to Spain, as commanded by our most illustrious Bishop Fonseca.” As a matter of course, Señor Barba will accept the proffered hospitality; he will go ashore and deliver his message to Narvaez in person. And he will catch this slippery fox from Estremadura, and carry him hence to be hanged; he will carry him to his worshipful master Velazquez to be hanged. So entering the boat he is conveyed away, but only, alas! to be declared a prisoner; only, alas! to learn that though damned, Cortés is not dead, and is by no means likely at once to meet strangulation at the hand either of Barba, Narvaez, or Velazquez. Meanwhile other visitors in other boats proceed to secure the crew. The vessel is dismantled; and since Cortés is the king, and not Narvaez, the so lately fierce and loyal Barba, nothing loath, declares for Cortés. Indeed, Barba was by no means unfriendly to the general, as proven by his attitude at Habana two years before. Any such reinforcement was gladly welcomed at Tepeaca, and Cortés sought to insure Barba’s loyalty by making him captain of archers.1 A week later arrived another small vessel, under the hidalgo Rodrigo Morejon de Lobera, with eight soldiers, a mare, a quantity of crossbow material, and a cargo of provisions. It was secured in the same manner, and the soldiers and sailors proceeded to join the army. Thus Cortés draws them in, friend and foe alike being his fish, if once they enter his net.
More substantial reinforcements were in store, however. Governor Garay, of Jamaica, had in no manner been discouraged by the failure of his last expedition to Pánuco, and the rumors of his rival’s success in New Spain fired him to renewed efforts, the more so since he possessed the royal grant, the vessels, and the men, with ample means to sustain them. In the spring of 1520 he had despatched three vessels, with about one hundred and fifty soldiers and sailors, a few horses, and some artillery, under the former commander, Pineda.2 Ascending the Pánuco the expedition came to a town,3 and met with good reception, but the natives soon tired of giving their substance to