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escape of the two, and said he was determined to guard the others
himself. To this end he ordered chains to be brought from our vessels,
with which the prisoners were bound, and in that way taken on board,
where their chains were taken off again. They received the kindest
treatment, and were assured they would be sent back to Mexico in a very
short time.

The caziques of Sempoalla, Quiahuitzlan, and those from the country of
the Totonaques, now assembled and explained the position in which they
were placed at present, as no doubt Motecusuma, upon the first
intelligence of the imprisonment of his tax-gatherers, would put his
army in motion and fall upon them, the consequence of which would be
their total extirpation.

But Cortes assured them, with the most pleasing smile on his
countenance, that he and his brothers who were with him would be their
protection, and he who should dare to molest them, should forfeit his
life. Upon this the caziques, one and all, promised to unite their whole
armed force to ours against Motecusuma and his allies. On this occasion
Diego de Godoy drew up a formal deed of their subjection to the sceptre
of his majesty the emperor, and notice was sent of this to the different
townships of the province. As there was no further talk of tribute, and
tax-gatherers no longer made their appearance, these people were almost
out of their senses for excessive joy in having shaken off the Mexican
yoke.

CHAPTER XLVIII.

 How we resolved to found Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz and construct a
 fortress on the low meadows, in the neighbourhood of some salt
 springs and the harbour, where our vessels were anchored; and what
 further happened.

After we had thus formed an alliance with the thirty townships of the
Totonaque mountains, which had revolted from Motecusuma and submitted of
their own free will to the sceptre of our sovereign, we immediately
hastened to profit by the circumstance and found Villa Rica de la Vera
Cruz. The spot we made choice of lay at about two miles distance from
the fortress of Quiahuitzlan, in the valley beneath. We first of all
marked out the ground for the church, the market, the magazines and
other public buildings belonging to a town. We then set off part of the
ground to form a fortress, and nothing could exceed the assiduity with
which the walls of the foundation were carried up, the woodwork
completed, the turrets and loopholes constructed with the parapets.
Cortes himself put the first hand to it, carried a basket filled with
stones and earth on his shoulders, and worked at the foundations. The
caziques and all of us followed his example, and every part of the work
was carried on with like vigour. Some were mixing mortar, fetching
water, burning chalk, baking bricks and tiles, others prepared the food
and cut wood. The smiths hammered hard at the nails and other ironwork.
In short, from the highest to the lowest showed the greatest activity,
while the Indians lent us such efficacious aid, that in a short time the
church and other buildings were quite finished, and the fortress nearly
so.

In the meantime Motecusuma received the intelligence at Mexico, that
his tax-gatherers had been imprisoned by our allies; that the latter had
renounced obedience to him, and that all the Totonaque townships had
revolted. He was excessively enraged against Cortes and the whole of us,
and ordered one of his powerful chiefs to make war upon the tribes which
had revolted, and extirpate them to a man. Against us he would march in
person at the head of an immense army, commanded by many generals. While
preparations for this purpose were being made, the two prisoners whom
Cortes had liberated arrived in Mexico. When Motecusuma learnt that
Cortes had restored them to liberty, and himself sent them to Mexico
with the commission to offer his services to their monarch, the Almighty
softened down the hardness of his heart, and he resolved to make
inquiries as to what our intentions were. To this end he despatched two
of his young nephews, accompanied by four aged men, who were caziques of
distinction, to our quarters, sending with them a present consisting in
gold and cotton stuffs. These men were commissioned to thank Cortes for
the liberation of his two tax-gatherers, but at the same time to make
heavy complaints respecting these tribes who had presumed to revolt from
him, merely because we had taken them under our protection, and now
refused all further obedience and to pay tribute. At present he was
merely withheld from putting his threat into execution of exterminating
them totally, out of consideration for us, since we inhabited their
dwellings; for, in our persons he recognized that people whose arrival
in this country had been foretold by his ancestors, and who were of the
same lineage with himself. However, they would not long rejoice in their
treachery, and he should know how to deal with them at some future
period.

Cortes received these messengers very kindly and accepted their
present, which was worth above 2000 pesos. He assured them that he as
well as all the rest of us were friendly disposed, and ready to serve
Motecusuma, and that it was in this spirit we had taken the three other
tax-gatherers under our protection, who were now immediately brought
forth from our vessels, clothed and delivered up to the ambassadors.
Neither did Cortes on his part suppress the complaints he had to make
against Motecusuma, for he told them, that Quitlalpitoc, his governor,
had passed a night in our quarters, and had been uncourteous enough not
to call upon him. He was, certainly, convinced that such behaviour had
not been commanded by Motecusuma, but had emanated from the natural
ill-breeding of the man. Honorable treatment, however, had so much worth
in our estimation, that for this reason only had we paid a visit to the
townships where we now were. Motecusuma, therefore, ought to pardon the
people for our sakes. But as to their complaints respecting the refusal
to pay tribute, it was to be imagined that they could not serve two
masters at once, as they had, during our stay here, sworn allegiance to
our emperor. For the rest, he and his companions would shortly wait upon
Motecusuma himself, when these matters could be altogether amicably
adjusted.

After this and other declarations, Cortes presented both these
distinguished young personages and their four venerable companions, who
were men of the first consequence, with blue and green coloured beads,
paying them the greatest possible respect.

As the meadows in this neighbourhood were well adapted for cavalry
exercise, Cortes desired Alvarado, who had an excellent brown mare, and
our other good riders, to go through the different manoeuvres, by which
we quite won the hearts of these messengers, who returned highly
satisfied to Mexico. About this time Cortes lost his horse; for which
reason Ortiz, the musician, and Bartolome Garcia, the mountaineer, gave
up their dark brown horse to him, which was one of

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