Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 2.djvu/387



death of Cortes, they celebrated pompous funeral rites in his honour, in the convent of St. Francis. They took possession of and inventoried all he owned, and sold everything at the lowest price, for they were careful to have the appraising done by one Hernando Lopez, one of their warmest partisans. When the sale was finished, they got him to lend them a large sum of gold pesos which they sent to Spain for safety. Salazar also pillaged the house of the king of Texcoco, who had accompanied Cortes to Hibueras, saying that he had likewise perished in the expedition. It is certain that he obtained at least five or six thousand gold pesos, though it is said that there were more than thirty thousand.

When Cortes and his friends returned to Mexico, they could never learn exactly what had been taken from them, because the man who had made the inventory had fled to Spain where he died in prison at Seville. As for the king of Texcoco he could never recover anything of all they had taken from him.

A respectable woman whose husband had accompanied Cortes, having declared in her grief that the news was false, and that all were well, was ordered by Salazar to receive twenty lashes in public, as a sorceress. He was absolute master of the country, which he governed like a tyrant, and he had enriched his partisans with the Indians and spoils of Fernando Cortes and his companions: for he counted upon their self-interest to defend and support him should the latter reappear; all of which the former friends of Diego Velasquez who had joined his party were quite ready to do. The friends of Cortes, afflicted and despoiled of everything, took refuge in the convents awaiting such help as God might send them. Every week Salazar reviewed his soldiers, the meanest of whom bragged that, if Cortes was still alive, he would either take him prisoner or kill him with his spear.

Cortes during all this time was completely ignorant of all that was happening. He learned finally from a ship that reached Honduras, of Salazar's tyranny, and how he had treated his friends. As he could not leave the country, he sent one of his pages to Mexico bearing a revocation of his former patents and another by which he annulled all the powers of the royal officers who had by their abuses produced such a conflagration. He appointed his kinsman, Francisco de las Casas, governor in their stead. But when the page reached Mexico, Francisco de las Casas had long since disappeared, for Salazar had sent him a prisoner to Spain, in order to get rid of him. The page, fearing that the tyrant might hang him, took refuge in the convent of St. Francis. When the news of his arrival spread through the town, Estrada, Albornoz, Salazar, Chirino,and their partisans were greatly astonished, for there was hardly any one left who believed Cortes to be still alive. When the former of these saw the letter of Cortes revoking all the powers he had given, they thought it a favourable opportunity to revenge themselves on Salazar, for all the affronts he had inflicted on them. They assembled secretly in the convent of St.