Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 1.djvu/345

Rh want of provisions that, if they had not found succour there, they would have died from hunger and thirst. I learned from them how they had reached the river Panuco, remaining anchored there thirty days without seeing any people along all the river or in the country, from which it is believed that that country has been deserted on account of what had happened there. The people of the said caravel likewise said that two or three other ships of the said Francisco de Garay would follow immediately behind them with people and horses, and that they believed they had already passed down the coast. It seemed to me, then, that it was not in compliance with Your Highness's service that these ships and people should be lost through going in ignorance of the affairs of the country, as the natives might do them more harm than they had the first ones. The said caravel should be sent to seek those two ships, in order to notify them of what had happened, and to bring them to the port of the said city, where the captain sent by Francisco de Garay was waiting for them. And God grant that he finds them in time before they go ashore, because, as the natives were already on the look-out, and the Spaniards were ignorant, I fear they may sustain much harm, and that it would not serve God Our Lord and Your Highness, for it would enrage those dogs [the Indians] all the more, and inspire them with more courage and daring against those who might come hereafter.

I said in one of the preceding chapters, that I had learned that, after the death of Montezuma, his brother, called Cuetravacin, who had been raised as  Montezu- ma's Successor lord, was preparing many kinds of arms, and fortifying himself in the capital, and in other cities near the lake. And a short time since, I have likewise learned that the said Cuetravacin has sent his messengers to all the countries, provinces, cities, subject to the said sovereignty, to promise