It consisted of the priest, Guevara,
Andres de Duero, and two or three others. Duero, the fast friend of
Cortes, had been the person most instrumental, originally, in
obtaining him his commission from Velasquez. They now greeted each
other with a warm embrace, and it was not till after much
preliminary conversation on private matters, that the secretary
disclosed the object of his visit.
He bore a letter from Narvaez, couched in terms somewhat different
from the preceding. That officer required, indeed, the
acknowledgment of his paramount authority in the land, but offered his
vessels to transport all who desired it, from the country, together
with their treasures and effects, without molestation or inquiry.
The more liberal tenor of these terms was, doubtless, to be ascribed
to the influence of Duero. The secretary strongly urged Cortes to
comply with them, as the most favourable that could be obtained, and
as the only alternative affording him a chance of safety in his
desperate condition. "For, however valiant your men may be, how can
they expect," he asked, "to face a force so much superior in numbers
and equipment as that of their antagonists?" But Cortes had set his
fortunes on the cast, and he was not the man to shrink from it. "If
Narvaez bears a royal commission," he returned, "I will readily submit
to him. But he has produced none. He is a deputy of my rival,
Velasquez.
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