Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/243

Rh Not only the estates of Cortés, but the offices, lands, and Indians of his followers, were appropriated for the benefit of the governor's friends, and many who had failed to take refuge in the sanctuary were arrested. This created a further dispersion, and not a few fled to the mountain regions, preferring to trust themselves among the half-revolted Indians rather than to the tender mercies of the executioners of Paz. In this persecution Casas and Gil Gonzalez were not overlooked, the former indeed being too dangerous. They were arraigned for the murder of Olid and condemned to death; to decapitation in this instance, since the culprits were by their rank exempt from the ignoble noose. Their appeal to the sovereign was at first disregarded, but their friends were sufficiently influential to prevail upon the governors to modify the decision and order their removal to Spain for judgment.

By the vessel in which Gonzalez embarked, the ea sent a paltry remittance to the king, and a arge number of costly presents\ for friends and their patron, whose favor and efforts in their behalf would be more effective than any services they could perform for the crown. The fate of the chivalrous Vasco Nuñiez, and the success of the nefarious schemes of the tyrant Pedrarias had proved a lesson to many another besides Salazar, and the sovereign suffered