en splintered by the
club of a native, was forming his plans to return to Mexico and
reconquer what he had lost. The resources at his command still
appeared to him sufficient to form a nucleus around which to assemble
a new army. The garrison at Vera Cruz, with its artillery and military
stores, still remained unimpaired; the Tlascalans and Zempoallans
continued firm in their alliance; and he still could assemble,
notwithstanding his losses, as large a force as accompanied him in his
first march into Mexico. He therefore resolved to make vigorous and
prompt preparations to prosecute his enterprise anew. He wrote to his
sovereign an account of the disasters he had encountered, saying, "I
can not believe that the good and merciful God will thus suffer his
cause to perish among the heathen."

With great energy and sagacity he aroused himself for this new effort.
He made special exertions to secure the cordial co-operation of the
Tlascalan chiefs, by distributing among them the rich spoil taken in
his last battle. He dispatched four ships, selected from the fleet
captured from Narvaez, to Hispaniola and Jamaica, to collect recruits
and supplies. That he might secure the command of the lake, he
prepared, with the ready aid of the Tlascalans, materials for building
twelve vessels, to be conveyed in pieces by the _men of burden_ to the
lake, there to be put together and launched upon the waters.

The companions of Cortez had, however, by far too vivid a recollection
of the horrors of the _dismal night_ to participate in the zeal of
their commander. Murmurs against the enterprise grew louder and
louder, until the camp was almost in a state of mutiny. They
assembled, and appointed a delegation to wait upon their commander,
and remonstrate against another attempt, with his broken battalions,
to subjugate so powerful an empire. Respectfully, but firmly, they
demanded to be taken back to Cuba. All the arguments and entreaties of
Cortez were of no avail to change their minds or to allay their
anxieties.

We have before mentioned that a detachment of soldiers from Vera Cruz
had been cut off by the natives. The assailing force was from one of
the Mexican provinces in the vicinity of Tlascala, called Tepeaca. The
soldiers, without much unwillingness, consented to march to their
region, and chastise them for the deed. The enterprise would be
attended with but little danger, and promised a large amount of booty.
It was now the month