o death,
because he had refused, after their repeated solicitations, to give them
any share of the gold, or to distribute among them any very lucrative
Indian townships.

This plot was fortunately discovered to father Olmedo by one of the
conspirators, named Trebijo, the evening preceding the night on which
the bloody deed was to have been carried out. Father Olmedo instantly
communicated what he had heard to Alvarado, who was about to start, in
company of some of the conspirators, to go a hunting. Alvarado therefore
pretended to be taken with a sudden pain in his side, and turning to
those who were to have accompanied him, he said, "Gentlemen, I must
return to my quarters; let a barber immediately come to bleed me."

As soon as Alvarado had arrived in his quarters he sent for his brothers
Jorge and Gonzalo Gomez, with the alcaldes and alguacils; he then
ordered the conspirators to be seized, and two of them, after a short
trial, were sentenced to the gallows. One of these men was a certain
Salamanca, of Condado, who had formerly been a pilot; the other was
Bernardino Levantisco, and both of them died like good Christians, after
father Olmedo had fully convinced them of the enormity of their crime.
This example of severity brought the remaining conspirators to their
proper senses; so that Alvarado was enabled to depart with the gold for
Mexico without any fear.

Alvarado had certainly laid the foundation of a new town, but it soon
fell to nothing again; for the settlers had obtained very poor lands;
the climate was excessively hot, and very unhealthy; many of the
Spaniards soon fell ill, and the Indian naborias and slaves whom they
had brought with them died away very fast. The place swarmed with
moschitoes, mice, and even lice;--to which was added, that Alvarado had
carried off all the gold. The inhabitants therefore determined to leave
the new town, and to settle elsewhere; so that they soon dispersed, and
some returned to Mexico, some settled in Guaxaca, and others in
Guatimala. When Cortes received intelligence of this, he instituted a
formal inquiry into all the circumstances, and it was found that the
determination to abandon the new town had been agreed upon in a council
held by the alcaldes and regidors of the place. Sentence of death was
then pronounced against the guilty personages; but father Olmedo begged
so hard of Cortes to mitigate this severe sentence, that the latter at
length, though very reluctantl