Upon this, couriers were sent to Guatimala, to inform Alvarado of the fall of the factor and veedor. As the province he was then staying in was not very distant from Truxillo, the confederates also conveyed to him their letters to Cortes, containing an account as to how the whole affair had been managed, and that it was necessary for him to repair to Mexico in all haste. With these letters Alvarado was requested to set off in person for Truxillo, and when there he was to urge Cortes to leave without any further delay. The first thing which Estrada did was to restore Juana de Mansilla to honour, whom, it will be remembered, the factor had whipped for a witch through the streets of Mexico. The following was the method which Estrada adopted to honour this injured woman; the whole of the cavaliers were ordered to mount their horses, he himself placing Juana Mansilla on his saddle behind him, and in this way, at the head of the cavalcade, he paraded every street of the city. "This woman," he said, "had behaved like the Roman matrons of old, wherefore the insult which had been offered to her person by the factor, should now be made to exalt her in the estimation of all honest men." And, indeed, she could not be too highly honoured for the praiseworthy conduct she had pursued, and ever after she was addressed as Doña Juana de Mansilla. The factor could not induce her to form a second marriage, and, notwithstanding all his persecution, she had steadfastly maintained that her husband and all of us were still alive.
CHAPTER CLXXXIX.
How the treasurer, with several other cavaliers, requested the Franciscan monks to despatch father Diego de Altamirano, a relation of Cortes, to Truxillo, to desire our general to hasten his departure for Mexico.
The treasurer and other cavaliers of Cortes' party soon saw how necessary it was that our general should lose no time in repairing to New Spain, for a strong party was already forming against him, which might become the more formidable, as no reliance was to be placed on Albornoz. This man had, from the very commencement, greatly disapproved of the imprisonment of the factor and veedor: his principal reason for which was, that he feared Cortes might have received intelligence of the infamous manner in which he had calumniated him in secret letters to the emperor. Cortes' party, therefore, considered there was not a moment to be lost, and begged of the Franciscan monks to despatch father Diego de Altamirano to Truxillo, for which purpose they had already fitted out a vessel, manned with the best sailors. They had purposely made choice of father Diego, from his being related to Cortes, and because he had formerly been a soldier, and was altogether a man of business-like habits. Altamirano readily undertook to fulfil this commission, and the other brothers gave their immediate consent to his departure.
Matters were now daily gaining a more unfavorable aspect in Mexico. The accountant Albornoz, as I have already stated, bore a dubious character, and was very adverse to the recent change; besides which, the factor himself had still a number of adherents among the more turbulent spirits, whose friendship he had gained with gold and lucrative commendaries. These personages, therefore, secretly conspired with several other men of distinction, to murder the treasurer, with the whole of his party, and to liberate the factor and veedor from their cages. When the accountant was let into this secret, it is said, he was excessively delighted.
The conspirators commenced their operations by enlisting among their number a locksmith, named Guzman, a very poor fellow, but much addicted to low wit. They first made him take an oath of secrecy, and then commissioned him to construct a key to open the cages in which the factor and veedor were imprisoned, and to ensure his fidelity they gave him a large piece of gold. This man declared he was ready to serve them as much as lay in his power, and appeared the more eager to do so the more they assured him of the importance of his services, and the more he became acquainted with the extent of the conspiracy. He made every appearance as if he wished nothing more sincerely than the liberation of the factor and veedor, and inquired the names and number of the conspirators, with the day and hour they intended to rise up in arms. After he had gained sufficient information of every circumstance he commenced making a key according to the impression they had given him, but purposely constructed it in such a manner as not to open the lock, that the conspirators might return with it to him. As in this way they came several times backwards and forwards to his shop, he continually gained further information respecting their plans. When the whole of the conspirators stood ready armed, merely awaiting his key to commence the murderous attack, the locksmith hastened to Estrada and discovered the whole plot to him.
The treasurer, without saying a word to Albornoz, instantly assembled the whole of Cortes' party, and repaired at their head to the house where the conspirators had met for the purpose of sallying out in a body at a preconcerted signal. Twenty of their number were soon seized, but the rest saved themselves by a precipitate flight. The prisoners were instantly put upon their trial, when it was clearly proved that they contemplated murdering the treasurer and liberating the factor and veedor. It was also discovered that Albornoz was cognisant of the conspiracy, and that three or four very dangerous and rebellious fellows were concerned in it, who had performed a conspicuous part in all the disorders that had taken place in Mexico during Cortes' absence, one of whom had even insulted a Spanish lady in the grossest manner. A criminal suit was soon after instituted against these latter personages by the bachelor Ortega, alcalde-mayor of Mexico. The whole of them were found guilty of sedition, three were sentenced to be hung, and several of the other conspirators to be scourged. Those sentenced to the gallows were Pastrana, Valverde, and Escobar; the names of the others I have forgotten.
As for the locksmith, he durst not venture out of doors for several days; fearing the partisans of the factor would assassinate him in revenge for having betrayed the secret.
Although it may be thought rather out of place here, I must observe that the factor had indeed despatched to Spain the vessel, mentioned in a former chapter, with the gold which he had collected for his majesty. In his despatches he stated Cortes' death as a fact of which there was not the slightest doubt; he then went on to magnify the great confidence which all parties placed in him (the factor); and he concluded by petitioning his majesty to confer the appointment of governor on him. However, by this same vessel, other letters were secretly forwarded to his majesty, in which his majesty was duly apprized of every circumstance that had transpired in New Spain, with a full account of the tyrannical and cruel government of the factor. His majesty was also at the same time informed by the royal court of audience at St. Domingo and the Hieronymite brotherhood that Cortes was alive and busily occupied in subduing and colonizing the country along the coast of the Honduras. When, therefore, the council of the Indies and the comendador-mayor of Leon communicated with his majesty on the affairs of New Spain, it is said that the emperor expressed himself as follows: "The people of New Spain have done very wrong indeed in rising up against Cortes, and have greatly injured the true interests of the crown; but as Cortes is still alive, I trust that, on his return to Mexico, he will severely punish the villains who have caused so much disorder."