Page:Romance of History, Mexico.djvu/248

 beloved commander. They besought the Emperor to confirm Cortés in his authority, declaring with truth that, from his knowledge of the land and its people and the devotion of his soldiers, he was "the man best qualified in all the world to achieve the conquest of the country."

These important missives were entrusted to Ordaz, who was sent at once to the coast to take ship for Castile. At the same time Alonzo de Avila was despatched to St. Domingo to report to the Royal Court of Audience in that island, and to obtain further supplies of ammunition. 212