rits of Velasquez, and it is quite possible that he had reason for
dissatisfaction with Zuazo. At any rate, at about Christmas time, 1523,
Velasquez was restored and Zuazo was summarily dismissed. No charges
were at that time preferred against Zuazo, nor was he prosecuted or
subjected to any penalties. But his commission as Governor was declared
to have been illegal and all his acts to have been therefore null and
void. Everything was therefore put back in as nearly as possible the
condition it was in when Velasquez was formerly Governor.

Zuazo seems to have taken his dismissal philosophically, without demur
or resentment; wherefore we may suspect that as a lawyer he realized
that there had indeed been a fatal flaw in his commission. He remained
at Santiago for a few weeks, and then went to Mexico as the attorney and
envoy of Francisco de Garay, the Governor of Jamaica, who had a
controversy with Cortez as to which of them was the rightful Governor of
Panuco. In this errand he was frustrated by shipwreck and other
vicissitudes, and it does not appear that he ever had an opportunity of
serving Garay as had been intended. In time, however, he reached Mexico,
and was regarded with much favor by Cortez, who appointed him to a
lucrative and influential office. A little later he was extradited by
the Cuban government, and was brought back to that island as a prisoner,
to undergo trial for alleged misdemeanors committed when he was
Governor. This strenuous action was taken in 1525. Zuazo complained
bitterly of such harsh treatment, which probably was unwarranted. At any
rate, he was acquitted; whereupon he went to Hispaniola and spent the
remainder of his life there in prosperity.

We have seen that the restoration of Velasquez to the Governorship of
Cuba came as a sort of solatium for his loss and humiliation with
respect to Mexico. But it did not altogether reconcile him to the
destruction of his hopes and ambitions. On the contrary, he conceived
the scheme of remonstrating with the King and pleading his cause in
person. Setting his affairs in order, therefore, he prepared to set sail
for Spain, and was just on the point of doing so when death supervened.
He died on June 12, 1524, and was interred, according to his wish, in
the cathedral of Santiago de Cuba.

The King, who had so recently both humiliated him and honored him, was
profoundly affected by the loss of one who had added much lustre to the
crown of Spain, and wr