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134 not return, neither would he just at present die. In desperate cases spirited counsels and spirited actions are usually safest.

Calling to him his most trusty followers, Puertocarrero, Ålvarado and his brothers, Ávila, Olid, Escalante, and Francisco Lugo, he laid the situation fairly before them. Shortly after these captains were out among the men, holding forth to them privately on the wealth of the country, the ease and glory of conquest, and the prospect of repartimientos. Where was the benefit of returning to Cuba? Surely they might as well hold the country for themselves as to abandon it and let others step into their places. It would be much easier to increase the present force by adding to it than to raise a new army better appointed or larger than this. Nor did they forget the argument of religion, which, however hollow in practice, was weighty enough in theory. "Elect therefore to remain," they said in conclusion; "and choose the able and generous Cortés for your general and justicia mayor till the emperor decides in the matter.

The opposition was by no means ignorant of these manœuvres, and Ordaz was commissioned to remonstrate with Cortés. He dwelt on the danger of present colonization, denounced any attempt to ignore Velazquez, and insisted on instant return. Suppressing the anger naturally arising from these insinuations, true as they were, Cortés disavowed any intention of exceeding the instructions of his commission. For himself he preferred to remain, as, among other reasons, the only means of reimbursing himself for his heavy expenditures. If, however, it