soldiers, and twenty pieces of
cannon. This was, in that day, a formidable force. The commandant,
Narvaez, was ordered to seize Cortez and his principal officers, and
send them in chains to Cuba. He was then, in the name of Velasquez,
to prosecute the discovery and the conquest of the country.

After a prosperous voyage, the fleet cast anchor in the Bay of St.
Juan de Ulua, and the soldiers were landed. Narvaez then sent a
summons to the governor of Vera Cruz to surrender. Sandoval, the
commandant, however, being zealously attached to Cortez, seized the
envoy and his attendants, and sent them in chains to the capital,
with intelligence of the impending peril. Cortez, with his wonted
sagacity, received them as friends, ordered their chains to be struck
off, condemned the severity of Sandoval, and loaded them with caresses
and presents. He thus won their confidence, and drew from them all the
particulars of the force, and the intentions of the expedition. Cortez
had great cause for alarm when he learned that Narvaez was instructed
to espouse the cause of Montezuma; to assure the Mexican monarch that
the violence which he had suffered was unauthorized by the King of
Spain, and that he was ready to assist Montezuma and his subjects in
repelling the invaders from the capital. From peril so imminent no
ordinary man could have extricated himself. Narvaez was already on the
march, and the natives, enraged against Cortez, were in great numbers
joining the standard of the new-comers. Already emissaries from the
camp of Narvaez had reached the capital, and had communicated to
Montezuma, through the nobles, intelligence that Narvaez was marching
to his relief. Montezuma was overjoyed, and his nobles were elated
with hope, as they secretly collected arms and marshaled their forces
for battle.

Cortez immediately dispatched Father Olmedo to meet Narvaez to propose
terms of accommodation. He was fully aware that no such terms as he
proposed could be acceded to; but Olmedo and his attendants were
enjoined, as the main but secret object of their mission, to do every
thing they could, by presents, caresses, promises, and glowing
descriptions of the greatness of Cortez, his power, and the glory
opening before him, to induce the officers and soldiers of Narvaez to
abandon his standard, and range themselves under the banner of Cortez.

At the same time, Cortez, leaving one hundred and fifty men, under
Alvarado, to guard the fortified cam