Narvaez then expressed a desire to see this letter, and father Olmedo told him he had left it in his room, but would go for it, and left Narvaez for that purpose. In the meantime Salvatierra, the braggadocio, had come up to the latter; while Olmedo hastened to Duero, requesting him to be present when he handed over the letter to Narvaez, and bring with him as many other soldiers as possible, that its contents might be made known to all. Olmedo now returned to Narvaez, and presented him Cortes' letter, with these words: "Your excellency must not feel astonished if in this letter you find Cortes speaking out a little at random; however, notwithstanding all this, I can assure you, if you express yourself in kind terms to him, he will submit to you, with the whole of his troops."
All the bystanders now pressed Narvaez to read the letter; some were greatly annoyed, but Narvaez and Salvatierra merely laughed, and made game of the contents. Duero, however, said: "Really I am unable to make anything out of all this! The reverend father has assured me, that Cortes and the whole of his men are ready to join our standard, and yet they presume to write such nonsense to our general." Augustin Bermudez, who was a captain and alguacil-major of Narvaez's camp, followed in the same strain and said: "Father Olmedo has likewise assured me privately, that it merely required some little mediation between them, and Cortes would himself wait upon our general and join his standard with the whole of his men. As he is encamped not far from here, we could certainly do no better than despatch Señor Salvatierra and Señor Duero thither, and I will accompany them myself." This Bermudez merely said to see what Salvatierra would say, who immediately declared that he felt no inclination to visit a traitor.
Do not speak quite so rashly, Señor Salvatierra, said father Olmedo; for by showing a little more moderation you will be able, in a few days, to have him in your power.
However it was resolved that Duero should be despatched to Cortes, and Narvaez held a private conference with him and three other officers, desiring them to try and persuade Cortes to meet him at an Indian village on the road between the two encampments, where they might come to an understanding with each other respecting the division of the country and the boundaries of their respective territories. Narvaez was quite earnest in this matter, and had expressed himself to that effect to about twenty of his men, who were particularly devoted to him. This circumstance soon came to the ears of father Olmedo and Duero, who immediately apprized Cortes of it.
We must now, for a time, leave father Olmedo in Narvaez's camp, where he soon became very intimate with Salvatierra, as the latter was a native of Burgos and he himself of Olmedo, and he dined with him every day. In the meantime we will likewise allow Duero to make preparations for his journey, on which he was accompanied by Usagre, that Narvaez might not fish anything out of him. We must now see what took place in our own camp during this interval.
CHAPTER CXVIII.
How Cortes reviews the whole of his troops, and we are supplied with two hundred and fifty very long new lances, by the Tchinantecs.
As soon as Cortes was apprized of Narvaez's arrival in New Spain, and had received every information respecting the magnitude of his armament, he despatched a soldier who had served in the Italian campaigns, and who possessed an extensive knowledge of weapons and of the best method of fixing points to lances, into the province of the Tchinantecs,[78*] where some of our men had gone in search of gold mines. The Tchinantecs were deadly enemies to the Mexicans, and had only a few days previously made an alliance with us. This people used a species of lance, which was much longer than our Spanish lances, and furnished with a sharp double-edged point made of flint.[79]
Cortes had heard of this weapon, and sent word to the Tchinantecs to forward him three hundred of such lances, from which however he desired they would take off the flint points and substitute a double one of metal, as they had abundance of copper in their country. The soldier who was despatched with these orders took a pattern of the point required with him. Cortes' wishes were readily complied with, and as the inhabitants of every township of that province set diligently to work, the lances were soon finished and they turned out most satisfactory. Besides this, Cortes desired the soldier Tovilla to ask the Tchinantecs to send 2000 of their warriors, all armed with similar lances, on Easter day, into the district of Panguenequita,[80] and there make inquiries for our camp. The caziques willingly complied with our request, and they also gave Tovilla above 200 of their warriors, all armed with the same lances, to accompany him now on his return to our camp. The rest were to follow with another of our men, called Barrientos, who had been despatched into their country in search of mines, and he may have been from forty to forty-eight miles further inland. The lances which Tovilla brought with him proved most excellent, and he immediately taught us how to use them, particularly against the cavalry.