husband had perished with Cortes; he reproached her for having married again, and assured her that Cortes and the whole of us were still alive. All this was reported to the factor, who instantly despatched four alguacils to bind him hand and foot, in which way he was dragged to prison. He would even have hung him for creating sedition, but the poor fellow, whose name was Gonsalo Hernandez, swore that he had only said it to console the woman, for she still bitterly mourned the loss of her husband. He further said, that he was quite sure we were all cut off to a man by the Indians, for he had received positive information of it. This confession of Hernandez made all right again; he obtained the property for which he had petitioned, but was ordered to quit Mexico forthwith, and assured that, if he ever again mentioned a word about Cortes being alive, he would, undoubtedly, be put to death.
Zuazo also communicated the mournful death of the excellent father Olmedo, who died shortly after Cortes' departure from Mexico; the whole of the inhabitants of which city had shed tears for the loss of this holy man. He was buried in the church of Santiago, and the Indians fasted from the day of his decease up to the moment of his funeral. The Franciscan monks held a beautiful funeral oration over his body, in which they enumerated all his great virtues, and said that the emperor was as much indebted to him as to us, the veteran Conquistadores, for the conquest of New Spain; but the still greater praise was due to him for giving the Indians a knowledge of God, and for having opened to them the gates of heaven. They knew, these Franciscans said, that he alone had baptized above 2500 Indians; that the good he had done by his advice and kindness was endless; and that he had been a father to the poor. In short, concluded Zuazo, all is lost in Mexico; and thus matters stood, when I was thrown on the back of a mule, and sent in chains to the place whence I date my letter.
When Cortes had finished reading this letter to us, our grief and vexation were without bounds; nor did we spare our abuse of him who, in