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aiding Salazar in the achievement of his plots, Paz was no longer indispensable; indeed, he was an obstacle to the free sway of the lieutenants. Their longing for uncontrolled action was fostered partly by rumors of disasters to Cortés, borne from the natives of the south, and all the more alarming in the absence of news from him. The ruling faction did not hesitate to magnify these reports and to circulate fantastic stories about Cortés, Marina, and Sandoval having been seen burning in vivid flames in the Tlateluco church-yard. Machinations against the immediate adherents of Cortés could accordingly be ventured upon, but their leader must above all be removed. An additional incentive existed in the wealth of the captain-general, of which Paz was the guardian, and in the enmity of Chirinos, who had lost to him at the gambling-table the greater part of his fortune.

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