Note 264 — Chapter XI · THE SINKING OF THE FLEET. July-August, 1519.
Reading edition
‘El uno(of the captured ones) era maestre de la una nao, é puso fuego á la escopeta, é matara al capitan de la Veracruz, sino que á la mecha le faltó el fuego.’ Oviedo, iii. 263. Bernal Diaz, in a less intelligent account of the capture, states that only two men landed. ‘Por manera que se huuieron de aquel Nauio seis soldados.... Y esto es lo que se hizo, y no lo que escriue el Coronista Gomara.’ Hist. Verdad., 41. But Cortés’ version must surely be the best, since it was related shortly after the occurrence, and by an immediate participator in the events.