Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 1.djvu/307

Rh quietly, that, when they heard us, and seized arms, I was already inside the courtyard of his quarters, where all the people were gathered. They had taken possession of three or four strong towers which were in it, and all the other strong positions; and in one of the towers, where Narvaez was lodged, he had placed nineteen guns on the stairs. We reached the top of the tower so quickly, that they had not time to put fire to more than one of the pieces, which by God's will did not go off, or do us any harm. Thus we mounted the tower to the place where Narvaez slept, where about fifty men who were with him fought with the alguacil mayor and his force; and although required many times to yield themselves to Your Highness, surrendered only when fire was set to the tower. While the alguacil mayor was capturing Narvaez, I, with those who had stayed with me, defended the entrance of the tower against the rest who sought to come to his aid; and I ordered the artillery to be taken, and fortified myself with it. Thus, with no more loss than two men, who were killed by the discharge of a gun, all those we wished to take were made prisoners within an hour. After the rest had been disarmed, they promised to be obedient to the laws of Your Majesty, declaring that till then they had been deceived, as they had been told that Narvaez brought warrants from Your Highness, and that I had risen in rebellion in this country, and was a traitor to Your Majesty, together with many other similar things.

As all now understood the truth, and the bad intentions and wicked disposition of Diego Velasquez and of Narvaez came to light, they rejoiced very greatly that God should have ordained and provided such an ending. For I assure Your Majesty, that, if God had not mysteriously intervened, and had Narvaez been victorious it would have been the greatest injury which for a long time past Spaniards had done to one another.