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diff --git a/34802.txt b/34802.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0a77249 --- /dev/null +++ b/34802.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6284 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Vasco Nunez de Balboa, by Frederick Albion Ober + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Vasco Nunez de Balboa + +Author: Frederick Albion Ober + +Release Date: December 31, 2010 [EBook #34802] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VASCO NUNEZ DE BALBOA *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + + + + +HEROES OF +AMERICAN HISTORY + +DE BALBOA + +[Illustration: VASCO NUNEZ DE BALBOA] + + + + +VASCO NUNEZ DE BALBOA + +BY +FREDERICK A. OBER + +HEROES OF AMERICAN HISTORY + +ILLUSTRATED + +[Illustration] + +HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS +NEW YORK AND LONDON +1906 + +Copyright, 1906, by HARPER & BROTHERS. + +_All rights reserved._ + +Published October, 1906. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAP. PAGE + +I. THE MAN-OF-THE-BARREL 1 + +II. LEADER OF A FORLORN HOPE 19 + +III. BALBOA ASSERTS HIS SUPREMACY 33 + +IV. BALBOA CAPTURES A PRINCESS 47 + +V. THE CACIQUES OF DARIEN 64 + +VI. FIRST TIDINGS OF THE PACIFIC 81 + +VII. A SEARCH FOR THE GOLDEN TEMPLE 95 + +VIII. CONSPIRACY OF THE CACIQUES 106 + +IX. HOW THE CONSPIRACY WAS DEFEATED 120 + +X. DISSENSIONS IN THE COLONY 134 + +XI. BALBOA STRENGTHENS HIS ARM 148 + +XII. THE QUEST FOR THE AUSTRAL OCEAN 162 + +XIII. ON THE SHORES OF THE PACIFIC 175 + +XIV. A RIVAL IN THE FIELD 193 + +XV. PEDRARIAS, THE SCOURGE OF DARIEN 206 + +XVI. IN THE DOMAIN OF THE DRAGONS 220 + +XVII. A COMPACT WITH THE ENEMY 234 + +XVIII. BUILDING THE BRIGANTINES 245 + +XIX. IMPRISONED AND IN CHAINS 258 + +XX. THE END OF VASCO NUNEZ DE BALBOA 269 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +VASCO NUNEZ DE BALBOA _Frontispiece_ +PANAMA, DARIEN, AND THE SOUTH SEA _Facing p._ 1 + +BALBOA CARRIED ON SHIPBOARD " 16 + +VILLAGE ON RIVER OF DARIEN " 52 + +BALBOA AND THE INDIAN PRINCESS " 68 + +QUARREL FOR THE GOLD " 84 + +DISCOVERY OF THE PACIFIC " 170 + +EXECUTION OF BALBOA " 274 + + + + +SOURCES OF INFORMATION + + +While Vasco Nunez de Balboa may be reckoned among the greatest of the +minor explorers, yet less has been written of him, perhaps, than of any +other in his class except Juan Ponce de Leon. Both names are familiar to +every student of history, both are well known even to the casual reader; +but both have been strangely neglected by the biographer. + +The only complete biography of Balboa (it was declared by an authority +several years ago), is that of Don Manuel Jose de Quintana, who, between +the years 1807 and 1834, published his "Spanish Plutarch," or _Vidas de +Espanoles Celebres_. This work is considered a classic, and its author +(who was born in Madrid, 1772, and died in 1857) lived to see it receive +high praise, and some of its subjects honored by translation into other +languages than his own vernacular. An English edition, of _Balboa_ and +_Pizarro_, from Quintana's _Celebrated Spaniards_, was published in +London, 1832, as translated by Mrs. Margaret Hodson, and dedicated to +Robert Southey, then England's poet-laureate. + +But there is much material elsewhere to be found pertaining to Balboa, +as well as to Pizarro, and no lack of original documents, such as +letters that passed between Vasco Nunez and the Spanish crown, in the +years 1513, 1514 and 1515. Mention is made of Balboa by all the early +Spanish writers, of course, such as Martyr, Herrera, and Oviedo, the +last named having been personally acquainted with him, as well as with +Pedrarias, Pizarro, and all those who were concerned in the exploration +and settlement of Darien, Panama, and Peru. Though Oviedo's great work, +the _Historia Natural y General de las Indias_, remained in manuscript +during three centuries, Quintana had free access to it and extracted +much that was interesting and valuable. + + + + +VASCO +NUNEZ DE BALBOA + +[Illustration: PANAMA, DARIEN, AND THE SOUTH SEA] + + + + +VASCO NUNEZ DE BALBOA + + + + +I + +THE MAN-OF-THE-BARREL + +1475-1510 + + +Sometime in the summer of the year 1501 there landed on the southern +coast of Santo Domingo one of the strangest expeditions that ever +visited its shores. It was commanded by one Rodrigo de Bastidas, a rich +notary of Seville, in Old Spain, who had become imbued with a passion +for adventure, and so set forth, with a company contained in two +caravels, over the route followed by Christopher Columbus in his third +voyage to America. As he was guided by the skilled pilot Juan de la +Cosa, who had been with Columbus in the West Indies, his voyage was in +every respect successful, save in its ending. It included the entire +length of _Terra Firma_ (as the north coast of South America was then +called), from the Gulf of Maracaibo to the Isthmus of Darien, whence, +after profitable bartering with the Indians, Bastidas set sail for +Spain. + +He had sought traffic only, and not conquest, hence had been everywhere +received with open arms by the natives, who poured out their treasures +of gold and pearls most lavishly, so that he and all his comrades were +enriched. Only one other venture to this region, that of Pedro Nino, the +year previous, had yielded such rich returns, and it was with exultation +that the members of this expedition turned the prows of their caravels +homeward. When half-way across the Caribbean Sea, however, they +discovered, to their great alarm, that their vessels were leaking in +every part, and upon investigation found the hulls full of holes, made +by the destructive teredo, or ship-worm, the existence of which they had +not suspected. The nearest land was the island of Santo Domingo, then +known as Hispaniola, and, bearing up for it, they found a harbor in the +Bay of Ocoa. The caravels were hardly kept afloat until this haven was +reached, and foundered in port before their cargoes were landed. All the +arms and ammunition aboard, as well as much of the provisions, went down +with the vessels; but no lives were lost, and the most precious portion +of the cargoes was saved, to the last pearl and nugget of gold. + +The governor of Santo Domingo at that time was Don Francisco de +Bobadilla, who, though but a year or so in office, had already committed +irreparable wrongs upon the natives of the island. But a few months had +elapsed since he had sent Christopher Columbus and his brothers home to +Spain in chains. Having sequestrated their effects, he was rapidly +squandering his ill-gotten wealth, and actually living in the old +admiral's castle. + +One hot midsummer day, as Governor Bobadilla was enjoying his siesta, or +noonday nap, he was rudely awakened by one of his mounted scouts, who +had ridden all night and all morning, coming in from the westward. +Pushing aside the sentinel on duty in the lower court, he sprang up the +stone stairs with jangling spurs, and, making his way to the balcony +overlooking the river Ozama, where the governor's hammock was swung, he +exclaimed: "Your excellency, I have dire news to report. It calls for +immediate action, too, hence my intrusion upon your privacy." + +"Ha! it must be pressing, indeed," replied the governor, testily, +rubbing his eyes and at the same time rolling out of his hammock. "Know +you not, sirrah, that I could have you swung from the battlements--yea, +dashed to the pavement of the court below? Ho, it is Enrique! Pardon me, +man, I thought it must be some varlet of the admiral's scurvy gang. No +chances lose the _Colombinos_ [partisans of Columbus] to invade my +castle and seek to press home their claims, perchance their rusty +blades! But proceed. What is it, Enrique?" + +"Your excellency, three bands of lawless adventurers, under one Bastidas +and the pilot Juan de la Cosa, are marching through the country, with +intent, most probably, of attacking the capital. Each band is provided +with a coffer filled with gold and pearls, which they are bestowing upon +the Indians in exchange for provisions. They are committing no ravage, +being in the main unarmed; but I thought your excellency should be +informed, and so have come, as you see, all the way from Azua, without +rest." + +"As a faithful retainer, Enrique, you have done well, and shall receive +your reward. They can do no harm, doubtless, since we are here in force; +but, laden with gold and pearls, say you?" + +"Yes, your excellency, rioting in wealth, which they have obtained in +Terra Firma. Not a man among them that has not great store." + +"Ha! They come most opportunely, then, for this island of Hispaniola is +wellnigh drained of its riches, what with the ravages of Roldan's men +and the license permitted by Bartolome Colon. Their wealth is, without +doubt, ill-gotten, and we must see what can be done with it. Trading +without permission, whether on Terra Firma or in the isles, is a serious +offence." + +"But, excellency, the commander of the expedition is Rodrigo Bastidas, a +lawyer of note in Seville, and he claims to have had permission from the +sovereigns. He comes not with intent to trade in this island, so he +says, but, his vessels having foundered, he desires only assistance to +proceed home to Spain." + +"And he shall get it, forsooth; but not of the sort he may crave. A +lawyer, say you? Well, since I have already incarcerated an admiral, an +adelantado, and the governor of this very city of Santo Domingo, it +seems not reasonable that I shall be bearded by a bachelor! The dungeon +awaits him, and there is a place in my treasury for his store of gold +and pearls, until it shall be shown that the royal fifth is secure. Go +now and call the captain of the guard. Tell it not in the town; but I +shall have my soldiers ready to arrest these marauders the moment they +arrive." + +The avaricious Bobadilla kept his word to the letter, for when, the next +night, his shipwrecked countrymen arrived within sight of the city, they +were met by an armed force and conducted, weak and famishing as they +were, to the prison-pen, where they were herded like cattle. The rank +and file were soon released, and allowed to wander at will about the +island, but Bastidas and La Cosa were kept immured for many months. In +June or July of the next year they were placed on board one of the ships +comprising the large fleet collected by the governor to accompany him to +Spain. Bobadilla embarked in another vessel, at the same time, but lost +his life in a hurricane, which sank nearly every ship in his fleet.[1] + +The vessel containing Bastidas and La Cosa survived the tempest, and +they safely arrived in Spain with the greater portion of their treasure. +Both received high honors at the hands of their sovereign, and returned +to the scenes of their discoveries, on the coast of Terra Firma, where +the gallant pilot was killed by a poisoned arrow. Bastidas was appointed +governor of Santa Marta, where, because he treated the Indians justly +and took their part against his ferocious followers, he was assassinated +by some of his own men. His remains were taken to Santo Domingo, and in +its cathedral is a chapel dedicated to the memory of "the Adelantado +Rodrigo de Bastidas," who, together with his wife and child, there +sleeps his last, in a tomb elaborately carved, as attested by an +inscription on the chapel wall. + + * * * * * + +While the adventures of the humane Bastidas were sufficiently +interesting to attract attention at the time of their occurrence, they +might, possibly, have escaped the historian were it not for the fact +that they were shared by a man whose subsequent fortunes were identified +with one of the greatest events in American history. This man was Vasco +Nunez de Balboa, who enlisted under Bastidas at Seville, and accompanied +him throughout the voyage, with its consequent disasters. He was then an +obscure individual, known only as a dependant of Don Pedro +Puertocarrero, the mighty lord of Moguer. He was not a native of Moguer +(that town near Palos so closely identified with Columbus and the +discovery of America), but came from Xeres de los Caballeros, where his +family was respected, though poor and untitled. + +No mention is made of Balboa in the annals of the voyage, nor for years +after the disbanding of the company at Santo Domingo do we find anything +respecting the man who possessed those transcendent qualities that later +marked him as a born leader of men. He was probably one of the +unfortunates let loose upon the island when Bastidas was imprisoned by +Bobadilla. At that time he was about twenty-six years of age, having +been born in 1475. He was tall and robust, with a handsome, +prepossessing countenance, and was one of the most expert swordsmen and +archers in the island. + +"His singular vigor of frame," says his Spanish biographer, Quintana, +"rendered him capable of any degree of fatigue; his was the strongest +lance, his was the surest arrow in the company; but his habits were +loose and prodigal, though his nature was generous, his manners +extremely affable." + +He was, probably, just an average "soldier of fortune," and, finding +Santo Domingo well suited to his tastes, took what came to him from his +share in the voyage with Bastidas and spent it in riotous living. This +one-time Indian Eden, or paradise, had been converted, by the passions +of depraved men, into an abode fit only for the ruffian and libertine. +With the farms and plantations assigned the new-coming settlers went +large _encomiendas_, or slave-gangs, of unfortunate Indians, who +belonged to their master utterly so long as they remained subject to his +control. At the time of Balboa's advent the system was at its worst, for +Bobadilla, knowing that his time was short, encouraged every Spaniard to +make the most of his opportunities. Thus the poor Indians were worked +beyond the limit of endurance, and died by thousands; thus the white men +took to oppression as a matter of course, and became as fiends in human +shape, with no regard for morals, for humanity, or the rights of their +fellow-men. + +Yet, with all the opportunities presumably given Balboa for acquiring a +fortune, we find him, after several years in the island, deep in debt +and seeking to avoid his creditors by flight. The first authentic notice +of this former companion of Bastidas appears in a reference to him, in +general terms, in the year 1510. At that time, four years after the +death of Christopher Columbus, his only legitimate son, Don Diego, was +governor of Santo Domingo and viceroy of the Indies. He had succeeded to +the incompetent Bobadilla and the atrocious Ovando, who had left the +island in such terrible condition that all his great energies were +required to bring it under control. + +Besides seeking to renovate the impoverished plantations and ameliorate +the condition of the Indians, Don Diego also undertook the investigation +of Santo Domingo's resources, and explorations in various regions of +the Caribbean. He was especially interested in the development of Terra +Firma, and encouraged expeditions thither, among them being the venture +of Alonso de Ojeda, who, on one of his voyages, was accompanied by +Francisco Pizarro, then unknown, but destined to become the conqueror of +Peru. On his third voyage to Terra Firma, Ojeda left behind him in Santo +Domingo one Martin Fernandez de Enciso, who was to follow after with a +vessel freighted with supplies and reinforcements for a colony he had +founded on the coast of Darien. It was on the occasion of Enciso's +sailing that the reference, already alluded to, was made to Balboa and +the class to which he then belonged: delinquent debtors who sought to +evade their obligations by flight. Information having reached Don Diego, +the admiral, that certain reckless men of this class meditated waylaying +Enciso's ship when she called at some of the out-ports for final +supplies, he issued a proclamation commanding them to desist from their +purpose, and also sent an armed caravel with the vessel to escort her +clear of the coast. + +Vasco Nunez de Balboa was then residing on a farm, which he nominally +owned, near the sea-coast town of Salvatierra, at which place Enciso +was to call for provisions. Indeed, some of the provisions were to come +from Balboa's farm, and his own Indians were engaged in transporting +them to the sea-shore. Late one afternoon, it is said, as Balboa and his +_mayordomo_, or chief man, were walking on the sands near the mouth of +the river that flowed through his farm, they saw Enciso's vessel and her +escort standing into the bay. The sun was then not far above the western +hills, beyond which towered the cloud-capped mountains of the interior, +where lay the rugged region known as the Goldstone Country. The craft +had scarcely furled their sails and dropped their anchors ere a puff of +smoke shot out from the larger vessel, followed by the report of a +cannon. + +"Ha! that means haste!" exclaimed Balboa. "Bachelor Enciso is desirous +that we send our supplies at once, so that he may lade to-night and sail +to-morrow with the morning breeze." + +"Well, master," said the mayordomo, "so far as our own provisions go, we +are ready for him. These barrels on the beach, with what the Indians are +now bearing hither on the road, make up our contribution to the cargo." + +"Yes, Miguel," answered Balboa, "as thou sayest, we are ready. But, +notwithstanding, there is one more contribution I fain would make to +Bachelor Enciso's complement of soldiers, as well as add to his cargo. +Dost understand me, Miguel mio?" + +"I have heard, master, that thou art pressed for funds of late, and +threatened with imprisonment provided money be not forthcoming for thy +creditors." + +"That is it. And dost know, Miguel, whence I may get that money--or, +what is the same to me now, how I may evade payment for a while?" + +"As to the _dinero_, master--'sooth, I know not where to find it; for if +I did, certain thou shouldst have it. As to evading the payment, there +is but one way open, and that--" + +"Lies yonder," added Balboa, then continued, bitterly: "Yet it is not +open, after all, for how can I get aboard the vessel? Don Diego--and may +the devil get his soul in keeping, say I!--Don Diego has sent the +caravel to prevent the escape of poor men like me who would redeem +themselves in a far country. He would keep us here, it seems, to rot in +misery, rather than afford us a chance to get gold for the payment of +our debts." + +"Don Diego is a fool!" exclaimed the mayordomo. "Yea, and so is the +Bachelor Enciso. Faith, if we cannot outwit them both, thou mayst cut +off my head and stick it on a pole! When canst thou be ready, my +master?" + +"In an hour, Miguel. But what will it avail?" + +"Say no more, my master, but go to the rancho, and return to the beach +within an hour or two. It were better if after dark; but not too late +for getting aboard the ship." + +"Oh no, not too late for boarding the ship," rejoined Balboa, +derisively. "It hath ever been that, of late. But, what is thy scheme, +Miguel?" + +"Let not that concern thee, master. Go thou, and remember these +proverbs: 'When the iron is hot, then is the time to strike'; and 'When +the fool has made up his mind, the market is over!'" + +Balboa laughed lightly as he hastened away to the rancho, whence he +returned, two or three hours later, accompanied by an Indian porter with +a full suit of armor on his back, and another with a large basket +containing articles of wearing apparel. + +Miguel was standing by a large cask, one end of which was open. +Directing the Indians to deposit their burdens on the sand beside the +cask, he sent them back to the rancho, thus leaving himself and Balboa +alone. Not far away, though but dimly visible in the starlit night, a +number of Indians were rolling casks of provisions into a small boat +from the ship. + +"They will be ready for this in about an hour," said the mayordomo, "so +I fain must pack it quickly. What thinkst thou of thy quarters, master +mine?" + +"What? Is that thy scheme--to send me aboard packed like pork in a cask? +Never, Miguel! The stigma would cling to me forever!" + +"Not so closely, perhaps, as thy creditors, my master. But choose thou, +and quickly, for time is no laggard. Meanwhile thou'rt making up thy +mind, I'll pack this armor and clothing in the lower end of the cask. +See, now, I shall secure it with braces, so the armor may not rattle; +and observe thou that there are holes, which I have bored in the sides, +to give thee air. Now, when quite ready, get therein, and I will head +thee up, my master." + +"But, Miguel, suppose the cask were to turn over? With the weight of my +armor upon me, I should be suffocated, methinks." + +"Nay, master, turned over thou shalt not be, for I shall give +instructions to the crew to keep the top-end uppermost." + +"But they may not observe them," groaned Balboa, as he clambered into +the cask and settled himself in position. + +"They will, master; trust me," said the faithful Miguel. "In the lading, +they may roll thee about a bit, to be sure. Still, it will be better +than to be squeezed by thy creditors." + +"Well, as thou sayest, Miguel. In I go, perchance to a living tomb. A +thousand ducats for thee, Miguel, if the venture prove successful." + +"Ha! But when do I get it, master?" + +"When I am lord of Terra Firma! But stay, Miguel. There is Leoncico. I +cannot, must not, leave him behind." + +"Truly thou sayest," replied the mayordomo; "but for the hound I have +already provided. He goes aboard with Salvador Gonzalez, who, also, will +have an eye on this cask, to open it at the proper time, which cannot +be till to-morrow, know thou." + +[Illustration: BALBOA CARRIED ON SHIPBOARD] + +"Ah, well! get me aboard; and caution the men to handle me carefully. +_Adios_, Miguel, good friend. May the Lord reward thee." + +Enciso's vessel was laden by midnight, and before dawn of the next +morning was well in the offing, from the shore appearing a mere speck +upon the horizon. The bachelor was now in high feather, for he had, as +he thought, completely outwitted the scheming debtors of the island, who +intended boarding his vessel, and had dismissed the armed caravel with a +message to Don Diego to this effect. What, then, was his astonishment, +about mid-forenoon of the first day out, to be confronted by a mailed +apparition, in the person of the most notorious debtor that Santo +Domingo had known--Vasco Nunez de Balboa! + +Clad in full armor, with his good Toledo blade in one hand and the +famous hound, Leoncico, by his side, the soldier-colonist strode aft to +the quarter-deck where Enciso was standing. He had been released from +his cramped quarters in the cask by his neighbor Gonzalez, guided by +Leoncico, who picked out his master's place of imprisonment from among +the freightage in the vessel's bows, and stood by solemnly until he was +freed. + +"_Dios mio!_" exclaimed Balboa, after the head of the cask had been +removed and his own head took its place. "That was an experience I would +not endure again for an empire! Give me to eat, friend Salvador, and +something to drink, for of a truth I am perishing of hunger and thirst. +My limbs, too, are as stiff as a stake, so rub me down, _amigo_, and +then help me on with my armor." + + + + +II + +LEADER OF A FORLORN HOPE + +1510 + + +When the Bachelor Enciso beheld Vasco Nunez before him, even though the +stowaway removed his plumed hat and bowed obsequiously almost to the +deck, he was exceedingly disturbed. As he gazed, open-mouthed, upon the +handsome countenance of Balboa, wreathed as it was with a most provoking +smile, which seemed to say, "Aha! I have outwitted you at last," his +choler rose, so that at first he could not find words for his wrath. + +Finally it was voiced, and he poured forth, upon the still smiling +vagabond in armor before him, a torrent of words which, since they were +not chosen with a view to being reproduced for posterity to peruse, will +not be repeated herewith. Suffice it that, when at last his rage and his +vocabulary were seemingly exhausted, he was somewhat mollified by +Balboa's single remark: "Well, Senor Bachelor, after all, the island, it +seemeth, has lost a bad citizen, while you have gained a good soldier. +Yea, two good soldiers, for here behold my hound, Leoncico, who will do +more than one man's work, I ween." + +"Scoundrel!" sputtered the lawyer, "what bad citizen--and, faith, you +are one--ever became a good soldier? I have a mind--yea, a mind almost +made up for that--to leave you on the reefs of Roncador, there to +subsist on such as the sea may yield. And your impudence, moreover, to +force yourself upon my company, when, as you cannot truthfully deny, you +owe me, myself, two hundred ducats!" + +"Nor do I deny it," answered Balboa, with a winning smile. "And the fact +that I do not--and, moreover, seek you out--and, as you say, force +myself upon your company--would not that imply that my motives are most +honorable? Why should I seek to ally with one to whom I am indeed in +debt but for a desire to liquidate that obligation? You yourself know, +Bachelor, that there are now no opportunities in Hispaniola: none for +the planter, even--which I am not; and scarce any for the +soldier--which I am. Take me with you, then, and but give me +opportunity. From the first spoils I win of the heathen, you shall +recoup yourself the two hundred ducats, and I shall not rest until all +my creditors have likewise been repaid in full." + +"I do not know," remarked Enciso dubiously. "I remember the proverb, +'When the devil says his prayers, he wants to cheat you.' I never knew +you, Vasco Nunez de Balboa, to be over-anxious to discharge your debts. +Still, since you are here, and if, before these men assembled, you will +pledge your fealty, promising support and obedience to my commands, I +will allow you to remain." + +"I thank your excellency; and let me quote another proverb, which I +verily believe in, '_Quien busca, halla_--He who seeks, finds!' I have +sought, I shall seek yet more, and--I shall find!" + +With these words, Balboa bowed low to the lawyer-captain, turned on his +heel, and walked forward to rejoin his friends. Enciso looked after him, +noting his stalwart, muscular figure, his independent poise, and shook +his head. He had, indeed, gained a sturdy recruit, but one of such +lofty and intrepid spirit that he might not be content with a position +in the ranks, and, perchance, might some time aspire to command. Lawyer +that he was, he was provoked to think that he had, in a sense, +compounded with felony, and allowed a man to join his company who was +under the ban of the law. But, like the lawyer that he was, he shrugged +his shoulders and hoped all would turn out for the best. Balboa had his +permission to stay, and even if he had not given it, he could not get +rid of the impudent rascal without throwing him overboard. + +Balboa joined his friends in the prow of the ship, and, with something +of a swagger, told of his reception by Enciso, whom he complimented for +his good sense in securing a good recruit, even though it had gone +against his prejudices to do so. Salvador Gonzalez and a few other +soldier-settlers, who had enlisted for the voyage and a year thereafter +of service on land, then informed Balboa of the nature of the expedition +in which he had engaged. They had turned the empty cask bottom up, and, +gathered around Balboa's erstwhile domicile of the night before, regaled +themselves upon viands brought from their Dominican farms. A goat-skin +of wine hung conveniently near, and as this was frequently resorted to, +the spirits of the company rose with the progress of the meal. + +"You may not understand, Vasco Nunez _mio_," said Gonzalez, "that this +expedition we are on is for the relief of Don Alonso de Ojeda, who has +made, now, three voyages to Terra Firma, and has founded a colony on the +Gulf of Uraba. He and Don Diego de Nicuesa were given by the sovereigns +permission to settle the coast of Terra Firma, between Cape de la Vela +and Gracias a Dios, and they sailed from Santo Domingo, as you know, at +or about the same time. When Don Alonso left, he had arranged with this +our commander, the Bachelor Enciso, to prepare a vessel and follow him, +after a certain interval. That interval has elapsed, and, true to his +pledge, Don Martin Fernandez has set sail, and here we are, you see, on +the high seas between Santo Domingo and the continent of mysteries +[South