Meantime the bold Cortes did not long remain in prison. He shoved back one of the fastenings of his chains, freed his limbs, broke the window, and escaped to a church near by. According to the customs of the time a fugitive could not be seized in a sacred place. Velasquez kept guards upon the lookout, and once, when Cortes incautiously ventured out just a little too far, he was caught, and bound, and conveyed to a vessel which was to sail to Hispaniola the next morning. But fortune favored him. He released himself in the night, jumped from the vessel’s side into a boat, thence into the sea, and swam ashore. Exhausted, he sought the same asylum again and declared he would marry Catalina Xuarez, if the governor would pardon him. Velasquez assented, Cortes married Catalina, a reconciliation between himself and Velasquez was effected, and a closer friendship than ever was the result. When Alvarado returned with glowing accounts of the new discoveries on the mainland, and Grijalva also extolled the great rich western empire, Cortes was the one chosen as the commander of the fleet. The position was accepted by him, and all who were to take part in the expedition were delighted that such an able, courageous, and highly qualified man was to be their leader. Cortes was also delighted at the opportunity of displaying his ability, contributed all that he had in providing an ample store of campaign necessaries, and aided those of his companions who were too poor to obtain what they needed. Before the equipment in the harbor of St. Iago was completed Cortes stole away, for he had heard that Velasquez designed to take the supreme command from him, fearing that he might carry off all the glory as well as the profits of the enterprise. His entire force numbered three hundred men, and a hundred more joined him from another part of Cuba, members of distinguished families, eager for the glory and boundless treasures which the expedition promised. The day on which Cortes sailed was the eighteenth of November, 1518. The first destination of the fleet was Trinidad, and the next Havana, where several persons and further stocks of supplies were to be taken aboard.