returning to Cuba? Surely they might as well hold the country for themselves as to abandon it and let others step into their places. It would be much easier to increase the present force by adding to it than to raise a new army better appointed or larger than this. Nor did they forget the argument of religion, which, however hollow in practice, was weighty enough in theory. “Elect therefore to remain,” they said in conclusion; “and choose the able and generous Cortés for your general and justicia mayor till the emperor decides in the matter.”6
The opposition was by no means ignorant of these manœuvres, and Ordaz was commissioned to remonstrate with Cortés. He dwelt on the danger of present colonization, denounced any attempt to ignore Velazquez, and insisted on instant return.
Suppressing the anger naturally arising from these insinuations, true as they were, Cortés disavowed any intention of exceeding the instructions of his commission. For himself he preferred to remain, as, among other reasons, the only means of reimbursing himself for his heavy expenditures. If, however, it
was the will of the army to return, he would yield.
A few hours later appeared an order to embark the following day for Cuba. This, as was intended, brought public feeling to a crisis. All saw their golden hopes suddenly dashed to the ground, their visions of honors and repartimientos dispelled; even the men so lately clamorous to return were not prepared to find their request so readily granted. Would it not be well to think further of the matter, and perhaps devise a plan to cover the emergency?
After noisy discussion the soldiers appeared in force before the captain-general and demanded the revocation of the order. They had left Cuba with the declared understanding that a colony was to be planted, and