A severe contusion, though attended with no
other serious consequences, confined him to his bed till after the
departure of the fleet.
Two years longer he remained at home, profiting little, as it
would seem, from the lesson he had received. At length he availed
himself of another opportunity presented by the departure of a small
squadron of vessels bound to the Indian islands. He was nineteen years
of age when he bade adieu to his native shores in 1504,- the same year
in which Spain lost the best and greatest in her long line of princes,
Isabella the Catholic.
Immediately on landing, Cortes repaired to the house of the
governor, to whom he had been personally known in Spain. Ovando was
absent on an expedition into the interior, but the young man was
kindly received by the secretary, who assured him there would be no
doubt of his obtaining a liberal grant of land to settle on. "But I
came to get gold," replied Cortes, "not to till the soil like a
peasant."
On the governor's return, Cortes consented to give up his roving
thoughts, at least for a time, as the other laboured to convince him
that he would be more likely to realise his wishes from the slow,
indeed, but sure, returns of husbandry, where the soil and the
labourers were a free gift to the planter, than by taking his chance
in the lottery of adventure, in which there were so many blanks to a
prize. He accordingly received a grant of land, with a repartimiento
of Indians, and was appointed notary of the town or settlement of
Agua.
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