The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo Vol 1 Part 30

CHAPTER CXI.

_How Pamfilo Narvaez despatches five persons to Sandoval, the commandant of Vera Cruz, with summons to surrender up the town to him._

After Narvaez had received every information about Vera Cruz from the three deserters, he determined to despatch thither a priest named Guevara, who was a capital hand at talking, and a certain Amaya, a man of great distinction, and a relative of Velasquez; besides a secretary named Vergara and three witnesses, whose names I have forgotten. These gentlemen were to announce his arrival, and summon the town to surrender; and, to make sure work, were provided with a copy of Narvaez appointment.

Sandoval had already been apprized of the arrival of Narvaez by the inhabitants. But as he was a man who was always upon the alert, and possessed of great penetration, he immediately guessed that the armament was fitted out by Velasquez, and that his object was to gain possession of Vera Cruz; he therefore instantly adopted every precaution, and commenced by sending all the invalid soldiers to the Indian towns.h.i.+p Papalote, merely retaining those who were in good health. He then posted watches along the road leading to Sempoalla, which Narvaez would be obliged to take if he marched to Vera Cruz. Sandoval also made his men promise him neither to surrender the town to Velasquez nor any one else, and that none of his men might forget their promise he ordered a gallows to be erected on an elevated spot outside the town.

When the outposts brought Sandoval information that six Spaniards were approaching the town, he retired into his own house to await their arrival; for he was determined not to go out to receive these guests, and had also issued orders to his men not to quit their quarters, nor exchange a single word with the strangers.

When, therefore, the priest Guevara and his companions arrived in the town, they only saw some Indians, who were working at the fortifications, but not a Spaniard to speak to; they walked straightway into the church to pray, and then repaired to Sandoval's house, which they recognized from its being the largest one in the town.

After the first greetings had pa.s.sed between them, the priest began his discourse by stating to Sandoval what large sums of money Velasquez had expended on the armament which went out under the command of Cortes, who, with the whole of the men, had turned traitors to the governor; and concluded by saying, that he came to summon him in the name of Narvaez, whom Velasquez had appointed captain-general, to deliver up the town to him.

When Sandoval heard this, and the expressions which reflected dishonour on Cortes, he could scarcely speak, from downright vexation; at length he replied: "Venerable sir, you are wrong to term men traitors who have proved themselves better servants to our emperor than Velasquez has, or your commander; and that I do not now this instant punish you for this affront, is merely owing to your being a priest. Go, therefore, in the name of G.o.d, to Mexico; there you will find Cortes, who is captain-general, and chief justice of New Spain. He will answer you himself; here you had better not lose another word."

At this moment the priest, with much bravado, ordered the secretary Vergara to produce the appointment of Narvaez, and read it to Sandoval, and the others present. Sandoval, however, desired the secretary to leave his papers quietly where they were, as it was impossible for him to say whether the appointment was a lawful one or not. But as the secretary still persisted in producing his papers, Sandoval cried out to him: "Mind what you are about, Vergara! I have already told you to keep your papers in your pocket; go with them to Mexico! I promise you, the moment you proceed to read a single syllable from them, 100 good lashes on the spot. How can I tell whether you are a royal secretary or not?

First show me your appointment; and if I find you are, I will listen to your papers. But, even then, who can prove to me whether your papers are true or false?"

The priest, who was a very haughty man, then cried out, "Why do you stand upon any ceremony with these traitors? Pull out your papers, and read the contents to them!"

To which Sandoval answered: "You lie, you infamous priest!" and ordered his men immediately to seize those gentlemen, and carry them off to Mexico.

He had hardly spoken, when they were seized by a number of Indians employed at the fortifications, bound hand and foot, and thrown upon the backs of porters. In this way they were transported to Mexico, where they arrived in the s.p.a.ce of four days; the Indian porters being constantly relieved by others on the road.

These gentlemen were not a little surprised at this rough treatment; but the deeper they advanced into the country, the more astonished they grew, at the sight of the large towns and villages, where they stopped to take refreshment. They were, it is said, very doubtful within themselves whether all was not enchantment, or merely a dream.

Sandoval had sent Pedro de Solis, Orduna's son-in-law, as alguacil, to accompany the escort; and he likewise informed Cortes, by letter, of everything that was going on at the coast, and of the name of the captain who commanded the flotilla. The letter even arrived before the prisoners in Mexico; so that Cortes was apprized of their approach when they were still at some distance from the town.

