With the same vigor as of old, Cortez applied himself to gaining that territory, and even planned a journey to Nicaragua.
Meanwhile, in Mexico, things were in a very disturbed state, the men left in power quarreling among themselves and maltreating both the natives and their conquerors. It was given out that Cortez and his army had perished,and their property was divided amongst others, and large sums paid to the priests for masses for the repose of their souls. Letters finally reached Cortez of the condition of affairs, and he was so distressed that he nearly lost his reason. Fate seemed now to have turned against him, as he tried several times to embark and was driven back by contrary winds and currents. At last he succeeded in coasting the shores of Yucatan and landing at Mexico, where he was received with rejoicings by the people. The natives swept the road before him, strewing flowers on his way, and he entered the capital, from which he had been twenty months absent, in triumph.
A long while after, the wretched veterans of his army returned by way of Guatemala, having been, some of them, over two years absent from their homes. The sound of rejoicings had scarcely died away when news came that a royal officer, Luis Ponce de Leon, had arrived from Spain, to take the government from his hands and institute investigations as to his conduct. This gentlemen survived but a little while his entry into Mexico, and the one he had appointed his successor also dying soon, it was rumored that Cortez had poisoned them. It was then brought to mind that the wife of Cortez, whom he exceedingly disliked, had also died soon after joining her husband, after the conquest, and that the unfortunate Garay had expired while a guest in his house. There was great reason for these reports to contain truth, as all were persons whose
