History of Mexico (Bancroft)/Volume 1/Chapter 4

by Hubert Howe Bancroft

 

CHAPTER IV.

THE HERO OF THE CONQUEST.

Birthplace or Hernan Cortés — His Coming Compensatory for the Devil — sent Luther — Parentage — Hernan a Sickly Child — Saint Peter his Patron — He is Sent to Salamanca — Returns Home — Thinks of Córdoba and Italy — And of Ovando and the Indies — Chooses the Latter — Narrow Escape during a Love Intrigue — Ovando Sails without Him — Cortés Goes to Valencia — Is there Ill — Returns Home — Finally Sails for the Indies — His Reception at Santo Domingo — He Fights Indians under Velazquez, and is Given an Encomienda — Goes to Cuba with Velazquez — Makes Love to Catalina Suarez — But Declines to Marry — Velazquez Insists — Cortes Rebels — Seizures, Imprisonments, Escapes, and Reconciliation.

Let us now look into the life of this Cuban magistrate, so suddenly raised to prominence.

Medellin, a small town of Estremadura, Spain, was the birthplace of Hernan Cortés, and 1485 the year in which he was born — miraculously born, as Mendieta and others believe, and perhaps by way of compensation for the appearing about this time of Martin Luther.^[1] The shade of Montezuma, peradventure, might deny that his was the advent of a new Messiah, though the deluded monarch, at the first, sorrowfully hailed him as such. The father, Martin Cortés y Monroy, was of that poor but prolific class who filled Spain toward the close of the Moorish wars, and who, although nothing in particular, were nevertheless permitted to call themselves hidalgos, sons of something. Some give him the title of escudero, others place him still higher in the scale of fighting men. The mother, Catalina Pizarro y Altamirano, likewise, with poverty, claimed noble blood.^[2]

Hernan was a sickly child, and probably would have died had not his good nurse, María de Estévan, secured in his behalf Saint Peter, thenceforth his patron^[3] With his mother's milk he drank courage^[4] and intelligence, and he was schooled in the virtues and the vices of the day. In his youth he was headstrong, but chivalrous, and he revelled in his superiority over other boys. The brain-ferment, chronic throughout his life, set in at an early day. He was keenly sensitive to disgrace. As he developed somewhat of archness and duplicity, he was deemed best fitted for the profession of the law. At the age of fourteen, accordingly, with such preparation as the slender means of the father would allow, he was sent to Salamanca, whose university, though past the zenith of its fame, was still the leading seat of learning for conservative Spain. Two years of restraint and intellectual drudgery, during which time he lived with his father's brother-in-law, Nuñez de Valera, sufficed to send him home surfeited with learning, to the great disappointment of his family.^[5] A frolicsome and somewhat turbulent disposition, more marked since his college career than previously, made his return all the more unwelcome. Not that his studies, despite his aversion to them, had been wholly neglected; he could boast a smatter of Latin, which indeed proved of advantage afterward, giving him influence over many of those with whom he associated. He had also acquired some knowledge of rhetoric, as is manifest in his letters and occasional verses.^[6] At present, however, his intellectual talents were employed only in scribbling rhymes in aid of amorous intrigues, which were now his chief pursuit. Hence when arms possessed his fancy the parents did not repine, but were only too glad for him to enter service, as he seemed inclined, under the Gran Capitan, who was just then alluring to his standard the chivalry of Špain by brilliant achievements in Italy. There was, however, the glitter of gold in the Indies, and the appointment of Nicolás de Ovando,^[7] as governor, turned the youth's vacillating mind in that direction.

Cortés had concluded to accompany the new governor, when one night, just before the sailing of the fleet, an accident intervened. While engaged in one of his intrigues he had occasion to climb a courtyard wall to gain the lady's apartment. The wall crumbling beneath his weight threw him to the ground, and the noise brought to the door of an adjoining house a blustering Benedick, who, perceiving the situation of the gallant, and suspecting his own newly made wife, drew the sword with bloody intent. At the prayer of the suspected wife's mother, however, the husband suspended vengeance. Before the scape-grace recovered from a fever brought on by the bruises received in this fall, the fleet of Ovando had sailed. After this, Cortés thought again of Italy, and went to Valencia to place himself under Córdoba, but once more illness overtook him, this time accompanied by destitution, and he returned to Medellin somewhat sobered.^[8] Thus another year was idled away; but notwithstanding his follies, the youthful cavalier, who was now nineteen, displayed many fine qualities. As he approached manhood his health improved, and form and features became more pleasing. Though proud in his bearing, and of quick perceptions, and high-spirited in temper, he sought to school his tongue, and to practise discretion in the use of his sword. Native to him were generosity and amiability. The qualities of his heart were noble; the vices were those of his time and station. Yet he lacked the moral fibre which should be interwoven with the good impulses of every rich, sensitive nature, and this want could not be made up by repeating prayers and singing psalms, wherein Gomara describes him as efficient.

