Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/115

Rh hastened to inform the king that the natives of Pánuco had already submitted to him; and he intimated afterward that it would be not only dangerous for a strange expedition to enter the country, but injurious to the royal interest there and in the settled districts to the south. The claim of submission was based on the allegiance tendered by some towns near Almería, which by way of diplomacy he made extend indefinitely beyond. The reverses at Mexico, and the subsequent siege, called attention away from outlying provinces, but after the subjugation of Anáhuac Cortés took up the matter, although he was prevented from prosecuting it by the arrival of Tapia.

Soon after came news from the Islands that a fresh expedition, promoted to some extent by the admiral of the Indies, was preparing to occupy Pánuco. This was confirmed by a letter from Garay himself, who announced that the sovereign had appointed him governor of that district, and that he would at once enter into possession. Cortés had already made extensive preparations to anticipate his rival, and was not to be held back from a prize now more alluring than ever, and that by the mere indication of cédulas which he had so well learned to circumvent.

The question here involved was similar to that of Narvaez and Tapia. The descent of an armed force so near to Mexico would encourage the natives to fresh revolts which might involve the loss of the entire country, and the slaughter of every Spaniard. His duty to sovereign and comrades demanded that he should prevent such disasters, and he was also bound to protect from other invaders a province which had already submitted to him. Indeed,