_Narvaez marches, with the whole of his troops, to Sempoalla; his
proceedings there; and how we in Mexico determine to march against
him._
After Narvaez had sent off the auditor prisoner, he marched with the
whole of his men, the baggage, and the cannon, to Sempoalla, and
quartered himself in that town, which was then very thickly populated.
His first act there was to take away from the fat cazique, as we termed
him, the cotton stuffs, gold trinkets, and other fancy articles he
possessed. He likewise took the Indian females forcibly away who had
been presented to us by the caziques of Sempoalla, and whom we had left
behind with their parents and relatives, as they were daughters of
distinguished personages, and much too delicate to bear the fatigues of
a campaign.
The fat cazique had often warned Narvaez not to touch the women, or
anything which Cortes had left behind in the shape of gold or cotton
stuffs, as he would certainly be greatly incensed, hasten from Mexico,
and not only cut off Narvaez, but also him, for suffering his property
to be touched.
All the complaints this cazique might make respecting the depredations
committed by Narvaez's troops in Sempoalla were equally fruitless. And
it was of no avail for him to repeat that Malinche and his men had never
taken the smallest thing from them, and had proved themselves altogether
kind-hearted teules; Narvaez and Salvatierra, whose conduct in general
was the most heartless, merely mocked at the cazique, the latter often
repeating to Narvaez and the other officers, "Only just imagine in what
fear these caziques stand of that paltry little fellow Cortes!"
May the good reader learn from this how wrong it is to speak evil of
honest folks; for I am ready to swear that this very Salvatierra behaved
in the most pitiable and cowardly manner when the battle was fought
between Narvaez and us, and yet his build and bones were powerful enough
to have defended himself right well; however, he was a mere braggadocio,
and I believe he was a native of Burgos.
We must now, however, return to Cortes, and acquaint the reader that
Narvaez despatched his secretary, Alonso Meta, who subsequently settled
in Puebla, with three other great personages, to Mexico, commanding us
and our general, by virtue of the copies of his appointment by
Velasquez, to submit to him.[75]
Cortes, who received daily intelligence of what was going on in
Narvaez's head-quarters and at Vera Cruz, was duly informed by Sandoval
how Narvaez had thrown Vazquez de Aillon into chains, and sent him to
Spain or Cuba, and that, owing to such violent proceedings, five of his
principal officers had come over to him, who feared, since so little
respect had been paid to the person of a royal auditor, they, as
Aillon's relatives, might expect worse treatment. From them Sandoval
learnt everything that was passing in Narvaez's head-quarters, and that
it was his intention to march shortly in person to Mexico to take us all
prisoners. Cortes, on receiving this intelligence, assembled his
officers and all those whom he was accustomed to consult in matters of
great moment, and were men entirely devoted to him. In this council it
was determined we should anticipate Narvaez, and immediately march out
against him. Pedro de Alvarado was to remain in Mexico, with all those
who were not over-anxious to make this campaign, to guard the person of
Motecusuma; and we likewise took care to leave all those behind who, as
partisans of Velasquez, were not altogether to be trusted.
Cortes had fortunately ordered a quantity of maise from Tlascalla
previous to the arrival of Narvaez, for the harvest had altogether
failed about Mexico, owing to a continued drought: we, indeed, required
a great quantity of provisions for the numbers of Naborias[76] and
Tlascallan troops we had with us. This and other necessaries of life,
consisting in fowls, fruits, &c., arrived at the time appointed, and
were given in charge of Alvarado. We likewise took the precaution of
fortifying our quarters,--we mounted four pieces of heavy cannon on the
most commanding point, and left Alvarado a few falconets and all the
powder we could spare, with ten crossbow-men, fourteen musketeers, and
seven horse soldiers; the latter were, indeed, more than he required, as
the cavalry was of little use in the courtyards attached to our
quarters. The number of soldiers we left behind in Mexico was altogether
eighty-three.
Motecusuma easily conjectured what our designs were against Narvaez;
yet, though Cortes daily called upon him, he was equally upon his guard
as Cortes was in not throwing out any hints of his (Motecusuma's)
sending Narvaez gold and provisions. It was only at the very last that
the monarch made some inquiries respecting our intended movements, which
will be found in the chapter following.
[75] This Alonso Mata, as we afterwards see, was met on his way to
Mexico by Cortes. (p. 300.)
[76] Naborias, Indian servants. (p. 301.)