Medina related to Moreno the troubles of the colonists, including the desertion of Aguirre, and appealed to him for redress. He also asked for arms. Moreno offered to relieve the wants of the colony only on condition that it should transfer allegiance from Cortés to the audiencia, as agents for the emperor, and accept for captain Juan Ruano, one of Olid's officers, as had been done by Gil Gonzalez' men.[XVII-30] Pressed by necessity the colonists acquiesced. One of the first acts in connection with the transfer was to change the name Trujillo to Ascension. After a kidnapping raid on a neighboring pueblo, Moreno departed with about forty slaves, promising soon to return with a force strong enough to hold the province.[XVII-31] Hardly had his sails disappeared when the colonists restored the standard of Cortés, and sent Ruano to follow his patron, with the reminder that his moderation and efforts in their behalf had alone saved his neck.
CHAPTER XVIII.
MARCH OF CORTÉS TO HONDURAS.
1524-1525.
Doubts concerning Casas—Cortés Tired of Inaction—Determines to Go in Person to Honduras—Sets out with a Large Party—Arrives at Goazacoalco—The Gay Army soon Comes to Grief—The Way Barred by Large Rivers and Deep Morasses—Scarcity of Provisions—Sufferings of the Soldiers—The Trick of the Merchant-cacique—Killing of the Captive Kings—Apotheosis of a Charger—Fears of Rebellious Spaniards Dissipated on Nearing Nito.
Inordinate covetings had never been characteristic of Cortés; but when a man attains eminence in wealth, power, or fame, it seems natural, it is rather expected, that he should become sordid, grasping, callous to human sympathy, indifferent to noble sentiment, the slave of avarice and ambition. Greed constitutes no small part of grandeur.
Northward from the Mexican capital were limitless lands; Cortés could not tell how much there might be to the west; hence one would think he might well leave to his countrymen in the south something for their pains; that he might even give his captains independent governments without diminution of his manliness.
But insignificant to Cortés as was this Honduras country, and petty as were the bickerings of its occupants, they were nevertheless objects of solicitude to the great chief. No sooner had Casas left the Chalchiuhcuecan shore, than Cortés began to doubt the wisdom of his course in sending one servant after another. The more he reflected on the popularity of Olid and the number of his men, the comparatively untried ability of his opponent, and the reputed wealth of the country, the more he feared for the result, and wished to be present there in person.[XVIII-1] Not to mention the itching palm for power, this desire was increased by the petty espionage to which the imperial officers subjected his every movement. He longed to roam with kindred spirits in the wilds of the south, wherein native tradition located stately cities and treasure-filled palaces. He longed to meet a worthy foe. As he nursed the dream, the glow increased within him at the prospect of penetrating unknown regions, overcoming toil and danger, and discovering something new, something startling; perchance he might find the long-sought strait.
A hint in this direction was sufficient to rouse the anxiety of friends and enemies alike. He was the guiding spirit of all undertakings, and the protecting shield. All would return to chaos were he to withdraw; and the still wavering natives who respected and feared Malinche, as Cortés was called by the Mexicans, above any host of soldiers, might rise and overwhelm them.
So urgent and general were the representations to this effect that he yielded, or pretended to yield.[XVIII-2] But the spirit of the Castilian explorer once aroused could not be repressed. He felt that he had been too long idle, so he wrote his sovereign, and must do something in the service of his Majesty.[XVIII-3] Preparations were accordingly resumed under pretence that a disaffection in the Goazacoalco region required his personal attention.
PERSONNEL OF THE ARMY.
He set out from Mexico in the latter part of October, 1524,[XVIII-4] leaving the government in charge of men whose flattery had blinded him to their insidious designs. The party consisted of about one hundred horsemen, half of them with extra animals, some forty archers and arquebusiers, and three thousand native warriors and servants,[XVIII-5] the latter chiefly under the leadership of the three deposed sovereigns, Quauhtemotzin the last emperor of Mexico, Tetlepanquetzal king of Tlacopan, and Cohuanococh king of Tezcuco, and five or six captive caciques, whom it was regarded unsafe to leave behind.[XVIII-6]