[127] ‘Intẽtaba hacer lo que despues hizo,’ says Vetancvrt, _Teatro Mex._, pt. iii. 112, in reference to the later effected independence of Velazquez. The mode of taking possession is thus described: Advancing with drawn sword and shield to a large ceiba-tree in the court-yard, Cortés struck it three times, and announced that he took possession for the king, and would defend his right against all comers. The soldiers thereupon shouted their approval, declaring that they would sustain their captain in his challenge. _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._, 21. Zamacois compares this form with others used elsewhere. _Hist. Méj._, x. 988. [128] The _Carta del Ayunt. de Vera Cruz_, in _Cortés_, _Cartas_, 15, refers to a certain intercourse held with natives; on the third day the exploring parties start. This intercourse is spoken of by Gomara, _Hist. Mex._, 30, as the visit of twenty leading men to promise food and presents, but really to spy. The Spaniards were encouraged to enter the interior to barter food. _Torquemada_, i. 374; _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._, 21. Alvarado, Ávila, and Sandoval are sent, each with eighty Spaniards and some Cuban carriers, to explore by three routes, and to get supplies for payment only. _Gomara_, _Hist. Mex._, 31; _Herrera_, dec. ii. lib. iv. cap. xi. Three parties sent out. _Tapia_, _Relacion_, in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. Doc._, ii. 559. Four captains sent, with over two hundred men. _Carta del Ayunt._, loc. cit. [129] Gomara, _Hist. Mex._, 31, states that one of the captains took refuge in a building in Centla town, and was there joined by the other two. All three now retreat to camp, whither two fleet Cubans run for aid. Herrera, Torquemada, and Brasseur de Bourbourg follow him. Before Cortés set out, says Cogolludo, _Hist. Yucathan_, 32, he had repelled an attack on his own camp. [130] ‘Señalo treze de a cauallo,’ who are named as Olid, Alvarado, Puertocarrero, Escalante, Montejo, Ávila, Velazquez de Leon, Morla, Láres the good horseman to distinguish him from another Láres, Gonzalo Dominguez, Moron of Bazamo, and Pedro Gonzalez of Trujillo, Cortés being the thirteenth. _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._, 22; Solis, _Hist. Mex._, i. 106, says fifteen horses, but in the _Carta del Ayunt. de V. Cruz_, in _Cortés_, _Cartas_, 16, the number decreases to ten. [131] Gomara says the force mustered 500 men, 13 horses and 6 guns; Herrera, 400 men and 12 horses. The alférez was Antonio de Villaroel. [132] This was a favorite movement of Cortés, and as such Tapia and the _Carta del Ayunt. de V. Cruz_ accept it, while Bernal Diaz and most writers state that the swampy ground required a circuit.