hould have been killed, was to be
appointed one of the new captain-generals. In the same manner the other
chief appointments, besides all our property and horses, had already
been disposed of by the conspirators. The Almighty, however, in his
mercy, prevented this horrible deed from being carried into effect, the
consequences of which would have been continual divisions, the
inevitable loss of New Spain, and the total destruction of our troops.
The whole of this conspiracy was discovered to Cortes by one of our
soldiers a couple of days after his return to Tezcuco, and he had thus
sufficient time to adopt active measures for suppressing it before it
spread further. The honest man who made the discovery to him assured him
also that there were several men of rank among the conspirators.

Cortes, after he had handsomely rewarded this man, communicated the
whole affair, under the seal of secrecy, to the officers Alvarado, Oli,
Lugo, Sandoval, Tapia, and myself; also to the two alcaldes for the
year, and to all those in whom he could place confidence. He then
ordered us to arm ourselves without any further delay, and he then
proceeded with us to the quarters of Antonio de Villafana.

On entering his apartment we found him in conversation with several of
the conspirators, and the four alguacils who accompanied us immediately
arrested him. The rest instantly took to flight, but Cortes had many of
them seized. Villafana being thus in our power, Cortes thrust his hand
into that officer's bosom, and drew forth a paper, containing the whole
plan of the conspirators, to which all their names were attached.
Cortes, on perusing this paper, found the names of several men of
importance among the list of conspirators; and being desirous of saving
them from dishonour, he afterwards gave out that Villafana had swallowed
the paper, and that he had not read it himself, nor even so much as seen
it.

A criminal suit was now instituted against Villafana, when he, with
several others who were implicated in it, made a full confession of the
whole matter. Cortes, the two alcaldes, and the quartermaster Oli, who
formed the court-martial, then pronounced Villafana guilty, and
sentenced him to be hung; and, after he had confessed to father Juan
Diaz, he was executed in front of his own quarters.

Here Cortes allowed the matter to rest, though several of the
conspirators were kept in close confinement, and in order to frighten
them appearances we