Cortes was ready to
burst with vexation when they told him this, and he desired Sandoval to
go and speak with me, and request me, in his name, to try if I could not
discover some road, to rescue the army from its present perilous
position. All this he said in an affectionate and begging tone of voice,
as he very well knew that I was by no means in good health: and indeed
I was suffering with a bad fever, for which reason I had refused to
accompany my intimate friend Marmolejo, to whom I said: "You expect me
to do everything; let others bestir themselves as well!" First I refused
Sandoval also, but he came a second time to my hut, and begged very hard
of me to comply with our general's request, who had said, that next to
God he could only expect assistance from me at this juncture. Though I
felt very ill, yet my honour would not allow me to refuse any longer,
and I desired that Hernando de Aguilar and a certain Hinojosa might
accompany me, both of whom were men I well knew could bear any fatigues.

We three then set out from our camp, and followed the course of a
rivulet to some considerable distance, until we came in view of a hill
lying on the opposite side of the water, and on which we observed
several branches of trees that had been stuck in the ground as if to
serve for some signal. We now marched in this direction for upwards of
an hour, and after finding our way out between the rivers, we came to
some small huts, which had a short time previously been deserted by
their owners. Continuing our course in this direction, we observed at
some distance from us, on the slope of a hill, some maise plantations
lying about an isolated dwelling, in which we distinctly heard the sound
of human voices. As the sun was by this time nearly gone down, we
concealed ourselves among the bushes until late in the night, when we
thought the inmates of the house were all fast asleep. We then moved
forward in the utmost silence up to this habitation, broke suddenly into
it, and captured three Indians, an old woman, and two other young
females, who were uncommonly pretty. We only found two fowls and a small
quantity of maise, with which, and the whole of these Indians, we
returned highly rejoiced to our encampment. Sandoval had kept a look out
for us until late in the evening, and he was the first to observe us at
a distance, on our return. He could scarcely contain himself for joy
when he recognized us, and he hastened to inform Cortes, to