The pinching economy to which Cortés was reduced made his present frequent visions of the Indies appear only the brighter; and when, in 1504, a fleet of five ships was announced to sail for Española, he determined to delay no longer. With little else than his father's blessing he proceeded to Seville, and took passage with Alonso Quintero, master of one of the vessels, who fancied himself shrewder than other men, and shrewder than he was. Thinking to overreach his brother captains in whose company he sailed, and to secure at Española the first market for his merchandise, he stole forth one night from the Canary Isles, where the squadron had touched for supplies. A gale dismasted his vessel on reaching the open sea, and sent him back to port. The others agreed to await his repairs, which generosity Quintero repaid by seeking a second time to take advantage of them by going before, and his treachery was a second time punished by the winds, aided, indeed, by the pilot, who was at enmity with the captain, and who threw the ship from her course during the night so that the reckoning was lost. The usual sufferings are related; and, in answer to prayer, we are told of a miraculous interposition. On Good Friday, when all hope had been abandoned, there was seen poised above the ship a dove, which presently dropped down and rested on the mast.^[9] However this might have been, we are credibly informed that the wind subsided and the ship proceeded on her voyage. Finally, on reaching his destination, Quintero found the other ships snugly riding at anchor, their cargoes having been profitably disposed of several days before.

The governor being absent, his secretary, Medina, received Cortés kindly, and pointed him the common highway to fortune. "Register yourself a citizen," he said. "Promise not to leave the island for five years, and you shall have lands and Indians; after the expiration of your time you may go where you choose." Cortés answered: "I want gold, not work; and neither in this island nor in any other place will I promise to remain so long.' He thought better of it, however, and on the return of Ovando he presented himself, and was induced to settle. Not long after an Indian revolt called Diego Velazquez, lieutenant of Ovando, into the field, and Cortés hastened to join the expedition. The coolness and ability displayed in this short campaign won for him the admiration and esteem alike of chief and comrades.^[10] His reward was an encomienda of Indians in the Daiguao country, together with the notaryship of the new town of Azua. For the next six years he was occupied in husbandry and in official pursuits, varied by military exploits and love intrigues which kept his sword from rusting and gave him wounds which he carried through life. An abscess under the right knee, a most lucky affliction, alone prevented his joining the ill-fated expedition of Nicuesa to Veragua.^[11]

On assuming the direction of New World affairs as governor, in place of Ovando, Diego Colon in 1511 fitted out an expedition against Cuba, and gave the command to Velazquez, who appointed Cortés his adviser and executive officer,^[12] a position which the latter gladly accepted, deprived as he was of his patron Ovando, and heartily tired of the monotony of Española. Still hidden beneath a careless exterior were the deeper qualities of his nature, and there were yet six other years, and more of ordinary business and pleasure, before the appearance of earnest thought or great self-reliance.^[13] Meanwhile Spanish women were not numerous in the Indies, and rivalry for their favors was great. Cortés had escaped with light punishment many gallantries, but he had not been settled long in Cuba before he found a more serious case upon his hands.