He immediately despatched some men with a quant.i.ty of the best provisions, and three horses, for the most distinguished of the prisoners, with orders that they should be immediately released from their fetters. He likewise wrote them a letter, in which he expressed his regret that they should have met with such harsh treatment from Sandoval, and that he would give them the most honorable reception.

Indeed he even went out to meet them himself, and escorted them into the town.

The priest and his companions--after they became acquainted with the vast extent of Mexico, and the number of other towns built in the lake, saw the quant.i.ty of gold which every one of us possessed, and the n.o.ble and open countenance of Cortes--were quite enchanted; and they had not been above a couple of days with us before Cortes succeeded so well to tame them, by kind words, fair promises, jewels, and bars of gold, that they, who had come like furious lions, now returned back to Narvaez as harmless as lambs, and offered to render our general every service in their power. Indeed, when they had arrived in Sempoalla, and given Narvaez an account of all they had seen, they spoke of nothing else to his men than of the policy to make common cause with us.

I will, however, break off here, and acquaint the reader with the letter which Cortes wrote to Narvaez.

CHAPTER CXII.

_How Cortes, after he had gained every information respecting the armament, wrote to Narvaez, and several of his acquaintances who had come with him, and particularly to Andreas du Duero, private secretary to Velasquez; and of other events._

Cortes was a man who never allowed the smallest advantage to escape; and whatever difficulty he might be in, he managed to get out of it. But it must also be remembered, that he had the good fortune to command officers and soldiers on whom he could place every reliance under all circ.u.mstances, who not only lent a powerful arm in battle, but likewise a.s.sisted him with their prudent counsel. In this way, then, it was unanimously resolved in council, that a letter should be despatched by Indian couriers to Narvaez, written in the most affectionate tone, with offers of our services to him, and begging of him not to excite a rebellion in the country, which would certainly be the case if the Indians observed we were at enmity with each other. This letter was to be delivered to Narvaez before the return there of Guevara. We expressly wrote in this friendly tone, as our numbers were so very small in comparison to his, and because we were first desirous of knowing how he was inclined. Besides this, we employed other means to gain friends among Narvaez's officers, which seemed no great difficulty, as Guevara had a.s.sured Cortes that the latter were not on the best terms with their commander, and that a few bars of gold, with a few chains of the same metal, would soon pave the way. In this letter Cortes informed Narvaez how both he and all his men were rejoiced at his arrival here; in particular himself, as they were old friends. He also desired he would not connive at the liberation of Motecusuma, as the consequences would be a rebellion in the city, and throughout the whole country, which would be the destruction of both his troops and ours, as we should be overwhelmed by numbers. He could not help drawing his particular attention to this circ.u.mstance, as Motecusuma of late seemed greatly changed in his behaviour towards him, and the inhabitants were upon the point of rising up in arms, from the message which Motecusuma had received in Narvaez's name; but he was convinced that he was too prudent and sensible a man, and would not have sent such a dangerous message at such a critical period, if he had not been misled by the three scoundrels who had run over to him. To make a good finish to the letter, he begged to say that Narvaez was at liberty to dispose of his person and of his purse, and he would await his commands.

Cortes at the same time wrote to Andreas de Duero and Vazquez de Aillon, and accompanied these letters with some gold for themselves and his other friends. Aillon, besides this, privately received some other gold bars and chains. He also despatched father Olmedo to Narvaez's head-quarters with a good stock of these persuasive articles, consisting in various trinkets of gold and precious stones of great value.

The first letter which Cortes had sent by the Indian courier reached Narvaez's quarters before Guevara had returned there. This Narvaez read aloud to his officers, and kept the whole time making merry at the expense of Cortes and all of us. One of his officers, named Salvatierra, even blamed him for reading the letter of such a traitor as Cortes was, to his men. Narvaez, continued he, should immediately march out against us, and put us all to death. He himself, he swore, would cut off Cortes'

ears, broil them, and eat them up; and all such like folly. He said the letter ought not to be answered, and he did not care a snap of the fingers for us.

In the meantime the priest, Guevara, and his companions, had returned, and the latter gave Narvaez a circ.u.mstantial account of Cortes, showing him what an excellent cavalier he was, and what a faithful servant he had proved himself to our emperor. He spoke about the great power of Motecusuma, and the number of towns through which he had journeyed, and that Cortes would gladly submit to him. He also added, that it was for the advantage of both to remain on friendly terms with each other. New Spain was large enough to afford room for them both, and Narvaez might choose which part of the country he would occupy with his troops.

