Until that ship-burning fiasco, Cortez was a pretty famous, one might say infamous, flip-flopper. The priest whispered to his cronies that it might have been the heat stroke or maybe all those people dying of that damnable fever. Whispered still that it was pretty weird that Cortez never took off his metal hat. Then went back to his constant scribbling in the book. The others stopped saying things to the priest. Except for Cortez, of course, who never stopped talking.
Had they still been in Spain, it might’ve even been funny. Just another blowhard soldier ranting incessantly over tapas and wine. But Cortez wasn’t drinking. And he spoke a little too often about his God-given purpose.
Many took comfort in all the heaps of gold. There was mountains of gold. At least, the locals said so.
Still, they were all pretty bummed about the boats.