nd that the dangers of a short land journey
were as nothing to one who had accomplished so long a voyage over
the sea to see him. The Mexicans repeated their assurance that his
application would be unavailing, and left with some coldness of
manner. The effect of their displeasure at the insistence of the
Spaniards was soon manifest, the natives ceasing to bring in
provisions.

While awaiting the emperor's reply, the soldiers suffered greatly
from the heat and the effluvia from the neighboring marshes. Thirty
died, and as the anchorage was exposed to the northern gales,
Cortez decided to sail north as soon as the answer to his last
application was received, and sent off two vessels to see where a
safe port could be found. Ten days after the departure of the
envoys they returned with a large quantity of fresh presents, but
with a positive refusal on the part of the emperor to allow them to
advance near the capital, and a request that, now they had obtained
what they most desired, they would at once return to their own
country.

Four days later the ships returned, with the news that they had
found but one sheltered port, and that the country round it was
well watered and favorable for a camp.

The soldiers, however, were now growing discontented. The treasure
already acquired was large, the unhealthiness of the climate had
alarmed them, and the proofs of the wealth and greatness of the
Mexican Empire had convinced them that it needed a vastly larger
force than that which Cortez had under his orders to undertake an
expedition against it; for the courage showed by the Tabascans had
proved conclusively that, ill armed as they were, the natives were
not to be despised.

Fortunately for Cortez, five Indians made their appearance in camp
one morning. Their dress and appearance were wholly different from
those of the Aztecs, and they spoke a different language, but
Malinche--who had been baptized, and christened Marina, by Father
Olmedo, the leading priest of the expedition--found that two of
them could converse in Aztec. They said that they were Totonacs,
and had come from Cempoalla, their capital. They had been but
recently conquered by the Aztecs, and were so oppressed by them
that they were anxious to throw off their yoke, and they came to
ask the wonderful strangers, of whom they had heard, to visit them.

Cortez at once saw the immense importance of the communication.
Hitherto he had regarded the Mexican Empire as a