Meanwhile the sagacious mind of Cortéz was not only busy with the present duties and occupations of his men in Mexico, but began to dwell,--now that the intense excitement of active war was over,--upon the condition of his relations with the Spanish Court and the government in the islands. He despatched to Castile, letters, presents, and the "royal fifth," together with an enormous emerald whose base was as broad as the palm of his hand. With the General's missives, went a letter from his army, commending the heroic leader, and beseeching its royal master to confirm Cortéz in his authority and to ratify all his proceedings. Quinoñes and Avila, the two envoys, sailed for home; but one of them, lucklessly, perished in a brawl at the Azores, whilst Avila, who resumed the voyage to Spain, after the loss of his companion, was taken by a French privateer, who bore the spoils of the Mexicans to the Court of Francis the First. The letters and despatches of Cortéz and his army, however, were saved, and Avila, privately and safely forwarded them to the Spanish sovereign. At the Court of Charles the Fifth there were, of course, numerous intrigues against the successful conqueror. The hatred of Velasquez had not been suffered to slumber in the breast of that disappointed governor, and Fonseca, Bishop of Burgos, who was chief of the colonial department, and doubtless adroitly plied and stimulated by Velasquez, managed to obtain from the churchman, Adrian, who was Regent whilst the Emperor resided in Germany, an order for the seizure of Cortéz and the sequestration of his property until the will of the court should be finally made known. But, the avaricious Velasquez, the vindictive Fonseca, and the _Veedor_ Cristoval de Tapia, whom they employed to execute so delicate and dangerous a commission against a man who at that moment, was surrounded by faithful soldiers and whose troops had been augmented by recent arrivals at Vera Cruz,--reasoned with but little judgment when they planned their unjust and ungrateful measures against Cortéz. The commissioner, himself, seems to have soon arrived at the same conclusion, for, scarcely had he landed, before the danger of the enterprise and the gold of the conqueror, persuaded him prudently to decline penetrating into the heart of the country as the bearer of so ungrateful a reply to the wishes of a hero whose genius and sword had given an empire, and almost a world, to Spain. * * * * *