nt compunctions
of conscience, as the hunters of wild honey destroy the bees and rob
the hives. Cortez himself set out with a strong party on an exploring
tour, and returned after an absence of twenty-six days, sorely wounded
in the face from a conflict which he had with the natives. If the
natives assumed any attitude of resistance, they were shot like
panthers and bears.

Here Cortez built two brigantines, and sailed along the coast some
three hundred miles to Truxillo. He established on the way, at Port
Cavallo, a colony, to which place he ordered a division of his army to
march. Others of the troops were to assemble at Naco, quite an
important town, where Olid had been executed. Cortez, upon his arrival
at Truxillo, which was the principal establishment of the colony in
Honduras, was received by the colonists with great distinction. The
Indians in the neighborhood were immediately assembled, and were urged
to acknowledge submission to the King of Spain, and to adopt the
Christian religion. With wonderful pliancy, they acceded to both
propositions. "The reverend fathers," says Diaz, "also preached to the
Indians many holy things very edifying to hear." From this place
Cortez sent a dispatch to the King of Spain, and also a valuable
present of gold, "taken," says Diaz, "in reality from his sideboard,
but in such a manner that it should appear to be the produce of this
settlement."

Cortez, to his extreme disappointment, found the country poor. There
was no gold, and but little food. Worn down by anxiety and fatigue, he
was emaciated in the extreme, and was so exceedingly feeble that his
friends despaired of his life. Indeed, to Cortez, death seemed so
near, that, with forethought characteristic of this enthusiast, he had
made preparations for his burial.

One day, as Cortez, in the deepest dejection, was conversing with his
friends, a vessel was discerned in the distant horizon of the sea. The
ship had sailed from Havana, and brought to Cortez dispatches from
Mexico. He retired to his apartment to read them. As he intently
perused the documents, his friends in the antechamber heard him groan
aloud in anguish. The tidings were indeed appalling, and sufficient to
crush even the spirit of Cortez. For a whole day his distress was so
great that he did not leave his room. The next morning he called for
an ecclesiastic, confessed his sins, and ordered a mass. He then,
somewhat calmed by devotion, read to his friends the