America]." + +"And well pleased am I," responded Balboa, "to find myself loose from +that island of plagues and poverty. Whate'er betide, meseems we cannot +do worse on the continent than in Hispaniola. Well it is that I +preserved my good sword all these years that I have played the planter +in that island, for now I see my way to carve a fortune with it in a new +land where gold abounds. Here, then, is to the success of our voyage! +May we find gold galore, and caciques as rich as was Caonabo when Don +Cristobal Columbus came first to Hispaniola!" + +He filled a calabash with wine, which he quaffed at a draught, and his +companions likewise drank most heartily to the toast he proposed. + +"How many are there in our company?" asked Balboa. + +"One hundred and fifty men," answered Gonzalez, "plus yourself." + +"Then there are one hundred and fifty-two, for Leoncico is as good as +any soldier, and shall share on equal terms with all." + +This Balboa said with such determination that it was easy to see his dog +stood only second to himself in his estimation. + +"Ay, he is a fine brute," assented Gonzalez. "I know him well. He is a +son of Ponce de Leon's dog, Becerrico, who performed such feats in the +island San Juan, and well worthy of his sire. And, inasmuch as +Becerrico received a soldier's full share, yielding his master more than +two thousand pesos in gold, as prize-money for those he captured, I see +not why Leoncico should not be received among us on the same terms." + +"You shall never regret it!" exclaimed Balboa, eagerly, "for on +occasions he can render the service of a dozen men. He is a sentinel +that never sleeps. By day and by night, he is ever on the watch. And, +mates, his instinct is most wonderful. He can distinguish between a +peaceful and a warlike Indian merely by his smell. When we were hunting +down the Indians of the Cibao, ten Christians escorted by this dog were +in greater security than twenty were without him. Seeing an Indian at a +distance, I have loosed him, saying, 'There he is, seek him,' and he +hath so fine a scent that not one ever escaped him. Having overtaken an +Indian, he will take him by the hand or sleeve or girdle, perchance he +have anything upon him, and lead him gently towards me, without biting +or annoying him at all; but should the savage resist, he would tear him +to pieces. Look at the scars upon him," added Balboa, proudly, drawing +the blood-hound towards him and pointing out the many places where he +had been wounded. "Most of these wounds were made by Indian arrows; but +here is where a javelin struck and tore him badly, and here again where +a spear glanced from his ribs that might else have penetrated to his +heart. Ah, you are a great dog, aren't you, Leoncico?" The hound raised +his massive head and sent forth a roar that resounded through the ship. +He was an ugly brute, even for a blood-hound, and few aboard ship cared +to handle him; but with Balboa he was like a kitten. + +Pursuing a course southwesterly across the Caribbean Sea, Enciso's ship +finally arrived at the harbor of Cartagena, where, as the Spaniards +attempted to land, they were set upon by a host of savages, who had been +roused to exasperation by Ojeda and were burning for revenge. Balboa and +the more fiery of the cavaliers were for attacking them forthwith; but +Enciso was of a peaceable disposition and would not consent. He withdrew +from the shore a little way, and parleyed with the Indians through an +interpreter, with the consequence that they desisted from their hostile +demonstrations and soon engaged in friendly barter with the Spaniards. +Though they had suffered severely at the hands of Ojeda, who had killed +many of their warriors, women, and children, as well as burned their +town to ashes, these so-called savages forgot their wrongs and mingled +freely with the countrymen of those who had ravaged their territory. + +Enciso took occasion to point out the advantages the Spaniards might +always gain if they would treat these simple people fairly instead of +with rank injustice, as was usually the case when the two races met. +Balboa, Gonzalez, and their like, who had been schooled in the barbarous +savagery of Bobadilla and Ovando, dissented from the bachelor's opinion, +and declared he was altogether too lenient with the Indians. Then and +there, in fact, began the dissension among the soldiers which resulted +in Enciso's overthrow. But of that anon. + +As they were about to leave Cartagena harbor, a sail was descried at a +distance, which proved to be a brigantine laden with soldiers who had +enlisted with Ojeda. This was proven to the satisfaction of Enciso, and +on coming to close quarters he hailed them and demanded why they had +deserted their post. He was answered by the commander of the ship, who +was no less than the subsequently renowned Francisco Pizarro, that +famine and savages had combined to drive them away. Ojeda, said Pizarro, +had departed two months before, in a pirate ship bound for Santo +Domingo, leaving him in command. He was to wait fifty days, and if at +the end of that time no supplies or reinforcements came, was at liberty +to abandon the settlement. The stipulated time passed, and the survivors +of the wretched colony embarked in two vessels. One of these was +swallowed by the sea, and the terrified crew of the other vessel sought +the harbor of Cartagena, intending to sail direct for Santo Domingo. + +They had endured enough, all agreed, having lost more than a hundred +comrades by drowning, starvation, and the Indians' poisoned arrows. Even +the indomitable Pizarro was convinced that a return to the deserted +settlement was useless, for the savages had burned their fort before +they left the harbor, and everything would have to be done over anew. +But Enciso, as _alcalde mayor_ by appointment of Ojeda, was then ranking +officer of the little squadron, and Pizarro was subject to his +authority. He yielded to his superior as gracefully as might have been +expected in the circumstances; but soon after it was noticed that he and +Balboa (having previously met in Santo Domingo, where they were at one +time boon companions, in fact) had their heads together, and it was +surmised, not without reason, that a plot was hatching. + +The Bachelor Enciso was not devoid of tact, however, and to divert the +malcontents led them on an expedition inland, to ravage the territory of +the cacique Zenu and ravish the sepulchres of his ancestors, which were +said to be filled with gold and gems. It was Balboa who related the +story of the golden sepulchres, which he recalled as having heard when +he was on that very coast with Bastidas. + +"And, moreover," said he, "I bethink me of what was related respecting +the gold of that region. It is said to abound in such quantities that it +may be picked up by the basketful. In the season of rains, which is now, +gold, in great nuggets large as eggs, is washed down by the torrents, +and all the natives do to collect it is to stretch nets across the +streams. Going to them in the morning, as a fisherman would visit his +nets in the sea, they find the precious metal in such abundance that +they bear it away by the backload." + +Thus discoursed the redoubtable Vasco Nunez de Balboa to his commander, +Enciso; and though there were those on board ship who, knowing him of +old, declared that he was prone to "shoot with the long bow," or, in +other words, tell incredible yarns, the bachelor believed his story, +every word, and prepared to put it to the proof. As he, Enciso, was a +man of peace, more learned in the law than versed in the practice of +arms, he allowed Balboa to take charge of the expedition, though he +himself went along in an advisory capacity. + +The remarkable abilities of the Bachelor Enciso shone forth in a +remarkable manner at the outset, for, meeting with two caciques in +command of a large army of naked warriors, he insisted upon expounding +to them the "why and wherefore" of the Spaniards having invaded their +territory. He had with him the old formula, drawn up by the learned +doctors of Spain, which recited that, in virtue of the world having been +given by God to the pope, and by the latter the unexplored regions of +America to the king of Spain, hence the inhabitants thereof, which +included, of course, those same Indian caciques, should submit to the +Spaniards, etc. But these two caciques were strangely stubborn, for they +could not perceive the connecting links in an argument which was +supposed to be final as to the rights of the Spaniards to territory +which they and their ancestors had held beyond the memory of any living +man. One of them, in fact, was so rude as to inform the bachelor that +while he assented to the proposition that there was but one God, who +lived in the heavens, they could not understand how it was He had given +the world to the pope, who also must have been drunk, or crazy, to +present to the king of Spain what did not belong to him. And he +furthermore added that he and his friend were rulers over that golden +province, and if Enciso persisted in his hostile action, they would be +forced to cut off his head and stick it up on a pole. Then he and his +warriors turned about and pointed to the palisaded fort behind them, +where, over the gateway, ranged in grisly rows, Enciso and his men saw +several heads that had once been carried on living shoulders. + +This ghastly spectacle did not daunt Enciso, however, who said to Balboa +and Pizarro, "Well, I have given them the law; now it only remains for +you to give them what they can better understand, perhaps--that is, the +sword and the lance." + +The two dauntless fighters desired nothing better than the pretty fight +that was promised with the caciques, and, with shouts to their +followers, led them against the foe. The battle was short, but fierce. +The two caciques were forced to retreat, leaving many of their men dead +on the field; but two of the Spaniards were wounded with poisoned +arrows, and died in torments. The province was ravaged, but no gold was +found, either as ornaments in the sepulchres or nuggets in nets +stretched across the roaring torrents. + + + + +III + +BALBOA ASSERTS HIS SUPREMACY + +1510 + + +The barren victory at Zenu did not serve to greatly strengthen the +authority of Enciso, and it required all his arts as a solicitor to +induce Pizarro's disgusted soldiers to return to San Sebastian--as +Ojeda's settlement was called. It was situated on the east side of an +inlet from the Gulf of Darien known as Uraba, the currents of which were +so swift and strong as to force Enciso's vessel upon a shoal, where she +went to pieces, with the result that nearly all her precious freight was +lost, the men on board barely escaping with their lives. They reached +the shore nearly naked and destitute, only to find their fortress and +former dwellings in ashes, and the rapacious savages lying in wait for +them in the surrounding forest. + +A party sent by Enciso to forage the country was waylaid by Indians, +who wounded several Spaniards with their poisoned arrows, and compelled +the command to retreat to the shore. There a consultation was held, at +which all present were unanimous for abandoning a region where, in their +own words, "Sea and land, the skies and the inhabitants, all unite to +repulse us." But they knew not whither to go, unless it were back to +Santo Domingo, which, under the circumstances, would not be likely to +receive them hospitably. At this juncture, the one man of that company +who had less to expect from a return to the island than from remaining +away from it, stepped forth and, by his words of encouragement, kindled +in the hearts of the despairing colonists new spirits and new hopes. + +"Now I remember," said Vasco Nunez de Balboa, "that some years ago when +passing by this coast on a voyage of discovery with Rodrigo de Bastidas, +we entered this very gulf and disembarked on its western shore. There we +found a large river, and saw on its opposite bank an Indian town, the +inhabitants of which do not poison their arrows. The country adjacent, +moreover, was open and fertile, so that, doubtless, we shall find there +great store of maize and cassava, as well as a good site for a +settlement." + +This welcome information at once placed Balboa upon a pinnacle of +prominence, and he was urged to lead the starving band towards the +promised land of abundance. As many as possible crowded into the +remaining brigantine, and sailed across the gulf, where they found the +river and the town, just as Vasco Nunez had described them. They landed +at once and took possession, for the town was abandoned of its +inhabitants, who had retreated to the forest. The place, however, was +rendered untenable at the moment by its brave cacique, named Zemaco, +who, with five hundred warriors, had intrenched himself on a near-by +hill, where he courageously awaited the invaders, determined to give +them battle. With such men as Pizarro and Balboa in his command, and the +latter already aspiring to leadership, it was not possible for Enciso to +restrain the ardor of his men, who would not heed his desire to parley +with the Indians, but immediately attacked them in their chosen +stronghold. + +The Indians fought for their homes, but the Spaniards for their very +lives, and with such desperation they battled that the issue was not +long in doubt. The cacique and his warriors were driven from the hill +with slaughter, and the victorious though famishing Spaniards, unable to +pursue and overtake them in their flight, remained in possession of the +town, with its ample stores of provisions and its treasures. They found +in the huts, thrust beneath thatched roofs of palm leaves, many quaint +ornaments of gold, such as anklets and bracelets, nose and ear rings, +altogether to the value of ten thousand crowns. In the reeds and canes +along the river, also, were discovered many precious articles concealed +there by the Indians in their flight, and the cacique, having been +captured and put to the torture, revealed the hiding-place of many more. + +Thus suddenly raised from poverty to affluence, with more than twelve +thousand pieces of gold in their possession, the Spaniards entertained +hopes of acquiring yet greater wealth, in a short time, by marauding +expeditions. But their ardent expectations were suddenly dashed by +Enciso, who not only claimed the right to hold in his keeping all the +gold, in conformity to royal command, but imprudently prohibited all +traffic with the Indians on individual account, under penalty of death. +As the greater part of his command was composed of men like Balboa, who +had left their country in the hope of bettering their fortunes by barter +with the natives of this golden region, dissatisfaction was wide-spread +and the murmurings loud as well as deep. It was instantly perceived that +the bachelor would prove a captious, miserly master, and the bolder +spirits of the company resolved upon resisting his authority. + +All had agreed, meanwhile, that the Indian village was well situated for +a permanent settlement, and, after sending for the remainder of his +company at San Sebastian, Enciso commenced to lay the foundations of a +town which, in fulfilment of a vow he had made, he called Antigua del +Darien. He was the founder of the town of Antigua, but was not to remain +long in control of it, for, having without sufficient force to back him +attempted to restrain the passions of his followers and deprive them of +their liberties, he was soon to be swept away when those pent-up +passions burst their bounds. + +The Spaniards of those days had a deep reverence for royal authority and +fear of their king; but when it was casually discovered that Enciso had +unwittingly settled upon territory which had been granted to Nicuesa, +and over which neither Ojeda nor himself had any jurisdiction, he was +promptly deposed by the soldiers, who refused him further allegiance. He +was beaten by his own weapons--those of the law--which were turned +against him by his chief opponent, Balboa, who had never forgotten +Enciso's threat to throw him into the sea, or land him on a desert +island, when he had first made his appearance on shipboard. The line of +demarcation between the territories granted to Ojeda and Nicuesa +respectively ran through the centre of the Gulf of Uraba, the eastern +shores of which pertained to the former and the western to the latter. + +As Antigua had been founded on the western shore, it undoubtedly lay +within the limits of Nicuesa's grant, and hence the unfortunate Enciso +was without a legal leg to stand on. "This miser who would deprive us of +our gold," said Balboa, "and who covets for himself all the fruits of +our efforts, would use to our prejudice an authority to which he has no +just claim. Placed as we are, beyond the limits assigned to Ojeda's +jurisdiction, his command as alcalde mayor is become null, together with +our obligation to obedience." + +Enciso could not refute this argument, and was set aside, in his place +being elected as alcaldes, or magistrates, Vasco Nunez de Balboa and a +man named Zamudio. Though the majority of the company had chosen these +two as their chiefs, there were still some discontented ones, and +finally the altercations became so violent as to threaten the disruption +of the little colony. In the midst of it, one day, as the disputants +were hotly engaged in the market-place, they heard the sound of cannon +and saw signal-smokes arising from the hills across the gulf from +Antigua. They replied in like manner, with cannon and smoke-signals, and +soon two ships were seen sailing from the eastward, which, on arrival in +the river, proved to be in command of one Diego de Colmenares, who had +come from Spain in search of Nicuesa, the long absence of whom without +tidings had excited alarm. + +Learning that opinion in the colony was divided as to the authority that +should rule there, Colmenares agreed to remain and share his arms and +supplies with the colonists, provided they would receive Nicuesa as +their leader. This proposition having been acceded to (for the +liberality of Colmenares had gained him universal favor), he and two +others were deputed to go in search of the lost leader, who, with seven +vessels and five hundred men, had disappeared, months before, and left +no sign by which others could follow him. It was known that he had taken +part with Ojeda in an attack upon the Indians at Cartagena, after which +he had set sail for his allotted territory to the westward of Uraba. +Since then nothing whatever had been heard from Nicuesa, but the search +of Colmenares disclosed the details of a terrible narrative of suffering +and fatal disasters, almost without a parallel in the annals of +exploration. In short, at the time Colmenares set out from Antigua, only +sixty men survived of the five hundred who had sailed from Spain with +Nicuesa, and but one brigantine was left of his fleet. + +The unfortunate explorer was finally found at a port on the north coast +of the isthmus named Nombre de Dios, where he and the remnant of his +band were existing in a state of utter despondency, unable to get away, +and despairing of assistance from any quarter. This port had been +discovered and named by Nicuesa himself, who, on reaching it when worn +by fatigue and exhausted by hunger, had exclaimed: "En nombre de +Dios--in the name of God--let us rest here!" There he and his companions +gave up their battle against the elements and hostile savages, and in +the apathy of despair awaited the end. From this situation they were +rescued by the coming of Colmenares, who snatched them from the very +jaws of death. + +This Nicuesa had been a man of some distinction in Spain, where he had +held the office of royal carver, and had amassed quite a fortune. He was +just such a vivacious and testy cavalier as Ojeda himself, with whom, +by-the-way, he came near fighting a duel over their respective +boundaries. His reckless and generous disposition was made manifest by +the bountiful dinner he ordered prepared from the stores brought by his +rescuer, at which he proudly exhibited his skill as a carver, by slicing +and disjointing a fowl while held in the air on a fork. His imprudence +was shown by repeated boasts that he would promptly chastise those who +had ventured to question his authority over Antigua, and would take from +them all the gold of which, without his permission, they had possessed +themselves. It belonged to the crown, he said, and to him, and those who +held it must disgorge, even to the last _centavo_, which he would force +them to do immediately on his arrival. Colmenares and his two companions +were disgusted, and their apprehensions were further excited at the +story told them by one Lope de Olano, who had formerly come to Nicuesa's +relief, and had been imprisoned by him on a technical charge of +desertion. "Take warning by my treatment," he said, privately, to the +envoys. "I brought relief to Nicuesa, and rescued him from certain death +when starving on a desert island; but behold my recompense! He repays +me, as you see, with imprisonment and with chains. And such, believe me, +is the gratitude the people of Darien may look for at his hands." + +Colmenares continued loyal to his chief, but his companion envoys, +Corral and Albitez, were so impressed by the avaricious disposition +displayed by Nicuesa, that they hastened ahead of the brigantine in +which he embarked, and, arriving at Antigua before him, warned the +inhabitants against receiving the boastful ingrate into their midst. "A +blessed change we shall make," they said, "in summoning this Diego de +Nicuesa to take supreme command. We have called in King Stork with a +vengeance, and he will not rest until he has devoured us. What folly is +it, being our own masters, and in such free condition, to send for a +tyrant to rule over us!" + +Their words, indeed, produced a turmoil, and the two parties of Enciso +and Balboa, though opposed to each other, quickly united in opposition +to the landing of Nicuesa. When the man without a government arrived in +the river opposite Antigua, the people sallied forth as if to receive +him, but with loud cries and menaces warned him against disembarking, +and ordered him back to Nombre de Dios. It was a desperate situation for +Nicuesa, who felt, indeed, as if "the heavens were falling on his head." +To be warned away from his own territory was humiliating, but to be sent +back to the isthmus meant death by starvation. He entreated, then, to be +allowed to land, though merely as an equal and companion; failing in +that, he begged the heartless Spaniards to take and imprison him, since, +though he should lose his liberty, his life might be saved thereby. But +the factions were obdurate, and when, in spite of Balboa's warning, +Nicuesa persisted in landing, a band of vagabonds pursued him along the +shore until, by sheer fleetness of foot, he escaped from them and +plunged into the forest. + +At sight of this once respected cavalier, who had lost a fortune in his +expedition, and was now reduced to the extremity of flight before a +rabble crew, Balboa's heart misgave him. He had been foremost in +exciting the populace against Nicuesa, but he had not expected such a +tempest of disapproval as to threaten his life, and strove earnestly to +allay it, though in vain. His fellow-alcalde Zamudio was the most +demonstrative against the poor wretch, fearing to lose his position +should he be allowed to assume the government. One of his most zealous +supporters was a burly ruffian named Benitez, who was so vociferous that +Balboa, after repeatedly warning him to desist, suddenly set in motion +the machinery of the law, and, in his capacity of magistrate, ordered +him to receive one hundred lashes on the bare shoulders. This act of +lawful violence cooled the emotions of the mob somewhat, and poor +Nicuesa was allowed to emerge from the forest and seek shelter on his +brigantine. Here he received word from Balboa that his only safety lay +in keeping out of sight aboard the vessel; but the next morning, while +his friend's attention was attracted in another direction, he was lured +on shore by a deputation assuming to have been sent to treat with him, +and hastily cast into a small and unseaworthy vessel, which was set +adrift upon the waters of the gulf. Together with seventeen comrades, +who chose to accompany him on his perilous voyage, Nicuesa was thrust +into the miserable craft, which, with scant provisions and little water, +was sent forth to cross the Caribbean Sea, and was never heard of again. + +Nicuesa was thus disposed of the first week in March, 1511. He was never +to return; but a few years later his avengers exacted reparation for +this barbarous deed, and Balboa lost his life partly in consequence. +After ridding themselves of Nicuesa, the Antiguans resolved upon sending +Enciso after him, and under form of the law succeeded in doing so. He +was, however, better equipped for a voyage than his lamented +predecessor, and in the caravel which conveyed him to Santo Domingo and +Spain went also the alcalde Zamudio. He had been prevailed upon by his +partner to take the voyage for the purpose of presenting their cause at +court, and thus, at a single _coup_, the wily Balboa removed an enemy +and a rival from the colony, and was left in sole and absolute command. + + + + +IV + +BALBOA CAPTURES A PRINCESS + +1511 + + +Until the expulsion of Enciso, says a Spanish writer of the century in +which the actions narrated occurred, Balboa might have been considered +as a bold and factious intriguer who, aided by his popularity, aspired +to the first place among his equals, and who endeavored, artfully and +audaciously, to rid himself of all who might, with better title, have +disputed it with him; but as soon as he found himself alone and +unrivalled, he gave himself up solely to the preservation and +improvement of the colony which had fallen into his hands. He then began +to justify his ambition by his services, to raise his mind to a level +with the dignity of his office, and to place himself, in the scale of +public opinion, almost in comparison with Columbus himself. + +The removal of the colony from San Sebastian to Darien had been done in +pursuance of his advice, and the wisdom of this act being apparent to +everybody, he was thereby raised above all others in the estimation of +his companions. He was not made giddy by his elevation to supreme power, +but, on the contrary, seemed sobered by it, as though he realized his +responsibilities, and also wished to justify his comrades' confidence in +him. Having been invested with the command, he became a real leader and +actual head of affairs, always first in any toil and danger, and +shrinking from no exposure, whether to the elements or the weapons of +the savages. While frank and affable in common discourse, and ever +accessible to the meanest and most humble colonist, yet he was a strict +disciplinarian with reference to his soldiers, and insisted upon being +treated with the deference due him as governor-general of the colony and +captain of its forces. He fully recognized the necessity for collecting +ample supplies of gold, to be forwarded to King Ferdinand of Spain, in +order to purchase exemption from punishment for his expulsion of Enciso, +a royal official; but he deprived no man of his portion in consequence. +Balboa was probably one of the most generous and high-minded of the +Spanish-American conquerors. While he sometimes treated the Indians with +barbarity, and his exactions bore heavily upon them, yet he was never +unfair to his comrades when it came to a division of spoils. He was +known to have relinquished his own share on more than one occasion, in +order that his followers might not lose their reward for the toils and +dangers of an arduous campaign. + +Having united the warring factions among the colonists, and secured the +unswerving loyalty of his soldiers by offering them in himself an +exemplar of soldierly qualities, Balboa turned his attention to +establishing the colony on a basis of thrift and security. He built a +stockaded fort, repaired the dilapidated brigantines, ordered extensive +fields to be cleared for planting with corn, and drilled his soldiers +constantly. No tidings coming from the exiled Nicuesa as the weeks went +by, Balboa despatched vessels for the rescue of whatever survivors might +be discovered at Nombre de Dios and along the intervening coast, thereby +saving