The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Vol 1 (of 2)

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 circumstantial 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 quantity 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 principal 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 God 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 circumstance of itself caused a good deal of quarrelling among the troops; but when Narvaez's principal 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 space 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 passage, 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 passed 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.78

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 principal 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 passing 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, assembled 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 anticipate 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 quantity 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 quantity of provisions for the numbers of Naborias79 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.

Motecusuma easily conjectured what our designs were against Narvaez; yet, though Cortes daily called upon him, he was equally upon his guard as Cortes was in not throwing out any hints of his (Motecusuma's) sending Narvaez gold and provisions. It was only at the very last that the monarch made some inquiries respecting our intended movements, which will be found in the chapter following.

CHAPTER CXV

How the powerful Motecusuma inquires of Cortes whether it was really his intention to march out against Narvaez, though the latter's troops were double the number of ours.

The monarch, one day discoursing as usual with Cortes, spoke to him as follows: "Malinche! I have for some time past observed all your officers and soldiers going up and down in great uneasiness: even you yourself do not visit me so frequently as you were wont; and the page Orteguilla informs me that you are about to march against your brothers who have just arrived, and that you are going to leave Tonatio (so Alvarado was termed by the Mexicans) behind, to guard my person. Do tell me if there is any truth in all this? for if, in any way, I can be of service to you in this matter, it will be a great pleasure to me. I have great fears of your success, for your teules are too few in numbers in comparison to those just arrived. They have five times the number of troops you have; they also, as well as yourself, maintain to be Christians, and subjects of your emperor; they pay homage to the same image and cross, read the mass as you do, and everywhere spread the rumour that you have fled away from Spain from your emperor, and that he has sent them to take you back again, or put you to death. Really I scarcely know what to think of all this: one thing, however, I must tell you, to use great circumspection in what you are about to do."

In reply to this, Cortes told the monarch, with the most cheerful countenance in the world, that he had studiously avoided mentioning anything of all this up to the present moment, from his great affection towards him, to spare him the anxiety he would feel on our account. It was very true, the newly arrived teules were also subjects of our emperor, and Christians; but it was a falsehood to assert that we had fled away from the territory of our emperor. On the contrary, our great monarch had expressly sent us out to visit him, Motecusuma, and make those disclosures to him, in his imperial name, which Motecusuma had heard. With regard to the numbers of those just arrived, we felt quite unconcerned, however great they might be in comparison to ours, as our Lord Jesus Christ and his blessed mother would lend us strength, and clothe us with superior power to those bad men who came with such evil designs. His emperor, continued Cortes, swayed the sceptre over so many countries and kingdoms, that the people who inhabited them were of various kinds, and differed in courage and manly spirit. We were born in the heart of Spain, which was termed Old Castile, and therefore bore the additional name of Castilians; those, on the other hand, who were now quartered at Sempoalla, came from another province called Biscay, where the inhabitants spoke a perfectly spurious language, in the same way as the Otomies do in Mexico. He need be in no apprehension about us, but might depend upon it we should very soon manage those fellows, and speedily return victorious to his metropolis. At present we merely begged of him to remain on terms of friendship with Tonatio, who would remain behind in Mexico with eighty men; and to prevent any insurrection from breaking out, and not to allow his generals and papas to disturb the peace; for, in case they did, he should be compelled to put them all to death on his return. He also desired he would furnish those who remained behind with the necessary provisions.

After this explanation, Motecusuma and Cortes embraced each other twice successively, while the sly Doña Marina observed to the monarch that he ought to show some signs of grief at our departure: upon which he again commenced speaking, and offered to comply with any wish Cortes might express, and promised to give him 5000 of his troops to accompany us on our march. Cortes, who well knew they would not have been forthcoming, thanked him for his kind offer, and assured him we stood in no need of his assistance, as we found our true support in the Lord our God: but begged of him to see that the image of the holy Virgin and the cross were constantly decorated with green boughs; that the church was kept clean, and wax-lights burning night and day on the altar; and not to allow his papas to sacrifice any human beings; and in his compliance with these things we should best be able to convince ourselves of the sincerity of his friendship.

After this Cortes told the monarch he must excuse him for breaking off the discourse now, as he had many things to regulate before commencing his march; he then once more embraced the monarch, and so they parted from each other.80

Cortes now ordered Alvarado and all those who were to remain behind in Mexico into his presence. He desired them to observe the utmost vigilance, and not to give Motecusuma a chance of escaping out of their hands, and commanded the soldiers to pay the most implicit obedience to Alvarado, promising, if God were willing, to enrich them all.

Among those who stayed with Alvarado was the priest Juan Diaz, and many others whom we suspected of ill will towards Cortes, whose names I do not choose to mention. We nevertheless embraced each other on leaving, and then marched out without any females or servants, with as little baggage as possible, and took the road to Cholulla. From this town Cortes sent to our friends Xicotencatl, Maxixcatzin, and the other caziques of Tlascalla, desiring them to send us immediately 4000 of their troops. To which they returned the answer, that if we were going to war with Indians as they were, they would gladly send us the required troops and many more; but if we intended fighting against teules, like unto ourselves, against cannon and horses, we were not to think ill of them if they refused our request. This answer was accompanied by as many fowls as twenty men could carry.

