Page:Young Folks History Of Mexico.pdf/203

 Rh

In the year 1504 there came to the West Indies a young man, then about nineteen years of age, by the name of Cortez. He was well received in the island of Hispaniola (Haiti), as the governor, Ovando, was from his own native province of Estremadura in Spain, and he was assigned the clerkship of a small town and an encomienda of Indians. In 1511, when Velasquez sailed over to Cuba, and completed the conquest of that island, Hernando Cortez, now a man of some importance, went with him. There he acquired land and Indians, and grew wealthy, devoting himself to the cultivation of his plantation and the raising of stock.

[A.D. 1518.] And it so happened, that when, in the year 1518, Governor Velasquez looked about him for a commander for his third expedition to Mexico, the name of Cortez was brought prominently before him. These two gentlemen had previously quarrelled (about an affair which does not particularly concern this history), but were now reconciled, and Velasquez considered favorably the proposition, made by a friend of Cortez, that he should have the command. Imperious, as well as ambitious, the governor had taken offence at the doings of the brave and discreet Grijalva, who had the strongest claims upon his consideration, and abandoned him for this man, Cortez, who was soon to cause him to repent this folly, and to consume his heart in rage and shame. Knowing that the governor