We Halted For Some Time At This Place, And Cortes
Had Some Private Conferences With These Agents Of Narvaez, With Whom He
Used Such Powerful Arguments That He Made Them His Firm Friends.
They
returned to Chempoalla, quite loud in their praises of Cortes, crying up
his generosity to the skies, and made a magnificent report of the riches
of our soldiers, many of whom had ornaments of gold on their arms, and
some of them gold chains and collars about their necks.
Next day, Sandoval joined with the garrison of Villa Rica, to the number
of about seventy men, with whom came the five Spaniards who had deserted
from Narvaez, who were very graciously received by Cortes. Sandoval
reported that he had sent two of his soldiers, a little time before into
the quarters of Narvaez, who went disguised like Indians, having each a
load of fruit for sale, and their complexions so completely resembled the
natives that they were never suspected. They went immediately to the
quarters of the braggart Salvatierra, who gave them a string of yellow
beads for their fruit, and sent them to cut grass for his horse on the
banks of a small rivulet. They brought home the last load of grass in the
evening, and having fed the horse, they remained about the place till
night, listening to the conversation of Salvatierra, whom they heard
observing to some of his companions, how luckily they had come at the
present moment to deprive the traitor Cortes of the 700,000 crowns which
he had obtained from Montezuma.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 134 of 796
Words from 36460 to 36722
of 221091
