Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/255

Rh a faithful guard, there to be submitted like a wild beast to public gaze and jeers. To this ordeal his associate Chirinos had also to submit. This leader had hastened from Oajaca at the first report of troubles to aid Salazar, but learning the result, he fled to Tlascala and took refuge in the monastery. This being still in the hands of the builder, his pursuers declared that it could not be regarded as sacred protection, and carried off the refugee, placing him in a cage adjoining that of his ally. Not long after it was decided to restore him to the monastery.

The citizens repeatedly demanded the condemnation to death of the two prisoners for their treatment of Paz, and for other offences, and Estrada does not seem to have been averse, but Albornoz had a wholesome respect for their powerful patron at court, and so they were allowed to live. He resolved not to commit himself in behalf of a man with such precarious favor at court as Cortés, for whose downfall he himself had ardently labored.

Notwithstanding the obstacles interposed by this man, several reforms were carried out. The officials of Cortés were in many instances restored, among them the procuradores in Spain, and sequestrated property was released, while that of despoilers passed into the hands of trustees. During this spoliation the governors did not fail to profit by the example of their predecessors in striving to obtain the lion's share of offices and wealth for themselves and their friends. Their tenure of power might not last long,