Among those who had settled in Cuba was a family from Granada, Suarez by name, consisting of a widow, her son Juan, and three daughters, remarkable for their beauty. They had come with the vireyna María de Toledo, and Gomara is so ungallant as to say that their object was to secure rich husbands.^[14] Scores of hearts are laid at their feet, but the marriage obligation is evaded by the more promising men of the colony, for the Suarez family has a somewhat clouded reputation. In one of them Velazquez takes a tender interest; some say he marries her.^[15] Cortés fancies another; Catalina is her name; he trifles with her affections, obtains her favors, promises her marriage, and then seeks to evade the issue. The brother petitions the virtuous governor, who cannot see the sister of his love thus wronged. Velazquez orders Cortés to marry Catalina. The cavalier refuses. Enmity arises between the two men, and without difficulty Cortés is persuaded by certain disaffected to join a cabal against the governor. Nocturnal meetings are held at the house of Cortés; and when it is determined to lay their fancied grievances before the authorities at Santo Domingo, Cortés is chosen bearer of the complaints.^[16] As he is about to embark on his perilous mission, to traverse in an open boat eighteen leagues of open ocean, the governor hears of it, seizes the envoy, and sends him in chains to the fortress. His partisans are likewise imprisoned, and active in preferring charges against them are Bermudez, the two Velazquez, Villegas, and Juan Suarez. Friends intercede and prevent immediate hanging.^[17] Cortés resolves on escape. With some difficulty he extricates himself from his fetters, seizes the sword of the sleeping guard, forces the window, and dropping to the ground takes refuge in the church.^[18] Velazquez, enraged at the escape, yet not daring to violate the privilege of sanctuary, resorts to artifice. Introducing some soldiers into the chapel through a small door in the rear, the blushing Catalina is stationed at a distance before the sacred edifice as a decoy. The lover sees her; the dear girl wishes to speak with him, but her maidenly modesty forbids her nearer approach. Cortés rushes forward to clasp her in his arms, only to be seized from behind, and placed under a strong guard in the hold of a vessel bound for Española, where, in company with the other conspirators, he is to undergo trial.^[19]

Sympathy for Cortés increases with his misfortunes, and aid is furnished for a second escape. The shackles are removed, and exchanging clothes with an attendant, he mounts the upper deck,^[20] strolls carelessly about watching his opportunity until he gains the skiff; then cutting loose the boat of another vessel near by, to prevent pursuit, he pulls lustily toward Baracoa. The boat becomes unmanageable, he plunges into the water, swims ashore, and once more gains the sanctuary.^[21]

Cortés was sensible enough now to perceive that he had involved himself more deeply than a trifling love affair would justify, and that possibly he might best rid himself of the charming Catalina by marrying her. Once determined on this course, he called to him the brother, Juan Suarez, and informed him of his doleful resolve. Meanwhile the constant importunities of powerful friends, and the need of Cortés' services in an Indian outbreak, induced Velazquez to make overtures of reconciliation; but Cortés met him in a haughty spirit, and surrounding the church with a guard he went his way to the wars. Notwithstanding the cavalier had made up his mind to drink the marriage-draught, he would none of the governor in it; or if he must, the reconciliation should be accomplished after his own fashion. No sooner had the governor departed than Cortés directed Juan Suarez, with lance and cross-bow, to await him at a certain place. Escaping the guard during the night, Cortés joined Suarez, and proceeded to the plantation where Velazquez was quartered. The governor, who was engaged in looking over some books of accounts, was not a little startled when Cortés knocked at the open door and entered. "Is it murder the man means with arms in his hands, and at this hour?" was his thought, as he gave the visitor a nervous welcome. "Command that no one come near me!" exclaimed Cortés, "else I will put this pike through him. And now, if my excellent and brave captain, Señor Velazquez, has aught against me, let him speak. I am here to answer." So sweet was the mutual forgiveness that followed, that in the morning the two gentlemen were found occupying the same bed.^[22] Not long after Cortés married Catalina, and jointly with his brother-in-law received an encomienda of Manicarao Indians. Like a brave cavalier he put the best face possible on the inevitable, and vowed he was as pleased with his bride as if she had been a duchess.^[23] Velazquez stood godfather to a child born to them, and thenceforth addressed Cortés by the intimate term compadre,^[24] investing him afterward with the staff of alcalde at Santiago de Cuba.^[25] For a time, however, he remained at Baracoa, where the preceding events occurred, and beside mining he was one of the first upon the island to engage in stock raising. Thus by diligence and judicious investments he was enabled to rise from poverty, as well as from profligacy, and to stand ready to embrace the golden opportunity fortune was now about to offer him.

The soft white snow gently dropped upon the mountain top is forged by alternate thawings and freezings into hard, rasping glaciers.