several half-starved wretches from death. Among others thus +rescued were two Spaniards who had fled from the severities of Nicuesa +more than a year before, and found refuge with the cacique of a province +called Coyba. They were nearly naked, like the Indians, and their skins +were painted, after the fashion in vogue among the savages; but they +could still speak their native language, and thenceforth served Balboa +as interpreters. They had been kindly treated by Careta, the cacique of +Coyba, who had freely given them shelter, food, and clothing; but their +first thought, when they found themselves safe at Darien, was how they +might betray him and assist their countrymen to obtain his treasures. +Shown into the presence of Captain Balboa, they eagerly offered to lead +him to Coyba, where, they said, he would find an immense booty in gold +as well as vast quantities of provisions. + +"And this cacique Careta, you say, treated you well?" he asked. + +"As well as he could, being a savage," answered one of the men. "He is +naught but an Indian, half the time going naked, and with manners not of +the best; but such as he had he freely gave us, and saved us both from +death by starvation, most likely." + +"And yet," rejoined Balboa, with a curl of his lip, "ye would have me +attack this generous chieftain, lay his town in ashes, perchance kill +him and some of his subjects?" + +"We have naught against him," answered the man, evasively; "but, being +possessed of gold, of which he knows not the use, and of provisions, +which ye certainly need in this settlement, it seemed to us our duty to +acquaint you with these things." + +"And that was well," exclaimed Balboa, "for of a truth we need both gold +and supplies for our larder, which is low, even near to being exhausted. +As to gold--indeed, as you say, the savage knows not its value, while to +us it is the greatest and best thing in the world. We are already under +ban of the king, most probably, for hastening the departure of the +Bachelor Enciso, and unless I can persuade his majesty, with a golden +argument, of the justice of our doings, it may go hard with me and with +us all. So now, as I say, this news comes most opportunely, and +peradventure it turn out to be true, ye shall not suffer for the +imparting of it. I will myself lead the way, with you as guides, and if +we can accomplish our object without bloodshed, much better will I be +suited than if violence be done." + +Balboa was highly elated by the tidings of a golden country not far +distant, and, selecting a hundred and thirty of his best men, embarked +them in two brigantines for the province of Coyba. They were equipped +with the best weapons the colony could supply, and also with utensils +for opening roads into the mountains, as well as with merchandise for +traffic should it seem better to barter with the Indians than attack +them openly. + +The swamps and forests adjacent to the colony were occupied by Indians +of different tribes, some more warlike than others, but none of them so +barbarous as the fierce Caribs of the eastern shore of the Uraba Gulf, +who ate their prisoners, gave no quarter in battle, and made use of +poisoned arrows. These terrible weapons, as already remarked, were not +used by the Indians of the western shore, who were far less sanguinary, +though obstinate in battle and even ferocious. They spared the lives of +their captives, and, instead of eating or sacrificing them to their +gods, branded them on the forehead, or knocked out a tooth, as a sign of +servility, and kept them as slaves. Each tribe was governed by a +cacique, or supreme chief, whose title and privileges were +hereditary, and who was permitted to have numerous wives, while the +common warrior had but a single helpmeet, unless he had won unusual +distinction by great bravery in battle. Besides supporting their +caciques, the Darien Indians allowed priests, or magicians, and doctors +to exercise their arts, and they adored a supreme deity, known as +_Tuira_, to whom the milder tribes offered spices, fruits, and flowers, +while the more savage ones poured out blood upon their altars and made +human sacrifices. + +[Illustration: VILLAGE ON RIVER OF DARIEN] + +The houses of these people were mostly made of poles, or canes, loosely +bound together with vines, and roofed with a thatch composed of grasses +and palm leaves so thickly placed as to turn the tropical rains and +afford a perfect shelter. When these structures were built on solid +ground they were called _bohios_, as in the islands of the West Indies, +and some of them were nearly a hundred feet in length, though not over +twenty or thirty in breadth. The majority, however, were small huts, at +a distance very much resembling hay-stacks, having a single opening +only, as a doorway, and a clay or earthen floor, with a fire usually +burning in the centre, the smoke from which escaped through the roof of +thatch. There was another class of dwellings, either aerial or aquatic, +depending upon whether they were built in trees, for safety from floods +and wild beasts, or above the placid surface of some lake or gulf, and +used as dwellings by fishermen. These were known as _barbacoas_; and it +is worthy of note that we find the same name applied to certain elevated +structures of a similar sort used as corn-cribs by the Indians of +Florida in De Soto's time. Both bohios and barbacoas were subject to +removal or abandonment whenever the game of the neighborhood grew +scarce, the soil unfruitful, or a pestilence decimated the tribe, +following the dictates of danger or necessity. + +During the greater part of the year, in that tropical climate, clothing +was rarely necessary for warmth, except at night, and the men and boys +were nearly always naked, though the caciques sometimes wore +breech-cloths, and cotton mantles over their shoulders as badges of +distinction. All males, and especially the warriors, painted their +bodies with ochreous earths, and stained their skin with the juice of +the annotto, while they adorned their heads with plumes of feathers. +Both sexes inserted tinted seashells in their ears and nostrils as +"ornaments," and encircled their wrists and ankles with bracelets of +native gold. The women, after reaching the marriageable age, wore cotton +skirts from waist to knee, and broad bands of gold beneath their +breasts. Their hair, which was very coarse and black, they cut off in +front, even with their eyebrows, by means of sharp flints, but allowed +the thick, luxuriant tresses to fall over their shoulders as far as the +waist. + +They were fine-looking people, especially the young girls and children, +for, though their complexion was brown, or copper-colored, their forms +were models of symmetry, their countenances pleasing, and their +dispositions sweet and amiable. Their defects (for they were by no means +devoid of them) were such as might be expected to arise from their +barbarous mode of life, descended from ancestors who had never been +instructed in morals or religion, save in their most brutish forms. They +had, of course, no written language, nor even a hieroglyphic system, to +perpetuate their thoughts or the traditions of their ancestors; but +they were experts in the chant and dance known as the _areito_, which +they performed to the rude music of drums made of hollowed logs, like +the _tambouye_, or "tom-tom," of the Africans. + +Free from the cares of civilization, their occupations agricultural, +with frequent forays into the forest for game and upon the river and +gulf for fish, they passed much of their time in idleness, except when +pressed for hunger or incited by passion to war upon their neighbors. +They knew not, as has been said, the value of gold, for they were always +willing to barter great nuggets for the veriest trifles and toys; but +Careta, the cacique of Coyba, may have been instructed in its worth by +the two Spaniards who had shared his hospitality, for when, under their +guidance, Balboa appeared in his settlement and demanded his treasures, +he declared he had none to supply. Neither had he any provisions, he +said, except such as were necessary to carry his tribe over to the next +planting season, for he had been engaged in a disastrous war with Ponca, +a powerful cacique who lived in the mountains, and his people had been +unable either to sow or to reap. + +Then one of the traitors took Balboa aside, and said: + +"Commander, believe him not. To my certain knowledge, he hath an +abundant hoard of provisions in barbacoas concealed in the forest, and +of gold, also, vast quantities hidden in the reeds and thickets. But it +is best to dissemble, for behold, he is surrounded by two thousand +warriors, and they will fight, as I know from having seen them combat +with the tribe of Ponca. Appear to believe him, then, and pretend to +depart for Antigua; but in the night return, take him by surprise, burn +the village, and make the cacique prisoner, with all his family." + +This advice seemed sound to Balboa, and he acted on it promptly, turning +about that afternoon and making as though departing for Darien, after a +cordial leave-taking, to the cacique's great delight. The unsuspecting +chieftain watched the Spaniards out of sight, heard their drums and +bugles resounding through the forest farther and farther away, and, +convinced that they had indeed left him in good faith, retired to rest +without setting scouts on their trail or posting sentinels about his +camp. But the sagacious Balboa had no sooner placed a league or so of +forest between himself and the unwary Careta than he ordered a halt. The +wood was dense and dark, for the trees of the tropical forest are not +only vast of bulk, but thickly held together by innumerable vines and +bush-ropes, called _lianas_, seemingly miles in length, and forming +impenetrable bulwarks, overtopped by canopies of foliage, through which +the sun even at mid-day can hardly send a single ray. + +Having with him, however, axes and _machetes_ for cutting his way +through the forest, the prudent Balboa had commanded his men to slash a +broad path ahead of the company, and thus, when they halted for rest +shortly after sunset, behind them lay an open, easy trail leading +directly back to the cacique's village. After posting sentries +roundabout the camp, Balboa ordered a bountiful meal to be served his +hungry men, one hundred of whom were allowed to sleep for the space of +two hours, after which the command was given to march. + +Without bustle or confusion, the soldiers formed in loose order and +commenced their retrograde march through the forest, thanks to the +foresight of their commander, finding the return far easier than the +advance. All was silent as they approached the village, and, as +stealthily as jaguars about to leap on their prey, crept within bow-shot +of the dwellings. Balboa had passed the order for his men to refrain +from shedding blood, unless a fierce resistance were offered, and, +whatever happened, to capture the cacique and his family alive. The +royal dwelling was conspicuous from its size and its position on a mound +raised somewhat above the general level of the town, and it was silently +surrounded by a picked company. + +Suddenly the twang of a cross-bow string broke the stillness of the +night, followed by a sheet of fire from an arquebuse; for two of the +soldiers had spied some Indians moving through a thicket, and concluded +the whole village was alarmed. At once, in terrible confusion, from the +surrounded houses outpoured swarms of startled savages, naked and +weaponless, seeking security by flight, and with no intention of +resisting the unexpected attack. Several of them were cut down by the +swordsmen and halberdiers, and a few were transfixed by arrows from the +cross-bows; but the greater number were allowed to dart into outer +darkness and escape. Nearly all escaped, in fact, except the cacique's +numerous family, who, surrounded by the soldiery, with naked swords and +lighted fusees in their hands, cowered around their dwelling in +affright. + +One alone attempted to escape, and would have succeeded but for +Leoncico, Balboa's faithful hound, who had effectively assisted at +"rounding up" the band, and was keeping a vigilant watch at his master's +side. With a leap and a growl, Leoncico sprang over the heads of the +group in front of him and disappeared in the darkness of the wood. +"Dios!" exclaimed Balboa, in alarm. "It was a woman--a maiden! God grant +she may not resist him! I never knew Leoncico to harm a woman, but he +has torn many a man to pieces. Gonzalez, take you command for the +moment, while I follow the hound to see that he does no harm to the +maiden." Saying this, he plunged into the wood, which grew close up to +the cacique's dwelling, and with his sword and heavy armor cut and beat +down the vines that stretched across the path his hound had taken. Soon +he was surrounded by silence, as well as by darkness, for the Indians +who had fled to the forest lay quiet, like hares in a form, and the +turmoil of the village was left far behind him. + +"Leon--Leoncico!" he shouted, "where art thou?" For a while there was no +response, then a hoarse bark sounded in his ears. It came from a point +well ahead, deep in the wood, but by dint of sword and armor he forced +his way to it, and there found that of which he was in search. The +darkness was intense, for the time was then about midnight; but as he +pushed his way onward a stray gleam of moonlight thrust a lance-like +shaft through the leafy canopy above, and he saw the form of Leoncico +crouching in front of a cringing figure outlined against the trunk of a +mighty tree. Then Balboa drew breath with great relief, for, despite the +darkness, he could see that the captive was, apparently, unharmed. She +was pressed close against the tree-trunk, clinging for support to a +sturdy liana, and motionless, save for the trembling which shook her +like a leaf. + +She seemed, indeed, a statue cast in golden bronze. Fear had paralyzed +her limbs so that she did not move, even when, approaching softly, +Balboa called to her to be of good cheer and touched her reassuringly. +She continued gazing at the hound with wide-staring eyes and parted +lips, as though fascinated by that terrible apparition. She had never +seen its like before, and could not but have been bereft of sense and +motion when it had sprung upon her from the darkness of the forest, like +a phantom of evil. + +Realizing that his errand had been accomplished with the appearance of +his master, Leoncico rose with a growl, and would have returned to the +village had not Balboa halted him. "Lie down, brute," he cried, in a +voice hoarse with rage. "What do you mean by pursuing a defenceless +maiden? Were there not warriors enough for you to slay?" + +The hound cringed before him and whined, as though to exculpate himself; +but suddenly his whole attitude changed. Springing erect, and thrusting +his nose into the air, while the hair on his neck bristled with rage, he +uttered a low, deep growl. At the same instant the whistle of an arrow +came to Balboa's ears and a missile struck him forcibly between the +shoulders. But for his armor he might have been transfixed, so +forcefully was the missile-weapon sent; but, as it was, it fell in +fragments to the ground. + +Then there was the sound of a scuffle, a shriek of agony pierced the +air, followed by the ravening of Leoncico as he tore to pieces the +victim of his rage. He had sprung upon the savage who in the darkness +had approached and sped the arrow at his master, and, bearing him to the +ground, made short work of the poor wretch, who was soon a mangled +corpse. Stupefied as she was by fear, the maiden could not but have felt +the horror of that terrible scene, and sank senseless to the ground. +War's dread experiences had not so seared the heart of Balboa that he +could be insensible to pity for his helpless captive, and, sheathing his +sword, he gathered her in his arms. Preceded by Leoncico, he bore her +tenderly through the forest, shielding her from harm in the darkness, +and in due time joined his command at the village. + + + + +V + +THE CACIQUES OF DARIEN + +1511 + + +As Vasco Nunez burst into the circle of light shed by the flames of +burning bohios, the red glare from which lighted up the steel-clad +soldiers and their abject captives, he was greeted by glad exclamations +from the former and cries of distress from the latter. He strode through +the lines without a word, and, making for the group containing the +cacique's family, he sought out an elderly female, whom he supposed to +be the mother of the girl, and delivered his charge into her keeping. +The cries of distress were instantly hushed as the happy mother gathered +the girl in her arms, but as the minutes went by without any signs of +recovery from the maiden, low moans broke from the captives, and many of +them began to gash themselves and tear their hair. + +The cacique had stood aloof, stoically refraining from uttering a sound; +but after a while, as his daughter did not return to consciousness, he +went to the side of Balboa, and, raising his manacled hands in the air, +exclaimed: + +"What have I done to thee, O thou terrible stranger, that thou shouldst +treat me so cruelly? None of thy people ever came to my land that were +not fed and sheltered and treated with loving kindness. When thou camest +to my dwelling, did I meet thee with a javelin in my hand? Did I not set +forth meat and drink, and welcome thee as a brother? Set me free, +therefore, with my family and people, and we may yet remain as friends. +We will supply thee with provisions and reveal to thee the riches of +this land. But first restore to me my daughter, the light of my eyes, +the pearl of my household, whom thou and that dread beast of thine have +driven to the borderland of death." + +During this impassioned speech by the outraged cacique, Balboa remained +gazing first at the chieftain, then at his daughter, without uttering a +word. The mother was chafing the wrists, bathing the forehead, and +whispering tender words into the ears of the maiden, but without +eliciting a response. A most pathetic spectacle mother and daughter +presented, despite the savagery of the parent, her lack of clothing, and +uncouth appearance, which but enhanced by contrast the beauty of the +maiden. + +Balboa had thought her beautiful, in the brief glimpses afforded in the +moonlit forest, but now, with her form and features wrought upon +radiantly by the flickering flames, he saw that she was ravishingly +lovely. Touched by her beauty, then, and rendered compassionate by her +helplessness, he allowed his heart to go out to her, and so far as his +rough nature was susceptible to love he felt that sentiment for the +cacique's daughter. Distressed by the silence with which his appeal had +been received, the cacique added: + +"Dost thou doubt my faith? Behold my daughter. I give her to thee, +provided she shall be restored, as a pledge of friendship. Thou mayst +take her for thy wife, and be thus assured of the friendship of her +family and her people." + +Balboa then awoke, as from a trance, and, grasping Careta's right hand, +exclaimed: "I accept her, if she will but ratify thy offer, and +henceforth there shall be no enmity between us. Men, cast off the chains +from these people. Set them free; and bugler, order the recall, +peradventure there be any in pursuit of our former enemies, now our +friends." + +With his own hands he removed the manacles from Careta's wrists, then, +noting by the flickering of the maiden's eyelids that she was +recovering, he hastened to her side. As her eyes opened, they rested in +astonishment first upon the mailed cavalier, standing erect in the +firelight, clad in shining armor from throat to foot, and with a smile +upon his handsome features. + +Then in the fulness of his manly powers, with a face and figure that +would have wrought havoc among the dames of his sovereign's court, had +he been favored with a presentation there, Vasco Nunez de Balboa carried +this untutored maiden's heart by storm. She uttered a low cry, and, +leaping from her mother's lap, darted into the cacique's dwelling, as if +for the first time realizing her lack of proper raiment and desiring to +conceal herself from the eyes of her lover. At a word from the cacique, +whose will was law with all his family, the mother went in after her +and soon reappeared, holding her daughter by one hand. During the brief +time at her disposal, she had found and arrayed herself in a flowing +robe of cotton, embroidered in gold, and gathered at the waist by a +golden girdle. This she clutched nervously, as, with dejected mien and +downcast eyes, she stood before the man in whose sight she had found +favor above all other women. + +The marriage ceremony was simple and brief, consisting in the cacique's +joining the right hands of these two so strangely brought together, and +invoking his deity to bless the union, which, at a later period, Balboa +intended to have sanctioned by a priest. Whether this intention was +fulfilled, we will not at this moment inquire. Balboa was a man of many +good resolves and promises, most of which seem to have been made only to +be broken. But, in the sight of God, who sees into the souls of men, and +in the presence of more than one hundred witnesses, who looked on in +vast astonishment as the ceremony was performed, Vasco Nunez de Balboa +was "well and truly wedded" to the cacique's beautiful daughter. She, +the simple child of nature, untaught by art, and with no moral law to +guide her, knew and cared for naught except that she loved the gallant +cavalier and sought no further. + +[Illustration: BALBOA AND THE INDIAN PRINCESS] + +Short and fierce had been the wooing of the fair Cacica, wild and weird +the accessories of her wedding, with the accompaniment of burning +dwellings and attendance of rude soldiers in armor bearing flaming +torches. Brief and tempestuous was to be her life on earth thereafter. +Balboa may have reckoned upon this alliance as attaching to his service +one of the most powerful caciques of Darien; but by captivating the +affections of the beautiful Cacica he had incurred the hatred and +jealousy of certain young warriors, who were to cause him trouble in the +near future. He had captured the wild beauty of the wilderness, but in +so doing he enmeshed himself in troubles of far-reaching consequence. +They reached, indeed, across the sea and ocean even to Spain, and in +their train brought retribution, none the less certain because it was +delayed for years. + +Love and diplomacy went hand-in-hand, so far as Balboa could perceive, +and as few men ever succeed in reconciling these two, he affected to +believe that he had achieved a victory of great moment. Returning to +Darien with his bride, he there entertained his friend and father-in-law +with jousts and tourneys, showed him the ships, and surprised him with +the thunder of artillery. Nothing delighted, as well as alarmed, the old +chieftain so much as the war-horses, upon the back of one of which he +was mounted, only to be thrown heavily to the sands and receive a rude +awakening. He then conceived an intense admiration for the beings, like +his son-in-law, who could mount and control those wonderful animals, and +never tired of sounding their praises. As he had disclosed to Balboa the +hiding-places of his provisions and treasure, and as the latter had lost +no time in transferring them to Darien, he was instrumental in keeping +starvation from the colony until supplies arrived from Spain or Santo +Domingo, and also of enriching every man in the army. Two brigantines +had been laden with the provisions and spoils obtained in Careta's +territory, in the securing of which the lovely Cacica was largely +instrumental. She induced her father to reveal to her new master the +treasure-vaults amid the sepulchres of her ancestors; but when she +witnessed the rapacity and brutality of the conquerors in ravaging the +graves and desecrating the revered remains, she was grieved to the +heart. Perhaps she then had a foreboding of the evils she was to bring +upon her people, for she became pensive and sad, rarely smiling or +singing during several days thereafter. Upon the warriors of the tribe +the ravage had a different effect, rendering them surly and restive, so +that the cacique was hardly able to restrain them from making reprisals, +and avenging the indignities offered their ancestors by shedding the +blood of the Spaniards. + +The attachment of these people to the memory of their dead caciques and +former rulers is shown by the fidelity of their wives and servants, who +immolated themselves upon their graves, in order that they might +continue to serve them in the next life as they had done in this on +earth. They fully believed, says the old chronicler, that "the souls +which omitted this act of duty either perished with their bodies or were +dispersed in air. They consigned their dead to earth, though in some +provinces, as soon as a chieftain died he was seated on a stone, and, a +fire being kindled around him, the corpse was kept till all moisture was +dried, and nothing but skin and bones remained. In this state it was +placed in a retired apartment dedicated to this use, or fastened to a +wall, adorned with plumes, jewels, and even robes, by the side of the +father or ancestor immediately preceding. Thus, with the corpse of the +warrior, was his memory preserved to his family, and if any of them +perished in battle, the fame of his prowess was consigned to posterity +in the songs of the areitos." + +Shortly after the return of the cacique to his village, Balboa missed +his mistress one day, and, setting scouts on her trail, traced her to +the Indian cemetery. His emissaries had strict orders to bring her to +him at once, if they found her; but they returned empty-handed, and when +he rated them for disobedience one of the scouts replied: "Senor +Comandante, had you seen what we have seen, you yourself would not have +taken the Cacica from her people. For she and they were engaged in +paying honors to the dead, whose tombs we have, in their opinion, +desecrated by robbing them of their jewels. All the warriors of her +father, the cacique, were gathered around the cemetery, armed with +weapons and painted as if for war. Sooth, they were fierce and warlike, +and it needed but a small provocation to kindle the flames of their +resentment into a blaze that might sweep this colony into the sea. They +had gathered the bones of their deceased rulers together and reinterred +them carefully, those who were dried like mummies by heat having been +affixed against the walls whence they were wrested by our soldiers. When +we arrived--and, truly, we dared not enter the place, but hovered unseen +on the verge of the forest--they were engaged in various ways. The women +and younger folks were singing and dancing their barbarous areito, +performing steps in unison to the beat of a drum made from a hollowed +log with the skin of a jaguar stretched over one end of it. It was a +strange, unearthly sound, and reverberated through the forest like the +roll of distant thunder. The warriors, in a circle apart and enclosing +the whole, were drinking deeply of fermented liquors, produced from the +palm and the maize, which ever and anon they shared with the dancers. +This they would do, we were told, until all had drunken themselves into +a frenzy, and the dancers became exhausted from fatigue and drunkenness +combined. Judge, then, O Comandante, if we should have been justified +in attempting to bring away the cacique's daughter, thy mistress and +spouse." + +"And she was there, also? Was my Cacica there, performing in those +horrid ceremonies so barbarous and so vile?" + +"Truly was she, one of the foremost in ladling out the liquor and +entreating the warriors to drink. But, so far as we could observe, she +did not herself partake thereof. Nor did she allow, nor was there +offered her, any indignity; but great respect seemed accorded her, as +the daughter of the chief." + +Balboa groaned in spirit, but his pride forbade him making audible +comment on the strange proceedings of his bride. Another day he waited, +expectant of her coming; but he did not remain idle meanwhile, since, +having little faith in the friendship of the cacique, he ordered out all +his men-at-arms and prepared to receive the savages with fire and sword, +provided they should rouse themselves to frenzy and