women for menial service. His regular soldiers consisted of sixteen
horsemen, thirty musketeers, and thirty-two cross-bowmen. He had also,
as the most formidable part of his armament, fourteen pieces of
artillery, with an ample supply of ammunition. All the soldiers,
excepting the musketeers and the bowmen, were armed simply with swords
and spears. Sixteen horses formed also an exceedingly important part
of the physical force of the army. This noble animal had never yet
been seen on the continent of America. With great difficulty, a few
had been transported across the ocean from Spain. With such a force
this enthusiastic adventurer undertook the subjugation of a nation of
many millions.

Cortez was now thirty-three years of age. He was a handsome,
well-formed man, of medium stature, of pale, intellectual features,
with a piercing, dark eye, and frank and winning manners. He was
temperate, indifferent respecting all personal comforts, and reckless
of hardship and peril. He fully appreciated the influence of dress,
and ever appeared in the rich garb of a Spanish gentleman. He was
courtly yet frank in his manners, and possessed a peculiar power of
attracting to his person all who approached him.

On the eve of his departure from Cape Antonio, he again assembled his
followers around him, and thus harangued them:

"The enterprise in which you are engaged will fill the world with your
renown. I am leading you to countries more vast and opulent than
European eyes have ever yet beheld. It is a glorious prize which I
present to you. But this prize can only be won by hardship and toil.
Great deeds are only achieved by great exertions. Glory is never
the reward of sloth. I have labored hard and staked my all on this
undertaking, for I love that renown which is the noblest recompense
of man.

"Do you covet riches more? Be true to me, and I will make you masters
of wealth of which you have never dreamed. You are few in numbers, but
be strong in resolution, and doubt not that the Almighty, who has
never deserted the Spaniard in his contest with the infidel, will
shield you, though encompassed by enemies. Your cause is just. You are
to fight under the banner of the cross. Onward, then, with alacrity.
Gloriously terminate the work so auspiciously begun."

This speech was received with tumultuous cheers. Mass was then
celebrated by the ecclesiastics who accompanied the fleet, and with
many religious ceremonies the squadron was pl