Zuazo also communicated the mournful death of the excellent father Olmedo, who died shortly after Cortes' departure from Mexico; the whole of the inhabitants of which city had shed tears for the loss of this holy man. He was buried in the church of Santiago, and the Indians fasted from the day of his decease up to the moment of his funeral. The Franciscan monks held a beautiful funeral oration over his body, in which they enumerated all his great virtues, and said that the emperor was as much indebted to him as to us, the veteran Conquistadores, for the conquest of New Spain; but the still greater praise was due to him for giving the Indians a knowledge of God, and for having opened to them the gates of heaven. They knew, these Franciscans said, that he alone had baptized above 2500 Indians; that the good he had done by his advice and kindness was endless; and that he had been a father to the poor. In short, concluded Zuazo, all is lost in Mexico; and thus matters stood, when I was thrown on the back of a mule, and sent in chains to the place whence I date my letter. When Cortes had finished reading this letter to us, our grief and vexation were without bounds; nor did we spare our abuse of him who, in addition to the many hardships and fatigues we suffered, had also brought this calamity upon us. We vented a thousand curses upon Cortes, as well as upon the factor, and every one expressed his sentiments aloud, without any reserve. But Cortes himself could not refrain from shedding tears. He again shut himself up for half a day with the letter, and would not allow any one to come near him. When he made his reappearance, we unanimously proposed to him immediately to embark with the three vessels which lay in the harbour for New Spain. To this he replied, in the most affectionate manner, as follows: "O! my sons and companions, with so worthless a character as the factor a person must be particularly on his guard. This man has at present the government in his own hands, and is villain enough, if he should get us into his power, to put us all to death. Wherefore I intend, with God's assistance, to embark with no more than four or five of you gentlemen, and to land in some harbour where my arrival will not be immediately known in Mexico; not, until we are enabled to march with a considerable force into this metropolis: besides which, Sandoval is with too small a body of troops in Naco for you all to leave him; wherefore you, Luis Marin, must again join him with your small detachment, and desire him to commence his march as speedily as possible through the province of Guatimala to Mexico."