attack the +settlement. + +Nothing of a disturbing character occurred, however, and when, on the +evening of that day, Balboa sought his hut, worn down with fatigue and +sorely perplexed in his mind, his still beloved Cacica came forth to +greet him. How she had come he knew not, nor did he ever discover, +though the settlement was surrounded by sentinels specially charged to +watch for and detect her presence. Like a spirit, or an invisible bird +of the night, she had flitted through the cordon of sentinels and gained +her house without being detected by one of them. They declared +afterwards, one and all, that she must have been in league with the +powers of the air and, presumably, evil--endued of the devil--to have +accomplished this feat. But none durst say a word of this to their +commander, for he was still infatuated with the beautiful princess--sure +token, the soldiers affirmed among themselves, that she was a witch, for +whom burning at the stake might be too mild a punishment. + +However Vasco Nunez may have been vexed by this misadventure of his +beloved, he gave no sign of it, or, if he did, was soon soothed by her +blandishments into apparent forgetfulness. But in the minds of both had +been begotten a distrust that was destined to work havoc with the good +understanding that should ever exist between people situated as were +they. Soon after, seeming confidence was restored between the settlers +and the Indians, who came and went as formerly, bringing provisions from +their gardens, which they exchanged for knives, beads, and toys from +Spain. They gained access to the settlement as simple traffickers, +intent on adding to their store of trinkets and trifles; but Balboa +divined that they had other incentives, in fact, and came as spies. +Still, he did not allow his suspicions to become apparent to Careta, +with whom he had formed an offensive and defensive alliance for their +mutual protection. + +In the mountains resided a cacique already mentioned named Ponca, a +rival and adversary of Careta, who wished the Spaniards to join with him +in an invasion of his territory. There was no immediate necessity for +the Spaniards to make war upon Cacique Ponca, as he had not offended +them in any particular, nor were they in need of a further extension of +territory, since the valley they had occupied, situated between the +sierras and the cordillera of the Andes, was extremely fertile and +capable of sustaining a great number of inhabitants. It was not only +excellent for planting, with rich soil and abundant natural resources, +which came early to perfection beneath the ardent sun of the tropics, +but abounded in game, while its rivers and the bordering gulf teemed +with fish in great variety. + +But the Spaniards were less inclined to agriculture than to war, and +would rather ravage their neighbors' territory for gold than extract +from the fertile soil the products it so generously yielded to the +cultivator. Had they been less covetous and restless, less avaricious +and rapacious, they might have avoided contact with the ferocious tribes +of the interior, and perhaps have prospered. There was, however, an +unseen force at work constantly against them which they could not +successfully combat. This was the climate, which made terrible inroads +upon the health and constitutions of the Spaniards, by the great heat +and humidity of the air, and the heavy, almost incessant rains, which +came down at times as plunging torrents. + +Nothing less than the most unquenchable ardor and the most marvellous +resolution, says the historian, could support the Spaniards under so +many discouragements and overcome so many difficulties. Perhaps it was +because they possessed this ardor in an excessive degree that they +continually panted for fresh conquests and desired to come into conflict +with the savages. Their great incentive, as already remarked, was the +acquisition of gold, and, learning that Cacique Ponca possessed the +precious metal in abundance, they were easily induced to join with +Careta in an attack upon him. Taking his troops by sea to the point +nearest to Ponca's capital, Balboa marched rapidly upon the village, +which, finding it deserted, he sacked and burned. He obtained +considerable booty, to which his ally, Careta, laid no claim, being +content with having humbled his adversary and driven him still farther +into the mountains, whence Ponca sent messengers imploring a cessation +of hostilities. + +Having "pacified" the country, Balboa was for returning to Darien, but +was persuaded by Careta to diverge to his own province, where he was +royally entertained by the cacique. The latter had a neighbor, one +Comogre, who was yet more powerful than himself, having about ten +thousand Indians under him, three thousand of whom were warriors. His +province comprised an extensive plain and beautiful valleys, situated at +or near the foot of a very lofty mountain, which rose far above the +general altitude of the cordillera, or backbone of the isthmus. +Messengers sent by Comogre guided Balboa to this province, in the +capital of which the cacique awaited his coming. As the Spaniards +approached, Comogre came out to welcome them, attended by a train of +sub-chiefs, and followed by a vast number of his subjects. Included in +his suite were seven stalwart young men, his own sons by as many +different wives, of whom he was inordinately proud. Each son had a +habitation of his own, but that of the cacique surpassed anything of the +sort the Spaniards had seen in the land, for it was "an edifice of an +hundred and fifty paces in length and fourscore in breadth, built on +stout posts, surrounded by a lofty wall, and on the roof an attic story +of beautiful and skilfully interwoven woods. It was divided into several +compartments, and contained its markets, its shops, and a pantheon for +the dead, where the dried corpses of the cacique's ancestors were hung +in ghastly rows." + +These corpses were in a retired and secret part of the structure, says +the historian, set apart for that special purpose. The bodies had been +dried by fire (as already narrated in the account of Careta's +ancestors), so as to free them from corruption, and afterwards wrapped +in mantles richly wrought and interwoven with pearls and jewels of gold, +and with certain stones considered precious by the Indians. There they +hung about the hall, suspended by cords of cotton, and were regarded not +only with reverence, but apparently with religious devotion. The +Spaniards gazed upon them in amazement, not unmingled with a burning +desire to despoil this hall of fame and secure for themselves its +wonderful treasures. + + + + +VI + +FIRST TIDINGS OF THE PACIFIC + +1512 + + +Cacique Comogre's sons were young men of whom any father, savage or +civilized, might have been proud, but especially distinguished for his +intelligence and sagacity (says the Spanish biographer of Balboa, Senor +Quintana) was his eldest son, who was also his father's favorite. He +took note of the glances exchanged by Balboa and his lieutenant, +Colmenares, when they were inspecting the pantheon, and rightly +construed their meaning, which was, of course, that they would give much +for the privilege of sacking the place and depriving the sacred dead of +their rich ornaments. He had been informed of what had taken place in +his neighbor Careta's province, and knew that neither the opposition to +their rapacity of argument or force, nor any consideration for religion +or the dead, could restrain them were they to conceive the desire to +ravish the sepulchres of his ancestors. + +His father had three thousand warriors, ferocious and reliable; but, +from what he had been told by Cacique Careta, who had tasted their +quality and tested their valor, they could not stand for an hour before +the two hundred Spaniards then in his province. The mailed men, Careta +said, would scatter them like chaff, and, with the fire from their +muskets and cannon, devour them as the flames consumed the grass of the +plains. Then he conceived the idea of purchasing exemption from ravage +by bribing the commanders, in the hope that by so doing they would +refrain from desecrating the tombs he held in such regard. But he did +not know, what he was later to learn, that the more the Spaniard +obtained the greater grew his appetite, and that by displaying the +wealth of the land he was but hastening its ruin. Simple son of Comogre! +He had, then, much to learn. + +After consulting with his father, who was elated that a son of his +should possess such sagacity and penetration, the young cacique sent for +Balboa and Colmenares, who met him in the great square of the town. +"Great and worthy ones," he said, "here are sixty slaves, male and +female are they--all are yours, to be divided between you as may seem +desirable to both. And here, great and worthy ones, are golden +ornaments, taken from the hoard saved by our fathers. To us they are of +use only as mementos of the dead, for to the accumulation of riches we +are not given, being content with what we can eat and what we need to +protect us from the elements. We give you these things freely, because +we see that you value gold above all else, and because we would find +favor in your eyes and desire your friendship." + +Balboa and Colmenares were at first overcome with astonishment, but when +they recovered speech they thanked the cacique and his son in +extravagant language--and then began to quarrel over the division of the +treasure. The slaves were of some account, but the chief treasure +consisted in the gold, which, when they had weighed and carefully +estimated its value, was found to amount to four thousand crowns. Most +of it was in the shape of animals of various sorts, and must have caused +the native artisans great labor; but of this the avaricious Spaniards +took no account, and all went into the melting-pot, greatly to the +grief of the young cacique. + +Having always the fear of his sovereign in mind, and the potentiality of +gold to buy the king's favor, Balboa first set aside a fifth part for +royalty, which was to be despatched to Spain at the first opportunity. +Then he attempted to divide the remainder between himself and +companions; "but this division begat a dispute that gave rise to threats +and violence, which, being observed by the high-minded Indian, he +suddenly overthrew the scales in which they were weighing the precious +metal, exclaiming: 'Why quarrel for such a trifle? If such is your +thirst for gold that for sake of it you forsake your own country and +come to trouble us in ours, I will show you a province where you may +gather it up by the handful--yea, and carry it off by the backload!'" + +When, by a blow of his fist, the spirited savage had overturned the +scales and scattered the gold on the ground, the Spaniards standing by +were greatly enraged; but when his speech was finally translated to them +they were exceedingly astonished, and desirous of learning more +respecting that golden province of which he told them. + +[Illustration: QUARREL FOR THE GOLD] + +"Where is it?" demanded Balboa and Colmenares, in a breath. "Show us the +way, and we will follow you at once." + +"Nay, nay," answered the young man, with a shake of his head. "It lies +beyond those lofty mountains, far to the south. Beyond them, again, +extends a mighty ocean, a glimpse of which may be gained from the +mountain-peaks, but it is many days distant to the west and the south. +To succeed in getting there, you should be more numerous than you now +are, and will need at least a thousand men, even though with coats like +those you have on, which neither spears nor arrows can pierce. For you +will have to contend with powerful kings, who will defend their +dominions with vigor. You will first find a cacique who is very rich in +gold, who resides at the distance of six suns from here. Climbing the +mountains, ever climbing, climbing, you will reach their summits, and +then behold the sea, which lies in that part." And he pointed to the +south. "There you will meet with people who navigate in barks with sails +and oars, not much less than your own in size, and who are so rich that +they eat and drink from vessels made from the metal which you so much +covet." + +This was the first information conveyed to the Spaniards of the Pacific +Ocean and Peru, and they were vastly excited over it, endeavoring to get +the young man to furnish them further details of the country +intervening, as well as of the great sea, its extent and situation. + +"Go back to your settlement," continued the young cacique, "there to +prepare for a journey of many days. Select your stoutest and bravest +soldiers, and provide them well with food and weapons. Then return to +us, and we will furnish you guides. My father's warriors will go with +you; but of yourselves, as I said, you should be a thousand strong--no +less than that--for we shall meet hosts of warriors, some of them +cannibals, who eat the flesh of men, and all of them fierce fighters, +such as those of the cacique Tubanama, in whose province is gold beyond +measure. Stay, I will send for one of my men who was once a captive to +Tubanama, and he will tell you the same." + +The quick-witted cacique had seen distrust lurking in Balboa's eyes, +and, indeed, the Spanish commander conceived this might be but a scheme +to get him out of Comogre's country and into the mountains, where he +might be swallowed up in the wilderness and never return to the colony, +which would be attacked by the Indians and destroyed. But the former +captive of Tubanama, who was questioned separately from the young +cacique, confirmed the latter's story in every particular, and verified +his account of gold which might be found in all the streams, as well as +accumulated in the cacique's treasuries. + +Then Balboa, says one who was near him and saw the journal he wrote with +his own hand, was transported by the prospect of glory and fortune which +opened before him. He believed himself already at the gates of the East +Indies, which was the desired object of the government and the +discoverers of that period. He resolved to return, in the first place, +to Darien, to raise the spirits of his companions there with these +brilliant hopes, and to make all possible preparations for realizing +them. He remained, nevertheless, yet a few days with the caciques, and +so warm was the friendship he contracted with them that they and their +families were baptized, Careta taking in baptism the name of Fernando, +and Comogre that of Carlos. Balboa then returned to Darien, rich in the +spoils of Ponca, rich in the presents of his friends, and still richer +in the golden hopes which the future offered him. + +Darien was in sore straits when, elated with his several victories, +Balboa marched into the settlement at the head of his little army. +Notoriously improvident as they were, the Spaniards had planted, +notwithstanding, a large tract with maize, or Indian-corn, and were +looking forward to gathering a harvest, when down from the mountains +swept a torrent, accompanied by a tempest with thunder and lightning, +and in an hour their fields were totally ruined. Starvation stared them +in the face, but about this time the _regidor_, Valdivia, who had been +sent to Santo Domingo by Balboa, with gold for Diego Columbus, returned +in a small vessel well laden with provisions. + +These stores were soon consumed, and Valdivia returned to the island, +bearing a rich present for Don Diego and fifteen thousand crowns in gold +for King Ferdinand. This amount of gold, it was estimated, was due the +sovereign as the royal fifth, which was exacted from all treasure +obtained in America. As there was frequent communication between Santo +Domingo and Spain, and as, moreover, Don Diego Columbus was viceroy +over the islands, and Terra Firma as well, it was proper and politic to +send the treasure by the hands of the admiral. The latter had sent +abundant promises of aid, but, though Balboa represented that it was +necessary for him to have at least a thousand men as a reinforcement, it +is not on record that he ever got them. He had in mind the invasion of +the country contiguous to the great sea, which, Comogre's son had told +him, would demand more than a thousand soldiers, fully armed and +equipped. Failing to interest Don Diego in the scheme, Valdivia was +instructed to sail from Santo Domingo for Spain and lay it before the +king, who, in view of the large amount of gold remitted, might feel +inclined to accede to his modest request. + +Valdivia sailed from Antigua del Darien, bearing with him the king's +fifth, and charged with Balboa's message, which was emphasized by a +startling statement that unless the needed troops were despatched +without delay, he should be obliged, in self-defence, to exterminate all +the caciques on the isthmus. He had already, he wrote, slain thirty +caciques, mainly with his own hand, and "must in like manner destroy +every one he should capture, as the small number of his troops left him +no alternative." We may probably take this message as evidence, rather, +of Balboa's skill with the "long bow," already alluded to, than of the +slaughter he committed with more potent weapons, for he certainly +possessed a vivid imagination. + +Valdivia, the regidor, sailed for the island and Spain, but was never +heard of more, and it is probable that his ship went down with all on +board. With him, also, went the fifteen thousand pieces of gold, besides +other sums, sent by Balboa and his men to satisfy their creditors in +Santo Domingo. Truly, an evil genius pursued him, he was prone to say, +for, labor as he might, he could not make head against his adverse +fortune. Greater opportunities were given him, perhaps, than to any man +then living since the days of Columbus, and it cannot be truly said that +he did not improve them to the utmost; but every great endeavor of his +came to naught. He was ardent and generous, and he was sane, save where +his passions were concerned. His command over men was a marvel to all +who knew him, and there was not a soldier in his command who would +hesitate to follow him anywhere. He never told his men to go, but always +asked them to _come_, for he was ever in the forefront of battle, and +the more desperate the enterprise, the more anxious was he to take part +in it and assume the leadership. + +Life in the settlement irked him greatly, says his Spanish biographer, +and although it was essential to its peace and prosperity that he should +stay in it a certain length of time, in order to place the town in a +posture of defence and encourage the waning spirits of the settlers, his +active and enterprising disposition would allow him no rest. He had +desired to go in person to present his cause to the court, but his +fellow-settlers would not hear of it. They were already sadly distressed +by their losses, through the inimical effects of the climate and the +repeated attacks of the Indians, and there seemed to be no one but +Balboa who could hold them where they were. What they had really gained +was very little, since their harvests were washed away by the floods, +and the gold they had acquired was useless, without marts in which to +purchase the things they most required to sustain life. + +In order to keep them from seizing a vessel and departing for more +attractive regions, Balboa conceived the plan of invading the dominions +of Dobaybe, which lay around the head of the gulf, and contiguous to the +cannibal country on its eastern boundary. He was obliged to await the +return of Valdivia with reinforcements, if he would invade the great and +opulent region beyond the mountains, but meanwhile there came to him +information of a character that fanned to a flame the slumbering desire +to achieve a great discovery. An Indian was brought to him one morning, +who said he was the subject of a great cacique living in a golden realm +of the interior about one hundred miles from Darien. Its capital was +situated on the bank of the very river that emptied itself, by many +mouths, into the Gulf of Uraba. Its riches were prodigious, and it +derived its name from a wondrous goddess of most ancient times, who, +according to Indian tradition, was the mother of the god who had created +the sun, the moon, and the stars. She also controlled the elements, he +said, sending great storms, with thunder and lightning, which destroyed +the habitations of those who did not worship her fervently, but +rewarding those who did with abundant crops and success in battle. +According to some, this goddess had been at one time an Indian princess, +whose capital was in the mountains of Dobaybe, and in whose memory, +after her death, a temple had been erected containing a golden idol, +which was still worshipped by the natives. Both temple and idol were +made of gold, and to the holy shrine it was the wont of Indians far and +near to make annual pilgrimages, for the purpose of making offerings of +their wealth. Thus, in the course of centuries, the golden temple had +become filled with treasure of inestimable value. Its walls were adorned +with plates of gold, and its vaults filled with the precious metal, +veins of which radiated from them to the various mines with which the +region abounded. + +The idol and the temple were of themselves sufficient to arouse the +predatory instinct of the Spaniards; but not alone was their cupidity +appealed to, for Balboa was informed that his old enemy Zemaco had +retreated to the province of Dobaybe, and was engaged in arousing its +cacique to resistance. Inflamed, then, by a lust for gold and their +desire for revenge, the followers of Balboa volunteered so readily for +the desperate enterprise that he had difficulty in retaining any +able-bodied soldiers for the defence of the settlement. One hundred and +seventy were finally selected, and embarking them in two brigantines, +under command of himself and Colmenares, Balboa sailed up the gulf to +the mouth of the river draining the golden country. + +While nothing more was ever heard of Balboa's friend, the regidor, yet +tidings indirectly came to the Spaniards, in the course of Cortes's +voyage to Yucatan, in the year 1519. When his fleet was off that coast, +a rumor reached him that two Spaniards were held captive by a cacique of +the interior. One of these was rescued, and proved of inestimable value +to Cortes in the conquest of Mexico, as an interpreter. His name was +Aguilar, and he informed his rescuers that he and another were the only +survivors of the shipwreck, all the rest, thirteen men and two women, +having been sacrificed, or killed by hard usage. + + + + +VII + +A SEARCH FOR THE GOLDEN TEMPLE + +1511 + + +Nothing seemed impossible to the Spaniards of Balboa's time, nothing +seemed incredible, and thus it was that this small band of soldiers set +forth in full confidence that they could subdue any force they might +encounter, and trustfully accepting the wild story told them by the +Indian. They were the pick of the force at Darien, the hardiest and +stoutest-hearted, and they were armed with the best weapons known to +their age. These weapons, indeed, were not such as would satisfy a +soldier of the present day, for, besides pikes, swords, lances or +halberds, and cross-bows, they had as a fire-arm only the rude +arquebuse, or clumsy musket, which was a heavy burden to carry and +rarely did effective execution. It was so heavy as to demand a "rest," +or support, which was usually afforded by a pronged upright of iron, or +a crotched stick; and besides being difficult to properly charge with +powder and ball, it required the musketeer to carry constantly a lighted +match, or fusee, with which to ignite the powder in the pan. + +Most soldiers preferred the powerful cross-bow, with which the best of +them could drive nails almost as far as they could see them. But these +weapons were not so far superior to the bows possessed by the Indians +that they gave their owners great advantage, and besides, the savages +were generally more powerful of arm than the Spaniards, as well as +equally expert with bow and arrow. The chosen weapon of the Spaniard was +the sword, and the cavalier who possessed a good "Toledo," with blade +that could be bent double without breaking, and with an edge that +nothing could turn, considered himself more than the equal of any +warrior that might oppose him, whether armed with bow, spear, pike, or +war-club. + +The vast superiority of the Spaniards over the savages consisted in +their armor, for protected as most of them were, by helmet, corselet, +gauntlets, cuishes for the thighs and greaves for the legs--arrows, +spears, and even war-clubs glanced harmlessly from their panoply of +steel. They were often wounded, some of them killed outright, in their +desperate encounters with the Indians; but the greater number of their +casualties were the result of carelessness or neglect to properly encase +themselves in defensive armor. Heavy and cumbersome as it was, few men +could support the weight of metal it was necessary for the armed soldier +to carry, and especially in the tropics was the burden found +intolerable. So it happened frequently that the soldiers were surprised +by the savages without their armor, which they may have doffed for +temporary relief, or have delivered over to a slave to carry for them. +At such times there was found to be little difference between savage and +civilized soldier, and the former fought his opponent on nearly equal +terms. + +Balboa may have taken with him a few falconets, or light field-pieces, +but if so they were not used in conflict with the Indians on this +enterprise, and the prestige which the white men had derived from their +fire-arms was maintained by the arquebusiers, or musketeers, who +frightened the Indians with the loud reports of their guns and volumes +of sulphurous powder-smoke, but did little execution. The commander +himself carried as his only weapon his invincible sword, the blade of +which had been forged at Toledo, and brought to an exquisite temper in +the waters of the Tagus. For defence he relied upon the armor in which +he was encased, and the Saracenic shield, or buckler, which hung from +his shoulders or was carried on his left arm, the right wielding the +basket-hilted sword. + +When Balboa reached the river, which came down from the mountains far +away, he knew not which branch of it to take, there were so many mouths, +and all navigable, so far as he could see. Taking his stand in the prow +of the brigantine, he guided his little fleet into the largest stream he +could find, and then, sending Colmenares to explore another branch, he +proceeded on his way to what he thought was Dobaybe province. After +threading his way through a perfect labyrinth of morasses, and without +getting a glimpse of a single Indian, he at last came to a deserted +village. The huts were empty, containing neither inhabitants or +provisions; but hanging from their rafters were many jewelled weapons +and golden ornaments, so that the Spaniards obtained booty from this +silent village to the estimated value of seven thousand castellanos. +This they stowed away in two large canoes, which had been picked up +along the river-bank, and then, discouraged at the gloomy outlook, +Balboa gave the order to return to the gulf. On the way a violent storm +assailed these invaders of the country ruled by Dobaybe's deity, sent, +the trembling Indians said, in revenge for this affront offered her by +the unbelieving white men. The brigantine was in such danger of sinking +that half her cargo was thrown overboard, to save her, while the two +canoes laden with the booty were overwhelmed by the waters of the gulf +and went down with all on board. + +Thus far the expedition had proved worse than fruitless; but Balboa was +not the man to cry "enough" until every means had been exhausted to gain +what he was seeking. The river he had entered, and which he had the +honor of discovering, was far greater than he imagined, for it has its +source, say the geographers, nine or ten hundred miles distant from the +Gulf of Uraba, in the cordilleras of the Andes. The volume of its waters +was such as to freshen the sea for many leagues from the shore. It was +named by Balboa the St. John, but is now known as the Darien and the +Atrato. Working his way into the branch of the river ascended by +Colmenares, Balboa overtook his companion, and together they entered a +tributary of the main stream which, from the color