The camp was short on food, with only two meals a day, morning and evening. After a breakfast that could hardly be called early, what followed was a long wait. The fleet's hiding place lay between Hidden Snake City and the Second Ancient City, La Venta, only a little over fifty li from the populous eastern Holy City. In truth, the nearest Totonac village was only around a dozen li away.
In such a dangerous position, as captain of the exploration fleet, the old Militia Chiwako had no choice but to tread carefully, carefully, and still more carefully. In the words he used to lecture the fleet, that was...
"You stupid logs! Eat whatever there is, and don't go thinking about fighting!... All of you, burrow into holes like grass rats and tuck your heads in like sea turtles!... Damn it! I brought you out here, so I'm going to bring as many of you back as I can..."
Hearing the old Militia's scolding, the Kingdom Warriors and sailors in the camp could only put down the weapons they had sharpened again and again, and lower their heads helplessly. When the four Longships had set sail back from Cuba, they had carried nearly two hundred people. But now, in the camp, there were only a little over a hundred and sixty.
The warriors and sailors of Purepecha origin made up only half the fleet now. Another quarter of the warriors were Putun prisoners of war replenished from Chief Moqi at Great Grassland City of the Short Spear Tribe. As for the final quarter of sailors, they came from mixed origins, all converted to the Main God. Among them were Huastec, Taino, and even Totonac...
Fortunately, in this era, the vast majority of the American tribes had only tribe and faith,