Cortes, he declared, had the hearts of the people, and it was idle to oppose him. Some think that Verdugo was bribed, but it is more probable that the great popularity of Cortes made him afraid to attempt to carry out his orders. At all events, Cortes was undisturbed. To blind Velasquez, he now wrote him a friendly letter, and then set sail from Trinidad. Ere long he reached Havana, another settlement. Here he commenced beating up recruits, and gathering stores and provisions to strengthen his armament. This was easily done; multitudes eagerly joined him. Cortes hurried this business as rapidly as possible, for he still feared the jealousy of the suspicious Governor, and expected every hour the arrival of orders to stop him. In this fear he was not mistaken. He had not yet completed his arrangements, when the order came. Velasquez, more enraged against him than ever, because Verdugo had not obeyed his commands, and now certain that Cortes meant to defy him, sent a messenger with secret instructions to Pedro Barba, the commander at Havana, ordering him at once to seize Cortes, send him under a strong guard to St. Jago, and then delay the expedition until he should receive further orders. The principal officers were also commanded to aid Pedro Barba in arresting Cortes. Fortunately for Cortes, he was again advised of this plan. Bartholomew de Olmedo, chaplain to his armament, having received from a monk secret information of the whole, informed Cortes, and he at once prepared to meet the danger. The two officers whom he most feared as being ready to assist Pedro Barba, were Velasquez de Leon, a relation of the Governor of Cuba, and Diego de Ordaz, whose conduct, notwithstanding what had passed at Trinidad, was sometimes suspicious. Velasquez de Leon was a frank, warm-hearted, and ambitious young man, and Cortes easily won him to his cause by telling him of the glory that was before him, and the danger of any delay to the expedition. As to Ordaz, he determined to get him out of the way for a time, and therefore sent him to Guaniguanico, near Cape Antonio, that he might get further supplies of provisions for the voyage. As soon as Ordaz had left, Cortes assembled all his men. He now told them of the meanness and jealousy of Velasquez, in trying to take the command from him for no cause whatever. Then he spoke of the foolish order for delaying an expedition in which they were all so eager to embark, and in which they were all to earn so much glory,--an order he declared to be the more outrageous, because they had all spent their own private means in equipping for the enterprise. The men were greatly aroused. They were attached to Cortes, and they knew his worth as their leader. They begged that he would never give up the command, and promised that they would risk their lives anywhere, wherever he might lead. This was precisely what Cortes desired. He declared that he would be their leader, and that