Page:Vol 1 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/290

170 governor or captain, before we obey him we shall inform your royal person." This sentence, which Las Casas characterizes as a great though sweetened piece of impudence," and several others not in harmony with Cortés' own calculated report, were probably the cause for the disappearance of the letter before it reached the emperor.

The messengers or procuradores left the port July 16, and although ordered not to touch Cuba, lest Velazquez should learn of the mission, Montejo could not resist the temptation of taking a peep at his estates at Mariel de Cuba, a port close to Habana. Here they entered August 23, and took supplies and water. This could not of course be done in secret, and swelling with rumor the report reached Velazquez that his flag-ship had come ballasted with gold, to the value of two hundred and seventy thousand pesos. No less alarmed than furious at this proof of the perfidy he had so long feared, he despatched a fast sailing vessel with a strong force under Gonzalo de