to his side, not
being on the best of terms with his relative the governor, who had only
presented him with a very poor commendary. Thus it was that the design
of Velasquez was frustrated by those very persons to whom he had
written. Indeed, from that very moment, these personages only united
themselves the closer to Cortes, particularly the sub-governor Pedro
Barba, the Alvarados, Puertocarrero, Montejo, Christobal de Oli, Juan
de Escalante, Andreas de Monjaraz, and his brother Gregorio, who, with
all of us, were ready to stake our lives for Cortes. Had the orders of
Velasquez been kept secret in Trinidad, they were now the more so in
this place; and Pedro de Barba despatched Garnica to Diego Velasquez
with the information that he durst not venture to take Cortes into
custody, as he was too powerful and too much beloved by the soldiers;
fearing, if he should make the attempt, that the town would be
plundered, and the whole of the inhabitants forcibly dragged away. For
the rest, he could assure Diego Velasquez that Cortes was quite devoted
to him, and did nothing that could be said to militate against his
interests. Cortes himself also wrote a letter couched in those smooth
terms he so very well knew how to employ, assuring Velasquez of the
unabated friendship he entertained for him, and that he was going to set
sail the very next day.

CHAPTER XXV.

_Cortes sets sail with the whole squadron for the island of Cozumel,
and what further took place._

Cortes deferred the review of his troops until we should have arrived at
the island of Cozumel, and gave orders for the embarking of our horses.
Pedro de Alvarado, in the San Sebastian, which was a very fast sailer,
was ordered to shape his course along the north coast, and his pilot
received strict orders to steer direct for the cape of St. Antonio,
where all the other vessels would meet and set sail for Cozumel: like
instructions were forwarded to Diego de Ordas. Mass having been said,
the nine remaining vessels set sail, in a southerly direction, on the
10th of February, 1519. There were sixty soldiers on board the San
Sebastian, under Alvarado, among which number I was myself. Camacho, our
pilot, took no notice of the orders he had received from Cortes, but
shaped his course direct for Cozumel, so that we arrived two days
earlier there than the rest. We landed our men in the same harbour I
before mentioned in our expedition under Grijalva. Cortes had be