Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 2.djvu/204

 that their remaining with the ships at the mouth of the river for the space of two months or more would result in causing scandal, not only amongst the Spaniards, but also among the natives, two masters of the said ships, one Castromocho, and the other Martin de San Juan a Guipuzcoan, secretly sent messengers to the lieutenant telling him they wished for peace and would obey his commands, which they thought just, and that they would do whatever he ordered them, adding that the other ships would likewise obey him. Upon receiving this information, my lieutenant decided to go aboard the vessels, accompanied by only five men; he was received by the pilots with all respect, and from there he sent to Juan de Grijalba, the commander of the fleet, on board the flag-ship and summoned him to obey the orders which had already been communicated to him. The said captain not only refused to obey, but he ordered the other ships to unite with his and surround the other two above mentioned and fire upon them with their artillery and sink them: this order was made public, and everybody heard it, and my lieutenant responded by ordering the artillery of the two ships which obeyed him to be prepared. Meanwhile, the captains and masters of the ships about the flag-ship refused to obey Grijalba's orders, seeing which, he sent a notary, called Vicente Lopez, to my lieutenant to arrange matters. My lieutenant answered that he came there merely to negotiate peace and prevent the scandals which the presence of these ships outside the port provoked, as they seemed like pirates ready to make a raid on the dominions of Your Majesty, which sounded very badly, advancing other reasons in support of this opinion. These arguments prevailed upon the notary Vicente Lopez to return with the reply to Captain Grijalba whom he informed of all he had heard from the lieutenant, persuading the captain to obey, for it was clear that the said