most active.

The following misfortune had befallen Cortes. When his vessel, which was of considerable tonnage, had arrived off the Pinos isles on the shallows of the Jardines, there was not sufficient depth of water to carry her, and she consequently got aground. The ship had now to be unladen, which was an easy matter, on account of the nearness of the shore. As soon as she was set afloat again and brought into deeper water she was reloaded and pursued her voyage to the Havannah. The joy among the officers and soldiers was very great as soon as she became visible in the horizon, to those excepted who had prized themselves with the command, to whose machinations, however, there was now an end. We accompanied Cortes to the house of Pedro Barba, Velasquez's lieutenant at Trinidad, where quarters had been got ready for his reception. He immediately hoisted his standard in front of his dwelling, and by public proclamation invited the inhabitants to join the expedition.

It was here that Francisco de Montejo first joined us, of whom I shall often have to speak in the course of this history: subsequent to the conquest of Mexico he became adelantado and governor of Yucatan and the Honduras. Here we were also joined by Diego de Soto of Toro, namely, who afterwards was Cortes's steward in Mexico; further, Angula and Garci Caro, Sebastian Rodriguez, Pacheco, Gutierras, Royas (this is not he commonly called the wealthy); also by a young fellow of the name of Santaclara; the two brothers, Martinez del Frexenal and Juan de Najara – not the deaf one of the tennis-court at Mexico: all of whom were men of rank and quality. There were also other soldiers who joined us, whose names I have forgotten.

When Cortes, therefore, beheld all these cavaliers together, his heart leaped with joy, and he sent off another ship for a further supply of provisions to the promontory of Guaniguanico, where Velasquez had landed property. Here was a village where cassave-bread was made, and quantities of swine's flesh cured. He gave the command of this vessel to Diego de Ordas, who, as Velasquez's steward, ordered matters on his master's property as he liked. Cortes wished to keep him out of the way, having learnt that Ordas had not spoken in very favorable terms of him during the dispute as to whom the command should be given, when he was detained off the Pinos isles. Ordas's instructions were to remain in the harbour of Guaniguanico, after he had taken in his lading, until the arrival there of the vessel which was to sail around the north coast, with which he was then to proceed to the island of Cozumel, provided he received no further instructions by Indian canoes.

Francisco de Montejo and other cavaliers of the Havannah likewise furnished quantities of cassave-bread and cured bacon; there being no other kind of provisions to be had. In the meantime Cortes ordered all our heavy guns, consisting in ten copper cannons and a few falconets, to be brought on shore and given in charge of an artilleryman, named Mesa, a certain Arbenga who traded to the Levant, and Juan Catalan, to prove them, and otherwise put them into good repair; also to furnish for each the right-sized balls and proper quantity of powder. He also gave them an assistant, named Bartolome de Usagre, and furnished them with vinegar and wine to polish the copper pieces. In the same way all our crossbows were inspected, and their strength ascertained by shooting at the target. Cotton being very plentiful here we constructed ourselves cuirasses with it, which form the most efficient protection against Indian arrows, pikes, and slings. Here it was also that Cortes put his establishment on a much superior footing, and had himself served as a person of the first quality. He took for his butler a certain Guzman, who was subsequently killed by the Indians; he must not, however, be confounded with Christobal de Guzman, who afterwards became his steward, and was the man whom took the king Quauhtemoctzin prisoner, during the battle in the suburbs of Mexico. Rodrigo Rangel he appointed his chamberlain, and Juan de Caceres his house-steward, who after the conquest of Mexico was considered a man of great wealth. Having ordered all these things, he commanded us to hold ourselves in readiness for embarking, and to distribute the horses among the vessels, for which the necessary quantity of maise and hay had been provided.

For memory's sake I will here likewise describe the horses and mares which we took with us on our expedition. Cortes had a dark chesnut stallion, which died afterwards at St. Juan de Ulua. Pedro de Alvarado and Hernando Lopez d'Avila had jointly an excellent brown mare, which had been broken-in for the field of battle as well as for tournaments. After our arrival in New Spain, Alvarado bought Lopez's share, or perhaps took forcible possession of it. Alonso Hernandez Puertocarrero had a grey-coloured mare, which Cortes had purchased for him with the golden borders of his state-robe, it was capitally trained for the field of battle. Juan Velasquez de Leon's mare was of the same colour, a noble and powerful animal, full of fire and eager for battle: we commonly termed it the "short tail."

