( 433 ) 



tion of property among their greedy fupportcrs, had gained them many 

 adherents, and, if not friends, at Icaft pcrfons interelled in the main- 

 tenance of their government. Thefe, compofcd principally of tlie low 

 and feditious defcription, but mixed with fome of quahty, with the 

 fupport and contrivance of the contador who dreaded the arrival of 

 Cortes, had formed a plan to kill the treafurcr, and reinftate the fatlor 

 and veedor in their offices. For the piirpofe of relcafing them from 

 prifon, they had recourfe to one Guzman, a white-fmithj a fellow of' 

 low charad:er, arid a ridiculous afFed:er of wit. To him they applied 

 to make the keys, giving him a piece of gold whereon was marked the 

 form in which they were to be wrought, and charging him at the fame 

 time to keep the ftrideft fecrecy. All this he readily undertook and 

 promifed, ("peaking as if he had the liberation of the prifoners fincerely 

 at heart. They then told him all the particulars which his inquifitive- 

 nefs induced him to queftion them about, and he proceeded in his work, 

 but flowly and aukwardly, in order to induce them to repeat their viiits, 

 to hurry him on; and he thus obtained from the confpirators the know- 

 ledge that he required. The keys being finifhed, and the party ready 

 to make the attempt, he fuddenly went to the houfe of the treafurer, 

 and gave him an account of the whole. The treafurer, affembling the 

 friends of Cortes on the inftant, proceeded to the place of meeting, 

 where he found twenty confpirators armed, and in waiting for the fig- 

 nal. Thefe he feized, but many others made their efcape. Among 

 thefe apprehended were fome notorious charadters ; one of them had 

 lately committed violence on a Caftillian woman. They were tried be- 

 fore the bachelor Ortega alcalde major, and being convi(5ted, three 

 were hanged, and feveral whipped. 



1 mufi: now make a confiderable digreflion from my narrative, 

 though it comes in properly in point of matter, to mention how the 

 fame vefTel which conveyed the letters tranfmitted by the factor to his 

 Majefty in Caftille, conveyed others, fo artfully concealed that he had 

 no fufpicion of them, wherein was given a full and true account of all 



Kkk his 



