Juan Velasquez replied, in an equally sharp tone of voice, that Cortes was not a traitor, but a faithful servant to his emperor; that such services as he had rendered to the crown could not be termed the actions of a traitor, and he must beg of him not again to make use of such expressions in his presence.
Upon this Narvaez assumed a different tone, and made Velasquez vast promises if he would remain with him; even promised him, and sealed it with an oath, that he would elevate him to second in command to himself, if he would manage to induce Cortes' troops to join his standard of their own free will. Velasquez, however, assured him he should consider himself the vilest of traitors if he deserted a general to whom he had sworn fidelity, and of whom he was convinced that everything he had done in New Spain was for the emperor's best interest. On the contrary, he was determined to remain as faithful and true to Cortes as to the emperor himself, and he earnestly begged of him not to touch upon that string again.
During this conversation, Narvaez's chief officers had, by degrees, all arrived to pay their respects to Velasquez, which they did with every show of courtesy, as Velasquez was a man of elegant carriage and powerful stature, and had a winning countenance; his beard looked majestic, a heavy gold chain hung from his shoulder in graceful folds, and sat well on this courageous and spirited officer. After this discourse with Narvaez, Velasquez turned to the other officers, and entered into private conversation with father Olmedo, Duero, and Bermudez.
Narvaez's party, however, were of a different opinion with respect to Velasquez, and some of the officers, among whom were Gamarra, Juan Yuste, Juan Bono de Quexo, and the braggadocio Salvatierra, pressed Narvaez very hard to throw him into chains, as he was secretly striving to gain over his men in favour of Cortes. This Narvaez was very willing to do, and had already issued orders to that purpose, when Bermudez, Duero, and several others who favored our general, received intimation thereof, and remonstrated with Narvaez as to the policy of such a step, and the benefit he would derive from it, as Cortes, though he had an additional hundred officers such as Velasquez, would be unable to cope with him. He should also bear in mind how Cortes had received all those who visited his camp; how well he had treated every one, and presented them so plentifully with jewels and other matters, that every one, up to the present moment, had left him laden like bees returning to their hives. It was equally in Cortes' power to have detained Duero, the priest Guevara, and others; this, however, he had not done, but, on the contrary, had shown them every possible respect. It would certainly be more to Narvaez's advantage to behave courteously to Velasquez in return, and invite him to dinner on the following day.
Narvaez was fully convinced of the truth of these arguments, and requested Velasquez, in the kindest terms, to become mediator between Cortes and himself, and try if he could not succeed to induce the former and his troops to join his standard; and then invited him to dinner on the next day. Velasquez promised to make the attempt, but, at the same time, stated that he entertained few hopes of success, as Cortes was very determined on that head. The best method of settling the matter, in his opinion, was, by a division of the provinces between both generals, and Cortes would gladly leave the choice to him.
Velasquez, however, merely made this observation to make Narvaez a little more tractable. During this discourse, father Olmedo stepped up, and, as one of Narvaez's confidential friends and advisers, (for thus far he had succeeded with him,) proposed, that he should draw out the whole of his troops, with the cavalry and artillery, before Velasquez and his servant Juan, to show them the powerful army he commanded, and that they might relate what they had seen to Cortes, which would certainly produce the desired effect, and convince him he could not do better than submit to him. Narvaez followed this counsel, which Olmedo had merely advised to vex all his cavaliers and soldiers. The alarm was accordingly sounded, and the whole of the troops were thus obliged to march out before Velasquez, his servant Juan, and father Olmedo.
After Velasquez had gazed upon the troops for some time, he said to Narvaez, "Certainly, your excellency's power is considerable, and may God grant you a further increase of it!"
"Well," replied Narvaez, "are you now not fully convinced that it would merely cost me a day's march to overthrow Cortes and the whole of you?"
"I will not say anything about that," said Velasquez; "but you may depend upon it we should not sell our lives cheaply."
The following day Velasquez was to dine with Narvaez. At table he likewise met a nephew of the governor of Cuba, who bore the same name, and had the command of a company. During dinner-time, the conversation turned upon Cortes' obstinacy, and the letter he had written to Narvaez; and, one word leading to another, Diego Velasquez asserted, at length, that Cortes and all those who sided with him were traitors for not submitting to Narvaez.