Cortés proposed to defer the distribution till more gold and better weights were obtained; but the men, who with good reason, perhaps, suspected that a delay might diminish rather than increase the treasures, clamored for an immediate division. The troops were accordingly called, and in their presence the partition was made:
- first of the royal fifth;31
- then of the fifth promised to Cortés when appointed captain-general;
- after this a large sum was set apart to cover expenditures by Cortés and Velazquez on the fleet and its outfit, and the value of the horses killed during the campaign,32 and another sum for the expenses and shares of the procuradores in Spain, while double or special shares were assigned to the priests, the captains, those owning horses, and the men with fire-arms and cross-bows.33
After all these deductions but little remained for the rank and file—a hundred pesos, if we may credit Bernal Diaz.34 This, many indignantly refused to accept; others took it, but joined in the clamors of the discontented.
It is almost too much to ask of vultures not to quarrel over their prey. The murmur against the royal fifth was loud enough, but the second fifth for Cortés raised quite an outcry. > “Are we to have a second king?” they