 

 

1. Indeed, to make the miracle perfect in all its details, a little warping of the facts is perhaps allowable. So when the zealous chroniclers bring into the world the same year, the same day, even the self-same hour, these two great champions for the souls of men, we should not be too critical, though ill truth there were two years difference m their ages. 'Y asi, no carece de misterio que el mismo año que Lutero nació en Islebio,' that is to say Eisleben, 'villa de Sajonia, nació Hernando Cortes en Medellin, villa de España; aquel para turbar el mundo y meter debajo de la bandera del demonio a muchos de los fieles que de padres y abuelos y muchos tiempos atras eran cató1icos, y este para traer al gremio de la Iglesia infinita multitud de gentes que por años sin cuento habian estado debajo del poder de Satanás envueltos en vicios y ciegos con la idolatria.' Mendieta, His Ecles., 174-5. Pizarro y Orellana will not be outdone by any one in zeal or mendacity. 'Nació este Ilustre Varon el dia mismo que aquella bestia infernal, el Perfido Heresiarca Lutero, salió al mundo.' Varones Ilustres, (56. Bernal Diaz is the first authority on the question of age. 'En el año que passamos con Cortés dende Cuba,' he writes Hist. Verdad., 238, 'a la Nueva España, fue el de quinientos y diez y nueue años, y entonces solia dezir estando en conversacion de todos nosotros los compañeros que con él passamos, que auia treynta y quatro años, y veynte y ocho que auian passado hasta que murio, que son sesenta y dos años." While agreeing with Bernal Diaz in the date of Cortés' death, December 2, 1547, Gomara says he was then sixty-three. From his false premise Mendieta elaborates a comparison between Luther and Cortés, dwelling with pious pathos on the holocaust of human victims offered up at the consecration of the great Aztec temple at Mexico, which deed, he coolly states, was committed on the day Cortés was born. For the facts, see Bancroft's Native Races, v. 5, 439-40. Without taking the trouble to test Mendieta's statement, Torquemada, i. 340-1, carries the miraculous still further. Following the heaven-descended Cortés in his piratical raid on Mexico, he sees the hand of God in the finding of Aguilar, who, like Aaron, was to be the mouthpiece of his chief, in the alliances with native states, and in the great victories and hair-breadth escapes of the conqueror, fighting under the banner of the cross.
2. According to the Testimonio de Hidalguia de Cortés, in Col. Doc. Inéd., iv. 238-9, the names of the mother's parents were Diego Altamirano and Leonor Sanchez Pizarro, which would reverse her surnames, and make the son a Cortés y Altamirano. But Gomara, De Rebus Gestis Ferdinandi Cortesii, and other authorities, do not accept this form. This important document, however, the Testimonio, establishes the fact that both parents were hidalgos, 'gozando de los oficios que gozan los hijosdalgo en . . . Medellin.' Some historians strain themselves to make Cortés the scion of a Roman family, or even of a king of Lombardy and Tuscany, whose descendants entered Spain during Gothic rule. Those who have tastes in that direction may consult Siculus, Viris Ilust., 1415 Anales de Aragon, iii. xiv.; Pizarro y Orellana, Varones Ilvstres, 67. Las Casas, Hist. Ind., iv. 11, who claimed acquaintance with the family, slurs their pretensions to high origin. 'Ambos hijosdalgo sin raça' is the qualification in Sandoral, Hist. Carlos V., i. 160. No doubt the parents of Cortés were respectable and amiable people, but to attempt to make of them other than they were is folly. 'Catharinia namque probitate, pudicitiâ et in conjugem amore, nulli ætatis suae feminae cessit.' De Rebus Gestis Ferdinandi Cortesii, in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., i. 310-11. This document refers to Martin Cortés as 'levis armaturae equitum quinquaginta dux fuerit,' on which evidence Prescott makes the man a captain when he is only a lieutenant, which yet more clearly appears by Gomara, who states, Hist. Mex., 4, that he was a 'teniente de vna compañia de Ginetes.'
3. The nurse was a 'vezina de Oliua,' and her method of choosing a patron was characteristic of the times. 'La deuocion fue echar en suertes los doze apostoles, y darle por auogado el postrero q͏̄ ssliesse, y salio san Pedro. En cuyo nõbre se dixeron ciertas missas y oraciones, con las quales plugo a Dios q͏̄ sanasse.' Gomara, Hist. Mex., 4.
4. And Pizarro y Orellana, Varones Ilvstres, 66-69, indulges in a lengthy dissertation upon the effect of mothers' milk on heroes. 'Criole a sus pechos Doña Catalina Pizarro su madre: y a la generosidad deste lacticinio atribuye Marineo e Siculo su gran valor, y virtud.'
