Page:About Mexico - Past and Present.djvu/215

Rh would begin shipbuilding immediately. Montezuma gave orders that a large force of his own men should go to the coast, under the direction of Martin Lopez, a ship-carpenter who accompanied Cortez, cut down trees and proceed to build a sufficient number of ships to take every Spaniard to his own land. He thought that with this prospect before them he might be able to keep the people quiet a while longer; if not, he could not answer for the consequences. Cortez approved of this plan, and the men set out. But the Aztec discontent which made this course necessary caused many gloomy forebodings among the Spanish soldiers. The strictest watch was kept day and night; every man and every horse was ready for battle at a moment's notice.

And now a new trouble arose. Cortez was waiting with deep anxiety for news from Spain. His long letter to the king had never been answered. He had hoped that his glowing descriptions of the new empire he had conquered for his master and the rich treasures he promised would turn the scale in his favor when his quarrel with Velasquez, the governor of Cuba, should come up for settlement. But, so far as he knew, the court had taken no notice of his conquest, and he had reason to fear that delay was caused by a plot in Cuba to supersede or punish him. One messenger after another had been sent to the coast for news without avail; they were keen-eyed Indian reporters who at last brought tidings which thrilled every heart in the Spanish quarters. The despatches to the council pictured a fleet of eighteen vessels, eighty horses, nine hundred men, ten cannon and about a thousand soldiers. They showed, also, the messengers of Cortez imprisoned by these new comers.

Montezuma, who told the news, was much surprised