continue
to live in this hope, being conscious that he was perfectly innocent of
all guilt, and confident that Ponce de Leon was not the man to exceed
his emperor's commands."

By this reply the monk found himself excessively disappointed in his
expectations, nor could he hide his confusion. Cortes, however, remained
firm to his purpose, and never gave him a single farthing, although
Ortiz had reckoned upon so much.

CHAPTER CXCII.

_How the licentiate commences the investigation against Cortes, and
all those persons who had filled judicial offices; and how he fell
ill shortly after and died._

Ponce de Leon publicly announced that a commission of inquiry would be
set on foot, against Cortes, and against all those who filled military
commands, or held judicial authority. As Cortes had many enemies, and
among them several who had real cause of complaint, various old
grievances were harrowed up, to substantiate which witnesses were
required, and thus it may be imagined the whole city presented one
continued scene of lawsuits. One brought his accusations against our
general respecting his unjust division of the gold; another complained
that, notwithstanding his majesty had particularly ordered Cortes to
give him a fair portion of the Indians, in their distribution, the
latter had neglected to do so, but had bestowed them on persons whose
only merit consisted in their having been servants of Martin Cortes and
of the grandees of Spain. Others again demanded an indemnification for
their horses which had been killed in the several campaigns, for they
did not consider the gold they had received a sufficient compensation
for their losses. Lastly, there were also persons who preferred their
charges against Cortes for injuries which they had suffered by his
orders. These investigations had, however, been scarcely set on foot,
when, to our great misfortune, it pleased the Almighty that the
licentiate Leon should fall ill.

It appears that he had been attending mass in the Franciscan cloister,
on leaving which he was seized with so malignant a fever that he was
obliged to be put to bed immediately, and he became so prostrate in
strength that he lay in a state of unconsciousness for four successive
days. He received every attention from his medical attendants, the
licentiate Pedro Lopez, the Dr. Ojeda, and a third physician, who had
come with him from Spain; but they were of opinion from the very first
mome