5. Pizarro y Orellana, Varones Ilvstres, 67, states that he was supported at college by Monroy and Rodriguez. It is possible that his proud spirit chafed under this dependence, or that he felt too deeply his position as a poor student among the wealthy youth there congregated; or that this aid was withdrawn owing to the turbulent character here developed by the young man. These views find support in Gomara, Hist. Mex., 4: Boluiose a Medellin, harto o arrepentido de estudiar, o quiça falto de dineros.' While admitting the want both of money and inclination for study, Torquemada, i. 345, states that a quartan fever came on as he was preparing for the study of law, and was the chief cause of his leaving the college. Las Casas, Hist. Ind., iv. 11, gives him the honors of a bachiller, and as having studied law, both of which statements are unlikely, considering his short course. 'Aprendiendo gramática' implies a course of study in Latin and Greek, as well as rhetoric, which it required three years to complete. Plan de Estudios de la Universidad de Salamanca, quoted by Folsom, in Cortés' Despatches, 10. According to Peralto, 'asento con un escribano,. . . .y aprendió á escrebir,' etc. in Valladolid. Nat. Hist., 56.
6. Verses which were tolerably good, and even procured him some fame. Anales, 220. 'Quando hablaua con Letrados, y hombres Latinos, respondia á lo que le dezian en Latin.' Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 238. The combined qualities of scholar and general have called up a not inappropriate comparison between Cortés and Cæsar. See Helps' Span. Conq., and other authorities.
7. Some claim him for a relative of Cortés. See Pizarro y Orellana, Varones Ilvustres, 70; Solis, Hist. Mex., i. 45; De Relus Gestis Ferdinandi Cortesii, in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., i. 312.
8. 'Anduvo se a la flor del berro, aun q͏̄ sin trabajos y necessidades cerca de vn año.' Gomara, Hist. Mex., 5. Squandered his means at Valencia with bad companions,' is the term used in Sandoval, Hist. Carlos, i. 161.
9. Torquemada, i. 346, sees in the bird a messenger from God to conduct safely his chosen instrument for converting the natives of the New World. Pizarro y Orellana, Varones Ilvstres, 69-70, recognizes the Holy Ghost, who assumed this form, and comments on similar appearances elsewhere. How goodly a thing is faith!
10. He assisted in the pacification of Higne, Bauruco, Daiguao, Iutagna, Jaraguá, and Amguayagua. Cortés, Memorial, in Col. Doc. Ined., iv. 220.
11. The author of De Rebus Gestis Ferdinandi Cortesii directs this expedition tr Cuba, after delaying it three months in the hope of securing the services of Cortés, in both of which statements he is in error. Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., i. 318-19.
12. 'Socium et ministrum consiliorum omnium adsumit.' De Rebus Gestis Ferdinandi Cortesii, in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., i. 320. So highly did Velazquez esteem the qualities of his friend, 'diu multùmque Cortesium rogat, ut secum eat: maria ac montes pollicetur, si operam ad id bellum polliceatur.' Id., 319. Las Casas, who knew Cortés at a later time, makes him one of the two secretaries of Velazquez, the other being Andrés de Duero; and this would coincide with the above. Las Casas is too inconsistent to be very reliable. On the same page he refers to Cortés as a prudent, reticent man, and also as a prater not to be trusted with secrets; ful to Velazquez only for his knowledge of Latin. Hist. Ind., iv. 10-11. Herrera, dec. i., lib. ix., cap. viii., follows Las Casas. Gomara, Hist. Mex., 6, calls him 'oficial del tesorero Miguel de Passamõte, para tener cuēta cõ los quintos y hazienda del rey, y aun el mesmo Diego Velazquez se lo rogo, por ser habil y diligente.' Gomara may have had his reasons for not connecting him too closely with his later enemy, but he admits on this and on the following page that Velazquez intrusted him with business affairs of his own, which he was afterward charged with having divulged. Among these duties was superintending the construction of a mint and hospital. The position of clerk to a treasurer would of course be inferior to that of secretary to the chief of the expedition; yet if the treasurer was as illiterate as Contador Láres, his clerk would rank rather as deputy.
13. 'Era muy resabido y recatado,' says Las Casas, 'puesto que no mostraba saber tanto, ni ser de tanta habilidad como despues lo mostró en cosas árduas.'
