We Unanimously Answered, That We Were
Prepared To Obey And Follow Him Wherever He Chose To Lead, The Lot Being
Now Cast, As Caesar Said On Passing The Rubicon, And We Devoted Ourselves
To The Service Of God And Our Emperor.
He then addressed us in an eloquent
speech; after which he called for the fat cacique, whom he informed of our
intended march to Mexico, and gave him strict injunctions to take great
care of the holy cross and the church we had established.
When we were ready to depart on our expedition to Mexico, a letter was
brought from Escalente, informing Cortes that a strange ship had come to
anchor in a river about three leagues from Villa Rica, from which he could
get no answer to his signals. Cortes left the command of the army during
his absence to Alvarado and Sandoval, and set out with four horsemen for
Villa Rica, leaving orders for thirty of the lightest armed infantry to
follow, who accordingly arrived that night. Escalente offered to go with
twenty men to the vessel, lest she might escape; but Cortes set out along
the coast without delay, and fell in with four Spaniards on the road, who
had been sent on shore by Alonzo Alvarez de Pineda, the captain of the
vessel, to take formal possession of the country. One of these was a
notary, named Guillen de la Loa, and the rest attended him to witness the
act. From these men Cortes was informed that Francisco de Garay, governor
of Jamaica, had procured a commission from the court as adelantado of such
districts as he might discover on this coast to the north of the river of
St Peter and St Paul, and had sent three ships with 270 soldiers under
Pineda, who was then in the river of Panuco.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 787 of 789
Words from 218925 to 219231
of 219607
