Cortes had hardly escaped the danger to which his religious ardor exposed him before another and no less threatening one confronted him. Some of the soldiers and sailors, tired of wandering about and alarmed at the prospect of fresh dangers on the march to the capital, had entered into a plot against the commander and decided to seize a vessel, make their escape to Cuba, and notify the governor of what Cortes had been doing. Fortunately the plot was discovered before it was too late. Cortes arrested the leaders and imposed a fitting penalty for the offence. As he was convinced that the source of disaffection had not entirely disappeared in his little army, he gave the matter serious consideration and at last hit upon a definite but dangerous plan of intimidating their small souls and causing them to recoil with terror from any thought of mutiny. He determined to remove the last hope of return and to leave them the alternative of an advance upon the Mexican capital or death, by destroying his fleet, thus convincing the fainthearted ones in his army that there was no middle course and that they must either conquer or die. Great as was the courage necessary to accomplish this, still greater was the task of making it acceptable to his army. Fortunately Cortes was as tactful as he was brave. He began by dismantling his vessels. He had the rigging removed and all the material on board as well as the cannon brought ashore. The ships’ carpenters then examined the hulls of the vessels and reported that they were in such a wretched condition it would be impossible to repair them. Cortes now inspired his soldiers with such courage and zeal that they hastened of their own accord to destroy them—their last refuge should the expedition prove a failure—and to bring the boards and planks on shore. Only one of them was spared to carry out Cortes’ purpose. He had been appointed leader by the tribunal which he himself had chosen, but in reality this was not any more authoritative than if he had appointed himself. He was anxious to place his rights upon a secure footing, and, with this end in view, he decided to send a vessel to Spain to obtain the sanction of the Court for all his movements thus far, as well as relief from any further responsibility to Velasquez and his appointment as absolute governor of the empire to be conquered by him.