who were uncommonly pretty. We only found two fowls and a small quantity of maise, with which, and the whole of these Indians, we returned highly rejoiced to our encampment. Sandoval had kept a look out for us until late in the evening, and he was the first to observe us at a distance, on our return. He could scarcely contain himself for joy when he recognized us, and he hastened to inform Cortes, to whom no news could be more acceptable than the fact of our safe return. "Indeed," said Sandoval, on this occasion, to Pedro de Ircio, "Bernal Diaz del Castillo remarked well some time ago, on going out in search of provisions, that this required men of great activity, and not people who thought of nothing else on the road but of their pretty stories of the count of Ureña and his son Don Pedro Giron!" for this was the constant theme of friend Ircio. "He had good reasons for saying so, and you need not reproach him, for speaking in your dispraise to our general and myself."
These words caused a general laughter at Ircio's expense, and Sandoval purposely procured me this little triumph, because he knew I owed the former a grudge.
When I came into the presence of Cortes, he thanked me in the kindest terms, and said: "I have never found you at a loss in time of need!"
But why should I repeat these flattering sentences? for at most they are mere empty sounds, and little profit to any one: at least, I gained nothing by these fine words, excepting that when this perilous expedition was subsequently the topic of conversation in Mexico, my name was always mentioned with praise.
Cortes, on questioning the Indians respecting the country, learnt from them, that if we followed the course of a certain rivulet we should arrive, after two days' journey, in a township called Oculizti, which consisted of upwards of two hundred houses, but had been deserted a few days previously by its inhabitants. We accordingly marched down the rivulet,