_The high words which arose between the auditor Vazquez de Aillon
and Narvaez, who orders him to be seized and sent back prisoner to
Spain._
The auditor Aillon, as I have before mentioned, was most favorably
inclined towards Cortes, and had purposely come to New Spain with
instructions from the royal court of audience at St. Domingo and the
Hieronymite brothers, who were aware of the great and important services
we had rendered to God and the emperor, to promote our cause in every
possible manner. After he had carefully perused Cortes' letters, and
received the bars of gold, he no longer made a secret of his sentiments,
but spoke without any reserve of the scandalous piece of injustice which
had been perpetrated in fitting out this armament against such
well-deserving men as we had proved ourselves, and was so eloquent in
the praise of Cortes and his companions in arms, that the feeling in our
favour became almost universal in Narvaez's head-quarters. The meanness
of the latter's disposition served to increase this feeling, who
retained all the presents sent by Motecusuma entirely to himself,
without offering any part of them either to his officers or men. Indeed,
he even said haughtily to his steward, "Mind that not the smallest
matter is taken away from these things; every article has been carefully
noted down." When this conduct was compared with that pursued by Cortes
towards his soldiers, his men almost broke out into open insurrection.
Narvaez looked upon the auditor as the cause of all this bad feeling,
and brought it so sensibly home to him that no one durst give him or his
adherents the smallest morsel of the provisions which were sent by
Motecusuma. This circumstance of itself caused a good deal of
quarrelling among the troops; but when Narvaez's principal adherents,
Salvatierra, whom I have above mentioned, and a certain Juan Bono, from
Biscay, with a certain Gamarra, continually added fuel to the flame, he,
relying on the mighty support of Fonseca, lost sight of every
consideration, imprisoned the auditor, with his secretary and all his
attendants, threw them on board a vessel, and so sent them off either to
Spain or Cuba.
His behaviour towards Gonzalo de Oblanco, a cavalier and a scholar, was
even more severe,--when the latter boldly told him to his face that
Cortes had proved himself a faithful servant to the emperor, that we all
had merited a reward from his majesty, and that it was scandalous to
brand us with the name of traitors, and great presumption to imprison
one of his majesty's auditors, Narvaez instantly threw him into chains,
and Oblanco, who was a high-spirited soul, was so hurt at this
ill-treatment, that he died within the space of four days. Two other
soldiers were thrown into prison merely because they had spoken well of
Cortes; one of whom was Sancho de Barahona, who afterwards settled down
in Guatimala.
But to return to the auditor, who was to be sent prisoner to Spain; he
was scarcely at sea, when he prevailed upon the captain and pilot, by
means of good words, or threats to hang them immediately on their
arrival in Spain, instead of paying them for the passage, to steer for
St. Domingo.
As soon as the auditor had arrived at St. Domingo, and the royal court
of audience and viceroys there were informed of Narvaez's scandalous and
presumptuous ill treatment of the licentiate Lucas Vazquez, they
considered it in the light of an insult offered to themselves, and made
heavy complaints to the supreme council of Castile. But as the bishop
Fonseca was still president of that council, and, during his majesty's
continued absence in Flanders, ruled affairs as he thought proper, no
justice could be expected from Spain. The bishop had even the
shamelessness openly to express his joy when he supposed that Narvaez
had already subdued us. The bishop, himself, however, suffered from the
consequences which ensued from this affair; for, when our agents in
Flanders received intelligence of Velasquez's expedition, and found that
it had been fitted out without his majesty's permission, and merely by
authority of Fonseca, they drew great advantage from this illegal mode
of proceeding during the investigation which was shortly after set on
foot respecting Cortes and all of us.--The harsh treatment which the
auditor Lucas Vazquez was subjected to had a bad effect upon Narvaez's
troops, and many of his friends and relatives whom he regarded with a
mistrustful eye, went over to Sandoval, lest they should experience
similar treatment with Oblanco. Sandoval, as may well be imagined,
received them with open arms, and learnt from them all that had passed
in Narvaez's quarters; likewise that he contemplated sending men to Vera
Cruz to take him prisoner.