his he had the help of the chief men of Vaymil, and
he hoped for that of those of Chable. When he returned to the latter
place, he found that it had rebelled against his authority.

Continual Misfortunes. In the events which follow one note, misfortune,
makes itself heard above the confusion. Battles, skirmishes, and
murders filled the lives of Davila and his men. Their wanderings lay
mainly in the region of the province of Bakhalal. (Cogolludo, lib. ii,
cap. viii.) Chable and Villa Real de Chetemal were the places they most
often visited. In many cases villages were found to be deserted. All
through the discouraging period Davila was seeking for some means of
letting Montejo know the straits he was in. Once more he found Indians
whom he believed to be willing to act as messengers, and once again he
was tricked. Worse even than this was the unmistakable evidence that
the Indians were making elaborate preparations to attack Villa Real.
The fact that one of their own chiefs was being held as a hostage for
the safe delivery of the letters did not seem to deter them in the
least. One fortunate circumstance, however, does appear in this mass of
misfortunes: Davila was forewarned of his danger, for he sent out
Francisco Vazquez with ten men in seven canoes to get supplies. Two of
the party were killed by Indians; the remainder returned to Villa Real
with at least a small amount of supplies.

If Davila and his men were badly off in Villa Real, Montejo and his
party at Chichen Itza were equally if not more precariously situated.
The chief causes of their misfortunes were the lack of men, and of the
most common necessities, the want of certainty as to the best course to
be followed, and the knowledge on the part of the Indians that the
number of the Spaniards was daily growing less on account of the
ceaseless skirmishes. Food was so scarce that parties had to be formed
on purpose to make sallies from the fortifications in search of it. As
Cogolludo (p. 86) graphically puts it, "Their dinners now cost them
their life-blood."

Although, as we have already seen, centralized power was at an end long
since in the peninsula, a revival of the old-time feeling of unity is
to be seen in the determination the Mayas had to get rid of the
Spaniards. Cogolludo (p. 87) says, "For this purpose almost all the
people of that land had made an agreement, so that the multitude [of
Indians] was very great. The Indians who led the attack were of