Cortes then sent a courier with a letter to Sandoval, desiring the latter to join him as speedily as possible with all his men; we intended to march to within forty-eight miles of Sempoalla, in the neighbourhood of the provinces of Tampanicita81 and Mitalaguita, which are at present comprehended in the commendary of Pedro Moreno Mediana, who resides at Puebla; he particularly cautioned him to keep out of the way of Narvaez, and carefully to avoid coming to any engagement with any part of his troops.

We ourselves marched forward with every military precaution, and were ready for action at a moment's notice. Two of our most trustworthy men who were remarkably swift of foot and unwearied pedestrians, were constantly a couple of day's march in advance, and lurked along the byways, where the cavalry could not penetrate, to gain information of the Indians respecting Narvaez. Besides these we had always immediately in advance of us a small detachment of sharp-shooters, to seize any of the men who strolled from Narvaez's camp, and if possible the latter himself. It was not long before they came up with a certain Alonso Mata, who termed himself a royal secretary, and was commissioned, he said, by Narvaez, to show us the copy of his appointment. This Mata was accompanied by four others, who were to act as witnesses on this occasion. When these people had arrived near enough they greeted Cortes and all of us in the most humble manner possible, and our general dismounted when he learnt who they were.

Alonso Mata began immediately to read his documents to us, but Cortes interrupted him, and asked him whether he was a royal secretary, and he replying in the affirmative, Cortes desired him to produce his appointment. If this was all regular, he added, he was at liberty to fulfil his commission, and he should know himself what was due from him as a servant of the emperor. But, if it was not, it was useless for him to read his papers; besides which, it was requisite the papers should contain the original appointment signed by the emperor himself, if he wished him to acknowledge his authority.

Mata was not a little staggered at being thus addressed, for he himself was well aware that he was no royal secretary. He was therefore unable to utter a single word, and those who accompanied him remained equally mute. Cortes excused their embarrassment, and desired some victuals to be set before them; and we halted for a few moments, when Cortes informed them we were marching to the township of Tampanicita, in the vicinity of Narvaez's head-quarters, where, if the latter had any further communications to make, he was to be found. During the whole of this discourse Cortes showed such self-command, that he never so much as uttered a single reproachful word against Narvaez; he had also a private discourse with them, and thrust a few pieces of gold into their hands; so that they left us highly delighted, and on their return to Narvaez they could scarcely say sufficient in praise of Cortes and of us all.

While these men were still with us, many of our soldiers, for the sake of ostentation, had decorated themselves with gold chains and jewels, which spread a vast idea of our splendour. All this produced such a favorable impression in Narvaez's head-quarters, that many of his chief officers desired that peace might be brought about between both generals.

In the meantime we continued our march, and arrived in Tampanicita, where Sandoval the day following likewise appeared with his small detachment, consisting of sixty men; the old and infirm of the garrison, as I have above mentioned, having been previously quartered among our allies, the Papalote Indians. He likewise brought along with him the five friends and relatives of Aillon, who had deserted from Narvaez, and had long desired to pay their respects to Cortes, who gave them the most friendly reception, and then entered into a private conversation with Sandoval, who related to him all the particulars respecting the affair with the furious priest Guevara and his companion Vergara. Sandoval likewise told him how he had sent two Spanish soldiers into Narvaez's head-quarters disguised as Indians. They had the exact appearance of natives, took each a basket of cherries with them, and did as if they were desirous of selling them. They soon met with a purchaser, in the person of the braggadocio Salvatierra, who gave them a string of glass beads for their fruit, and fully believing they were Indians, sent them to cut some grass for his horse. It was about the hour of Ave-Maria, when they returned with a load of grass, and carried it to the shed, where the horse was tied up. They then cowered down, after the fashion of Indians, near Salvatierra's quarters, and overheard a discourse between him and several others of Narvaez's officers. Among other things they heard Salvatierra exclaim, "O! at what a fortunate time we have arrived in this country, just as the traitor Cortes has collected above 700,000 pesos! We shall all become wealthy; for his officers and soldiers all together cannot have a much less sum than that in their pockets."

They listened to many similar fine speeches till a late hour at night, when they stole off silently to the shed where Salvatierra's horse was fastened up, which they very quietly saddled and bridled, and so rode off with it. In the same way they managed to capture a second horse on their road home, and brought them both safely to Sandoval.

Cortes was very desirous to see those horses, but Sandoval told him he had left them with the invalid soldiers in Papalote, as he had marched along a very steep and rugged road over the mountains, where horses could not pass, which he had done that he might not fall in with Narvaez's troops.

Cortes was vastly pleased with the trick which had been played off upon Salvatierra, and the manner in which he had lost his horse, and exclaimed, "He will now threaten us with more vengeance than ever!" The following morning, we were told, when he found the two Indians, who sold him the cherries had decamped with his horse, saddle, and bridle, he threw out language really laughable, particularly when he discovered they had been disguised Spaniards belonging to Cortes' troops.

CHAPTER CXVI