14. The deceased head of the family bore the name of Diego Suarez Pacheco, the mother that of María de Marcaida, also wrongly written Mercaida. The son, Juan Suarez, the partner of Cortés in the Cuban encomienda, afterward settled in Mexico. Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 12-13. See also Proceso de Marcayda, in Cortés, Residencia, ii. 333. Peralto, the son of Juan, gives the family a genealogy of high order. Nat. Hist., 57. 'Suarez . . . . gente pobre.' Las Casas, Hist. Ind., iv. 13. 'Doña Catalina Suarez Pacheco (the daughter), doncella noble y recatada.' Solis, Hist. Mex., i. 46, and Pizarro y Orellana, Varones Ilvstres, 70, also write Suarez, Herrera and Gomara, Xuarez. The latter says three or four daughters, Hist. Mex., 7, but it seems that there were four children in all. Those who write the more common form of Suarez are more explicit, and deserve at least equal credit with Gomara.
15. Velazquez was married not long after his arrival in Cuba to the daughter of Contador Cuéllar. The bride died within the same week. Herrera, dec. i. lib. ix. cap. ix. 'Velazquez fauorecia la por amor de otra su hermana, q͏̄ tenia ruin fama, y aun el era demasiado mugeril.' Gomara, Hist. Mex., 7. Delaporte, Reisen, x. 141-2, assumes that Cortés won the love of her whom Velazquez wished to possess; while Gordon, Anc. Mex., ii. 32, supposes that the bride had been the object of Velazquez' gallantry; hence the trouble. Folsom, on the other hand, marries one of the Suarez sisters to Velazquez, and calls him the brother-in-law of Cortés. Cortés, Despatches, 9, 11-12.
16. Gomara, Hist. Mex., 7, insists that Velazquez had no motive for anger except the refusal of Cortés to marry. The meeting of conspirators at his house gave plausibility to the charges of his enemies. By others it is even stated that at these meetings Cortés defended the governor against the charges of the conspirators and overruled their plots. De Rebus Gestis Ferdinandi Cortesii, in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., i. 325-6. The preponderance of evidence, however, is against this supposition.
17. Estando para se embarcar en una canoa de indios con sus papeles, fué Diego Velazquez avisado y hózolo prender y quísola ahorcar.' Las Casas, Hist. Ind., iv. 11. He was cast in the fort prison, lest the army should proclaim him general. 'Timebat ne si quis,' etc. De Rebus Gestis Ferdinandi Cortesii, in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., i. 325 and 326-7.
18. In De Rebus Gestis Ferdinandi Cortesii, in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., i. 326-7, it is related that Cortés broke the ropes holding him by means of a stick, and filed the padlock of the chains. Seizing a bludgeon he advanced on the sleeping jailer, resolved to break his head if he moved. But Cristóbal de Lagos either slept or pretended not to hear the noise as Cortés seized the sword and shield at his head. Swinging open a small window, Cortés slid down and hurried to the sanctuary, giving on the way a word of cheer and advice to the conspirators who were held within the prison.
19. 'Cortés . . . . tuuo por cierto q͏̄ lo embiariă a santo Domingo o a España.' Gomara, Hist. Mex., 7. There would have been no reasons for his fears on this score, if he possessed papers implicating Velazquez, as Gomara states. Another version is that the alcaldes imposed a heavy sentence on Cortés, after his capture, and that Velazquez, on being appealed to by Duero and others, was noble-minded enough to grant a pardon. He discharged him from his service, however, and had him placed on board a ship for Española. Torquemada, i. 348. Herrera says that Catalina lived near the church, and while Cortés was making love to her an alguacil named Juan Escudero, whom Cortés afterward hanged in Mexico, came up behind him and pinioned his arms, while the soldiers rushed to his assistance. Dec. i. lib. ix. cap. ix.; Cortés, Residencia, i. 63, etc.Las Casas Hist Ind., iv., 11; De Rebus Ferdinandi Cortesii, in Icazbalceta, i. 327-8, give minutely the mode of capture.
20. Broke the pump and crawled through, Organum pneumaticum,' etc. De Rebus Gestis Ferdinandi Cortesii, in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., i. 329.
