Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/281

Rh ensued from which the former retired with a wound to attest a complaint to his friend Estrada. Such an outrage on one of his adherents by a follower of his rival could not be endured, and without listening to any defence the governor ordered the man's hand to be cut off. Cortés, who seems to have retired to his beloved Cuernavaca, since the appointment of the treasurer for sole ruler, hastened to interfere, but came too late, and gave vent to his indignation in bitter words. Quite alarmed, Estrada summoned the royal officials and his friends to sustain him, and was counselled to exile his opponent from the city, as the only means to maintain order. There was every justification for such a step against a man who had dared to threaten the king's governor, and the temptation to humiliate the rival was too great to be withstood.

"It is well," said Cortés, when notified of the measure, "that persons unfit to hold office should be allowed to exile me from the spot which I and my brave followers acquired for the king at the cost of so much toil and blood. But after all Estrada may have overreached himself, for now Cortés would proceed to Spain and pray for justice against a man so ungrateful for the many favors conferred.

Great was the commotion when this measure became known, and many regarded a recourse to arms as inevitable; but Cortés silenced his angry adherents, and