of its waters, they +called the Rio Negro, or Black River. Its color was derived, they +ascertained, from the black mud of a submerged region through which it +ran, and where they discovered the most wonderful habitations of any +seen by the Spaniards since Vespucci and Ojeda brought to light the +lake-dwellers of Maracaibo, in 1499. + +As the brigantines were slowly forced against the current of the river, +now beneath the overhanging branches of huge trees swarming with +parrots, and again crossing the placid surface of an eddied lake, the +excited soldiers caught occasional glimpses of large animals ahead +climbing the trunks of trees. At first they took them for monkeys, and +those of the band who had cross-bows got them ready to shoot; for the +flesh of the monkey was held by them in great repute, and their supply +of meat was exhausted. Suddenly one of the soldiers, who had climbed to +the mast-head for better observation, cried out: "Those are not +monkeys, but men! They are men and women and children; and behold, there +are their barbacoas, like nests, perched up in the palms above the +water!" + +And it was as the soldier had said, for there was a veritable nest of +tree-dwellers, or rather a collection of nests, consisting of +wicker-work huts made of flexible reeds and vines, fifty or sixty feet +up in the air. They occupied the tops of the palm-trees, and each was +large enough to accommodate a family, being divided into compartments, +such as bedchamber, dining-room, and kitchen, or larder. They were +reached by ladders made of split reeds or bamboos, which the Indians +climbed with the agility of monkeys. Women and children, as well as men, +went up and down the fragile, shaking ladders, some of them with great +burdens on their backs, with as little inconvenience as if they were +walking on level ground. + +All their provisions were kept in the aerial houses, which were well +filled, but the liquors they drank, consisting of palm-wine and beer, +were buried in earthen jars at the roots of the trees, as the rocking +of the habitations would cause them to become turbid. The trees grew in +or near the water, and the Indians kept canoes tied to their trunks, or +to the lower ends of the ladders, and thus could embark without touching +the earth. Their mode of life, in fact, was aerial and aquatic, rather +than terrestrial, for they perched in the trees like birds, and sported +in the water like fish, upon which latter they almost entirely +subsisted. They rarely hunted the big game of the forest, and their +chief reason for living up in the trees was that it afforded them +security from wild beasts, especially the jaguars, which nightly roamed +the woods in search of prey. + +Balboa was greatly diverted by these barbacoas up in the air and their +agile inhabitants. He endeavored to capture some of the latter, but they +were too spry for him and his clumsy companions in armor, for, before +they succeeded in landing, every member of the community was safely +ensconced aloft. After the frightened Indians had scampered up the +ladders they drew them into the tree-tops also, and, considering +themselves secure, began to pelt the Spaniards with stones. This was +more than their leader could endure, and, sheltering himself behind his +buckler, he advanced to the tree in which, as he was told, the cacique's +hut was built, and demanded that he descend immediately. The only answer +was a shower of stones, some of which struck his shield, and one of +them, glancing, wounded a companion. Becoming then enraged, Balboa +ordered an arquebuse to be fired into the tree, and when the cacique, +whose name was Abebeiba, heard the loud report and saw the cloud of +smoke ascending, as from a volcano, he nearly fell from his lofty perch. + +"Hold!" he cried, "I will descend"; but when his wives and family +entreated him not to do so, he wavered, and finally refused to budge. + +"What have I done to thee?" he asked of Balboa. "In nothing have I +offended thee and thine; now leave me in peace." + +The grim commander said nothing in reply, but commanded his axemen to +attack the tree. "When the old scoundrel sees the chips fly," he +remarked, "perhaps he may change his mind." Protected by the soldiers +with their shields, the axemen vigorously set their blades into the +palm-tree, and then the cacique seemed disposed to capitulate. Down +rattled the long ladder, and it had scarcely struck the ground ere the +cacique was there beside it, shaking with fear and chattering like a +parrot. After him also came his wives and their children, in a long and +rapidly descending procession, and soon they were grouped around the +palm-tree, which, by their swift compliance with Balboa's demand, they +had saved from destruction. + +"We want gold," said Balboa, threateningly. "If you have any up in that +tree, go back and get it at once." + +The cacique replied: "I have no gold in the tree nor in any other place. +I have no occasion for gold; but, great lord, if you will allow me to +search in yonder sierras, I will soon return with a vast quantity, for +there it exists and I know its hiding-place. Behold these wives of mine +and these sons; they will be hostages for me against my return." + +"It is well," answered Balboa. "Go, but return within two days. +Meanwhile, we will hold your family as hostages, and enjoy the +provisions you have so bountifully supplied against our coming, as it +seems." + +The wily Abebeiba departed for the sierras, and the Spaniards watched +him out of sight. They saw him cross the river in his canoe, then plunge +into a thicket on the opposite bank; but they saw him no more, for he +never came back. + + + + +VIII + +CONSPIRACY OF THE CACIQUES + +1512 + + +Balboa waited three days for the return of the cacique, with his +brigantine, meanwhile, moored in a bend of the stream, where the dense +vegetation of the banks met in leafy arches overhead. Great trees, their +roots in the earth of opposite banks, mingled their verdant crowns +together, and over their trunks (as though formed by nature for this +purpose) climbed the natives of the region when they wished to cross the +stream. One of these arboreal giants bent above Balboa's brigantine, +with its branches screening the deck so effectually that the soldiers +were nearly always in refreshing shade, even with the sun shining +brightly at noonday. + +The heat of that region was intense, and a shade was ever grateful, so +it was with feelings of disgust that the sailors and soldiers heard +Balboa, one day, give the order to proceed up the river. They had +become attached to the spot containing the palm-trees and the dwellings +in the air, for the habitations afforded them pleasant retreats when off +duty, and their occupants received them with smiles and offers of good +cheer. Balboa and his officers had taken possession of a group of huts +consisting of the cacique's and others, nestled together in a clump of +palms hung with great bunches of nuts and flowers amid their leafy +crowns. There their hammocks were hung, there they were waited on by +nut-brown boys and maidens, who took them fruits and beverages, the +latter so often that soon the big earthen jars at the roots of the trees +were drained of their contents. + +It was when apprised of this fact that Balboa decided he would proceed +with the exploration. "By all the saints!" he said to Colmenares, as the +two reclined lazily in their hammocks, watching the smoke-wreaths +drifting upward, mingled with most appetizing odors from their breakfast +simmering in earthen vessels on the fires beneath the trees. "By the +saints, Rodrigo, this is a pleasurable life to lead!" + +"_De veras_--Of a truth," answered Colmenares. "But, my commander, have +we not other things than pleasure to consider?" + +"As thou sayest, Rodrigo, we have. And, now the _chicha_ is gone, the +jars are empty, and the temptation removed for the old cacique to +indulge in drunkenness--peradventure he ever return, which I doubt--it +seemeth to me we had best move on." + +It was not often that Balboa allowed himself to relax, as he had done +here, especially when in the enemies' country, and his conscience smote +him. Then he gathered himself together and gave the order which produced +such discontent among his men. He met their sour looks blithely, giving +them no heed, and they were too well trained to oppose him, even for a +moment. Such as were by duty compelled, bent themselves to the oars, +while others cast off the moorings, and soon the brigantine was on its +way again up the stream. Just as it was slipping out from beneath the +overhanging trees, there was a sudden commotion in the vines and +branches above the deck, and through the tangled mass of vegetation +dropped a naked savage. He was evidently a warrior, for in one hand he +grasped a bow and bunch of arrows, and in the other held a shield of +jaguar-skin. + +"Ha, what is this?" exclaimed Balboa, who was standing on the +castle-deck directing the departure. "Ho, there, interpreter! Come +hither. Surround him, men, and prevent him from escaping." + +There seemed, however, no cause for alarm, as the warrior was alone and +showed no evidence of an intention either to attack the soldiers or leap +overboard. As Balboa approached him, drawing his sword from its sheath +the while, he stood like a statue, and faced the oncoming soldier +without flinching. + +"Ask him whence he comes and what the object of his coming," said Balboa +to the interpreter, who, with others, had hurried to the spot. + +The warrior did not at first reply to the question, repeated by the +interpreter, but, after gazing about defiantly, finally made answer: "I +come from the cacique Zemaco, who hath a prisoner in his possession, one +of thy kind, whom he will set free and deliver to thee provided thou +wilt send for him. But not many must thou send, only two or three, whom +I will guide to his camp." + +"A prisoner? How comes he to have a prisoner?" demanded Balboa, looking +around for an answer. "We have lost no man, of late. I misdoubt the +story myself, and believe the Indian is lying." + +"And I likewise," said Colmenares. "But let us find from him where the +cacique is encamped. Where is Zemaco?" he asked the warrior, through the +interpreter. + +"At Dobaybe," was the answer. "He guards the great temple and its +goddess of gold." + +"Aha!" exclaimed Balboa. "Then we will go to him. But not with an +embassy; in force will we go. How far is it to Dobaybe? Ask him, +interpreter?" + +"Two days direct, by land; but four days by river, in the big canoe," +answered the savage, showing his teeth with a snarl of rage, like a +jaguar glowering from a tree in the forest. + +"That time he told the truth," said Colmenares. + +"So far maybe as he hath told anything," replied Balboa, enigmatically. +"My faith! but I've a mind to put him to the torture. If it be but two +days to Dobaybe, then surely we can accomplish it; but if much more, we +shall be obliged to return for provisions. Where is the armorer? Here, +man, place this savage in irons!" + +As the armorer approached, Balboa waved his hand towards the Indian, +who, probably divining the fate in store for him should he linger, +sprang for the rail. At one bound he reached the bulwark, at another he +leaped over it into the water of the river, where he sank like a stone +before the astonished witnesses could make a move to prevent him. +Instantly there was a commotion aboard the brigantine. A score of +soldiers hastened to the rail, and as many cross-bows were made ready +and levelled at the surface of the water. If the head of the savage had +appeared above it, surely it would have been pierced by several bolts +from the bows; but it did not emerge. The impatient bowmen waited long, +but in vain. The Indian was seen nevermore, for he probably swam under +water to the thickets on the farther shore, and, worming his way through +the vines and undergrowth of the forest, secured his safety by flight. + +"Maria Santisima!" exclaimed Balboa. "Why did I not run him through with +my sword? He was a spy--naught else was he; and all that he told was a +lie!" + +Downcast and disgusted were the soldiers then, for they felt that they +and their commander had been outwitted, and by a naked savage. "If, +then," they reasoned among themselves, "we can be so easily deceived by +an emissary of Zemaco, what cannot he do to us when involved in the net +he has spread for our capture?" They were ignorant and superstitious. +Having heard of the goddess that reigned in the mountains, and having +experienced her might, as shown in the tempest she had, without doubt, +visited upon them, they were prone to ascribe to her the possession of +supernatural powers, and balked at the prospect of invading her +territory. If the truth were told, Balboa himself was not without a +trace of that same superstition, and he could understand the feelings of +his men, if he did not, indeed, sympathize with them. When, therefore, +at the end of a week of fruitless quest, wandering in the forest and +seeking in vain a conflict with the fugitive Zemaco, he found himself +back at the point of departure on the Rio Negro, he for a time gave up +the hunt and abandoned his search for the golden goddess and temple. + +The unsolved mystery of the idol and temple continued to vex the +Spaniards for many a year. When an indomitable soldier like Vasco Nunez +de Balboa found himself frustrated in the search for them, few others +had the courage to take it up. It was not like Balboa to retire and +acknowledge himself defeated, and it was much against his will that he +turned his back upon the unseen Dobaybe and set his face towards Darien +again. He did not, however, abandon the project utterly, and gave a +pledge that he would sometime return, by leaving behind a body of thirty +soldiers, under command of Bartolome Hurtado, who were to hold the +country in subjection. They took possession of a deserted village on the +Rio Negro, and, while Balboa with the main body descended the river to +Darien, ranged through the country in pursuit of fugitives. + +From what afterwards transpired, it would seem that Cacique Zemaco had +been playing a game of deep duplicity with his more civilized opponent, +and, whether he held possession of the golden Dobaybe or not, had some +sort of a stronghold in the mountains to which he could retreat on +occasion, and which Balboa had not been able to reach. As soon as the +latter's back was turned, he descended from his stronghold, and spread +his warriors along the rivers, retaking the deserted villages and +collecting their inhabitants together. + +When Hurtado and his little band were left alone in the wilderness, +Zemaco perceived an opportunity for revenge upon the Spaniards; but he +was cautious and had a wholesome fear of their weapons. He waited until +Hurtado had detached more than half his total force, for the purpose of +taking their prisoners to Darien, and then launched his bolts of war. +Hurtado's captives were placed in a large boat guarded by fifteen or +twenty Spaniards, most of whom were invalided through wounds or +sickness, and thus scarcely ten sound men remained behind in the Indian +country. The boat descended the Rio Negro very slowly, for it was +heavily laden with its human freightage, and late one afternoon, when +between forest-covered banks that closely approached and cast a gloom +upon the waters, it was attacked by Zemaco and his warriors. They were +in four canoes, and were armed with war-clubs and lances. Shouting their +war-cries, they surrounded the boat containing the Spaniards, and with +the assistance of the prisoners massacred all save two. These two +escaped by leaping into the river and clinging to the trunk of a great +tree which was floating with the current. They hid themselves in the +branches, and, being over-looked by the Indians, finally reached the +shore and returned to Hurtado with their tidings of disaster. The +commander was so disheartened that he at once abandoned his post on the +Rio Negro and hastened to Darien with all speed. It is surprising that +Zemaco did not attack him when on the way, as he had an overwhelming +force, and his recent victory had inspired him with confidence; but as +it afterwards was ascertained, he was then in secret conference with the +caciques of all the provinces, four in number, for the purpose of +totally exterminating the Spaniards. Hurtado carried the tidings of this +conspiracy to Darien, having received intimation of it from a captive; +but the inhabitants considered his fears of an uprising largely +imaginary, incited by his recent disaster, and made no preparations for +receiving the enemy if he should appear. + +At this time there comes into view once more the beautiful Cacica, who +had been left in Darien when Balboa went on his expedition up the +Atrato. She had urged him to take her with him, saying that her place +was by her lord and master's side; but he had refused, because, as he +said, space on board the brigantine was limited, and there was room for +soldiers only. He had given his house into her charge at parting, and +when he returned she proudly showed him what she had done to improve its +condition, receiving his praises therefor with great delight. But rumors +soon reached Balboa that during his absence the Cacica had received +under her roof a young warrior, who had come and gone at night--as a spy +might have done, said the sentinels who watched outside the walls of the +town. These rumors were verified by reports from the spies whom Balboa +himself had left to watch the Cacica while he was away. He ardently +loved her--of that there could be no doubt; but, as a Spaniard, he was +naturally suspicious. + +These spies were certain that the visiting Indian was a warrior of +Zemaco's band, and thought he might be a relative of the Cacica, or a +former lover whom Balboa had supplanted. They, too, sought to intercept +him; but the wary Indian escaped them every time, and they could only +report that he had been there and undoubtedly held conference with the +Cacica. When Balboa heard these reports he was deeply disturbed, for, +notwithstanding his suspicions, he wished to have confidence in his +mistress, and disliked to think evil of her. He was uncertain whether he +had better keep the information to himself, and meanwhile watch the girl +narrowly for signs of deceit, or openly accuse her of treachery to his +trust. He adopted a middle course, and one day, while they were +conversing upon the events of the expedition, artfully contrived to +involve her in the confession that hardly a day had passed in which she +had not indirectly heard from him. + +"And who was the messenger, my love?" asked Balboa, calmly, but with his +heart beating furiously and his eyes flashing. + +"My brother, sometimes, my cousin, and again my brother--for, you know, +I have many brothers," replied the Cacica, artlessly. + +"Yes, I know," rejoined Balboa. "But why should they come to you so +frequently, and always at night?" + +"Because I wanted tidings of you, my lord; and for that they could not +come too often! At night, too, because they could not get within the +town by daytime. For there were sentinels and spies, my lord. Did you +not know there were spies?" asked the Cacica, archly, her eyes dancing +mischievously. + +"I--I knew there were spies," answered Balboa, hesitatingly. Then, +suddenly assuming a stern and wrathful expression, he grasped the girl's +wrists and, looking straight into her eyes, demanded: "What did your +people tell you when they came to my house in the night-time? Did they +say aught of the cacique Zemaco and of the conspiracy he is forming +against me? Tell me, and truly, girl, for if thou liest thou mayst lose +thy life!" + +"I will tell you," answered the Cacica, slowly. "Not because you +threaten me, but for the love I bear you. My life is yours, to take at +any time." She returned his gaze fearlessly, and in her eyes Balboa +could detect no trace of deceit or alarm. + +"I am a cacique's daughter," she continued, proudly, "though in your +eyes a savage and a slave. Your life and the lives of your friends are +in my hands--until I tell you; then my life and the lives of my people +are at your mercy. Yet I will tell you, because you are still my lord, +and I have left my people to go with you and stay within your house. + +"Know, then, that my brothers came to warn me to fly with them and hide +in the mountains, for the men of my race can no longer endure the +atrocities committed by the invaders, and are resolved to fall upon them +soon by sea and by land. In the town of Tichiri are collected one +hundred canoes and five thousand warriors, and the preparations are made +for striking a blow that shall destroy your power forever!" + + + + +IX + +HOW THE CONSPIRACY WAS DEFEATED + +1512 + + +The story told by the Cacica bore the stamp of truth, but Balboa was, or +pretended to be, unconvinced, and induced her to send for the brother +who had revealed the plot, that he might question him. As she hesitated, +he said, "Since he desired you to go with him, you can say you are +ready, and he will return." + +"Yes, he will return. But how will he be received?" she asked, +dubiously. "I would not have harm come to him, for his warning was from +love of me, my lord." + +"And for love of me I ask you to send for him," replied Balboa, +evasively. He had released the Cacica's hands, and she had fallen into a +hammock, where she lay listlessly, with a look of distress in her eyes +and a great fear at her heart. + +She could not understand how one she loved would willingly cause her +pain; but she felt that Balboa was pressing home a weapon that might +pierce her heart and end her days in misery. She had entangled herself +in a net of her own weaving, however, and there was but one course to +pursue. So she sent for the brother who, in his anxiety to save her from +the massacre in which the Spaniards were about to be involved, had given +the warning. He was one of Zemaco's warriors, and employed as a scout. +Upon receiving a message from his sister he at once hastened to her +side, whence he was torn by emissaries of Balboa, who cast him into a +dungeon. There he was promptly visited by the magistrates of Darien, at +the head of whom was Balboa, and severely questioned as to what he knew +of the plot. He denied all knowledge of Zemaco's movements, and one of +the magistrates cried out: "Then put him to the torture. Bring a +bowstring hither!" + +This order having been complied with by the jailer, he then said: "Bind +it about his forehead, and twist it till his eyes begin to bulge! +Perchance then he will tell what he knows." + +This was done, and the cruel jailer twisted the bowstring with a stick +until the Indian's eyes seemed about to burst from their sockets. Unable +longer to endure the torture, he cried, in agony, "Oh, release me, and I +will indeed tell all!" Then he fainted, for he was but a youth, and, +though accounted as a warrior, was yet of slight physique and delicate. +Vasco Nunez de Balboa, who was standing by, could not but have noted his +resemblance to the Cacica, whom he had often sworn he loved; yet he made +no effort to release him. + +The unhappy youth related what he had told his sister, and the story was +the same that she had told, only there was something added. Gasping for +breath, and with temples throbbing from agonizing pain, the hapless boy +said that Zemaco had long before plotted the death of Balboa, and had +for this purpose posted his warriors in disguise among the Indian +laborers in the fields. They watched for weeks an opportunity to take +the commander off his guard; but, though they valued not their lives at +all, they were intimidated by the horse which he rode and the long lance +he carried, and finally gave up the attempt upon his life. This failure +had determined Zemaco to form the conspiracy with the other caciques, +and to this scheme he was devoting all his energies. + +As the boy proceeded with his relation, and detailed the means by which +the plan against Balboa's life had been frustrated, it flashed upon that +worthy that his going to the fields every day fully armed and mounted on +horseback was owing to the Cacica's pleadings. Otherwise he would have +gone without armor, in his doublet and hose, and on foot. Thus he would +certainly have fallen a victim to the Indian's rage, and thus--it became +evident even to his perverted sense--he owed his life to the sister of +that frail boy before him, whom he had allowed to be tortured. Then his +heart misgave him surely, and, awaking from the trance into which his +evil thoughts had plunged him, he exclaimed: "Release that youth. Cast +off his bonds and bathe his brow where the cord hath wounded it. He hath +done nothing, and I did not mind to torture him to extremity; only to +elicit the truth--and that we have done. So set him free." + +The magistrates murmured and protested: "It is not customary, nor is it +safe, to set free one who has been put to the torture, lest, in +revenge, he hold murderous plans against us. Let us now finish him, with +the sword or with the garrote, and done with it." + +"Nay, nay!" exclaimed Balboa, excitedly. "I am governor, though you are, +by my grace, the magistrates. I take this youth under my protection, and +woe be to them who dare molest him!" + +"As your excellency commands," retorted one of the magistrates. "He +certainly hath claims upon you, if what rumor says may be believed: to +wit, that his sister is thy--" + +"That for thy insolence," exclaimed Balboa, stopping the objectionable +word with a blow on the magistrate's mouth. "Let it be known that this +youth hath my protection, and," he added, with an ominous frown, "let +what may please you be said about it--behind my back; but not in front +of me!" With that he strode out of the dungeon, leading the wondering +Indian by the hand. And thus, bruised and disfigured, the trembling +youth was taken to Balboa's house, and left there to be cared for by the +Indian maiden. + +It may seem to have been the refinement of cruelty thus to force upon +the Cacica this victim of the Spaniards' barbarity; but in the eyes of +Balboa she was merely a savage whose charms had ensnared him +temporarily. Possessing neither delicacy nor keen moral perception, he +mistakenly reasoned that the Cacica would overlook this wanton outrage +upon her brother and forgive the perpetrators of it. She was his slave, +subject to his every whim; but still she had a heart and a conscience, +and she was capable of resentment. Though she had so carefully concealed +her feelings that he imagined she would always be mild and passive, no +matter what occurred, the Cacica really possessed a deep, revengeful +nature. + +When Balboa and her brother appeared before her, she clutched at her +heart, as if to still its beatings, but said nothing, though a single +glance told her what had occurred. She led her brother away, to a hut +outside the palm-thatched structure which served Balboa as a dwelling, +and was about to bathe his bruised forehead, when he repulsed her with a +gesture of disgust. + +She did not ask why, for she knew, and he did not waste words in telling +her that she was a traitress, and was solely responsible for what had +occurred to him. In silent dignity he gathered up his bow and arrows, +which had been left with the Cacica when he was thrust into the dungeon, +and without one word of farewell stalked off into the forest. + +Then the Cacica knew that she had incurred the hatred of her tribe, as +well as lost the respect of her master, by revealing the plot of Zemaco. +She had done it for love of Balboa, as she had assured him; but now that +she realized her position, as an outcast from her people, and, despised +by the brother who had risked his life to save her own, she hated her +master, and loathed him. Thenceforth she lived only for revenge; but, +with the cunning of a savage, she concealed her real feelings from +Balboa, and appeared to him only the dutiful slave. She lived silent and +apart, but ever nursing a scheme of vengeance which in due time cost +Vasco Nunez de Balboa his life. + +Through the treachery to her people of the Cacica, and the confession +elicited by torture from her unhappy brother, Balboa came into +possession of all the facts regarding the purposed insurrection of the +caciques. He lost no time in acting upon this information, but promptly +summoned his officers in council. His chief reliance was, as may have +been