FLEET DESTROYED MARCH TO MEXICO. 29 



the Emperor Charles V., in order to secure a confirmation of his 

 proceedings. The most daring act of this period was the destruc- 

 tion of the squadron which had wafted him to Mexico. It was a 

 deed of wise policy, which deliberately cut off all hope of retreat, — 

 pacified, in some degree, the querulous conspirators who lurked in 

 his camp, — and placed before all who were embarked in the enter- 

 prise the alternative of conquest or destruction. But one vessel 

 remained. Nine out of the ten were dismantled and sunk. When 

 his men murmured for a moment, and imagined themselves be- 

 trayed, he addressed them in that language of bland diplomacy 

 which he was so well skilled to use whenever the occasion required. 

 "As for me," said he, "I will remain here whilst there is one to 

 bear me company ! Let the cravens shrink from danger and go 

 home in the single vessel that remains. Let them hasten to Cuba, 

 and relate how they deserted their commander and comrades ; and 

 there let them wait in patience till we return laden with the spoils 

 of Mexico ! " 



This was an appeal that rekindled the combined enthusiasm 

 and avarice of the despondent murmurers ; and the reply was a 

 universal shout: "To Mexico! to Mexico!" 



On the 16th of August, 1519, Cortez set out with his small army 

 of about four hundred men, now swelled by the addition of thirteen 

 hundred Indian warriors and a thousand porters, and accompanied 

 by forty of the chief Totonacs as hostages and advisers. From the 

 burning climate of the coast the army gradually ascended to the 

 cooler regions of the tierra templada, and tierra fria, encountering 

 all degrees of temperature on the route. After a journey of three 

 days, the forces arrived at a town on one of the table lands of the 

 interior, whose chief magistrate confirmed the stories of the power 

 of Montezuma. Here Cortez tarried three days for repose, and 

 then proceeded towards the Republic of Tlascala, which lay 

 directly in his path, and with whose inhabitants he hoped to 

 form an alliance founded on the elements of discontent which he 

 knew existed among these inveterate foes of the central Aztec 

 power. But he was mistaken in his calculations. The Tlascalans 

 were not so easily won as his allies, the Totonacs, who, dwelling in 

 a warmer climate, had not the hardier virtues of these mountaineers. 

 The Tlascalans entertained no favorable feeling towards Monte- 

 zuma, but they nourished quite as little cordiality for men whose 

 characters they did not know, and whose purposes they had cause 

 to dread. A deadly hostility to the Spaniards was consequently 



