_How we discover, on our return to Tezcuco, that a conspiracy had
been set on foot by the men of Narvaez's troops to murder Cortes,
and all who were of his party; of the author of this conspiracy, his
punishment; and of other matters._
During our absence a conspiracy had been set on foot by a most intimate
friend of the governor of Cuba, named Antonio de Villafana, a native
either of Zamora or Toro, in conjunction with others of Narvaez's
troops, whose names, for honour's sake, I will refrain from mentioning
here. The object of this conspiracy was to murder Cortes on his return,
which was to be done in the following manner.
The conspirators designed handing over a letter to Cortes while he sat
at dinner with his officers and other soldiers, which was to be securely
fastened and sealed, purporting to come from his father, with a vessel
that had just arrived from Spain. While he was occupied in the perusal
of this letter, he and the whole of the officers and soldiers who sat
at table with him, and offered any resistance, were to be poignarded to
death.
All this being settled, it pleased the Almighty that the conspirators
should also let two other distinguished officers into the secret, whose
names, however, I must likewise repress. Both these officers had
accompanied us on our recent expedition around the lake, and one of
these officers, after Cortes should have been killed, was to be
appointed one of the new captain-generals. In the same manner the other
chief appointments, besides all our property and horses, had already
been disposed of by the conspirators. The Almighty, however, in his
mercy, prevented this horrible deed from being carried into effect, the
consequences of which would have been continual divisions, the
inevitable loss of New Spain, and the total destruction of our troops.
The whole of this conspiracy was discovered to Cortes by one of our
soldiers a couple of days after his return to Tezcuco, and he had thus
sufficient time to adopt active measures for suppressing it before it
spread further. The honest man who made the discovery to him assured him
also that there were several men of rank among the conspirators.
Cortes, after he had handsomely rewarded this man, communicated the
whole affair, under the seal of secrecy, to the officers Alvarado, Oli,
Lugo, Sandoval, Tapia, and myself; also to the two alcaldes for the
year, and to all those in whom he could place confidence. He then
ordered us to arm ourselves without any further delay, and he then
proceeded with us to the quarters of Antonio de Villafana.
On entering his apartment we found him in conversation with several of
the conspirators, and the four alguacils who accompanied us immediately
arrested him. The rest instantly took to flight, but Cortes had many of
them seized. Villafana being thus in our power, Cortes thrust his hand
into that officer's bosom, and drew forth a paper, containing the whole
plan of the conspirators, to which all their names were attached.
Cortes, on perusing this paper, found the names of several men of
importance among the list of conspirators; and being desirous of saving
them from dishonour, he afterwards gave out that Villafana had swallowed
the paper, and that he had not read it himself, nor even so much as seen
it.
A criminal suit was now instituted against Villafana, when he, with
several others who were implicated in it, made a full confession of the
whole matter. Cortes, the two alcaldes, and the quartermaster Oli, who
formed the court-martial, then pronounced Villafana guilty, and
sentenced him to be hung; and, after he had confessed to father Juan
Diaz, he was executed in front of his own quarters.
Here Cortes allowed the matter to rest, though several of the
conspirators were kept in close confinement, and in order to frighten
them appearances were made as if they likewise would have to share a
similar fate with Villafana. Our general, however, was desirous of
saving their names from dishonour; to which may be added, that this was
not exactly the time to go to the utmost severity of the law.
From that moment our general had a body guard, consisting of the captain
Antonio de Quinones, a native of Zamora, and twelve trustworthy men, who
were to be near his person both night and day. In the same way he
likewise requested the rest of us in whom he could place confidence to
watch over the safety of his person. He never, however, evinced any
animosity in his subsequent behaviour towards the other conspirators,
though he took care to be particularly upon his guard against them.[19]
After this miserable affair was ended, notice was given that the
prisoners we had made in our expedition round the lake were to be
brought in to be marked within the space of two days. In order not to
waste many words on the subject, for the third time I will merely state
that our men were even more shamefully cheated on this occasion than on
the former. First the emperor's fifths were deducted, then those of
Cortes, and after him our chief officers committed their piracies. If,
therefore, any of us had an Indian female who was handsome or strong of
limb, we certainly took her to be marked with the iron, but stole her
away the night following, and took care not to show her again until some
considerable time had elapsed; so that numbers of our slaves were never
marked at all, and yet we employed them as our naborias.