As soon as these names were mentioned no one durst stir a finger in Oli's defence; on the contrary, every one quietly submitted and immediately obeyed Las Casas' commands, by hurrying off in search of Oli to bring him in a prisoner. He then made known that any one who knew of Oli's concealment and neglected to give information of it should suffer death.
By this means it was soon discovered where Oli lay concealed, and after he had been brought in a prisoner, a criminal suit was commenced against him in due form, and sentence of death being passed on him he was decapitated by order of these two officers, Las Casas and Avila on the market-place at Naco.
Thus miserably did Christobal de Oli end his days by listening to the advice of bad men, and forgetting how greatly he was indebted to Cortes, who had appointed him quartermaster-general, and had bestowed upon him lucrative commendaries. He had always proved himself a man of great courage, and was recently married to a Portuguese lady, named Filipa de Araujo, by whom he had a daughter.
As soon as Las Casas and Avila had got rid of their common enemy they assembled all the troops; they divided the command equally between themselves, and continued on the best terms with each other. Las Casas soon after founded the town of Truxillo, which he so called from his native place of Truxillo in Estremadura; and Avila despatched a small body of troops to the town which he had previously founded, called Buena Vista, in order to see what condition the colony was in. The command of this small detachment he gave to an officer named Armenta, with orders not to make any changes there, if at least he found everything in the same condition as when he left it; but to await his return from New Spain, whither he would immediately repair to beg Cortes for a fresh supply of troops. Las Casas likewise determined to proceed with Avila to Mexico, in order that they might jointly give Cortes an account of every circumstance that had transpired.