Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/26

6 It was readily believed that he had secured for himself, besides the fifth granted to him by the agreement at Villa Rica, and a sum to repay him for certain losses, the richest treasures revealed by the tortured captives. The exaggerated estimate of Aztec wealth, based on native testimony, and impressed by the bombast of the adherents of Cortés, was too deeply rooted in the minds of the soldiers to be eradicated by argument, although a little reflection convinced a few of the more thoughtful how unreasonable their expectations had been.

The general occupied at this time a palace at Coyuhuacan, and on its white coating the soldiers found an outlet for their feelings which they dared not openly express. Inscribed upon the wall, for several mornings, in prose and verse, appeared honest complaints and malicious attacks. Most of them were from the men of Narvaez, to judge from the allusions to Cortés as an upstart and usurper, who had come to reap what Velazquez had sown, and who would soon descend to his proper low level. Priding himself both on his wit and poetry, Cortés stooped to add his couplets of retort, only to encourage the libellers to more outrageous utterances. Finally, at Father Olmedo's suggestion, a notice was posted forbidding such pasquinades under heavy penalty.

The discontent was partly due to the inability of