So unusual a step so astonished the assembly that it silenced all opposition, and the alliance with the Mexicans was unanimously rejected.
Confident now that the Tlascalans were to be trusted, Cortez sent out expeditions, composed of his own men and bodies of the allies, and inflicted terrible punishment on the districts where the isolated parties of Spaniards had been cut off and destroyed; and defeated the natives in several hardly fought battles, capturing their towns and enslaving the inhabitants.
Having thus restored the confidence of his followers and allies, he prepared for a forward movement.

Martin Lopez, ship builder to the expedition, had escaped the slaughter on the causeway; and he now ordered him to build at Tlascala thirteen ships, which could be taken to pieces and carried on the shoulders of the Indians, to be launched on Lake Tezcuco.

The sails, rigging, and ironwork were to be brought from the coast, where they had been stored since Cortez had sunk his ships.
The Tlascalans placed a great number of men at the ship builders' disposal.

Timber was cut from the forest.

Pitch, an article unknown to the natives, obtained from the pines.