divined already, the stout-hearted Colmenares, who had shared with +him the dangers of several expeditions, in all of which he had borne +himself with courage and resolution. While the magistrates were +uncertain what course should be pursued, some advising an immediate +retreat from a place so fraught with danger to themselves, both from the +savages and from the climate, which was killing off the settlers by +scores, Colmenares alone gave his commander the advice he liked. Balboa +had settled in his own mind what he should do, but he desired to be +supported by a certain show of authority, conferred by his coadjutors, +in order to have a loop-hole for escape in case the adventure should +prove disastrous. + +"I can conceive of no other course than immediate pursuit," said the +gallant Colmenares. "The redskins meditated taking us unawares and +putting us to death, without a possible opportunity for escape. Hence +they must have determined upon attacking us both by sea and by land. In +sooth, the great gathering of canoes at the town of Tichiri shows that. +What, then, is the proper mode of attack for us to adopt but their own, +only in the reverse? That is, a body of our troops to proceed by water +and another by land, thus taking the savages by flank and cutting off +all chance of retreat. So far as our ability goes to combat them, you +will of course agree with me that there is no great risk. And this I say +with due regard for truth." + +"Which I have always found thee to observe, and also to weigh carefully +the things that make for success as well as defeat," replied Balboa. "In +short, Rodrigo, thou'rt a careful commander, and thy scheme was the very +one I myself should propose; but thou shalt have the credit of it. Take, +then, Rodrigo, sixty of our men and embark them in canoes for Tichiri, +while I, with seventy, will make a wide circuit by land, and thus we +will fall upon the savages by front and by rear. Provision the boats for +a few days only, for we shall in all probability find enough to eat by +the way, and especially when we shall have taken the town and sacked it +of what it contains. There are, I understand, five principal caciques in +the league, four besides the arch-scoundrel Zemaco, and, assembling as +they have been from every quarter far and near, they will have brought +with them of supplies a sufficient store." + +To the blare of trumpet and roll of drum, the entire garrison assembled +within the stockade, and the two commanders picked their men from the +ranks. Only the stoutest and most valiant were taken, those who had been +tried before and were accustomed to Indian warfare; but nearly all +desired to go, scenting spoils in prospective and tiring of inaction at +Darien. Some could not, through being stretched on beds of pain, +afflicted with wounds or disease; others could not, because of some +disability of which their commander was cognizant; for he knew his +little garrison to the last man, and was never at a loss to judge its +strength or weakness. This was one secret of his success, another being +his generosity; for he never withheld from any soldier his share of +plunder, and was the last to think of himself. + +"Oh ho," he laughed, as the volunteers came pressing forward, some +shaking with ague, some limping on crutches, and all filled with +enthusiasm. "So ye all desire to go? I' faith, but I wish ye all could +do so. But go back to your posts, my good men, all that can manage a +cross-bow or an arquebuse, and there keep vigilant watch, for who knows +when, or in what manner, the foe may appear? Rodrigo and I will go +forth, the one by water and the other by land; but there must perforce +be a great gap of forest between us, through which the savages may come +by stealth and fall upon the town. So, I say, keep watch by night and by +day; and inasmuch as all are engaged in a common defence, and all +entitled to equal shares in the spoils, even so shall it be." + +Balboa was moved thus to deliver himself, because of ten thousand pieces +of gold in the treasury, remaining undivided, which his enemies declared +he intended to seize for himself and send as a donative to the king. For +this reason he said, "We shall all share alike, from commander down to +drummer-boy and trumpeter, and no man shall be deprived of his portion." + +Then he marched off at the head of his armored band of braves, followed +by the acclaim of those he left behind to guard the town. As for those +who went with him: being all of them gallant souls, and generous to a +fault, more disposed to fight for treasure than to quarrel over its +division afterwards, they acquiesced without a murmur. Colmenares had +already embarked his force of sixty men, when Balboa set off and lost +himself in the forest with his seventy, so that the settlement appeared +quite deserted. + +The canoes of Colmenares were paddled by stalwart Indians taken from +Careta's tribe, who were ignorant of the intended uprising, but could +not, of course, be unaware that the expedition was proceeding against +some of their people with hostile purpose. But they asked no questions, +being reasonably certain that any such would be answered only by blows, +and exerted their strength to such good purpose that by nightfall of the +day in which they had embarked the Spaniards reached the vicinity of +Tichiri. It was probably at or near a place now indicated on the map as +"Punta Escondida," or Lost Point, and may have been thus named because +of its vague and misty appearance in the shades of evening-time. + +The shore seemed formless, and the forests that came down to the water +stretched away black and forbidding, but the darkness was pierced by +numerous points of light, where blazed the Indian camp-fires, and the +"tam-tam-tam" of the drums proclaimed an assemblage for the purpose of +war or conference. Colmenares waited till the drums had ceased their +beating and the camp-fires had been swallowed up by the darkness, then +the canoes were guided stealthily to the shore and the soldiers landed. +The landing could not be made without some sound, such as the clanging +of armor against armor, or the striking of sword or lance against a +gunwale; yet the savages were so confident that no enemy was near that +they were not disturbed, and slumbered while the force formed on the +beach. + +Preceded by the dogs of war, a pack of three having been brought by +Colmenares for this very purpose, the Spaniards crept towards the camp, +extending their line as they approached and perceived its great +proportions. As the scent of the quarry reached their nostrils, the dogs +could no longer be restrained, and leaped forward with deep-mouthed +howls into the midst of the slumbering foe. Instantly arose shrieks of +terror and pain as the beasts tore the inoffensive savages to pieces, +and these were followed by wild tumult when the reports of arquebuses +rose above all other sounds and the Spaniards burst from their +concealment with loud shouts. + +The terrified Indians knew not which way to turn, and huddled together +in a mass, upon the outer skirts of which the hounds tore and ravened at +will, while the cross-bows and musketry played destructively. Finally, +perceiving that no opposition was offered, or likely to be, by the +terror-stricken savages, Colmenares ordered the trumpeter to sound the +recall, and the attendants to draw off the hounds; but it was a long +time before the detestable beasts could be made to quit their prey. + + + + +X + +DISSENSIONS IN THE COLONY + +1512 + + +The savages surprised by Colmenares in Tichiri were under a captain, or +sub-chief, whose name has not been preserved, but who received swift +punishment at the hands of his own people for the crime of rebellion +against Balboa. As soon as the Spanish commander had ascertained in +which direction he was to look for the captain, he sent a small body of +men in search of him. One of his own followers handed Colmenares the bow +and spear that he usually carried, and, having presented this to the +most sagacious of the hounds for his inspection, the brute sniffed the +air an instant, then set off into the midst of the crowd. He and his two +companions had been dragged from their victims while yet their +blood-stained jaws held ghastly shreds and fragments of human flesh, and +it was with his ferocious instincts roused to the highest pitch that +the hound darted through the throng of Indians and leaped upon the +cowering chieftain. + +He was expecting death, and had calmly prepared himself to meet his +fate; but such a terrible apparition as this he was unprepared for, and +as the hound's fangs sank into his quivering flesh he shrieked in agony +of pain and terror. It was with difficulty that the enraged animal was +induced to release his hold, and suffered repeated blows from the mailed +fists of his attendants before he would do so. Then the mangled savage +was conducted before Colmenares, who had cleared a space in the centre +of the camp and there held an impromptu court-martial upon the leaders +of the insurrection. The instigator of the rebellion, Zemaco, had +escaped, but four of the sub-caciques, including the captain of the +band, were captured, owing to the swift and secret movements of the +Spaniards. + +With Colmenares acting in the capacity of judge, the proceedings of the +"court" were confined to the identification of the victims as leaders +and men of influence among the Indians. Their guilt was assumed from +the positions they held, and as soon as their identity was established +they were promptly sentenced: the captain to be shot to death with +arrows by his own followers, and the caciques to be hanged. The sentence +was carried out at break of dawn next morning. Scarcely had the sun +gilded with his first rays the topmost branches of the forest trees, +before the caciques were led out to meet their doom. A broad-based +ceiba-tree, or silk-cotton, reared its huge bulk near the centre of the +clearing, and up its buttressed trunk a pair of soldiers swarmed to its +lower-most limb, over which they swung ropes made of grass, with nooses +at their ends. These nooses were then slipped over the heads of the +caciques, and soon they were suspended in the air, gasping their lives +away, until they were naught but contorted corpses, upon which their +former subjects gazed in speechless horror. + +The extent to which the Indians had been terrorized by the Spaniards was +more fully shown by what followed when the captain was brought to +execution. He was placed with his back against the ceiba-tree, his arms +and legs tightly pinioned, and compelled to face his slayers, who were +archers selected from his body-guard. He faced them dauntlessly, and, +calling upon the most skilful archer by name, directed him to shoot at +his heart and end his misery without unnecessary delay. + +"I blame ye not," he said to his men, "for ye are compelled, I know. +Moreover, I shall the more gladly die, knowing that your weapons cause +my death, and not those of the foe. Shoot straight, and trouble not +thyself," he said to the foremost archer, who, as he was about to bend +the bow, craved pardon for his act. The bowstring twanged, the chief's +head drooped, and it was seen that the arrow had pierced his breast up +to the feather. As the body fell forward several Indians sprang to catch +it, and there was some confusion, during which it was perceived that the +savage who had slain his chief was placing another arrow on the string. +The quick eye of Colmenares caught him in the act, and fearing the shaft +was intended for himself--as doubtless it was--he ordered him disarmed. +One of the soldiers would have thrust him through with a lance, but the +commander prevented him from doing this, perhaps realizing that he had +committed atrocities enough, and had put upon this poor savage more +than weak human nature could endure. + +In the midst of the hubbub that ensued, there sounded the roll of a +drum, followed by other noises, that proclaimed the approach of an armed +force from the direction of the hills. In fact, Balboa and his men, who +had been detained by the countless obstructions to a passage through a +virgin forest, made their appearance shortly, and soon the two +commanders met and embraced. + +"Ha, Rodrigo," exclaimed Balboa, glancing at the grewsome objects +hanging from the limb of the ceiba-tree, "but you have forestalled me, +son, and saved me trouble. I had feared it might be necessary to swing +up a savage or two, and it seems you have done it with despatch. Sorry +am I that we were detained; but such is the fortune of those who seek to +penetrate these forests. All the day and the night we have struggled +against nature's impediments to our progress, and on my soul, Rodrigo, +we are worn down and famishing." + +"That I can well believe," answered Colmenares. "And we are not so fresh +as we might be, nor have we had aught to eat since leaving the boats. +But, if the camp-master has attended to his duty, there should be +something, by this, awaiting us in shape of a breakfast. Let us seek him +and see." + +"A fine _cavalgada_ [troop or herd] of captives you have, Rodrigo, and +they should be sufficiently impressed by the punishment of their chiefs +to behave well in the future." + +"Doubtless they will," replied Colmenares, "for it was a conspiracy of +the caciques, and not of the people at large. These are spirit-less +wretches, most of them, and of themselves will be prone to keep the +peace, I trow." + +"Still, I think we will build a fort here in this wood, for it is a fine +site for one, and the country at large is productive. Goldmines there +are, too, back in the hills, and while old Zemaco is at large there will +be no peace for us. Santa Maria! But I wish we could find that golden +temple and its idol. Perchance we may, with a strong fortress here, and +a garrison in command of a good man like thyself, Rodrigo." + +Leaving Colmenares to erect a fortress on a commanding bluff overlooking +the gulf, and eighty soldiers to hold the Indians in check, Balboa, with +fifty of his own men, returned to Darien in the canoes. He arrived none +too soon, as it chanced, for, taking advantage of his absence, some +seditious fellows had stirred up a disturbance. He had left in command +that Bartolome Hurtado, who had been driven from Zemaco's country after +the disastrous ending of the Dobaybe expedition. He was a favorite with +the governor, but a man of no particular force (as may appear from his +having fled the country he was left to defend), and against him rose the +most unquiet spirits of the colony, led by one Alonzo Perez de la Rua. + +Hurtado may have been arrogant when he found himself invested with sole +authority in the settlement, and as Alonzo Perez was a cavalier of some +distinction when in Spain, he took offence at the upstart's assumptions +and refused to obey him. Not content with maligning Hurtado, he +proceeded to declaim against Balboa himself, denouncing him as a man of +low birth whom circumstance had invested with a brief authority, and who +was, he said, a creature of their own creation. "A soldier of fortune," +and "absconding debtor who ought to be cooling his heels in jail," were +some of the milder things he said about the absent Balboa, who, as soon +as he arrived and learned what had been done, promptly arrested Alonzo +Perez and confined him in the calaboose.[2] As the testy cavalier had +many friends in the colony, a party was quickly formed of considerable +strength, which was opposed to Balboa, and for a time a collision seemed +imminent between the rival forces. + +Balboa had his soldiers at his back, and doubtless could have restrained +the mutineers by resorting to force; but his penetrating mind looked +beyond the present, with its temporary evils, to the future and its +golden promises, so he released Alonzo Perez merely with a reprimand. +This action for a time appeased the factious followers of Perez; but for +a matter of hours only, and the next day they assembled anew. Taking +advantage of Balboa's absence in the fields, whither he had gone to +superintend the Indian laborers, they seized Hurtado, and possessed +themselves of weapons, which they threatened to turn against the +governor himself. Alonzo Perez was again in command, and being +supported in his pretensions by a lawyer, one Bachelor Corral, he +demanded that Balboa should at once deliver up for division among the +colonists the ten thousand pieces of gold then in the treasury. + +In the estimation of Vasco Nunez de Balboa, this hoard of gold was of +small account, as he expected and intended to add to it at least ten +times that amount. Whatever happened, he was not willing to risk his +life in defence of it, and learning that the mutineers intended to throw +him into prison, provided they could secure his person, he hastily +withdrew from the scene of strife, giving out that he was going hunting +in the forest. + +"Friend Hurtado," he said to his lieutenant, "I foresee that when those +scoundrels get possession of that bone of contention, the ten thousand +castellanos in our treasury, they will so abuse one another in the +division of it that the sober-minded members of our community will be +only too glad to recall me to restore order. Hence, let them have it. I +had hoped to send it to our lord the king--and in truth I yet shall do +so; but let them first have the fingering of it. Meanwhile, friend +Bartholomew, we will go hunting, you and I, for it is better, methinks, +to slay the beasts of the forest, which may aid in sustaining us, than +our own countrymen--which we shall certainly have to do if we remain." + +This was the purport of a conversation the shrewd Balboa held with +Hurtado and his immediate followers, and his wisdom and foresight were +soon clearly shown by the manner in which his scheme worked itself out. +Alonzo Perez and his rabble seized the treasury, which he had left +purposely unguarded, and with great hilarity proceeded to share among +themselves the ten thousand pieces of gold. The result was what the +crafty Balboa had foreseen, for a furious dispute broke out at once, and +from words the mutineers came to blows. + +There were still many adherents of Balboa in the community, but they had +been awed into silence by the rabble. When the latter began quarrelling +among themselves, however, and some of them even cried out, boldly, that +their self-exiled governor had always been fair in the apportionment of +the spoils, while Perez was extremely partial to himself, the friends +of Balboa ventured to proclaim their own opinions. + +"Who won this gold," they said, "but our own Vasco Nunez by his +enterprise and valor? Knowing him as we do, we say he would have shared +it with the brave and deserving. [Probably meaning themselves.] But +these men have seized upon it by unfair and factious means, and would +squander it upon their minions. Out upon them, say we! Let us seize the +ringleaders of this foul conspiracy and cast them into prison. Then we +will send for our gallant governor and reinstate him in authority." + +As most of the soldiers were absent with Balboa and Colmenares, and the +mutineers were really in the minority, the temperate members of the +community easily accomplished their purpose by seizing Perez, Corral, +and other ringleaders and placing them in irons. They were confined in +the fortress, where they had leisure to reflect upon their intemperate +behavior, while a special committee of reputable citizens, appointed +amid loud acclamations, was sent in search of the fugitive governor. + +As may be supposed, they did not have great difficulty in finding him, +for he had kept in touch with the proceedings through his scouts, and +had not penetrated the forest so far that he could not be readily +recalled. He was discovered in camp, surrounded by his faithful +soldiers, and the whole company seemed in high spirits over their +success in the chase. Wigwams had been built beneath the wide-spreading +branches of umbrageous trees, and hammocks swung in which Balboa and +Hurtado were lazily reclining--the time being in the heat of the day, +when the delegates approached them with the proffer of reinstatement. + +They had travelled fast and far, since early morning, and, having +provided no refreshments for the journey, were faint, thirsty, and +hungry. They looked longingly at the rude table made of palm-leaves +spread upon the ground, and supplied with every kind of food and drink +known to the colony. Indian cooks were busy at a barbecue over a +camp-fire, the savory odors from which were simply maddening to the +hungry delegates. They saw other Indians engaged in tapping the wild +palms and ladling out calabashes full of palm-wine, while others still +were preparing foaming chicha for their masters. + +Now, the throat of the committee's spokesman was dry, and his tongue +also, so that when he essayed to speak his voice entirely failed him, +and he looked helplessly at his companions. Perceiving the condition of +the delegates, Balboa, who had been watching them narrowly from the +corner of his eye, hastily leaped from his hammock and exclaimed: "Not a +word, Don Pedro, not a word, until you and your friends have slaked your +thirst with draughts of our native wine. Cruel it was of me to keep you +standing there, while this _desayuno_ [breakfast] was being prepared, at +which you must sit down, though it be so humble and poor of quality. +Nay, I insist," he added, as the committee hesitated. "I know not your +mission, _caballeros_; but, certes, you are faint and hungry, perchance +thirsty also, so sit down, and answer not. Hither, mozos, with the +calabashes of chicha and wine. Give my _companeros_ to drink, without +delay." + +The delegates gratefully accepted the food and drink so liberally +profferred, and when they were refreshed the spokesman began his speech +again: "Your excellency, we have come to ask you to return. The +government goes ill without you--in truth, there is no government at +all." + +"Ha? But what of Don Alonzo and the Bachelor Corral?" + +"They are in the calaboose, your excellency, and in irons." + +"So? But how long will they remain, if I return. And what of the gold?" + +"They will remain there at your excellency's pleasure; and the gold +shall be collected and returned to the treasury." + +"_Bueno_--good, very good. But how long, think ye, gentlemen, will ye +continue in this chastened frame of mind? Not a month, not a week, +before some low-born sons of Belial will provoke an outbreak against the +authority of Vasco Nunez de Balboa, and declare he hath no authority to +govern. If I go, gentlemen, to Darien, then it must be under a pledge +that ye all will unitedly stand by me, and sustain me in every effort +for the public weal. What say ye?" + +"We will, we will, your excellency. Only return!" + + + + +XI + +BALBOA STRENGTHENS HIS ARM + +1512 + + +Balboa stretched himself in his hammock, and looking at the delegates +through half-closed eyes, as though he would resume his siesta, +rejoined: "Gentlemen, I do not wish to return! But here is Don +Bartolome, who might be induced to act in my place. Let him go with you +and assume the reins of government." + +The delegates looked the confusion they felt, but said nothing, though +Hurtado hastily exclaimed, "No, no; I care not to do so." + +"Neither care I," said Balboa. "For what do I get by returning? Only the +semblance of a shadow of authority. All the labors, all the insults +attending the office; but never a _gracias_, _senor_--never a thank you, +sir, get I. But here--ah, here I have my liberty. I ask no man whether I +shall come or shall go. Here I can live free from restraint--I and my +merry men. What say, companeros, shall we return?" + +"Never, no never!" came in a chorus from the soldiery. + +"We are content here, are we not? The forest gives us sustenance--as ye +see, gentlemen; it gives us shelter. Now that I am no longer compelled +to hunt the red savage, and only the wild beast when I choose, rest and +happiness have come to me." + +The committee consulted together for the space of five or ten minutes, +then the spokesman said, with a new note in his voice and a twinkle of +triumph in his eyes: "Your excellency, we have a letter for you, which I +herewith deliver. We know not what it contains, for, as you may witness, +the seal is still unbroken; but from what tidings we have received from +some high in authority at Hispaniola, we divine it refers to the great +displeasure of his majesty, the king, as respects your doings at Darien. +Here is the letter, your excellency." + +Balboa took the letter without remark, and broke the seal. As he read, a +serious expression came over his face, and he frowned severely, seeing +which the delegates nudged one another and chuckled inwardly. He had +good cause, in truth, to frown, for the letter was from his friend at +court, Zamudio, whom he had sent to Spain to plead his cause. It +informed him of the king's indignation, kindled by the charges against +him lodged at court by the lawyer Enciso, by whom he was accused of +being an intruder and usurper at Darien. He was held responsible for all +the disasters to the colony, and though in reality its founder, and +pacificator of the savages, he was to be prosecuted on criminal charges, +and might consider himself fortunate if he escaped with his life. + +Such was the tenor of the letter, and such the purport of the +information the committee had received before they left the settlement. +This being so, it behooved Balboa to comport himself more in accordance +with his changed position in the eyes of the committee, and after he had +finished reading the letter he said: "This is an important +communication, gentlemen, and to answer it properly I shall be compelled +to return to Darien. If, then, it be your minds still to support me, we +will soon set forth. But only on that understanding shall I go." + +"We shall support you," answered the spokesman. "But let it be +understood, however, that our support is given only as between you and +other subjects of his majesty, the king. Should there be conflict of +authority, as between you, Vasco Nunez de Balboa, and his majesty, there +will be no question which direction we should take." + +"Nor would I, as a loyal subject of his majesty, ask more of you," +rejoined Balboa, fervently. "Soldiers, companions, we will depart. +Prepare for the march to town. Mozos, bring hither the wine and the +chicha. Gentlemen, before we start let us drink to the health of his +majesty. Long live the king!" + +Then a wild scene ensued. Mingling promiscuously--cavaliers, soldiers of +the ranks, and civic functionaries--the company all joined in drinking +the health of their sovereign. They seized the brimming calabashes, and, +lifting them to their lips, drank deeply to the toast, "Long live the +king." + +"Now fill again!" shouted one of the delegates. "Here's to the health of +his majesty's most loyal subject, Vasco Nunez de Balboa. May he live +long as governor of Darien!" + +"_Viva! viva!