Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/290

270 shown hereafter, the appeal was supported by letters from the duke of Béjar and other friends. At the same time came the news of the death of Martin Cortés. This proved a severe blow to the son, who after so long a separation had vividly pictured to himself the joy of once more embracing his father and able friend who had so zealously protected his interests against assailants. He caused an impressive funeral ceremony to be held, and put on the customary mourning attire.

Two new vessels, reported to be fast sailers, had just arrived at Vera Cruz, and Cortés despatched his majordomo, Ruiz de Esquivel, to secure them. Accompanied by a negro to carry two bars of gold for the purchase, he took a boat with six native rowers to carry him across the lake to Ayotzinco, but he never appeared. Search was instituted, and a month later attention was attracted to a human arm protruding from the ground, the flesh eaten by birds. The half-buried body proved to be that of the majordomo, almost nude and with a knife wound in the head. The gold and the boatmen had disappeared. Though the gold appears to have been the motive, some prefer to connect the murder with Ruiz indiscreet vauntings of successful intrigues with dames of the capital.

Another agent went to secure the vessels, which were at once prepared for the voyage, and provided with a respectable armament to protect their valuable cargo against corsairs. The intention of Cortés was to carry with him a varied assortment of effects, not so much for presents as to exhibit the resources of the country he had conquered. The most valuable part consisted of fifteen hundred marcos of wrought silver, thirty thousand pesos de oro in gold, a portion alloyed, and several thousand pesos in jewels, including precious