Page:The Mastering of Mexico.djvu/113

Rh heard this, we said that Cortes had deceived us and done wrong, for in Cuba he had proclaimed that he was going to form a settlement, and now it was evident he had come only to trade. We begged of him not to break his word, but to further the greatest service to God and the king and found a colony. The natives, he declared, would never again let us land. But if a settlement were once established, soldiers from all the islands would flock to help us; Diego Velasquez had deceived us when he said he was empowered by the king to found colonies.

At first Cortes refused to comply with our wishes and only after much begging agreed, stipulating that we should make him chief justice and captain general, and, what was worse for us, that a fifth part of the gold which remained after the royal fifth had been subtracted, should fall to him. In the presence of the king's notary, Godoy, we formally gave him these powers, and at once set to work to found a town which we called Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz, because we landed on the Friday of the Cross and the country was rich. As soon as the first stone of the town was laid, we appointed mayors and magistrates, with Juan de Escalante as governor.

When they found that we had elected Cortes our captain general and chief justice, the Velasquez clique were so furious that they roundly abused Cortes and those of us who had chosen him. Their