_" shouted the excited soldiery. "Long life to our +governor!" + +"And to his loyal supporters, these our friends," added Balboa, grimly +smiling, and waving his right hand towards the delegates. "May they +remain loyal--for the space of a week, and may they never have to choose +between his majesty and myself, his most devoted subject and servant!" + +The wine was soon gone, to the dregs, and with this as the parting toast +the company broke camp and set out for town, where a new surprise +awaited Balboa, in the arrival of two ships from Santo Domingo. They +were laden with provisions and brought a reinforcement of two hundred +soldiers and settlers, sent by the admiral, Don Diego Columbus. At the +same time arrived, by the hands of the fleet's captain, a commission for +Balboa as governor and captain-general. This had come from Miguel de +Pasamonte, the royal treasurer of Hispaniola, a favorite of the king, +sent out as a check upon the ambition of Don Diego, of whom his majesty +was extremely jealous. + +In this manner did fate seem to play at cross-purposes with Vasco Nunez +de Balboa, sending him tidings by one messenger of the king's disfavor, +and by another of his esteem; though, to tell the truth, Pasamonte had +assumed his majesty's approbation of his act, without right to do so. He +had received from Balboa a large sum of gold, by a previous remittance, +and this was the manner in which he requited the favor. + +"Gold is most powerful, of a truth," whispered Balboa to himself, +smiling the while, as he thought of the title it had won from Miguel de +Pasamonte. "If, now, I could get to the king the ten thousand golden +castellanos which I have recovered from those robbers, Perez and Corral, +methinks such a donative might purchase exemption from the penalties +which his majesty seems disposed to place upon me for my presumption in +setting poor old Nicuesa adrift and sending Enciso back to Spain. Ha, I +have it! I will myself go to court with the gold in my hand, and beard +the royal lion in his den. Ten thousand pieces I have; at least ten +thousand more may be raked and scraped in the colony, and, moreover, +these shall be, to the king, but an earnest of much more to come." + +Full of his new project, Balboa broached it to his counsellors without +delay, but to his surprise they would not hear of it, neither would any +person whatever in the colony. "No, no," they all exclaimed. "You shall +not leave us, Vasco Nunez. You are not alone our governor, but our guide +and leader. You, only, are respected by the soldiers, feared by the +savages, and we cannot do without you. Stay here with us you must; but +we will send deputies to acquaint the king with the condition of the +colony, to entreat the necessary military aid, and to plead your cause +as though it were yourself in person, Vasco Nunez." + +They proved their sincerity by electing two deputies, one of them Juan +de Caicedo, who had been inspector on the unfortunate Nicuesa +expedition, and the other Rodrigo de Colmenares, "both men of weight, +expert in negotiation, and held in general esteem." It was believed that +they would satisfactorily execute their commission, and that both would +return, since Caicedo left a wife behind him at Darien, and Colmenares +had acquired much property, including a farm which he tilled with Indian +labor, when not engaged in military operations. Balboa gladly relieved +him from command of the fort at Tichiri, and rejoiced that he could send +one who would so well represent his cause at court. By him he forwarded +letters to the king, containing most extravagant accounts of the +country's riches, not forgetting to mention the famed temple of Dobaybe, +filled with gold, and the tales the Indians told respecting the +gathering of gold in nets. He showed this precious epistle to the +colonists, and they were all so greatly impressed with it that, one and +all, they contributed gold to the extent of their hoardings, which, +added to the amount sent by the government to the king, represented a +goodly sum. + +Balboa's commissioners left Darien del Antigua about the end of October, +1512, and arrived in Spain, after a long and tempestuous voyage, in the +early part of 1513. Had they been the only messengers from that isolated +colony on the isthmus, all might have gone well with its governor; but, +unfortunately for him, as we know, his enemies had preceded them and +spread broadcast the most pernicious tales respecting the doings of the +gallant adventurer, Vasco Nunez de Balboa. + +Leaving them for a time, while the ferment is working that eventuated in +the downfall of Balboa, let us continue in his company until he has +accomplished that great achievement due to his heroic efforts, and with +which fame has inseparably linked his name--the discovery of the Pacific +Ocean. + +By the information conveyed through his friend at court, Zamudio, he was +assured that lawyer Enciso had obtained a judgment against him in which +he was condemned for costs and damages to a large amount. This was not +all, for the king was very much incensed, and had issued a summons for +him to repair to Spain without delay, there to stand trial on criminal +charges respecting the outrageous treatment of Nicuesa, which had +probably caused his death. + +It will be admitted that Vasco Nunez was then in a terrible predicament, +and that there seemed no way out of it save by a desperate venture, by +which he might perhaps retrieve his fortunes, win fame, and recover the +lost favor of the king. Fortunately for him, the news conveyed by +Zamudio's letter had been informal, and in advance of tidings direct +from the throne, so there was still time for action. When the +authoritative summons should come, it would be too late; hence he could +not await the reinforcements so anxiously expected from Spain, and must +accomplish whatever he did before their arrival. Thus the intrepid +Balboa was thrown directly upon his own resources, and resolved to set +forth without the assistance from his sovereign which he had every right +to expect in an undertaking so vast and venturesome as his. + +Desultory and apparently aimless as had been his doings hitherto, Balboa +had never for a moment lost sight of that grand scheme he had formed for +exploring beyond the mountains and revealing the existence, if possible, +of the great "southern sea." Cacique Comogre's son had assured him that +he would need at least a thousand men to assist him, and acting upon +this sage advice he had waited for reinforcements before attempting the +great adventure. But now, if he waited longer, he might forever lose the +opportunity, for with the reinforcements from Spain would also come the +order for his arrest and transportation, or at least his dismissal from +office. What he did, then, must be done quickly as well as effectually, +and he lost no time in perfecting his plans. + +"While another and less intrepid spirit might have been overwhelmed by +the prospects before him, Balboa was animated to new daring, and +impelled to yet higher enterprises. Should he permit another to profit +by his toils, to discover the great South Sea, and to ravish from him +the wealth and glory which were almost within his grasp? No, a thousand +times no! He had won the information at risk of his life; he would +realize the profit of it, even at the risk of his life. At least, no +other man should avail of it, to cheat him of his dues. He did, indeed, +still want the thousand men who were necessary to the projected +expedition; but his enterprise, his experience, and his constancy +impelled him to undertake it, even without them. He would thus, by so +signal a service, blot out the original crime of his primary usurpation, +and if death should overtake him in the midst of his exertions, he would +die laboring for the prosperity and glory of his native land, and freed +from the persecutions which then threatened him."[3] + +As he would be obliged to absent himself from the colony for a long +period, he made every effort to weld the various elements into a civic +body that should work harmoniously and resist the disintegrating forces +from within as well as from without. His first step was to set free the +ringleaders of the late insurrection, which done, and assured of their +co-operation, he proceeded to select his soldiers. There was no lack of +volunteers when it became noised about that Balboa was to set out on the +grand expedition to which all the others had been in a sense merely +preliminary, and he was at greater trouble to reject than to accept +those who offered for the service. Desiring none but the most dauntless +spirits, he put every man applying to the severest tests. In the first +place, they must be capable of enduring fatigue and hunger; in the +second, they must be unflinchingly courageous, for the route of march +would lie through regions occupied by hostile Indians who were said to +be cannibals and gave no quarter. + +"My men," he said to them one day, when haranguing them for the last +time, assembled on parade, "I shall not attempt to conceal from you the +perils of this enterprise. In truth, they could not, in my opinion, be +greater. And, while I shall always lead, as hitherto, asking no man to +go where I would not venture in advance, yet you may not have the great +incentive that moves me. So far as spoils and captives are concerned, ye +shall share alike with me; but there is a greater motive than mere +spoils. My ambition, as ye all have known for many months, is to achieve +the discovery of that great ocean said to lie beyond the mountains. That +is--that shall be--the object of my endeavors, and to that the getting +of captives and the plundering of natives shall be subordinate. There +will be, doubtless, vast spoil, for the country we are to enter has the +reputation of being rich in gold and gems. There will be danger; there +will be fatigues, deaths, wounds--but, above all, there will be +glory--the _glory_ of accomplishing something of which men have dreamed +for many years, but have never achieved!" + +"We will do it! The glory shall be ours!" shouted the men, vociferously. +"Where you lead, Vasco Nunez, we will go!" + +They were probably as daring and reckless adventurers as had ever been +gathered together since the New World was discovered, then twenty years +agone, and that is saying much. There were, after Balboa had selected +the most resolute and vigorous of the colony, one hundred and ninety in +the band, all fighting-men of the most desperate type. They were armed +with cross-bows and shields, swords, lances, and arquebuses, and there +was no person in the company, not even the trumpeter or the drummer-boy, +who had not been brought up in the profession of arms. Balboa looked +them over proudly, and he also inspected their equipment carefully, for +they were to accompany him, as he himself believed, not only on a most +desperate venture, but on a veritable forlorn hope, which, if it failed, +must end his campaigning, and perhaps his life. + +The king must be placated and his favor recovered by no lesser gift than +sovereignty over a sea which no man of his race had ever seen; and that +was the impelling motive of Vasco Nunez de Balboa in this marvellous +enterprise. + + + + +XII + +THE QUEST FOR THE AUSTRAL OCEAN + +1513 + + +A brigantine and nine large canoes carried the troops up the gulf to the +shores of Chief Careta's territory, where the force was augmented by a +thousand friendly Indians, who served as guides and carriers, on the +march from the coast to the mountains. Finding his Indian father-in-law +well disposed, and no signs of disaffection, the commander left here +nearly half his men, to guard the vessels and keep open a way of +retreat, should it be necessary, and with one hundred picked soldiers +began his perilous journey through the wilderness. + +He had left the settlement on September 1st, and on the 8th arrived at +the frontier of Cacique Ponca's territory, but found his village +abandoned and without a sign of life within its limits. Ponca, it will +be remembered, was the inveterate enemy of Careta, and as he knew the +latter was in league with Balboa, he had fled with all his people to the +mountain fastnesses. He was extremely reluctant to emerge from his +retreat, but was at last induced to do so by repeated offers of +friendship, conveyed by the peaceful Indians, and when he finally came +out was won by Balboa's kindness and induced to reveal to him all he +knew. + +It was not politic, the governor thought, to leave behind him one so +powerful as Ponca inclined to be hostile, and, moreover, he alone could +furnish guides to the sea that lay beyond the mountains. These he freely +placed at Balboa's disposal, at the same time not only confirming the +truth of the story told by Comogre's people, as to the existence of a +great sea, or ocean, but adding that the country adjacent was rich in +gold. In the excess of his friendship, he presented Balboa with some +golden ornaments--receiving in exchange glass beads and other trifles, +precious in the sight of the Indian--and furnished the army with +provisions for the journey. The golden ornaments, Ponca assured Balboa, +came from the country bordering upon the great sea, to gain a glimpse of +which it would only be necessary to ascend a high peak rising above the +cordilleras, and visible from the village they then occupied. This peak +seemed to pierce the skies, to such an altitude it rose above the +surrounding hills, and its broad shoulders were covered with dense +forests, so that it appeared like an island in an emerald sea. + +With the departure from Chief Ponca's country the real labors of the +journey began, for there was no open trail through the mountain +wilderness, white men never having been there before. The Spaniards were +compelled to hew their way with sword and axe, scale rugged precipices, +and ford the torrents of numerous rivers. Friendly Indians carried the +provisions, and the heaviest pieces of armor, but even though lightly +clad and burdened only with their weapons, many of the soldiers were +overcome by the combined effects of fatigue and climate, so that in the +end less than seventy remained with their commander, the others having +fallen by the way. Such as had strength enough returned to Coyba; but +there were some who, unable to endure the journey, sank to the ground +and never rose again. + +Steadily climbing, at the rate of two or three leagues a day, about +September 20th the little band of soldiers reached a broad plateau +covered with a tangled forest through which ran deep and rapid streams. +This was the country of a warlike cacique named Quaraqua, who, +discovering this small body of strangers invading his province, and +never having had experience with Europeans, prepared to give them a warm +reception. He was at war with Ponca, and that was enough to provoke his +ire, so he took the field with a swarm of ferocious savages, and thought +to frighten the Spaniards by a display of force. He and his warriors +were armed with spears, bows and arrows, and two-handed battle-axes made +of wood, but almost as hard and as heavy as iron. They thought +themselves invincible, in their ignorance of warfare as conducted by the +Christian, and, yelling furiously, poured upon the Spaniards like a +mountain torrent. + +Sturdy Balboa was leading the advance, as usual, with his inseparable +companion Leoncito by his side. This battle-scarred veteran was a hound +of scarce more than medium size, but as strong and fierce as a lion. He +was not only leonine in his majestic bearing, but in color also, for his +hue was tawny, like that of the king of beasts. As he was considered by +the soldiers the equal of any member of the force, he drew pay as one of +them, and during his various campaignings earned for his master upward +of a thousand crowns. The Indians of the coast country knew him well by +reputation, which was so terrible that merely the sight of him would put +a thousand to rout. But these Indians of the mountains knew neither the +dog nor his master--though to their sorrow they were soon to make their +acquaintance. + +At sight of the warriors emerging in serried masses from the forest +depths, Leoncito growled ominously, and as they approached within +bow-shot he sprang to meet them with long leaps. A shower of arrows was +sent at him and he was struck by several; but his progress was not +stayed until he met a warrior in the oncoming ranks, whom he seized by +the throat and bore to the ground. A moment later the hapless savage was +a mangled corpse, and his fate was shared by others in swift succession, +as the furious beast tore his way through the barbarian phalanx, leaving +terror and destruction in his wake. The savages were surprised and +alarmed by the advent of this strange animal in their midst, but they +were absolutely terror-stricken when the cross-bows and arquebuses sent +forth their messengers of death. Many were slain as they stood petrified +with astonishment and terror; for this was their first experience with +fire-arms, and they could not conceive whence came the rolling thunder +of the explosions and the sheeted lightning of the flames. After the +first discharge came in ringing tones Balboa's battle-cry, "Santiago, +and at them, companeros!" With bright sword drawn and gleaming in the +air, he sprang towards the foe, followed close by his men. + +Then ensued a scene of carnage the like of which has been many times +witnessed in the encounters between Spaniards and the Indians of +America. It is not a pleasant scene to dwell upon, so let it suffice to +state that this "aboriginal Regulus," the rash though gallant Quaraqua, +together with six hundred of his warriors, lay dead upon the field after +the charge was over. Some had been pinned to the earth with lances, some +cut down by swords, and others torn to pieces by the blood-hounds. + +Having thus removed the obstacles to their advance, the Spaniards +entered Quaraqua's town, which they quickly spoiled of all the gold and +other valuables it contained. This booty Balboa shared equitably among +his followers, reserving for himself no more than any other got, after +deducting one-fifth the total amount for the king of Spain. By his +eminent fairness to the soldiers, and by his courageous bearing on every +occasion, Balboa wins the admiration of all who become cognizant of his +exploits; but alas! his escutcheon is stained with the blood of many +innocents. Among the prisoners taken in the town were fifty or sixty +male Indians, dressed in robes of white cotton after the manner of +women, and these, their enemies said, were given to unnatural crimes and +followers of the devil. Whether they were or not, the Spaniards did not +pause to inquire, but let loose their blood-hounds, who tore them limb +from limb. + +The village which Balboa had won at such cost of blood and suffering was +situated at the very foot of the mountain whence, the Indians told him, +the great sea could be distinctly seen. He had brought woe and +desolation to its homes, but by his harsh measures the Indians had been +thoroughly cowed, and, after sending back the subjects of Chief Ponca, +he selected guides and carriers from the surviving Quaraquanos. As his +men were exhausted by the fatigue of fighting, and in need of all their +energies for what was to come, he ordered them early to rest, after they +had partaken of a bountiful supper supplied from the provisions found in +the village. Some were disabled by their wounds, and these were to +remain behind while he, with the strong and able-bodied, pushed on over +the last stage of their eventful journey. + +Having made every preparation for the morrow, after posting sentinels +about the camp, Balboa retired to his hammock, but not to sleep. The +events of the day had been so exciting that he lay awake all night, +thinking, not of what had occurred, however: not of the lives he had +taken, the crimes he had committed; but of what he was to see from that +rock-ribbed mountain-peak, with its head in the stars above the sombre +forest. It stood out black against the sky, provokingly near, yet aloof +and isolate--this peak which he had sought for many months. It had stood +there for uncounted centuries, and during the aeon of its existence it +had never been visited by civilized man. He, Balboa, would be the first +to scale its sides and stand upon its summit, the first to gaze upon the +view it might reveal. + +Such thoughts as these kept Vasco Nunez de Balboa awake while his +soldiers slept. So absorbing were they that he hardly heard the groans +of the wounded, the cries of anguish from the poor wretches on the +battlefield. Wives, mothers, and children of the dead warriors were +groping in the darkness for their loved ones, and when they found the +objects of their search they rent the air with piteous lamentations. + +At last the dawn dispelled the shades of night. Bounding from his bed in +the ocean, the morning sun sent his rays athwart the vast expanse of +forest and illumined the peak in the sky so that it shone like gold. It +appeared to Balboa like a beacon-flame beckoning him onward, upward, and +with feverish eagerness he spurred his men to activity. It had been his +intention to start in the gray dawn, to avail of the morning coolness +and freshness; but his soldiers were stiff and tired, and moved slowly, +so that it was within two hours of noon when they emerged from the +forest and saw the great peak standing stark before them. + +[Illustration: DISCOVERY OF THE PACIFIC] + +"Stay ye here," said Balboa to his men, "while I ascend yon +mountain-top." Leaving them huddled together at the dividing-line +between the rank growth of the forest and the sparse vegetation of the +higher altitude, he pushed onward alone. His heart beat high with +expectation as he clambered over rocks that had been smoothed and +polished by centuries of storm and finally reached the summit. There +before him lay the view he had so long hoped to behold: a wilderness of +forest, gemmed with sparkling streams, and bounded by the watery +horizon. There lay the sea, or ocean, widely extending along the +sky-line, vast, seemingly boundless, glittering like a diamond beneath +the sun. + +Thrilled by the sight, the conqueror stood for a moment spellbound, then +sank upon his knees and, extending his arms seaward, gave thanks to the +Almighty for the great privilege which had been vouchsafed him, as the +first European to behold the southern sea. Rising to his feet, he waved +his hands, and shouted to his men, "Come hither, and gaze upon that +glorious ocean which we have so long and so much desired to see!" They +flocked tumultuously over the rocky peak, and after them the Indians, +who were extremely surprised at this outburst of joy and wonder over a +spectacle with which they and their fathers had been familiar for many, +many years. + +After his excited companions had gathered around him, Balboa said: "Let +us now give thanks to God, who hath granted us this great honor and +privilege. For we behold before us, friends, the object of all our +desires and the reward of all our labors. Before you roll the waves of +the sea which was announced to us by Comogre's son, and which, no doubt, +encloses the vast riches of which we have heard. We are the first to +gaze upon it and shall be the first to reach its shores. To us belong +their treasures, and ours alone shall be the glory of reducing these +immense dominions to subjection in the name of our king, and of causing +to be shed upon them the light of the only true religion. Follow me, +then, faithful as hitherto, and, I promise you, the world shall not +behold your equals in wealth and glory!" + +The companions of Balboa, then reduced to a little company of +sixty-seven, received his words with acclamation, and all embraced him, +while the chaplain of the expedition, one Andres de Vara, chanted in +solemn tones the beautiful anthem beginning: "_Te Deum laudamus_--Thee, +O God, we thank." A great tree, which had been brought from the forest +for the purpose, was shaped into a cross and raised on the spot whence +Balboa first beheld the ocean. Around this was piled a mound of stones, +to keep it in position, and then the company knelt in reverence before +the holy symbol, while the chaplain offered renewed thanks for the +inestimable privilege that had been accorded them. + +Wrought upon by the sublimity of the scene, and filled with joy at the +prospect of boundless wealth and conquest opened to them by the +illimitable ocean spread out at their feet, the Spaniards rose to the +dignity of the occasion, and showed themselves capable of elevated +sentiment. Their leader had imbued them with his own enthusiasm, had +invited them to share in the honors and glory of his great discovery, +and they declared they would follow him to the shores of the great sea, +and beyond. After signing a testimonial to the effect that they took +possession of the sea and its shores in the name of the Castilian +sovereign, which was duly attested by a notary, Balboa and his +companions descended the sierras towards the south. + +The date of this memorable discovery, as witnessed by the instrument the +Spaniards signed, was September 25, 1513. They had been more than three +weeks in accomplishing the journey from the north coast of the isthmus +to the mountain-top, after fighting their way through difficulties and +dangers which men of iron alone could have confronted and overcome. + +Sometimes, says their chronicler, they had to penetrate through thick +and entangled woods, sometimes to cross lakes, where some were lost in +the depths; they had rugged hills and mountains to climb, precipices to +scale, and deep and yawning gulfs to cross, upon frail and trembling +hammock-bridges made of forest vines. From time to time they had to make +their way through opposing bands of Indians, who, though easily +conquered, were always to be dreaded, and upon whom they depended for +their precarious supplies of provisions. Altogether, the toils, +anxieties, and dangers of these Spaniards led by Balboa formed an +aggregate sufficient to break down the strength and depress the mind of +any, indeed, but "men of iron alone." + + + + +XIII + +ON THE SHORES OF THE PACIFIC + +1513 + + +Among the _conquistadores_ of America there is no more heroic figure +than Vasco Nunez de Balboa, who looms large in history, second only to +Columbus, perhaps, in the magnitude of his discovery. The admiral +himself had sought persistently for a passage into the ocean, which he +firmly believed existed beyond the continent by which he was confronted +in 1502; but it remained for Balboa to reveal that ocean seven years +after the great navigator had passed away. Balboa is also the most +picturesque figure in the conquest of America by the Spaniards, and +especially when, at the culmination of his efforts, he stood with sword +in hand, and armor-clad, "silent, upon a peak in Darien."[4] + +He was then at the zenith of his power, as well as in possession of the +health and strength of vigorous manhood, for he was but thirty-eight +years of age at the time he made his great discovery. For a few months +only he was to retain that power undisputed; then was to ensue a period +of depression in his fortunes, followed by his early death. So long as +he remained at a distance from Antigua del Darien, devoting himself to +original research in the wilderness and the subjugation of the natives, +his success was unparalleled; but whenever he returned to the settlement +disaster seemed to welcome him. + +Leading his enthusiastic soldiers down the southern slopes of the +mountain, Balboa entered the province of a cacique named Chiapes, who, +unaware of what had happened to his northern neighbor, Quaraqua, like +him offered battle to the strangers. They were few in number, wayworn +and hungry-looking, so he set upon them with his warriors--and his +experience was like that of all others who had opposed Balboa, who +poured a volley from his arquebuses into the ranks of the enemy, and +then, in the confusion that followed, let loose the dogs of war. + +Stunned by the reports of the guns, confused by smoke and flames, and +overcome with astonishment, many of the Indians fell to the ground and +became easy prey to the blood-hounds, while many others were made +captive. To these latter the Quaraquano guides made such representations +of the Spaniards' power to slay by means of thunder and lightning, and +of their magnanimity to the vanquished, that Cacique Chiapes issued from +his hiding-place and appeared before Balboa with gifts of wrought gold +amounting to five hundred pounds in weight. In return he received the +proffered friendship of the commander, and trifles like hawk-bells, +beads, and looking-glasses, with which he was greatly pleased and +contented. + +Their friendship having been established on a secure basis, Balboa sent +back his guides and carriers to Quaraqua with orders for all his +soldiers there, who were able, to join him without delay. While he +remained in the cacique's village, three scouting-parties of twelve men +each were sent out to explore the country between the mountains and the +southern coast. These several parties were commanded by Juan de Escary, +Alonzo Martin, and Francisco Pizarro, the last-named--then a lieutenant +or captain under Balboa--to become, in the wisdom of Providence, the +conqueror of Peru. The scouting-party under Alonzo Martin was the first +to reach the sea-side, and, finding on the beach an Indian canoe, the +captain stepped into it and was pushed by his men out into the water, so +that he could rightfully claim to be the first European to embark upon +the southern ocean. + +After his scouts had returned and the men from Quaraqua had rejoined +him, Balboa himself set out for the coast, with less than thirty men, +but all well armed, and accompanied by Cacique Chiapes and some +warriors. They reached the sea-side on the last day of September, 1513, +at evening, and as the tide was out sat down to await its return. The +tides on the Caribbean coast of the isthmus rise and fall but little, +while on the Pacific coast they are swift and turbulent. Soon the flats +in front of Balboa were covered with foaming waters rushing in like +war-horses, and, leaving his shady seat beneath the forest trees above +the beach, he advanced to meet the curling waves. He was in complete +armor, with a shining helmet on his head, breast-plate, greaves, and +gauntlets. He must have seemed a brave and gallant figure indeed to +Chiapes and his warriors as, drawing his sword and taking in his left +hand a banner upon which was painted the arms of Castile and Aragon, he +waded into the tide. The fierce waves assailed him violently, dashing +first against his knees, then against waist and breast; but he withstood +them valiantly, and, waving both banner and sword, shouted in a loud +voice: "Long live the high and mighty sovereigns of Castile! Thus in +their names do I take possession of these seas and regions; and if any +other prince, whether Christian or infidel, pretends any right to them, +I am ready and resolved to oppose him, and to assert the just claims of +my sovereigns." + +"Long live the sovereigns of Spain!" shouted the band on shore. "We will +defend these their new possessions, even to the death, and against all +the potentates of the world. _Viva! Viva!