Page:Romance of History, Mexico.djvu/247

 Sandoval defeated the Mexican armies which had been stationed between Tepeaca and Vera Cruz to cut off communication with the coast.

Exulting in his change of fortune, Cortés began to mature his plans for the siege of Mexico itself. Never again would he trust to the fatal causeways. La Noche Triste had taught him that to conquer Mexico he must command the lake. Martin Lopez, the shipwright, was sent to Tlascala with orders to build there thirteen ships which could be taken to pieces and carried on the shoulders of Indians over the mountains to the shores of Lake Tezcuco.

By great good luck valuable reinforcements now arrived from Cuba, sent by Velasquez, ignorant of the fate of Narvaez, to aid in the overthrow and capture of the rebel Cortés. The new-comers, finding that Narvaez was a prisoner, did not scruple to enlist under the victorious general, who thus gained a hundred and fifty men, many horses, and the ammunition and guns he so much needed.

At Tepeaca was founded a Spanish colony, which was named Segura de la Frontera—Security of the Frontier. Here Cortés wrote his second letter to the Emperor Charles V., recounting all his strange adventures since the departure from the Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz. He requested that Mexico might henceforth be named "New Spain of the Ocean Sea," and he begged that a commission might be at once sent out to prove the truth of his statements.

A letter signed by both officers and men was also written to his Majesty, complaining of the malice of Velasquez, and justifying the actions of their own 211