Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/249

Rh a world was partitioned, and by whose servants millions of souls were redeemed from paganism. Men who had tamely submitted to Salazar, even yielding their leader to his executioner, now dared to raise their voices, so that his adherents wavered and fell back. Comparatively free from the passion of the others, the governor had failed to weigh the effect of his step. It dawned upon him with the first protest; but he was too proud to retract. Now he must yield, however, and with curses on his lips he bent to implore forgiveness of the friars. The prisoners were restored, and he received absolution.

This humiliation of the tyrant brought about a revulsion of feeling, as he probably had feared, for the result of the excommunication revealed how slight was his hold on the community, despite his seemingly unbounded sway. Men who had hitherto shunned their neighbors with suspicious fear now began to reveal their feelings, encouraged also by the mute support of the friars. Opinions were revived that Cortés was alive, and these appear to have been based not alone on hope, or a longing for relief, but on a letter from Pedro de Alvarado, and probably on reports from the Islands, whither Cortés had despatched vessels from Honduras, in the early part of the summer. The friends of Cortés grew confident again, and began to collect arms and discuss the best means for removing the usurpers, whether by the hand of an assassin, or by declaring open war. Salazar became alarmed, and proportionately profuse with favors and promises to his adherents. So serious did he regard the movement that he convoked a meeting of citizens to consider repressive measures, and sought at the same time to propitiate them by tendering an