The Totonacs also help Cortés build the…

The Totonacs also help Cortés build the town of Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz, which is the starting point for his attempt to conquer the Aztec empire.

Hearing of the rebellion, more ambassadors from the Aztec Emperor return to see Cortes, bearing gifts of "gold and cloth", in thankfulness for Cortes freeing his tax collectors.

Montezuma also informs Cortes that he is certain the Spanish are of "his own race", and had arrived as "his ancestors had foretold".

As Cortes tells his men, the natives "think us gods, or godlike beings."

Although they attempt to dissuade Cortés from visiting Tenochtitlan, the lavish gifts and the polite, welcoming remarks only encourage him to continue his march on the capital of the empire.

Those of his men still loyal to the Governor of Cuba conspired to seize a ship and escape to Cuba, but Cortés moves swiftly to squash their plans.

Two ringleaders are condemned to be hanged; two are lashed, and one has his foot mutilated.

To make sure such a mutiny does not happen again, he decides to scuttle his ships, effectively stranding the expedition in Mexico.

However, it does not completely end the aspirations of those members of his company who remain loyal to the Governor of Cuba.

Cortés now leads his band inland towards the fabled Tenochtitlan while small contingent of the expedition remains at Veracruz.

There is no reliable evidence that Alonso Álvarez de Pineda, in his exploration of the northern and western Gulf Coast, ever disembarked on the shores of Texas, but he anchors off of Villa Rica de la Veracruz shortly after Hernán Cortés had departed.

Cortés returns on hearing of Alvarez de Pineda's arrival.

Alvarez de Pineda wishes to establish a boundary between the lands he is claiming for Garay and those that Cortés has already claimed; Cortés is unwilling to bargain, and Alvarez de Pineda leaves to retrace his route northward.