CHAPTER V. SAILING OF THE EXPEDITION. 1518-1519.

a soldier with the liberal hospitality of a man of wealth, he rapidly drew to his adventure all the available men of the island. There were not lacking those to sneer at this assumption of preëminence, which flaunted it so bravely with plume and medal, with martial music and retinue, saying, here was a lord without lands.⁷ But they little knew the strength and firmness of him who, having once put on the great man, would lay the livery down but with his life. This soldierly display, always taking to the Castilian fancy, could scarcely be called affectation, for the genius which commands success was present, and the firmness of resolve was covered with such pleasing affability as to render its presence scarcely suspected. With his fine soldierly qualities were financial and executive ability, and fair common sense, a rare combination in a Spanish cavalier. While loving adventure he did not altogether hate ideas. His world now spread itself before him, as divided into two unequal classes, those that use others, and those that are used by others, and he resolved himself forever into the former category. Like Diogenes, though enslaved at Crete, Cortés felt that if he could do one thing better than another it was to command men. Coupled with this egotism was the sensible intuition that the mastery of others begins with self-mastery. Indeed his command over himself, as well as over others, was most remarkable. “By my conscience!” was a favorite oath, which implies not brutal passion. At times a swelling vein in the forehead, and another in the throat, indicated rising anger, manifested also by a peculiarity of throwing off his cloak; but the voice would remain decorous, and the words seldom passed beyond a “Mal pese á vos!” May it bear heavily upon you. To the insolent soldier, whom we shall often find overstepping the bounds of prudence, he would merely say, “Be silent!” or “Go, in God’s name, and be more careful if you would escape punishment.” Equally composed in argument, he wielded his persuasive powers to their best advantage. Rio de Avenida, the Rushing River, was at one time a nickname, and later he affected long hair and lawsuits. At the gaming-table, to which he was greatly