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ediately planted his standard in front of his dwelling,
and made the public acquainted with the particulars of the expedition in
the same way as he had done at Santiago, and further collected whatever
he could in the shape of firearms with other necessaries. Here we were
also joined by the Alvarados, namely, Pedro, who has often been
mentioned in this history, his brothers Gonzalo, Jorge, Gomez, and his
natural brother the elder Juan Alvarado. Further we were here joined by
Alonso de Avila of Avila, who had a command in the last expedition,
under Grijalva; Juan de Escalante, Pedro Sanchez Farsan of Sevilla;
Gonzalo Mexia, subsequently treasurer at Mexico; Vaena, Juanes de
Fuentarabia, and Christobal de Oli, who had a command at the taking of
Mexico, and in all the battles fought in New Spain. Further, Ortiz, the
musician, and Gaspar Sanchez, nephew to the treasurer of Cuba; Diego de
Pinedo, Alonzo Rodriguez, who possessed some lucrative gold mines, and
Bartolome Garcia. To which may be added many other cavaliers whose
names at present I cannot remember, all personages of influence and
respectability. From this place Cortes also wrote letters to
Santispiritus, fifty-four miles from Trinidad, and made our expedition
known to the public there. He knew so well how to mix up his sentences
with inviting expressions and great promises, that many of the first
personages of that town were thereby induced to join us. These were
Hernando Puertocarrero, cousin to the earl of Medellin, and Gonzalo de
Sandoval, who had been eight months alguacil-major and governor, and was
afterwards a commander in New Spain; also Juan Velasquez de Leon, a
relation of Diego Velasquez; Rodrigo Rangel, Gonzalo Lopez de Ximena,
with his brother Juan Lopez, and Juan Sedeño. This latter gentleman was
an inhabitant of Santispiritus, and had joined Cortes because of the two
other Sedeños who were among us. These gentlemen, who were all men of
consequence, had arrived at the same time in Trinidad, when Cortes,
accompanied by the whole of us, went out to meet them. Cannons were
fired, and other rejoicings took place on this occasion, while
professions of esteem and friendship were past from one party to the
other. All these men possessed land in the neighbourhood of this town,
where they ordered cassave-bread to be made, and bacon to be cured, and
otherwise collected all the provisions they possibly could for our
vessels. Here also we hired soldiers, and purchased some horses, which
latter, at that time, were very scarce, and only to be had at exorbitant
prices. Alonso Hernandez de Puertocarrero, whom I had previously known,
had not sufficient money to purchase himself a horse; Cortes, therefore,
bought one for him, and paid for it with the golden borders of the
velvet robe he had procured at Santiago. About this time there also
arrived in the port of Trinidad a vessel belonging to a certain Juan
Sedeño, of the Havannah, laden with cassave-bread and salted meat, which
was destined for the mines of Santiago. This Sedeño, who had called upon
our commander to pay his respects, was soon persuaded, by the eloquence
and address of Cortes, to sell him his ship with the lading and all, and
himself to join the expedition. We had now eleven ships in all, and
everything, thanks to Providence, was going on well, when letters
arrived from Diego Velasquez with peremptory orders that Cortes was to
be deprived of the command. But I will detail this matter in the
following chapter.

CHAPTER XXII.

 _How the governor Diego Velasquez sends two of his officials in all
 haste to Trinidad, with full power and authority to deprive Cortes
 of his appointment of captain, and bring the squadron away, &c._

I must now carry my narrative back a few days, in order to relate what
happened at Santiago de Cuba after our departure. We had scarcely set
sail when Diego Velasquez's friends left him not a moment's peace,
harassing him until they had totally revolutionised his sentiments with
regard to Cortes. They now plainly told him that he might consider
Cortes as lost to his interests from his having so secretly sneaked away
from the harbour. Neither had he made any secret of his determination to
have the chief command of the armament, whether Diego might wish it or
not; for which reason he had embarked his men at night-time, that if any
attempt were made to deprive him of the squadron, he would resist it by
main force. He, the governor, had been deceived by his private secretary
Duero, and De Lares the royal treasurer, who had both made some previous
agreement with Cortes to procure him the command. But in particular the
relatives of Velasquez were constantly urging him to cancel the recent
appointment of Cortes, in which they were backed by a certain old man,
named Juan Millan, commonly termed the astrologer, who was considered by
many not to be exactly in his proper senses. This old man repeatedly
told the governor that Cortes would now revenge himself for his having,
some time ago, thrown him into prison: "Sly and artful as he is, he will
be the means of ruining you, if you are not upon your guard."

These hints were not thrown away upon Velasquez; they brought about a
revolution in his mind, which ended in his despatching two trustworthy
persons out of his establishment, with private instructions to his
brother-in-law Francisco de Verdugo, then alcalde major of Trinidad, by
which he was peremptorily commanded, under all circumstances, to deprive
Cortes of the squadron, whose appointment of captain had been withdrawn,
and given to Vasco Porcallo. At the same time he wrote letters to Diego
de Ordas, Francisco de Morla, and to his relations and friends, desiring
them, at all events, to leave the squadron.

As soon as Cortes got information of this, he had a secret interview
with Ordas and all those officers and inhabitants of Trinidad, who, he
thought, might feel inclined to obey the orders of Velasquez. To these
he spoke so feelingly, and in such kind terms, accompanied by such great
promises, that they were all soon gained over to his side. Diego de
Ordas even undertook to advise the alcalde major Francisco de Verdugo
not to put these commands immediately into execution, and to keep them
secret; telling him, at the same time, he had seen nothing in Cortes
which gave the slightest reasons for suspecting him of anything wrong;
on the contrary, he had, on every occasion, given proofs of his
adherence to the governor. He assured him, moreover, that it would be an
impossibility to deprive Cortes of the command of the squadron, in which
he had so many friends among the cavaliers, and Diego Velasquez so many
enemies, who would not easily forgive him that he had neglected to
bestow on them more profitable commendaries. Besides the number of
friends Cortes had among the officers, he could rely upon most of the
soldiers, and thus it would be useless to attempt anything against him.
The whole town would become mixed up in the quarrel, which w

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