How the licentiate Luis Ponce de Leon, who was commissioned to make inquiries into Cortes' government of New Spain, arrives in the harbour of San Juan de Ulua.
I have already mentioned in a former chapter that the emperor, during his stay at Toledo, had commissioned Luis Ponce de Leon to repair to Mexico, and there to institute a formal inquiry against Cortes; and if he found him guilty, to punish him so severely, that the whole world might know it. He had been previously furnished with all the particulars of the several accusations which had been brought against Cortes.
It was not for a length of time that this man received the necessary despatches, which had greatly retarded his departure. At length, however, he arrived, after a favorable passage, with three or four vessels, in the harbour of San Juan de Ulua, where he immediately landed, and repaired to the town of Medellin. As he made no secret of the purport of his arrival, one of the officers of Cortes' household immediately sent his master intelligence of the nature of this gentleman's visit, so that Cortes was apprized of it four days after Leon's arrival. When our general received these letters from Villalobos, the officer above mentioned, he happened to be in the Franciscan cloister, making the holy communion, and humbly supplicating the Almighty to bless his endeavours. This news was the more disagreeable to him, as Ponce de Leon seemed to hasten his journey to Mexico in such a manner as if he did not wish to allow him time to make the necessary arrangements for his reception. In the meantime, however, he despatched some of his most confidential friends to learn something more of the newly arrived, and whether they were really provided with a proper commission from his majesty; but a couple of days after he had received the first news, three couriers arrived