Letters Were Sent To Villa Rica, Giving An Account Of All The Disastrous Events Which Had Befallen Us, And Desiring An Immediate Supply Of All The Arms And Ammunition That Could Be Spared, And To Send Us A Strong Reinforcement.

By the return of the messengers, we were informed that all was well at Villa Rica and the neighbourhood, and that the reinforcement should be immediately sent.

It accordingly arrived soon after, consisting in all of _seven_ men, three of whom were sailors, and all of them were invalids. They were commanded by a soldier named Lencero, who afterwards kept an inn still known by his name; and for a long while afterwards, _a Lencero reinforcement_ was a proverbial saying among us. We were involved in some trouble by the younger Xicotencatl, who had commanded the Tlascalan army against us on our first arrival in their country. This ambitious chieftain, anxious to be revenged upon us for the disgrace he had formerly sustained, on hearing of our misfortunes and our intended march to Tlascala, conceived a project for surprising us on our march and putting us all to death. For this purpose, he assembled many of his relations, friends, and adherents, to whom he shewed how easily we might all be destroyed, and was very active in forming a party and collecting an army for this purpose. Although severely reproached by his father for this treacherous design, he persevered in his plan; but the intrigue was discovered by Chichimecatl, his determined enemy, who immediately communicated the intelligence to the council of Tlascala, before whom Xicotencatl was brought prisoner to answer for his treacherous intentions. Maxicatzin made a long speech in our favour, representing the prosperity which their state had enjoyed ever since our arrival, by freeing them from the depredations of their Mexican enemies, and enabling them to procure salt from which they had been long debarred. He then reprobated the proposed treachery of the younger Xicotencatl, against men who certainly were those concerning whom the prophecy had been handed down by their ancestors. In reply to this, and to a discourse from his father to the same purpose, the young man used such violent and disrespectful language, that he was seized and thrown down the steps of the council-hall into the street, with such violence that he narrowly escaped with his life. Such was the faithful conduct of our Tlascalan allies, and Cortes did not think it prudent to push the matter any farther in our present ticklish situation.

After remaining twenty two days in Tlascala, Cortes resolved upon attacking the adjoining provinces of Tepejacac and Zacatula, on account of some murders the inhabitant of these districts had committed on the Spaniards; but the soldiers of Narvaez were decidedly averse from entering into any new war, as the slaughter of Mexico and the battle of Obtumba made them anxious to renounce Cortes and his conquests, and to return as soon as possible to their houses and mines in Cuba.

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