Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 1.djvu/211

Rh always remain so, not only to escape from his tyranny, but also because they have always been well treated and favoured by me. For the greater security of those who remained at Vera Cruz I brought some of their principal men, and some of their people with me, who have been not a little useful to me on the road.

I believe I have already written to Your Majesty, in my first account, that some of my company, who had been servants and friends of Diego Velasquez, were vexed by what I had accomplished in the service of Your Highness, and some of them even wanted to rebel, and desert me in the country; especially four Spaniards who were called Juan Escudero, Diego Cermeño, a pilot, Gonzalo de Ungria, also a pilot, and Alonzo Peñate. These, as they voluntarily confessed, had determined to seize a brigantine, then in the port, with a certain quantity of bread and meat, to kill the master of it, and return to the island of Femandina, that they might report to Diego Velasquez that I was sending to Your Royal Highness the ship, which I sent with what it contained, and the course it would take. This was to enable the said Diego Velasquez to put ships on guard, for the purpose of capturing it, as he did when he afterwards came to know it, for, as I was informed, he sent a caravel after the said ship, which would have been captured, if it had not already passed. And they likewise confessed, that other persons shared the same wish to warn the said Diego Velasquez. Having seen the confessions of these delinquents, I punished them according to justice, and as it seemed to me the needs of the times, and the interests of Your Royal Highness's service demanded.

Besides those, who acted thus because they were servants and friends of Diego Velasquez, there  Destruction of the Fleet were others who wanted to leave on seeing how large and populous the country was, while the Spaniards were so few. Believing