perished, and the incapacity of the captains increased the danger. At one wide stream the horses, arms, and baggage were transferred and left almost unattended on one bank while the army camped on the other for the night. A few resolute warriors might have killed or carried off the whole train, and on other occasions the men were almost wholly at their mercy.
On approaching Pánuco, where rest and plenty had been looked for, Garay found the villages deserted and bare of food, due chiefly to alarm at the approaching host of starvelings. Informed by interpreters that the cause was Cortésian raids, he sought to win them back by promising to avenge their wrongs, and drive out the oppressors, as governor of that country.[1] The announcement might have been left unsaid, for his famished soldiers were already spreading in different directions under impulse of hunger and greed. Little they found to appease the former, while for the latter nothing remained after the careful gleaning of the other party; and hearing from a deserter of the glories at Mexico, they felt prepared for any change that would take them nearer to the imperial city. If there had been any real meaning in the words of Garay, it did not take long to discover the difficulty of enforcing it in view of the growing insubordination. Now that the point of destination was reached, he had no definite idea what to do with the expedition fitted out at such trouble and expense; nor had he the resolution to carry out any effective plan. Why had he come?
Something must be done, however, and Ocampo was sent to confer with Vallejo, the lieutenant at San Estévan, and announce that Garay came provided with a commission to settle and govern the province, as adelantado. Vallejo received the envoy with great courtesy, and expressed delight at the prospect of
- ↑ The natives were urged to support Garay in driving away the retainers of Cortés. Provision, ubi sup., 125 et seq.