Christobal de Oli had a dark brown fine-spirited horse. Francisco de Montejo and Alonso de Avila had between them a sorel-coloured horse, but of little use in battle. Francisco de Morla had likewise a dark chesnut stallion, one full of fire and wonderfully swift. The light-coloured horse of Juan de Escalante was not worth much. The grey-coloured mare of Diego de Ordas, which would never foal, was neither very swift. Gonzalo Dominiguez had a small dark-brown nag, a very swift and noble animal. Also the brown-coloured horse of Pedro Gonzalez de Truxillo was a swift animal. Moron, who was a native of Vaimo, had a small horse which was pretty well trained. Vaena, of Trinidad, had a darkish-coloured horse, though a bad leaper. The light-coloured chesnut galloway of De Lares was, on the other hand, a splendid animal and a capital runner.

Ortiz, the musician, and a certain Bartolome Garcia, who had applied himself to the art of mining, had between them a very good dark-coloured horse, which they named the Arriero (mule-driver,) and was one of the best animals of the whole corps. Juan Sedeño, of the Havannah, had a fine chesnut mare, which foaled on board. This Sedeño was considered to be the most wealthy man amongst us; for he had a ship of his own, a horse, a few negroes to attend upon him, and his own lading of cassave and cured bacon. Just about this time horses and negroes were only to be purchased for very high prices, which accounts for the small number of the former we had with us on this expedition.

However, I will stop here, and relate in the next chapter what happened as we were just about to embark.

CHAPTER XXIV

Diego Velasquez sends one of his officials, named Gaspar Garnica, with full authority to take Cortes prisoner, whatever might be the consequence; and what further happened.

In order that my history may be perfectly intelligible to my readers, I must sometimes recur to prior events. In this place I have to return to Diego Velasquez, who, when he learnt that his brother-in-law, Francisco Verdugo, sub-governor of Trinidad, had not only confirmed Cortes in his appointment over the squadron, but even, conjointly with Diego de Ordas, lent him every possible assistance, fell into such a rage that he roared like a wild beast. He accused his private secretary Andreas de Duero, and the royal treasurer Almador de Lares, of a conspiracy to cheat him, adding, that Cortes had run off with the whole squadron. Nor did Velasquez stop here, but despatched one of his officials with imperative commands to Pedro Barba, sub-governor of the Havannah, at the same time writing to all his relatives in that town, to De Ordas and to Juan Velasquez de Leon, who were his special confidants, requiring them to swear, by the friendship they bore him, not, under any pretence whatsoever, to allow the squadron to depart, but to send Cortes prisoner to Santiago. As soon as Garnica, the bearer of these despatches, arrived, it was immediately guessed for what purpose he came. Cortes was even apprized of it by means of the very bearer himself: for one of the brethren of Charity, who was much in company with Velasquez, and greatly in favour with him, had forwarded by this same Garnica a letter to a brother of the same order, named Bartolome de Olmedo, who had joined our expedition. By means of this letter, Cortes was apprized of the whole posture of affairs by those interested with him, Andreas de Duero and the royal treasurer. Ordas, as we have above seen, having been sent off in quest of provisions, Cortes had now only to fear opposition from Juan Velasquez de Leon; but even him he had half gained over to his side, not being on the best of terms with his relative the governor, who had only presented him with a very poor commendary. Thus it was that the design of Velasquez was frustrated by those very persons to whom he had written. Indeed, from that very moment, these personages only united themselves the closer to Cortes, particularly the sub-governor Pedro Barba, the Alvarados, Puertocarrero, Montejo, Christobal de Oli, Juan de Escalante, Andreas de Monjaraz, and his brother Gregorio, who, with all of us, were ready to stake our lives for Cortes. Had the orders of Velasquez been kept secret in Trinidad, they were now the more so in this place; and Pedro de Barba despatched Garnica to Diego Velasquez with the information that he durst not venture to take Cortes into custody, as he was too powerful and too much beloved by the soldiers; fearing, if he should make the attempt, that the town would be plundered, and the whole of the inhabitants forcibly dragged away. For the rest, he could assure Diego Velasquez that Cortes was quite devoted to him, and did nothing that could be said to militate against his interests. Cortes himself also wrote a letter couched in those smooth terms he so very well knew how to employ, assuring Velasquez of the unabated friendship he entertained for him, and that he was going to set sail the very next day.