21. The current of the Macaguanigua River did not allow him to enter it, and elsewhere the breakers would upset the boat. Stripping himself, he tied to his head certain documents against Velazquez, held by him as notary of the ayuntamiento and clerk of the treasurer, and thereupon swam ashore. He entered his house, consulted with Juan Suarez, and reëntered the temple, armed. Gomara, Hist. Mex., 7. De Rebus Gestis Ferdinanli Cortesii, in Icazbalceta, vi. 329-30, refers to a friend of Cortés chained in the same ship's hold, and states that Cortés rowed ashore. On the way to the house of Suarez he narrowly escapes a patrol. Having secured arms, he proceeds to cheer his captive partisans, and then enters the sanctuary. At dawn the captain of the vessel from which Cortés escaped comes also to the temple, to secure himself against Velazquez' wrath, no doubt, but is refused admission into the sacristy by his fellow-refugee, who suspects the man, and fears that the provisions may not outlast the siege. In Herrera, dec. i. lib. ix. cap. viii., Cortés drifts about on a log and is finally cast ashore.
22. So the story was current at the time, and I doubt not it contains some degree of truth, notwithstanding Las Casas, Hist. Ind., iv. 11-12, scouts it as a pure fabrication. He knew both men; Velazquez as a proud chief, exacting the deepest reverence from those around him, and making them tremble at his frown; while Cortés was in those days so lowly and humble as to be glad to curry favor with the meanest servants of the governor. The good bishop is evidently prejudiced. In De Rebus Gestis Ferdinandi Cortesii, in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., i. 332-4, the facts are a little elaborated and contradictory, as usual. Cortés escapes the guard round the church, and reaches the farm. 'Halloh, señores!' he shouts, 'Cortés is at the door, and salutes Señor Velazquez, his excellent and gallant captain.' Velazquez is astonished, yet pleased, at the arrival of one whom he always had regarded as a friend and beloved brother. He orders supper and bed to be prepared; but Cortés insists that none shall approach, or he will lance them. He demands to know what complaints there are against him. He abhors the suspicion of being a traitor, and will clear himself. 'Receive me,' he concludes, in your favor with the same good faith that I return to it.' 'Now I believe,' answers Velazquez, that you regard as highly my name and fame as your own loyalty.' They shake hands, and Cortés now enters the house to fully explain the misunderstanding. After supper they retire to one bed. In the morning the messenger, Diego Orellana, arrives to announce Cortés' flight, and finds them lying side by side. Cortés will not proceed with the expedition just then; but after arranging his affairs he joins, to the delight of the general, who follows his advice implicitly, as he had done. in former campaigns. After their victorious return Cortés enjoys greater honors than ever. Peralta, who also gives the story at length, states that Cortés surprised Velazquez asleep. At the request of the governor he gave himself up to the jailer in order to be formally released. Nat. Hist., 58-62. Still Peralta is a little confused.
23. She was received by Cortés in Mexico, after the conquest, with great distinction; but died in about three months after her arrival.
24. Las Casas, who, as usual, will have a fling at Cortés, writes: 'Tuvo Cortés un hijo ó hija, no sé si en su mujer, y suplicó á Diego Velazquez que tuviese por bien de se lo sacar de la pila en el baptismo y ser su compadre, lo que Diego Velazquez aceptó, por honralle.' Hist. Ind., iv. 13. Anong Cortés' children a natural daughter by a Cuban Indian is mentioned, Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 238, but it is not likely that Cortés would ask the governor to stand godfather to a natural child. The same writer makes Velazquez the groomsman or sponsor at the marriage. 'Fue su padrino, quando Cortés se velò con Doña Catalina;' ib., 13; Vetancovrt, Teatro Mex., pt. iii. 109. Although compadre is not unfrequently used as a mere term of friendship, it is not likely to have been applied by a marriage padrino; hence the title of co-father indicates that it originated at the font.
25. An office granted only to men of note and to leading conquistadores. Solis, Hist. Mex., i. 46. It conveyed the title of 'muy virtuoso señor,' the governor being called 'muy magnífico señor,' Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xii. 225, and permitted the holder to walk side by side with the governor. Herrera, dec. ii. lib. iii. cap. xii. 'Auia sido dos vezes Alcalde en la Villa de Sāti͏̄ago de Boroco, adõde era vezino: porque en aquestas tierras se tiene por mucha honra.' Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdal., 13. He does not refer to him as alcalde at Santiago de Cuba, where the fleet is fitting out, as he clearly states. Gomara, Hist. Mex., 4, mentions merely that he was here before the quarrel with Velazquez. Sone writers assume that Santiagode Cuba is the same as Santiago de Baracoa, but Herrera, loc. cit., and others, observe the distinction.