Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 2.djvu/320

 honourable person should come and learn the cause of my arrival, for they might be sure that much good would result to them; on the contrary if they refused they might suffer for it. Thus I despatched him with a letter of mine to the chief, for the people of those parts were always more assured by seeing my letters. I did this against the advice of some of my men, who said it was unwise to send him, for he would explain to them how few we were; that the village was large and populous, judging from the number of houses closely built together, and that the inhabitants, seeing how few we were, might easily call on their neighbours for help and attack us. I saw they were right, yet wished to find the means of sufficiently provisioning my company, and believing that, if those people came to me peaceably, they might perhaps furnish means for carrying away some of the provisions, I set aside their arguments; because in truth no less danger waited us from starvation if we lived without provisions, than there did in an attack from the Indians. I, therefore, despatched the Indian, who promised to return the next day, as he knew where the chief and all the people were. On the day appointed for the Indian's return, two of my Spaniards who were exploring about the town and country found my letter placed on a pole by the roadside, from which we judged we would have no answer; and thus it happened, for neither the Indian nor anybody else came, so we remained eighteen days there, resting, ana seeking to devise some means for carrying away those provisions.

While pondering this it seemed to me that, by following down the river, I might perhaps come to the other large river that empties into the gulf of fresh water where I had left my brigantine as well as my boats and canoes; so I asked those Indians whom I held prisoners if this was true, and they answered yes, though we could not understand them very well, nor they us, for they spoke