CHAPTER LX.

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.