As soon as Alvarado had arrived in his quarters he sent for his brothers Jorge and Gonzalo Gomez, with the alcaldes and alguacils; he then ordered the conspirators to be seized, and two of them, after a short trial, were sentenced to the gallows. One of these men was a certain Salamanca, of Condado, who had formerly been a pilot; the other was Bernardino Levantisco, and both of them died like good Christians, after father Olmedo had fully convinced them of the enormity of their crime. This example of severity brought the remaining conspirators to their proper senses; so that Alvarado was enabled to depart with the gold for Mexico without any fear.
Alvarado had certainly laid the foundation of a new town, but it soon fell to nothing again; for the settlers had obtained very poor lands; the climate was excessively hot, and very unhealthy; many of the Spaniards soon fell ill, and the Indian naborias and slaves whom they had brought with them died away very fast. The place swarmed with moschitoes, mice, and even lice;—to which was added, that Alvarado had carried off all the gold. The inhabitants therefore determined to leave the new town, and to settle elsewhere; so that they soon dispersed, and some returned to Mexico, some settled in Guaxaca, and others in Guatimala. When Cortes received intelligence of this, he instituted a formal inquiry into all the circumstances, and it was found that the determination to abandon the new town had been agreed upon in a council held by the alcaldes and regidors of the place. Sentence of death was then pronounced against the guilty personages; but father Olmedo begged so hard of Cortes to mitigate this severe sentence, that the latter at length, though very reluctantly, yielded to his prayers, and altered the sentence into that of banishment.
Such was the ill-fated termination of the colony of Tutepec, which never after rose again, for every one feared the unhealthy climate, though the country was uncommonly rich. When the inhabitants, who could not forget Alvarado's cruel and unjust treatment, saw that all the Spaniards