By Right of Conquest; Or, With Cortez in Mexico

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Henty George Alfred. By Right of Conquest; Or, With Cortez in Mexico

Preface

Chapter 1: A Startling Proposal

Chapter 2: Bound To Unknown Parts

Chapter 3: The Voyage

Chapter 4: Among The Islands

Chapter 5: Shipwrecked

Chapter 6: Anahuac

Chapter 7: A Wonderful Country

Chapter 8: At Tezcuco

Chapter 9: Life In A Palace

Chapter 10: News From The Coast

Chapter 11: Cortez

Chapter 12: The Fugitives

Chapter 13: The Massacre Of Cholula

Chapter 14: In Mexico

Chapter 15: Again At Tezcuco

Chapter 16: A Treasure Room

Chapter 17: The Insurrection

Chapter 18: The Rising In Mexico

Chapter 19: The Passage Of The Causeway

Chapter 20: At Tlascala

Chapter 21: A Victim For The Gods

Chapter 22: Home

Отрывок из книги

On March 3rd, 1516, the trading vessel the Swan dropped anchor at Plymouth. She would in our days be considered a tiny craft indeed, but she was then looked upon as a large vessel, and one of which her owner, Master Diggory Beggs, had good reason to be proud. She was only of some eighty tons burden, but there were few ships that sailed out from Plymouth of much larger size; and Plymouth was even then rising into importance as a seaport, having flourished mightily since the downfall of its once successful rival–Fowey. Large ships were not needed in those days, for the only cargoes sent across the sea were costly and precious goods, which occupied but small space. The cloths of the Flemings, the silks and satins of Italy, the produce of the East, which passed first through the hands of the Venetian and Genoese merchants, and the wines of France and Spain were the chief articles of commerce. Thus the freight for a vessel of eighty tons was a heavy venture, and none but merchants of wealth and position would think of employing larger ships. In this respect the Spaniards and the Italian Republics were far ahead of us, and the commerce of England was a small thing, indeed, in comparison with that of Flanders.

In Plymouth, however, the Swan was regarded as a goodly ship; and Master Diggory Beggs was heartily congratulated, by his acquaintances, when the news came that the Swan was sailing up the Sound, having safely returned from a voyage to Genoa.

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"It is a grave matter, Reuben, and one not to be undertaken without much thought and calculation. Still, I own that the proposal is a tempting one, and that the possession of this map, which I will examine at my leisure, would help you much in your enterprise. Truly, as you say, although the king might frown, there would be much honor as well as profit in being the first English merchant to dispatch a ship to the Spanish main. I love not the Spaniards and, like all Englishmen who think as I do on matters of religion, have viewed with much disfavor our alliance with men who are such cruel persecutors of all who are not of their religion."

"I hate them," Reuben Hawkshaw said, energetically. "They swagger as if they were the lords of the world, and hold all others as of no account beside them. If you resolve on this enterprise I shall, of course, do my utmost to avoid them; but should they try to lay hand on us, I shall be right glad to show them that we Englishmen hold ourselves fully a match for them."

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