Cortés hastened to join the expedition. The coolness and ability displayed in this short campaign won for him the admiration and esteem alike of chief and comrades.10 His reward was an encomienda of Indians in the Daiguao country, together with the notaryship of the new town of Azua. For the next six years he was occupied in husbandry and in official pursuits, varied by military exploits and love intrigues which kept his sword from rusting and gave him wounds which he carried through life. An abscess under the right knee, a most lucky affliction, alone prevented his joining the ill-fated expedition of Nicuesa to Veragua.11
On assuming the direction of New World affairs as governor, in place of Ovando, Diego Colon in 1511 fitted out an expedition against Cuba, and gave the command to Velazquez, who appointed Cortés his adviser and executive officer,12 a position which the latter gladly accepted, deprived as he was of his patron Ovando, and heartily tired of the monotony of Española. Still hidden beneath a careless exterior were the deeper qualities of his nature, and there were yet six other years, and more of ordinary business and pleasure, before the appearance of earnest thought or great self-reliance.13 Meanwhile Spanish women were not numerous in the Indies, and rivalry for their favors was great. Cortés had escaped with light
punishment many gallantries, but he had not been settled long in Cuba before he found a more serious case upon his hands.
Among those who had settled in Cuba was a family from Granada, Suarez by name, consisting of a widow, her son Juan, and three daughters, remarkable for their beauty. They had come with the vireyna María de Toledo, and Gomara is so ungallant as to say that their object was to secure rich husbands.14 Scores of hearts are laid at their feet, but the marriage obligation is evaded by the more promising men of the colony,