A few months into the campaign, after they had acquired some land and gold, serious problems arose in his camp. First, most of the soldiers were satisfied with what they had already acquired and were not motivated to go deeper into Mexico. Secondly, a good number of the soldiers were home sick and wanted to go back home to their wives and celebrate with the little riches they had acquired. The third problem was the most serious. Wary and suspicious of Cortes’s ambitions, he had eleven ships and 500 soldiers, the Cuban governor to whom Cortes reported and was accountable had planted troublemakers among his troops to not only spy on him but also contain his activities so that Cortes would not become too successful and too powerful. Faced with this challenge for weeks, Cortes prevaricated, wishing and hoping that things would get better-but they didn’t.
One night it became evident that the troops would mutiny against him and that not only the mission, but also his own life was in danger. Faced with this grim possibility Cortes sprung into action. He called aside a few of the soldiers still loyal to him, and ordered them to bore holes into all the ships and render them dysfunctional. Once this was accomplished he called all the troops and informed them that termites had rendered the ships unusable. He also pointed out the truth that they already knew that the enemy was advancing on them and that their lives were in danger. He also reminded them of their earlier victories and emphasized that they were well able to conquer the enemy as before. However, they had only two options left; either to regroup and fight the enemy which they were well able to do or capitulate and be killed by the enemy as sailing back to Cuba would not possible since the boats were dysfunctional. He then informed them of his decision to fight on and invited them to join him. They all, including the planted spies, closed ranks behind him and conquered the Aztecs and, of course, returned home many years later richer and more fulfilled.
