The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo Vol. 2

1/25/22, 8:50 PM The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo written by himself, containing a true an…
power; only hemust beg of him not to allow his men to ill-use the Indian population,of
which two townships had already complained to him.
Vallejo then sent an express to Cortes, inclosing Garay's letter tohim, and gave him at the
same time a circumstantial account of theposture of affairs, adding, that he must either send
him a strong reinforcementof troops, or repair in person to Santisteban.
Cortes, on the receipt of Vallejo's letter, sent for father Olmedo,Alvarado, Sandoval, and
Gonzalo de Ocampo, brother to him whom Garay had despatched to Vallejo. These
gentlemen he instantly sentoff to Garay with certain papers containing his appointment of
governor of all the countries he might subdue, granted to him by his majesty, until the
lawsuit should have terminated which was pending between him(Cortes) and the governor
of Cuba. The answer which Vallejo had given to Diego de Ocampo was perfectly
satisfactory to Garay, and hemarched his troops close up to the town of Santisteban; but
Vallejobeing informed that a small detachment of the latter was strolling heedlesslyabout
the large and beautiful township of Nechaplan, he sentout a body of his own men to attack
them, who captured above forty of their numbers, and brought them in prisoners to
Santisteban, which,it appears, was the very thing these men had desired. Garay wasgreatly
incensed at this, demanded Vallejo to deliver up the men to him again, and threatened,
unless he complied, to punish him by virtueof the royal authority with which he was vested.
Vallejo, however,answered, that his reason for seizing these men was, because they were
marching about the country without any legal authority, and had plunderedthe inhabitants:
and that he (Vallejo) should act up to Cortes'instructions until he received some especial
command from his majestyto the contrary; adding, that he must again request him not to
allowhis men to plunder and ill-treat his majesty's subjects.
[Pg 153]
While this dispute was going on, father Olmedo, with Alvarado and the other officers,
arrived in Santisteban; and as Gonzalo de Ocampo was at that time alcalde major of
Mexico, it was his duty to give Garaynotice to quit that territory, of which the government
had been conferred upon Cortes by his majesty. Several days were spent in these
negotiations, which were carried on by word of mouth, between thetwo parties, by father
Olmedo, and Garay began to discover that numbers of his men deserted to Vallejo, that
Cortes' officers were accompaniedby a considerable body of horse and musketeers, and that
theydaily increased in numbers. Two of his vessels had been lost in aheavy storm, and the
rest lay at anchor in the mouth of the harbour,and were summoned by Vallejo to run in,
otherwise he should be obligedto treat them as corsairs; to which the captains replied, that
it was no business of his where they anchored their vessels, and he might keep his
commands to himself.
Garay, who greatly feared the good fortune which always attendedCortes' arms, durst not
take any decisive step; while, on the other hand, Ocampo of Mexico, Alvarado, and
Sandoval were carrying ontheir secret negotiations with his troops, but particularly with the
captainsof the vessels, with some of whom they came to a secret understandingthat they
should run into the harbour and declare for Cortes.The first two captains who ran in with
their vessels were MartinLepuzcuano and Castromucho, and they surrendered to Vallejo,
who then immediately repaired to the mouth of the harbour with the two vessels, and
commanded Juan de Grijalva either to run into the harbour or to quit his present station
without delay and put to sea again.This message Grijalva answered by firing a broadside at
him; butVallejo was not to be daunted by this, and repaired on board Grijalva'svessel in
one of his own boats, accompanied by a royal secretary, andhanded over to him letters from
Alvarado and father Olmedo, who madelarge promises to him in the name of Cortes. While
Grijalva wasperusing these letters, the rest of the vessels ran one after the otherinto the
harbour, so that no other resource was left him than to followtheir example, and to yield up
his sword to Vallejo, who had demandedit of him in the name of Cortes, though he, with all
the other captains,were immediately set at liberty again, according to the advice of father
[Pg 154]
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