command the fleet in case its captain-general failed to appear. Conspicuous among these questioners was Ordaz, who claimed precedence as Velazquez’ representative. But the arrival of the commander put an end to the controversy and spread unbounded joy throughout the armada. Landing, he accepted the hospitality of Pedro Barba, lieutenant of Velazquez. Among those who joined him here were Francisco Montejo, the future conqueror of Yucatan, and Diego de Soto, who in Mexico became the mayordomo of Cortés. Again the commander rid himself of Ordaz by sending him with a vessel to the plantations near Cape San Antonio, there to await the fleet. The artillery was landed and cleaned; the cross-bows were tested and the firelocks polished. Cotton armor was secured. More provisions being required, Quesada, the Episcopal tithe-collector, contributed his stock.
Warranted, as he thought, by his success and prospects, and well aware of the effect on the Spanish mind of some degree of ostentation and military display, Cortés put on the paraphernalia of still greater leadership, and appointed a chamberlain, a chief butler, and a mayordomo, in the persons of Rodrigo Rangel, Guzman, and Juan de Cáceres, which pomp he ever after maintained.19 Gaspar de Garnica now arrived with letters from Velazquez to Barba, Ordaz, Leon, and others, ordering and entreating them to stop the fleet, arrest Cortés, and send him a prisoner to Santiago. It was of no avail, however. Soldiers, officers, even Barba himself, were enthusiastic for Cortés, who once more wrote the governor, in terms as courteous as they were costless, and shortly afterward, on the 10th of February, 1519, the fleet again set sail.20 Guaguanico, on the north side of Cape San Antonio, was the place appointed for muster and apportionment.21 Meanwhile Pedro Alvarado was sent forward with sixty soldiers in the San Sebastian to bring Ordaz to the rendezvous, but driven by a gale