Vasquez de Ayllon,[1] with powers to require and order Diego Velasquez not to despatch the armada. Upon his arrival, he found Diego Velasquez and all those armed people at the point of the island of Fernandina, ready to sail, and he required them, and those composing the armada, not to depart, because Your Highness would be badly served, and he threatened them with many penalties, notwithstanding which, and in spite of all the licentiate required and ordered, Velasquez still sent the armada. The licentiate, Ayllon, had come with them thinking to prevent the harm which would follow from the arrival of it, for it was notorious to him, and to everybody, that the armada came with evil intentions.
I sent this cleric to Narvaez with a letter of mine, in which I told him I had learned from the cleric, and those who came with him, that he was captain of the armada,
- ↑ The audiencia of San Domingo, foreseeing the scandal which was inevitable from such an expedition against Cortes, sent Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon to Cuba with full powers to stop the preparations, and prohibit the sailing. Ayllon followed Diego Velasquez to the port of Trinidad where he had gone, and there learned that Narvaez was at Xagua, some fourteen leagues distant, ready to join the others of the fleet who were at Guaniguanico. He also discovered that most of the able-bodied men in the colony had enlisted, and that the island would be left with few defenders in case of trouble with the natives; he went therefore to Xagua, and notified Narvaez not to sail, but to go to Guaniguanico, where he intended to dissuade the governor from the undertaking. Though Velasquez appeared at first to yield, he ended by repudiating the authority of the audiencia, though he consented to give pacific instructions to Narvaez as to his manner of dealing with Cortes. Ayllon decided, at the last moment, to go himself with the armada, and prevent trouble between the rival commanders if possible. Narvaez however was heedless of the notary's protests at San Juan de Ulua, and finally rid himself of his importunities by sending him back to Cuba on one ship, and his secretary and the alguacil on another. Thus, three months after his departure on his mission, Ayllon landed at San Nicolas in San Domingo, making his way as best he could on foot across the island to report his ill success to the audiencia. This flouting of the audiencia cost Diego Velasquez any triumph he might otherwise have hoped to gain over Cortes, and Narvaez's summary violence towards a representative of the government bears out Bernal Diaz's estimate of his character.
