Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 2.djvu/312

 where Francisco de las Casas, Cristobal de Olid, and Gil Gonzalez de Avila had left, and where Christobal de Olid had died, as I have already informed Your Majesty, and will again hereafter speak of, was a town called Naco. This agreed with the information given by the Spaniards I had found at Nito, so I immediately ordered a road to be opened, and sent ahead all my men, foot soldiers and horsemen, under one of my captains, keeping with me only the servants of my household, the sick, and those who wished to remain and go by sea. I instructed that captain to go to the said town of Naco, and try to pacify the people of that province who were still somewhat disturbed in consequence of the presence of those Spaniards; and that as soon as he arrived he should send ten or twelve horsemen, with as many crossbowmen, to the bay of San Andres, about twenty leagues distant from there. Meanwhile I would bring the sick and wounded and the rest of the people by sea, and wait for them if I arrived first; if, on the contrary, they arrived first, they should wait for me. After their departure and the completion of the brigantine, I thought to embark with the rest of my people, but I discovered that, although we had salt meat enough, we had not sufficient bread; and it seemed a very risky thing to put to sea without this, having so many sick people on board, for, if we encountered bad weather which would delay us, we should be exposed to death by starvation instead of finding relief for our woes. While considering how to remedy this, one who had been left as captain of those people told me that, when they had first come there with Gil Gonzalez, they had brought a very good brigantine and four ships; and that with the ships' boats they had ascended that river and found two large gulfs of fresh water, on whose shores there were several villages well stocked with food. After they had