These statements, which Amaya and Guevara had accompanied by some good advice, so greatly incensed Narvaez, that he would neither see nor speak to them from that moment. The impression, however, it produced on the troops was various; for when they saw the gold these two men returned with, and heard so much good of Cortes and all of us, and heard them speak of the wondrous things they had seen, and the vast quant.i.ty of gold, and how we played at cards for gold only, many of them longed to join our corps.

Shortly after this, father Olmedo likewise arrived in Narvaez's quarters with bars of gold and secret instructions. When he called upon him to pay him Cortes' respects, and said how ready he was to obey Narvaez's commands, and remain on terms of peace with him, the latter grew more enraged than before. He even refused to listen to him, and called Cortes and all of us traitors; and when Olmedo denied this, and told him we were the most faithful of the emperor's servants, he grossly insulted him. All this, however, did not deter Olmedo from fulfilling his secret mission, and distributing the bars of gold and golden chains among those for whom Cortes had destined them; and he strove in every way to draw over Narvaez's princ.i.p.al officers to our side.

CHAPTER CXIII.

_The high words which arose between the auditor Vazquez de Aillon and Narvaez, who orders him to be seized and sent back prisoner to Spain._

The auditor Aillon, as I have before mentioned, was most favorably inclined towards Cortes, and had purposely come to New Spain with instructions from the royal court of audience at St. Domingo and the Hieronymite brothers, who were aware of the great and important services we had rendered to G.o.d and the emperor, to promote our cause in every possible manner. After he had carefully perused Cortes' letters, and received the bars of gold, he no longer made a secret of his sentiments, but spoke without any reserve of the scandalous piece of injustice which had been perpetrated in fitting out this armament against such well-deserving men as we had proved ourselves, and was so eloquent in the praise of Cortes and his companions in arms, that the feeling in our favour became almost universal in Narvaez's head-quarters. The meanness of the latter's disposition served to increase this feeling, who retained all the presents sent by Motecusuma entirely to himself, without offering any part of them either to his officers or men. Indeed, he even said haughtily to his steward, "Mind that not the smallest matter is taken away from these things; every article has been carefully noted down." When this conduct was compared with that pursued by Cortes towards his soldiers, his men almost broke out into open insurrection.

Narvaez looked upon the auditor as the cause of all this bad feeling, and brought it so sensibly home to him that no one durst give him or his adherents the smallest morsel of the provisions which were sent by Motecusuma. This circ.u.mstance of itself caused a good deal of quarrelling among the troops; but when Narvaez's princ.i.p.al adherents, Salvatierra, whom I have above mentioned, and a certain Juan Bono, from Biscay, with a certain Gamarra, continually added fuel to the flame, he, relying on the mighty support of Fonseca, lost sight of every consideration, imprisoned the auditor, with his secretary and all his attendants, threw them on board a vessel, and so sent them off either to Spain or Cuba.

His behaviour towards Gonzalo de Oblanco, a cavalier and a scholar, was even more severe,--when the latter boldly told him to his face that Cortes had proved himself a faithful servant to the emperor, that we all had merited a reward from his majesty, and that it was scandalous to brand us with the name of traitors, and great presumption to imprison one of his majesty's auditors, Narvaez instantly threw him into chains, and Oblanco, who was a high-spirited soul, was so hurt at this ill-treatment, that he died within the s.p.a.ce of four days. Two other soldiers were thrown into prison merely because they had spoken well of Cortes; one of whom was Sancho de Barahona, who afterwards settled down in Guatimala.

But to return to the auditor, who was to be sent prisoner to Spain; he was scarcely at sea, when he prevailed upon the captain and pilot, by means of good words, or threats to hang them immediately on their arrival in Spain, instead of paying them for the pa.s.sage, to steer for St. Domingo.

As soon as the auditor had arrived at St. Domingo, and the royal court of audience and viceroys there were informed of Narvaez's scandalous and presumptuous ill treatment of the licentiate Lucas Vazquez, they considered it in the light of an insult offered to themselves, and made heavy complaints to the supreme council of Castile. But as the bishop Fonseca was still president of that council, and, during his majesty's continued absence in Flanders, ruled affairs as he thought proper, no justice could be expected from Spain. The bishop had even the shamelessness openly to express his joy when he supposed that Narvaez had already subdued us. The bishop, himself, however, suffered from the consequences which ensued from this affair; for, when our agents in Flanders received intelligence of Velasquez's expedition, and found that it had been fitted out without his majesty's permission, and merely by authority of Fonseca, they drew great advantage from this illegal mode of proceeding during the investigation which was shortly after set on foot respecting Cortes and all of us.--The harsh treatment which the auditor Lucas Vazquez was subjected to had a bad effect upon Narvaez's troops, and many of his friends and relatives whom he regarded with a mistrustful eye, went over to Sandoval, lest they should experience similar treatment with Oblanco. Sandoval, as may well be imagined, received them with open arms, and learnt from them all that had pa.s.sed in Narvaez's quarters; likewise that he contemplated sending men to Vera Cruz to take him prisoner.

