Cortez had sent one of his captains, Christoval de Olid, to Honduras, to found a Spanish colony there. This intrepid man, giddy with the possession of vast power, and encouraged by the success with which Cortez had thrown off his dependence upon Velasquez, determined to imitate his example, and assert independence of all authority save that of the Spanish crown. But Cortez was the last man to allow _his_ authority to be thus trifled with. He immediately sent an expedition under Francisco Las Casas, with five ships and a hundred veteran Spanish soldiers, to arrest the disobedient officer. With pennants flying, Las Casas sailed from Vera Cruz, and was rapidly borne by prosperous gales around the immense promontory of Yucatan, a voyage of nearly two thousand miles, to the bay in Honduras named the Triumph of the Cross, where Olid had established his post. Olid opposed his landing, but, as many of his soldiers chanced to be absent in the interior he could present no effectual resistance. After a short battle, Olid, hoping for the speedy return of his absent forces, applied for a truce. Las Casas weakly consented; but that same night a tempest arose which wrecked all his ships, and thirty of the crew perished in the waves. Las Casas and all of the remainder of his party, drenched and exhausted, were taken prisoners. Olid exulted greatly in this unanticipated good fortune; and, considering his foe utterly powerless, released the men upon their taking the oath of allegiance to him, and retained Las Casas surrounded with the courtesies of friendly and hospitable captivity. After a time, however, Las Casas succeeded in forming a conspiracy, and Olid was seized and beheaded. Cortez had heard of the wreck of the ships. No other tidings reached him. But disaster ever added strength to his energies. Vigorously he fitted out another expedition, and headed it himself. Leaving a strong garrison to guard the city of Mexico, and appointing two confidential officers to act as deputies during his absence, he prepared to march across the country, a perilous journey of five hundred leagues, through a wilderness of mountains, rivers, lakes, and forests. Unknown and doubtless hostile tribes peopled the whole region. It was one of the boldest of the many bold adventures of this extraordinary man. He has given a minute narrative of the march in a dispatch to Charles V. Bernal Diaz also, who accompanied the expedition, has given an interesting yet gossiping recital of all its wild adventures.