Historical Tales, Vol. III | Page 8

captive, this time being put on board a vessel that was to sail the next
morning for Hispaniola, where Velasquez designed he should be tried
for his offence. But he proved a very hard prisoner to hold. That night,
with much pain and difficulty, he managed to pull his feet out of the
irons that held them, and then stole cautiously to the deck, where he
found a boat floating by the vessel's side. Slipping down into this,
under cover of the darkness, he cut loose and paddled silently away.
When near the shore he met with a rapid current and rough waters, to

which he was afraid to trust the boat. Being an expert swimmer, he
thought it safest to breast the water himself, and boldly plunged
overboard. He found his task a hard, almost a fatal one; the current
threatened to sweep him away, but after a long struggle with the waves
he succeeded in reaching the shore, in a state of almost complete
exhaustion. He now sought the church again, no doubt resolving this
time to keep safely within its sacred shelter.
The story goes on to state that the governor, worked upon by friends of
the culprit, offered him forgiveness, which the incensed young cavalier
was too proud to accept. What followed is amusing. Velasquez was at a
distance from the capital, on a military excursion, when one evening he
was startled in his tent by the appearance of his enemy, completely
armed and threatening in aspect. In dismay, the governor asked him
what he wanted. Cortez replied, angrily, that he was tired of being
treated like a felon, and that he must have an explanation or he would
know the reason why. Velasquez answered as angrily, and a hot
altercation followed. But at length their talk became more friendly, and
in the end their old amicable relations were resumed and they embraced
like a pair of lovers. The amusing part of the story is this: When a
messenger arrived to tell the governor that Cortez had left the sanctuary
and disappeared, he found the governor and the culprit both fast asleep
in the same bed.
This story seems doubtful, but at any rate they became friends again,
and Cortez was given a large estate in Cuba, which he stocked with
cattle, and on which he found gold-mines, which were worked by
Indian labor. He married a beautiful Spanish girl, and, fast growing rich,
spent several years in happy content.
This, with some, would have been the end of a career. It was only the
beginning of that of Cortez, before whom still lay a wonderful history
and a record of undying fame. All we can tell here is how this came
about. It began in expeditions of discovery. Cordova, a Cuban settler,
seeking Indians for slaves in the Bahamas, was blown far westward by
a storm, and reached an unknown shore, where the natives lived in
stone buildings, cultivated the soil, and wore delicate cotton garments

and ornaments of gold. In other ways they showed evidence of
civilization. The land thus reached is that now known as Yucatan.
Velasquez, on seeing the gold which Cordova brought back, sent out a
small fleet under his nephew, Juan de Grijalva, to visit and explore this
new land. Grijalva found evidence that a great civilized nation dwelt
inland, rich in gold and far superior in civilization to any Indians whom
the Spaniards had yet met. He named the country New Spain, and
sailed back to Cuba with an account of his important discoveries.
The news filled Velasquez with hope and joy. Here seemed to be the
land of gold which the Spaniards had so long sought. Here he might
win vast wealth and the glory of adding a new and splendid province to
Spain. He at once began to fit out a much larger expedition, and looked
around for a man fit to command it. Several of the hidalgos, or
gentlemen of Cuba, offered themselves, but none pleased the governor,
and at length he settled upon Cortez as the best man for his purpose. By
chance, rather than by intention, he had made a splendid choice. Cortez
was the one man in the New World, and perhaps the one man at that
time in all Spain, fitted by nature for the difficult task which lay before
him. Wild and frivolous as he had shown himself in youth, all he
needed was a great occasion to prove himself a great man. He was to
develop into one of the ablest military leaders in all history, a man who,
on a small scale, was to display a genius and achieve a success worthy
of Cæsar or Alexander or any of the famous soldiers of the world.
But, from another point of view,