Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/498

478 his way to the royal carriage and placed his foot upon the step. "Who is this man?" demanded the king. "One who has given your Majesty more kingdoms than you had cities before!" was the reply. This was the last time that Cortés ever asked aught of his sovereign. Three years passed in further waiting, and then the conqueror, his patience exhausted, determined to return to New Spain, to leave his native soil forever.

Having previously obtained permission to depart, he proceeded to Seville and was received with honors by the nobility, the last to be tendered him in this life. They bid him farewell, asking God's blessing on his departure. But these manifestations, hollow or sincere, could not revive his broken spirit, nor dispel his bitterness of heart; his health declined, and it was soon apparent that his last hour was drawing near. The strain upon his faculties had been severe, and death came at last to his relief To escape visitors, he was conveyed to the village Castillejo de la Cuesta, about two leagues from Seville, accompanied by Martin, who would not leave his father; and on December 2, 1547, then in his sixty-second year,