Page:Vol 1 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/380

260 terror and fearful slaughter in their ranks. Escalante laid waste the district, and captured Nautla town, which was sacked and burned. This lesson finished, he hastened back to Villa Rica, and there within three days succumbed to his wounds together with several soldiers, so that the campaign cost the lives of seven or nine men. From prisoners it was understood that Quauhpopoca had acted wholly under orders from Montezuma. The captured soldier was Argüello, of Leon, a young man of powerful frame, with a large head and a curly black beard. He appears to have died from his wounds on the way to Mexico, and the head was presented to the emperor. Its wild appearance, however, increased by the black, curly beard, made so bad an impression upon him that he refused to offer it to his idols, ordering it to be sent to some other town.According to Bernal Diaz, whose version is chiefly adhered to, the death of so many soldiers caused the Spaniards to fall somewhat in the estimation of the Indians, who had looked upon them as invulnerable beings. 'Y que todos los pueblos de la sierra, y Cempoal, y su sujeto, están alterados, y no les quieren dar comida, ni servir.' ''Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad.,'' 73-4. But this is probably an exaggeration, for Cortés would not have ventured to send down a new comandante almost without escort, or to have remained quietly at Mexico for months, had his rear been so threatened. Cortés, who should be regarded as the best authority, gives a curious motive for the campaign. Qualpopoca, as he calls him, sent a message to Escalante, offering to become a vassal of the Spanish king. He had not submitted before, fearing to pass through the intervening hostile country; but if four soldiers were sent to escort him, he would come with them. Believing this protestation, Escalante sent the four men, two of whom wounded returned shortly after with the story that Quauhpopoca had sought to kill them, and had succeeded in despatching their comrades. This led to the expedition of Escalante. Cartas, 87-8. It appears most unlikely that this officer should have so far forgotten the prudence ever enjoined on his captains by Cortés, and trusted only four men in an unknown country, in response to so suspicious a request. There was beside no need for Quauhpopoca to go to Villa Rica, since his submission through envoys would be just as binding. If he desired to see the Spanish fort, he could have gone safely by water, for large canoes were used on the coast. It is not improbable that the story was made up to justify the expedition sent against Nautla, since a campaign by a small force, merely on behalf of a wretched tribe of natives, might have been regarded as unwarranted. This story was also useful afterward, when Cortés first thought