This was
a considerable improvement in such wild and disorderly levies, and
greatly augmented the strength derived from numbers.
Experience showed, that in a future conflict with the capital it
would not do to trust to the causeways, but that to succeed, he must
command the lake. He proposed, therefore, to build a number of
vessels, like those constructed under his orders in Montezuma's
time, and afterwards destroyed by the inhabitants. For this he had
still the services of the same experienced ship-builder, Martin Lopez,
who, as we have seen, had fortunately escaped the slaughter of the
"Melancholy Night." Cortes now sent this man to Tlascala, with
orders to build thirteen brigantines, which might be taken to pieces
and carried on the shoulders of the Indians to be launched on the
waters of Lake Tezcuco. The sails, rigging, and iron-work, were to
be brought from Vera Cruz, where they had been stored since their
removal from the dismantled ships. It was a bold conception, that of
constructing a fleet to be transported across forest and mountain
before it was launched on its destined waters! But it suited the
daring genius of Cortes, who, with the co-operation of his staunch
Tlascalan confederates, did not doubt his ability to carry it into
execution.
It was with no little regret, that the general learned at this
time the death of his good friend Maxixca, the old lord of Tlascala,
who had stood by him so steadily in the hour of adversity.
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