[115] The letter, as given in _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._, 17, and _Gomara_, _Hist. Mex._, 19, differs somewhat in tenor, and the former assigns eight days, the latter six, as the time Ordaz was to wait. Gomara writes further that the Indians were at first afraid to venture on such an errand into the interior, but the large reward overcame their fears, and they were carried to the cape in Escalante’s vessel, escorted by Ordaz in two other craft manned by fifty men. Cogolludo, _Hist. Yucathan_, 20, thinks there could be no danger for messengers. ‘Escondieron [the letter] a vno entre los cabellos, que trahian largos y trenzados, rebueltos, a la cabeça: y embiò los dos nauios de menos porte ... con veynte ballesteros, y escopeteros ... y que el menor boluiesse a dar cuenta de lo que auian hecho.’ _Herrera_, dec. ii. lib. iv. cap. vi.; _Peter Martyr_, dec. iv. cap. vi. ‘Envió un bergantin é cuatro bateles ... que esperarian cinco dias, é no mas.’ _Tapia_, _Relacion_, in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. Doc._, ii. 556. Las Casas, _Hist. Ind._, iv. 459, states that the cacique of Cozumel, eager to communicate freely with Cortés, sent messengers to the lord owning one of the captives, and asked him to sell or lend the man. Cortés at first proposed to rescue the captive with an armed force, but the cacique suggested a ransom as more effective. _Solis_, _Hist. Mex._, i. 76; _Landa_, _Rel. de Yuc._, 24-6. [116] Two carpenters, Alonso Yañez and Álvaro Lopez, claim the honor of having raised the first cross for the church in New Spain. To this the natives made no great objection, the cross having already with them a religious significance; and surely the sanctified effigy of the benign Mary was a more beautiful object to look upon than their idols. See _Native Races_, iii. 468-70. In one of the temples ‘auia vna cruz de cal tan alta como diez palmos.’ _Gomara_, _Hist. Mex._, 24. Las Casas objects to the compulsory mode of conversion used by Cortés and his holy company, and devotes a long paragraph to depicting the folly and evil thereof. _Hist. Ind._, iv. 460-2, 470. Bernal Diaz, _Hist. Verdad._, 18, describes the idolatrous rite, and Prescott, _Mex._, i. 269-71, speaks of Cortés as a reformer.