of August. Cortez headed the expedition, and in
the foray of a few weeks, after an enormous slaughter of the
Tepeacans, reduced the province to subjection, and returned to
Tlascala laden with plunder. Another foray was soon undertaken, and
then another. Thus, for five months, while he was collecting recruits
and accumulating supplies, he adroitly kept his men employed in
various military expeditions till they again became accustomed to
victory, and were ready to enter upon a wider field of glory, which
should open before them more brilliant prospects for wealth. Fortune,
it is said, helps those who help themselves. This inflexibility of
purpose and untiring energy on the part of Cortez, was accompanied by
what is usually termed the gifts of peculiarly good fortune.

The Governor of Cuba, unaware of the disaster which had befallen
Narvaez, sent two ships after him with a supply of men and military
stores. These vessels were decoyed into the harbor of Vera Cruz, the
stores seized, and the men were easily induced to enter into the
service of Cortez.

The Governor of Jamaica fitted out an expedition of three ships to
prosecute an expedition of discovery and conquest. They were very
unfortunate, and, after many disasters, these ships, their crews being
almost in a famishing state, cast anchor at Vera Cruz. They listened
eagerly to the brilliant prospects which Cortez held out to them, and
enlisted under his banner. At the same time, it also happened that a
ship arrived from Spain, fitted out by some private merchants with
military stores, and other articles for traffic among the natives.
Cortez immediately purchased the cargo, and induced the crew to follow
the example of the others, and join his army. At last, the agents he
sent to Hispaniola and Jamaica returned, with two hundred soldiers,
eighty horses, two battering-cannon, and a considerable supply of
ammunition and muskets. Cortez had in these various ways now collected
about him eight hundred and eighteen foot-soldiers, eighty-six
horsemen, three battering-cannon, and fifteen field-pieces.

He established his head-quarters at Tepeaca, on a small river which
ran into the lake. The iron, the planks, the timber, the masts, the
cordage, and the materials necessary to construct and equip a fleet
of thirteen brigantines, were to be carried a distance of sixty miles,
over rough roads, on the shoulders of men. Eight thousand _men of
burden_ were furnished by the Tlascalans