CHAPTER CXCV.
How Cortes receives letters from the Cardinal de Siguenza, then president of the council of the Indies, and from several other cavaliers, advising him to repair to Spain without delay; the death of his father Martin Cortes; and of other matters.
Cortes was about taking his departure for Spain, when letters arrived for him from Don Garcia de Loaysa, cardinal of Siguenza, president of the council of the Indies and subsequently archbishop of Seville, and from the duke of Bejar, and other cavaliers in Spain, all of whom assured him that his enemies drew the greatest advantage from the continued postponement of his arrival in Spain, and daily brought fresh accusations against him. He was openly accused, they said, of the foulest of crimes, and of having poisoned the different governors whom his majesty had sent to New Spain. It was necessary, therefore, that he should repair immediately to the imperial court, which could not fail to produce a good effect, and all the calumnies which had been heaped upon him would recoil upon his enemies, and prove the very means of raising him to the highest honours. They at the same time announced to him the death of his father Martin Cortes; and as he was still in mourning[50] for his wife Doña Catalina Suarez, he put on additional mourning for his father, to whose memory he in every way paid the highest honours. The different accounts which he had received caused him altogether considerable grief, and if he had previously felt a great desire to return to Spain, he felt now the more so; and as he was informed that the two vessels which had arrived in Vera Cruz were newly built, and fast sailers, he despatched his mayor-domo Pedro Ruiz de Esquival thither to purchase them. Various kinds of provisions were then collected in great abundance, of the most expensive kinds, and everything was regulated for his voyage in a manner due to so distinguished and wealthy a person. The two vessels were so plentifully provisioned, that they had sufficient victuals for a voyage of two years, although the number of people on board was much greater than ordinary.
The mayor-domo, who was to repair to Vera Cruz, had, in order to take the shortest route thither, embarked in a canoe on the lake of Mexico, for the township of Ayotzinco. This canoe, of considerable size, was manned with six Mexican rowers, and Ruiz had with him a number of gold bars, for the purchase of the vessels, and a negro slave to attend upon him. Whether he was waylaid by any one in the midst of the lake, and murdered, could never be discovered, but certain it is that neither the canoe, the rowers, nor the negro were ever seen again; only the body of Ruiz was found, four days after, on a small island of the lake, half devoured by the birds of prey. Various conjectures were made respecting the death of this man, and many persons said he had bragged too openly of the great favours which were bestowed upon him by the ladies, and that he had most likely boasted of things which never happened. Others maintained that something much worse had taken place, which, however, I will not go into here; in short, it was never known, nor was there ever much trouble taken to investigate, how this man came to his end, and we can only wish that his poor soul may rest in peace.
Cortes, on learning the untimely end of this man, despatched other officers of his household to Vera Cruz, to make the necessary preparations there for his departure, and he made it publicly known that all those who were desirous of leaving for Spain, and could obtain the governor's permission thereto, should have a free passage with him. He then departed, in company of Sandoval, Andreas de Tapia, and of several other cavaliers, for Vera Cruz, where the whole of them, after having confessed, and made the holy communion, set sail for Spain.
Cortes had so very favorable a passage, that, without touching at the Havannah or any other port, he arrived safe in forty-one days off the coast of Spain, and cast anchor near the town of Palos, opposite the church of our dear lady of Rabida. At the first sight of land every one on board fell down on his knees, and with uplighted hands offered up fervent thanks to God for this prosperous voyage. Cortes' arrival in Spain took place in the month of December of the year 1527.
During this voyage Sandoval fell dangerously ill, and Cortes' joy at his safe arrival in his native land was soon changed into excessive grief, for a few days after it pleased the Almighty to take away this our general's faithful companion in arms. Sandoval was still at Palos, and lodged in the house of a rope-maker; and here, while lying on his death-bed, he was forced patiently to behold the master of the house open one of his trunks, and take out thirteen bars of gold. This fellow had watched the favorable opportunity when Sandoval's servants had all hastened to the Rabida, to call Cortes to his dying friend, so that he was left quite alone; besides which, he was so helpless and weak, that he durst not even cry out, lest the rope-maker, who had the very countenance of a villain, should have smothered him with the cushions. The thief immediately fled with the gold bars, and escaped to Portugal, nor was he ever heard of again.
Cortes, on learning the dangerous state in which Sandoval lay, hastened to his bedside, where he learnt what I have just stated, from the latter's own mouth. Persons were immediately sent in pursuit of the thief, but it was too late, the fellow got clear away.
Sandoval's health was daily growing worse, so that at length the physicians gave up all hopes of his life, and told him his end was drawing nigh. Saudoval then confessed, and received the last sacraments with the greatest devotion. He made his last will, to which he appointed Cortes executor, set apart large sums for the poor and the cloisters, and left his sister or sisters heir to his property. I am not sure whether he had more than one sister, but I know that subsequently a sister of his married a natural son of the earl of Medellin. A short time after he had made his will Sandoval rendered up his soul into the hands of his Maker, and his death caused universal and heartfelt grief. He was buried with every imaginable pomp in the monastery of our dear lady of Rabida, and Cortes, with the whole of his suite, put on mourning for him. May God have mercy upon his soul! Amen!