whom no news
could be more acceptable than the fact of our safe return. "Indeed,"
said Sandoval, on this occasion, to Pedro de Ircio, "Bernal Diaz del
Castillo remarked well some time ago, on going out in search of
provisions, that this required men of great activity, and not people who
thought of nothing else on the road but of their pretty stories of the
count of Urena and his son Don Pedro Giron!" for this was the constant
theme of friend Ircio. "He had good reasons for saying so, and you need
not reproach him, for speaking in your dispraise to our general and
myself."

These words caused a general laughter at Ircio's expense, and Sandoval
purposely procured me this little triumph, because he knew I owed the
former a grudge.

When I came into the presence of Cortes, he thanked me in the kindest
terms, and said: "I have never found you at a loss in time of need!"

But why should I repeat these flattering sentences? for at most they are
mere empty sounds, and little profit to any one: at least, I gained
nothing by these fine words, excepting that when this perilous
expedition was subsequently the topic of conversation in Mexico, my name
was always mentioned with praise.

Cortes, on questioning the Indians respecting the country, learnt from
them, that if we followed the course of a certain rivulet we should
arrive, after two days' journey, in a township called Oculizti, which
consisted of upwards of two hundred houses, but had been deserted a few
days previously by its inhabitants. We accordingly marched down the
rivulet, and arrived at several large huts belonging to Indian
merchants, who rested here on their journeys. We passed the night in
these dwellings, and the following day we continued our march along the
same stream for two miles, when we came to a good road, which brought us
before sunset to Coliste, where we found maise and plenty of vegetables,
and, suspended in a temple, an old Spanish cap and a shoe, which had
been dedicated to the idols there. Several of our men searched some
hollows in the neighbourhood, and soon discovered two aged Indians and
four women, who were immediately brought into the presence of our
general. On being questioned by Dona Marina about the town where the
Spaniards had settled, they answered, that it lay on the sea coast,
about five days' journey from our camp, but that on our road thither we
should not see a single Indian township.

On this information, Cortes instantly des