Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 2.djvu/356

 each of these islands my written order, notifying any Spaniard who might arrive there that they were to be in no manner molested; and they begged me also to place a Spaniard in each of the Islands, which although I could not then agree to, on account of the nearness of my departure, I left instructions with my lieutenant, Hernando de Sandoval, to attend to. Immediately afterwards, I embarked on the ship which had brought me the news of the events in this country, taking in her and in two other vessels which I then had in port, some of the people who had accompanied me on that expedition. We were about twenty in number, with our horses, for most of the people preferred to remain in those towns as settlers, and the others were already waiting for me on the road, thinking I was to return by land. I sent them a message informing them of my departure by sea, and the cause of it, and ordered them to proceed on their march; they have not yet arrived but I have positive information of their coming.

Everything being thus ordered in those towns which I had settled in Your Majesty's name (though to my  Cortes at Havana great regret I was not able to leave them as well provided as I desired) I put to sea on the twenty-fifth of April, with three ships, and sailed with such fine weather that, in four days, I arrived within one hundred and fifty leagues of the port of Chalchicuela. There, I encountered such a heavy storm that I could not proceed, and, believing it would abate, I put out to sea for one day and a night; but such was the tempest that the ships were almost wrecked, and I was driven to take refuge in the Island of Cuba, where, within six days, I entered the port of Havana, being received with rejoicing by the residents, as among them there were many friends of the time when I lived in that island. As the vessels had suffered much damage from the bad weather, it was