quantity of war stores. Knowing how pleased Cortés would be, a young soldier broke the rules, adventured his life, and carried the tidings to the general, who freely forgave the disobedience of orders. This young cavalier also reported that the brigantines were completed and ready for transport. Since siege operations could not begin until the brigantines were floated on Tezcuco Lake, no time was to be lost, and Sandoval received orders to proceed at once to Tlascala and convoy the precious train. In going he must pass through Zoltepec, five leagues distant, near the eastern border of Acolhuacan, and there inflict chastisement for the murder of the Yuste party during the late uprising.
Sandoval set out with fifteen horse and two hundred foot. On the way a house was passed bearing upon its wall the touching inscription, “Herein the unhappy Juan Yuste was a prisoner.” The inhabitants of Zoltepec, henceforth termed ‘pueblo Morisco,’ had long expected this descent, and no sooner did the party appear in sight than they hastened to the mountains.
One body of soldiers entered the town to plunder, and found among other things relics of the dress, arms, and accoutrements of their slain comrades in one of the temples.44 Another body pursued the fugitives, killing a few and capturing a large number, chiefly women, who were enslaved. Their pleading so moved the heart of Sandoval that he issued a pardon to those who had escaped.
Meanwhile Martin Lopez, the master shipwright in Tlascala, had arranged for the transportation of the brigantines. A trial launch had been made of one or two above a dam thrown across Zahuatl River,45 and this proving satisfactory they were broken up. Upon the shoulders of eight thousand carriers were now loaded the separate pieces of timber and planks, duly marked and numbered for