CHAPTER CXIV.

_Narvaez marches, with the whole of his troops, to Sempoalla; his proceedings there; and how we in Mexico determine to march against him._

After Narvaez had sent off the auditor prisoner, he marched with the whole of his men, the baggage, and the cannon, to Sempoalla, and quartered himself in that town, which was then very thickly populated.

His first act there was to take away from the fat cazique, as we termed him, the cotton stuffs, gold trinkets, and other fancy articles he possessed. He likewise took the Indian females forcibly away who had been presented to us by the caziques of Sempoalla, and whom we had left behind with their parents and relatives, as they were daughters of distinguished personages, and much too delicate to bear the fatigues of a campaign.

The fat cazique had often warned Narvaez not to touch the women, or anything which Cortes had left behind in the shape of gold or cotton stuffs, as he would certainly be greatly incensed, hasten from Mexico, and not only cut off Narvaez, but also him, for suffering his property to be touched.

All the complaints this cazique might make respecting the depredations committed by Narvaez's troops in Sempoalla were equally fruitless. And it was of no avail for him to repeat that Malinche and his men had never taken the smallest thing from them, and had proved themselves altogether kind-hearted teules; Narvaez and Salvatierra, whose conduct in general was the most heartless, merely mocked at the cazique, the latter often repeating to Narvaez and the other officers, "Only just imagine in what fear these caziques stand of that paltry little fellow Cortes!"

May the good reader learn from this how wrong it is to speak evil of honest folks; for I am ready to swear that this very Salvatierra behaved in the most pitiable and cowardly manner when the battle was fought between Narvaez and us, and yet his build and bones were powerful enough to have defended himself right well; however, he was a mere braggadocio, and I believe he was a native of Burgos.

We must now, however, return to Cortes, and acquaint the reader that Narvaez despatched his secretary, Alonso Meta, who subsequently settled in Puebla, with three other great personages, to Mexico, commanding us and our general, by virtue of the copies of his appointment by Velasquez, to submit to him.[75]

Cortes, who received daily intelligence of what was going on in Narvaez's head-quarters and at Vera Cruz, was duly informed by Sandoval how Narvaez had thrown Vazquez de Aillon into chains, and sent him to Spain or Cuba, and that, owing to such violent proceedings, five of his princ.i.p.al officers had come over to him, who feared, since so little respect had been paid to the person of a royal auditor, they, as Aillon's relatives, might expect worse treatment. From them Sandoval learnt everything that was pa.s.sing in Narvaez's head-quarters, and that it was his intention to march shortly in person to Mexico to take us all prisoners. Cortes, on receiving this intelligence, a.s.sembled his officers and all those whom he was accustomed to consult in matters of great moment, and were men entirely devoted to him. In this council it was determined we should antic.i.p.ate Narvaez, and immediately march out against him. Pedro de Alvarado was to remain in Mexico, with all those who were not over-anxious to make this campaign, to guard the person of Motecusuma; and we likewise took care to leave all those behind who, as partisans of Velasquez, were not altogether to be trusted.

Cortes had fortunately ordered a quant.i.ty of maise from Tlascalla previous to the arrival of Narvaez, for the harvest had altogether failed about Mexico, owing to a continued drought: we, indeed, required a great quant.i.ty of provisions for the numbers of Naborias[76] and Tlascallan troops we had with us. This and other necessaries of life, consisting in fowls, fruits, &c., arrived at the time appointed, and were given in charge of Alvarado. We likewise took the precaution of fortifying our quarters,--we mounted four pieces of heavy cannon on the most commanding point, and left Alvarado a few falconets and all the powder we could spare, with ten crossbow-men, fourteen musketeers, and seven horse soldiers; the latter were, indeed, more than he required, as the cavalry was of little use in the courtyards attached to our quarters. The number of soldiers we left behind in Mexico was altogether eighty-three.