Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 2.djvu/322

 had therefore left it with a guard of ten Spaniards and finished their journey in the canoe; they arrived at a place about one league lower down the river, where exhausted from rowing they had left it hidden. On their way up the river they had been attacked by some few Indians and had fought sometimes with them; these, they thought, however, would gather forces to await their return. I immediately sent people to bring up the canoe to where the rafts were, and, having loaded all the provisions we had gathered onto the rafts, I selected the necessary people to man. them, who were supplied with long poles to protect them from floating logs, which made the river rather dangerous. 1 sent the remainder of my people under a captain to return by the same road on which we had come, with orders to await me where we had first disembarked if they arrived there before me, for I would go thither to meet them; and if I arrived first I would wait for them. I embarked in a canoe with the only two crossbowmen left.

Though the journey I was undertaking was extremely dangerous, owing to the rapid current and to the approximate certainty that the Indians would waylay us on our passage, I, nevertheless, determined to go that way, the better to preserve order; and, recommending myself to God, I began the descent of the river, which was accomplished with such rapidity that, in three hours, we came to where the barque had been left.

Here we thought to lighten the rafts by transferring some of the cargo onto it, but so rapid was the current that they could not stop. I went on board the barque, and ordered that the canoe, well-manned, should go ahead of the rafts, to see whether any Indians were in ambush, and to discover any dangerous places there might be. I myself remained behind in the barque ready to help the rafts if need should be, for I could more easily be of assistance from the rear than from the front.