I now set out with four soldiers and two guides. First we passed several rivers of considerable depth, then crossed some marshes until we arrived at a small village, whither most of the inhabitants of the deserted township had fled. Here we had likewise the good fortune to find four houses, completely filled with maise, also about thirty fowls, and a few melons. We captured four Indians and three women, and we now celebrated Easter right jollily. Above a thousand Mexicans whom Cortes had sent after us arrived in the night, and we immediately loaded as much of the maise on them as they could carry, with which they returned to our camp: we at the same time sent above twenty fowls for Cortes and Sandoval, besides the prisoners we had taken, and then placed a watch over these storehouses in order that the inhabitants might not set fire to them during the night, or carry off their contents. The following day we continued our march, and discovered some more buildings full of maise, fowls, and various kinds of vegetables. Here I made myself a little ink, and I wrote a letter to our general on a small piece of drum skin, requesting him to send me a detachment of Indian troops, as we had found another storehouse full of provisions. The next day, accordingly, above thirty Spaniards and 500 Indians arrived, and each took as heavy a load of provisions as he could possibly carry. In this way God in his great mercy again relieved us in the utmost distress, and we halted five days in Taica to rest from our fatigues.
The bridges which we threw across the numerous rivers we passed on our march had been so strongly put together that several of them were still to be seen for many years after; and subsequently, when all these provinces were subjected to the Spanish crown, our countrymen regarded them in astonishment, and exclaimed, These are the bridges of Cortes! in the same way as people say, These are the columns of Hercules!
After marching forward for two more days, we arrived at a township called Tania, which was also deserted by its inhabitants, though we found some maise and other provisions, but not in sufficient quantity for our troops. On thoroughly exploring the country round about, we discovered that we were now completely surrounded by rivers and small streams; the guides we had brought with us ran away in the night from the soldiers who had charge of them. These men had but recently arrived from New Spain, and it appears had been overtaken by sleep; our general, on receiving the first information of their neglect of duty, was going to have them severely punished; however, he was at length induced to pardon them, and he sent out another party to explore our route; but as this neighbourhood abounded with rivers, and it continued to rain very fast, almost the whole of the country was inundated; besides which, we could have no hopes of meeting with any of the inhabitants. Thus situated, in the midst of the waters, we scarcely knew which way to turn, and our distress and alarm were each moment increasing. Cortes himself appeared considerably disheartened, and said, with a good deal of ill humour, to Ircio, and other officers who came with him from Mexico: "I should like to know which of you will volunteer to go out in search of some Indian guide, or to discover a way out of these waters; for it is shameful to leave everything to the veterans, who have accompanied us from Guacasualco!"
After this reproach, Ircio, with some of his friends and acquaintances, offered himself, and he actually marched out for this purpose. Marmolejo, a person of distinction, likewise went out with six men; so also Santacruz Burgales, with a like number. Each of these three small detachments went off in a different direction, and they wandered about for three days, but returned with the disheartening news, that wherever they came there was nothing but water to be seen. Cortes was ready to burst with vexation when they told him this, and he desired Sandoval to go and speak with me, and request me, in his name, to try if I could not discover some road, to rescue the army from its present perilous position. All this he said in an affectionate and begging tone of voice, as he very well knew that I was by no means in good health: and indeed I was suffering with a bad fever, for which reason I had refused to accompany my intimate friend Marmolejo, to whom I said: "You expect me to do everything; let others bestir themselves as well!" First I refused Sandoval also, but he came a second time to my hut, and begged very hard of me to comply with our general's request, who had said, that next to God he could only expect assistance from me at this juncture. Though I felt very ill, yet my honour would not allow me to refuse any longer, and I desired that Hernando de Aguilar and a certain Hinojosa might accompany me, both of whom were men I well knew could bear any fatigues.
We three then set out from our camp, and followed the course of a rivulet to some considerable distance, until we came in view of a hill lying on the opposite side of the water, and on which we observed several branches of trees that had been stuck in the ground as if to serve for some signal. We now marched in this direction for upwards of an hour, and after finding our way out between the rivers, we came to some small huts, which had a short time previously been deserted by their owners. Continuing our course in this direction, we observed at some distance from us, on the slope of a hill, some maise plantations lying about an isolated dwelling, in which we distinctly heard the sound of human voices. As the sun was by this time nearly gone down, we concealed ourselves among the bushes until late in the night, when we thought the inmates of the house were all fast asleep. We then moved forward in the utmost silence up to this habitation, broke suddenly into it, and captured three Indians, an old woman, and two other young females, who were uncommonly pretty. We only found two fowls and a small quantity of maise, with which, and the whole of these Indians, we returned highly rejoiced to our encampment. Sandoval had kept a look out for us until late in the evening, and he was the first to observe us at a distance, on our return. He could scarcely contain himself for joy when he recognized us, and he hastened to inform Cortes, to whom no news could be more acceptable than the fact of our safe return. "Indeed," said Sandoval, on this occasion, to Pedro de Ircio, "Bernal Diaz del Castillo remarked well some time ago, on going out in search of provisions, that this required men of great activity, and not people who thought of nothing else on the road but of their pretty stories of the count of Ureña and his son Don Pedro Giron!" for this was the constant theme of friend Ircio. "He had good reasons for saying so, and you need not reproach him, for speaking in your dispraise to our general and myself."
These words caused a general laughter at Ircio's expense, and Sandoval purposely procured me this little triumph, because he knew I owed the former a grudge.
When I came into the presence of Cortes, he thanked me in the kindest terms, and said: "I have never found you at a loss in time of need!"
But why should I repeat these flattering sentences? for at most they are mere empty sounds, and little profit to any one: at least, I gained nothing by these fine words, excepting that when this perilous expedition was subsequently the topic of conversation in Mexico, my name was always mentioned with praise.
Cortes, on questioning the Indians respecting the country, learnt from them, that if we followed the course of a certain rivulet we should arrive, after two days' journey, in a township called Oculizti, which consisted of upwards of two hundred houses, but had been deserted a few days previously by its inhabitants. We accordingly marched down the rivulet, and arrived at several large huts belonging to Indian merchants, who rested here on their journeys. We passed the night in these dwellings, and the following day we continued our march along the same stream for two miles, when we came to a good road, which brought us before sunset to Coliste, where we found maise and plenty of vegetables, and, suspended in a temple, an old Spanish cap and a shoe, which had been dedicated to the idols there. Several of our men searched some hollows in the neighbourhood, and soon discovered two aged Indians and four women, who were immediately brought into the presence of our general. On being questioned by Doña Marina about the town where the Spaniards had settled, they answered, that it lay on the sea coast, about five days' journey from our camp, but that on our road thither we should not see a single Indian township.
On this information, Cortes instantly despatched Sandoval, with six men on foot, to the sea coast, in the direction the Indians had pointed out, in order to learn, if possible, what number of Spanish troops Christobal de Oli had under his command, for at that time we were still ignorant of what had taken place there.