_" Returning to shore, Vasco +Nunez drew a dagger and with it carved a cross on the trunk of a tree, +saying: "In this sign we shall conquer the heathen, and the blessings of +our religion will we give them, in exchange for their barbarous +practices. At the point of the sword will we compel them. Now taste ye +the waters of this sea, and by its being salt shall ye know that they +are of the ocean. They are salt, like the seas of the north; and the +waters are vast, like the seas of the north; but from them they are +separated by intervening mountains, as ye know, and can swear that they +pertain to the great Sea of the South, which has been the object of long +search, and at last is found and taken possession of for our dread +sovereigns." Saying this, he caused the notary of the expedition, Andres +de Valderrabano, to confirm all that had been done and said in writing, +to which all present subscribed their names. + +The spot where these historic incidents took place was a secluded nook +in the great and tortuous bay of San Miguel, which deeply indents the +southern coast of Darien, and lies southwest from the harbor of Careta, +in a straight line about sixty miles distant. Both names still adorn +modern maps of the isthmus, and indicate approximately the terminal +points of Balboa's great journey from the north coast to the south, in +the year 1513. + +Cacique Chiapes and his men looked on in wonder while their new allies +performed the strange ceremonials, remaining passive, but evidently not +approving what they did not understand. When, however, a few days later, +Balboa demanded of the cacique that he produce canoes in which he might +embark for some distant islands, the latter protested that the time was +bad for ventures on the sea. It was then the month of October, and that +month, with November and December, comprised the season of storms, in +which the winds were strong and variable, the seas at any moment liable +to rise suddenly. But Balboa was persistent. He cared not for the +storms. "My God will protect me," he said. "For am I not fighting the +good fight and converting the infidels to the true faith? Go get the +canoes." + +Cacique Chiapes shook his head and said, "Perhaps your God may be +stronger than my god; but no god that the Indians serve can protect us +from the waves at this season of the year." + +"That is because the god you worship is not the true God, whom we +reverently serve," answered Balboa. "He hath protected us, 'mid dangers +many, and will continue to do so." + +But Chiapes was unconvinced, and as chief of an inland tribe, +unacquainted with navigation, he hesitated to embark. He compromised, +however, by guiding the Spaniards to the littoral province of one +Cuquera, whose subjects were fishermen and owned a great number of +canoes. Cuquera confirmed the statement of Chiapes, that the season was +unpropitious for a venture at sea, but at sight of some pearls the chief +displayed, which, he said, had been obtained on the islands off-shore, +Balboa was more than ever determined to make the voyage. Overcoming the +objections of the caciques, he crowded sixty of his men into nine +canoes, and, accompanied by the faithful Chiapes, embarked upon the +bosom of the gulf. Hardly, however, had the canoes reached open water, +when they were assailed by a frightful tempest. "Deafening was the +tumult of the infuriated winds, which strewed the earth with the frail +materials of the Indian huts. The rivers, swollen by the rains, +overflowed their banks, tearing away in their violent course rocks and +trees; and the tempestuous sea, roaring horribly among the rocky islands +and reefs with which the gulf is filled, broke its waves against them, +menacing with inevitable shipwreck those audacious mortals who had +invaded this watery realm." + +The intrepid spirit of Balboa had caused him to mock these dangers when +on land; but soon he had good cause to repent his rash impulse, and, +yielding to the importunities of the Indians, sought shelter on an +islet. It appeared to be high and dry as the company landed there in the +evening, but during the night the rising tide gained upon them until +finally they were waist-deep in water. At or near midnight the wind went +down with the tide, and at dawn next morning the unfortunate mariners +sought their canoes, only to find them partially wrecked and all the +provisions they had contained washed away. They spent part of the day in +calking the open seams with grass and the bark of trees, and in the +afternoon embarked in the crazy craft and sought the shore. + +After hours of exposure to the tropic sun, they landed near nightfall at +the upper end of the gulf, in the province of a cacique named Tumaco. +The Spaniards, like the Indians, were weak and famishing, having labored +all day without either food or drink; but no sooner had they made land +in safety than the indomitable Balboa set out in search of the Indian +town. It was at a little distance from the shore, and was not reached +until midnight. The inhabitants had been informed of their coming and +made a stout defence; but were soon routed by the Spaniards and driven +into the forest at the point of the sword. + +Groping within the bohios, or Indian huts, the victors found an abundant +supply of provisions, with which they appeased their raging appetites, +and also a large number of beautiful pearls, besides a quantity of gold. +As some of the pearls were contained in shells freshly taken from the +water, Balboa concluded that the seat of the pearl fishery was not far +distant, and was very anxious to obtain possession of the cacique, +believing that he could inform him in the matter. Having captured a son +of Tumaco, he loaded him with gifts, such as a shirt made in Castile, +and other trifles valued by the savages, and sent him in search of his +father. The chief had sought refuge in a wild den among the rocks, deep +in the forest; but he was very much impressed by the beautiful presents +brought by his son, and consented to emerge from his retreat. When he +appeared before Balboa he had with him six hundred pieces of gold, and +pearls to the number of two hundred and forty. The gold was wrought into +ornaments, and the pearls, though most of them large and perfect in +shape, had been injured by fire, with which the Indians had opened the +shells. + +All this treasure Tumaco presented to Balboa, and when he saw with what +joy it was received, and understood that the pearls were especially +appreciated, he sent a party of his divers to search for more. Thirty +naked Indians, accustomed all their lives to dive for pearls, went down +the coast in a canoe, accompanied by six Spaniards as witnesses; but the +sea was so rough that they dared not fish in deep water, where the large +pearl-oysters lay. The storm, however, had caused a great number of +oysters to be washed ashore, and there they collected more than ninety +ounces of small though perfect pearls, which were freely given to the +Spaniards. The best of these, with specimens of the oysters from which +they were taken, were set apart by the conscientious Balboa, as an +acceptable gift to his sovereign. + +More precious than pearls, however highly they were valued by the +explorer, was certain information conveyed to Balboa by Tumaco, +confirming the rumors that had reached him in the interior, respecting a +vast country to the southward, which abounded in gold and gems. This was +Peru, subsequently to be subjugated by Francisco Pizarro, then a humble +follower of Balboa, and with him on this occasion. In order to impress +the Spaniards with the high state of that country's civilization, Tumaco +described as well as he could the beasts of burden used by the +inhabitants of the distant empire. He moulded in clay, it is said, a +figure of the animal known as the _llama_, which the Spaniards, as they +had never seen or heard of it before, supposed might be a deer or a +tapir--the latter being the largest animal they had found in South +America. + +But, great and glowing as were Balboa's hopes respecting that wonderful +country to the southward, he was obliged to confess himself unable to +explore it at that season and with the small force at his command. He +made an experimental voyage along the coast for several leagues, +cautiously feeling his way through an inundated forest on the border of +the gulf, but dared not venture out at sea, where the wild winds roared +and the waves beat incessantly upon the shores of distant islands. +Pointing to one of these islands about five or six leagues distant, +Tumaco told Balboa that its waters produced the largest and finest of +pearls, such as the Spaniards had never seen, for size and beauty; but +he could not take him to it then, much as he desired to please him. The +two chiefs, the Indian and the Spaniard, were then in the former's +war-canoe, hewn from the trunk of an immense forest tree, and paddled by +a crew of sixty Indians. The paddlers themselves were stark naked, but +the heads of the oars they used were inlaid with pearls. Of this +circumstance, says a contemporary chronicler, "Balboa caused a record to +be made by the notary, for the sake, no doubt, of establishing the +credit of what he himself should write to the sovereign (no less needy +and covetous than the discoverers themselves) concerning the opulence of +the new country." + +Several weeks were consumed by Balboa in exploring the country adjacent +to San Miguel, and on a day in the first week of November, Tumaco took +him and his companions in his war-canoe to the uppermost end of the +great bay. With them also was the still faithful Chiapes, who considered +himself in some sort as Balboa's sponsor, and who, when the time for +parting came, is said to have shed tears, so deeply was he affected. He +gladly assumed the care of the Spanish sick and wounded, and took them +with him to his village in the mountains, while Balboa, with his +able-bodied veterans, essayed to return by another route across the +isthmus. The territory at the head of the bay was controlled by Cacique +Techoan, who vied with the other chiefs in bestowing gold and pearls +upon the Spaniards, and who furnished them with burden-bearers and +provisions for the journey. + +That Techoan was not entirely disinterested was shown conclusively by +his guiding them to the abode of a cacique whom he represented as a rich +and powerful lord, but an insufferable tyrant. This tyrant was known as +the "Croesus of the mountains" (or its equivalent in the Indian +language), and, as may be believed by those acquainted with the +character of Balboa, the latter was not unwilling to seek him out and +make his acquaintance. But Ponca (for that was his name) was not anxious +to meet the Spaniards, especially when he learned that they were coming +in company with his deadly enemy, and fled farther into the mountains, +taking with him, it was thought, the bulk of his treasure. He left +behind, however, some three thousand pieces of gold, which the Indian +allies discovered and took to Balboa, who used every exertion to entrap +him and force him to disclose the hiding-place of his vast wealth. He +caught him at last; but when questioned as to his gold, Ponca answered +that all he had the Spaniards already possessed, and that it had been +left him by his ancestors. More than this he would not disclose, even +when the cruel Spaniards put him to the torture, and, provoked by his +obstinacy, in the heat of their passion, gave him and three companions +to the dogs, who finished the revolting business by tearing them to +pieces. + +In extenuation of their cruelty the Spaniards afterwards described Ponca +as a monster of depravity, with deformed limbs, a frightful countenance, +and a sanguinary nature. The guilt of his death, said one of their +countrymen, "rests more with the Indians than the Castilians; yet _they_ +were not the judges of Ponca!" They assumed, however, that any Indian +who refused to reveal the hiding-place of treasures which they desired +to possess was deserving of death, believing, as they did, that there +was nothing of greater worth in the world than gold, or its equivalent +in material wealth. Thus cheaply did they hold the lives of the Indians, +reckoning their immortal souls as of less worth than perishable gold. In +this respect Balboa was no better than his comrades, and in truth set +them an example which they were not slow in following. + +The senseless avarice of the Spaniards wrought its own retribution on +this journey, for they had laden their carriers with gold to a greater +extent than with provisions, and this was done notwithstanding their +route lay through a sterile wilderness yielding no supplies. The +consequence was that they soon began to feel the effects of famine, +some of them, as well as many Indian carriers, sinking by the wayside to +rise no more. Rumors preceding the Spaniards informed the natives that +they desired, above all other things, gold and like treasure, and thus +gold was invariably brought as a peace offering, to the neglect of +provisions, so that the soldiers (says the historian who perused +Balboa's journal) "yet wanted nourishment and pursued their melancholy +way, cursing the riches which burdened but could not feed them." + +Still they clung desperately to those riches, stained as they were with +the blood of innocent Indians, and when Balboa learned that a short +distance off the main route he was pursuing there lived a powerful +cacique named Tubanama, who had, according to report, vast stores of +gold, he made a forced march and by a night attack fell upon and +surprised him, with all his family. When threatened that unless he gave +up his gold he should be tortured and thrown to the dogs, or bound hand +and foot and cast into the river, he approached Balboa and, pointing to +his naked sword, exclaimed: "Who that hath not lost his senses would +think of prevailing against that weapon, which can cleave a man at a +stroke? Who would not rather caress than oppose such men as thou? Kill +me not, I implore thee, and I will bring thee all the gold I possess, +and as much more as can be procured!" + + + + +XIV + +A RIVAL IN THE FIELD + +1514 + + +Cacique Tubanama was warlike as well as wealthy, but he had been +completely cowed by Balboa's display of force and weapons, so that he +readily complied with the Spaniard's demands. Sending his men into the +forest, he remained as a hostage with his captor, while they ransacked +his storehouses for gold. So successful were they that within three days +gold was brought in to the amount of six thousand crowns; but even then +Balboa professed himself dissatisfied and declared there must be much +more concealed in the province. As Tubanama positively declared to the +contrary, he finally gave the cacique his freedom, but when he departed +for the coast took with him, it is said, his eighty wives and eldest +son. + +Great quantities of virgin gold having been discovered in the mountain +streams, he resolved to return, and found a settlement in that region, +but the condition of his command at that time forced him to resume his +homeward march without delay. Most of his men were now so exhausted +that, like Balboa himself, who was ill of a fever, they had to be borne +in hammocks on the Indians' shoulders. In this manner marching, and in +such sorry state that by a concerted effort the caciques might have +destroyed them utterly, the Spaniards approached the province of +Comogre, where they found themselves among friends and on familiar +ground. The old chief was dead, they were told, but in his place ruled +the young cacique who had first informed Balboa of the South Sea and +Peru. He received him hospitably, as before, and made him a present of +all the gold he and his subjects had collected since they parted, in +return for which Balboa gave him a shirt and a soldier's cloak. As he +had embraced Christianity, young Comogre considered himself vastly +superior to the pagans about him, and when clad in the garments of the +Christians, he assumed the airs of a king and compelled his naked +subjects to do him homage. + +At this, or a point previously reached on their journey, the Spaniards +were rejoined by the wounded and invalids who had been left with +Chiapes. Though but a handful of soldiers, they had travelled in safety +through the forests and defiles of the mountains, such was the terror +with which the deeds of Balboa had inspired the natives. One of the +provinces they had passed through was governed by a minor cacique named +Bonouvama, who not only detained, but entertained them most hospitably +with everything his territory afforded. When they left his town he +placed himself at their head, and on arriving in the presence of Balboa, +said to him: "Lo, we are here! Receive, O valiant man, thy companions +safe and uninjured, even as when they entered my bohio. May He who gives +us the fruits of the earth, and who creates the thunder and the +lightning, preserve thee and them, my lord!" + +Balboa was deeply affected by the cacique's speech and meritorious +actions. He graciously replied that they should arrange a perpetual +friendship and alliance, as he hoped to do with all the caciques of +Darien, and after bestowing upon him some beads, toys, and a Spanish +shirt, sent him back to his province greatly rejoicing. Although, as we +have too often seen, he acted with great cruelty towards some of the +caciques, to those who approached him in a pacific spirit he was ever +friendly and benign. That he grew to understand the nature of the +Indians is shown by his success in converting them from enemies to +friends, and by the alliances which he cemented with more than a score +of native caciques in the course of his wonderful journey. There never +was a Spaniard among his contemporaries, excepting perhaps De Soto, who +had such success with the aborigines. Columbus and Cortes, Pizarro and +Velasquez (who conquered Cuba), and all others who came in their train, +lamentably failed in their dealings with the Indians. Balboa's success +with his men was no less than with the Indians he encountered, for he +had a faculty for winning their affections and holding them, which no +other commander of his time displayed. Pizarro approached him in this +respect; but Pizarro received his initial training under Balboa himself. + +Bidding Comogre farewell, Balboa led his men through the province +belonging to Ponca, where he was met by four Castilians, who informed +him that a ship and a caravel well laden with supplies had arrived at +Darien during his absence, and that he was awaited there with great +anxiety. Hastening thence to Coyba, the territory of his father-in-law, +he embarked at the port of Careta for Antigua del Darien, where he +arrived the following day, which was January 19, 1514, after an absence +of four months and twenty days. Every week, nearly every day, that had +passed since his departure had been filled with exciting incident, and, +moreover, he had returned to report to his fellow-citizens of Antigua +one of the greatest discoveries of the age. No wonder, then, that the +entire population sallied forth to greet him at the gates of the town, +and that they rent the air with shouts of joy and welcome. + +Lamentations were mingled with the acclamations, for some who had gone +out with him had found, instead of gold, only a grave in the forest. +Some who returned were suffering from fevers and wounds received in +conflicts with the Indians; but notwithstanding, it was declared that +the expedition of Balboa to the shores of the great Southern Sea was the +most successful of any that had ever been made in America. And when the +plunder was displayed: gold by the thousand pieces, pearls by the +hundred, brought in by scores and scores of captives who would serve in +the future as slaves, the transports of the people knew no bounds. He +was hailed as "Conqueror of the Mountains, Pacificator of the Isthmus, +and Discoverer of the Austral Sea." Bringing with him more than forty +thousand ounces of gold, innumerable cotton robes, and eight hundred +Indians of service--possessor, in short, of all the secrets of the land, +and full of auspicious hopes for the future--he was considered by the +colonists of Darien as a being privileged by Heaven and fortune. +Congratulating themselves on possessing such a chief, the Antiguans +conceived themselves invincible and happy under his guidance and +government. + +"They compared the constant prosperity the colony had enjoyed, the +splendid prospects before them, the certainty of success attending his +expeditions, with the unfortunate enterprises of Ojeda, of Nicuesa, and +even of Columbus, who could never gain a firm footing on the American +continent; and this glory was yet enhanced when the virtues and talents +of him who had obtained it were taken into consideration.... Among all +these eulogiums none were so hearty as those which were given to his +care and affection for his companions. Affecting no military discipline, +but behaving more like their equal than their chief, he visited the sick +and wounded individually, and condoled with them as a brother; when any +one sank on the road from fatigue, he was himself, instead of deserting, +the first to raise and encourage him. He would often go out with his +cross-bow in search of game to appease the hunger of those who were +unable to seek food for themselves; he himself would carry it to them, +and by this care and kindness he so gained their hearts that they would +follow him willingly whithersoever he chose. The remembrance of these +excellent qualities survived for many years; and the historian Oviedo, +who cannot be charged with lavishing his praises on the conquerors of +Terra Firma, wrote, in 1548, that in conciliating the love of the +soldier, no captain of the Indies had hitherto done better than, if any +had done so well as, Vasco Nunez de Balboa in Darien." + +The rich spoils, including the forty thousand ounces of gold and the +pearls, were fairly divided between the soldiers and the settlers, as +the latter had held possession of Antigua as a base of supplies and +operations while the former were actively engaged in the field, and had +thus contributed their share towards the success of the expedition. The +"king's fifth" was religiously set apart, in the first place, and soon +an opportunity offered for sending it to Spain, in charge of a soldier +who had accompanied him when the South Sea was discovered, Pedro de +Arbolancha. As he was an intimate friend of Balboa, who had proven +himself a trusty companion in the midst of great vicissitudes he was +despatched as an envoy to the court, not only with letters to the king +containing a full account of the great discovery, but in charge of the +sovereign's fifth and a donative of the largest and most precious +pearls. + +If he could have set out immediately after the return of the expedition, +all might have gone well with Balboa's schemes of conquest and +government; but his ship was delayed until the first part of March, and +in the meanwhile events were shaping in Spain which imperilled not only +the fortunes, but the life of the great leader. Balboa's former +messengers, Caicedo and Colmenares, had arrived in Spain during his +absence from Antigua, bearing to the king the tidings communicated by +the cacique Comogre, and a request for reinforcements to the extent of a +thousand men. Their testimony as to Balboa's unswerving loyalty to the +crown, and the vast significance of the intelligence they brought +respecting the existence of an ocean beyond the mountains, turned the +tide of sentiment at court in his favor, and excited the swelling +ambition of King Ferdinand. The sovereign had already listened favorably +to the complaints of Enciso and other enemies of Balboa, and had issued +an order for his arrest, even going to the extent of threatening to +imprison his friend Zamudio on account of the zeal he displayed in his +defence. But the more recent information placed him in a new light. The +enormity of his offence was lessened by the great service he had +rendered the crown. He was no longer regarded as a fugitive from +justice, an absconding debtor, who had seized the government of Darien +by force and caused the death of its real proprietor Nicuesa. He had +made for himself a new name, and around his head already shone the halo +of the great discoverer. + +But again, the sovereign was involved in a complication which arose from +the conflicting accounts from Darien. That there was dissension there, +that the colony was threatened with extinction through the quarrels of +unscrupulous men, he was well assured. The leader of those men, he had +also been assured, was none other than Vasco Nunez de Balboa. +Accompanying the reports of dissension in the colony had come, as well, +most convincing proofs of its prospective value to the crown in the +richness of its resources. "And as the adventurers who went to America +dreamed of nothing but gold--as gold was the object of their pursuit--as +it was gold which they took forcibly from the Indians--and gold alone by +which the latter purchased their friendship--gold which resounded in +their letters and despatches to court--and gold which at court was +become the sole subject of conversation and desire--the Darien, which +appeared so rich in this coveted metal, lost its first name of New +Andalusia, and was commonly called, and even named in the despatches, +the 'Golden Castile.'" + +Though it was mainly owing to Balboa's efforts that the isthmus won its +new appellation, Golden Castile, and though he had in a measure +retrieved himself, yet the king was unwilling to intrust him with its +government. Casting about for some one to represent the crown with +dignity and credit, he selected a cavalier who had served with +distinction in the wars against the Moors, Don Pedro Arias de Avila, +more commonly known as Pedrarias. He was an elderly man, who had won a +reputation in his youth as a jouster in the tournaments, and who, +beneath a chivalrous and courtly demeanor, concealed a nature narrow, +mean, and warped by prejudice. He had certainly no qualifications for +the office of governor; but he possessed the patronage of the powerful +Bishop Fonseca, who then ruled the colonial affairs of Spain, and that +sufficed to land him in the executive chair at Darien. + +He sailed from Spain about the middle of April, 1514, and entering the +Gulf of Uraba the last of June, cast anchor before the town of Antigua +del Darien. His fleet was composed of five large vessels, and contained +a gallant company, with everything needed for conquest and colonization. +Balboa had asked the king for only a thousand soldiers, but Pedrarias +sailed with a company of two thousand, some of them cavaliers of +distinction, many wealthy hidalgos, and all well provided with arms, +equipment, and money. They had heard the exaggerated reports from +Darien, of gold that was caught in nets, which might be obtained almost +without effort from the waters of every mountain stream, and were eager +to join the fortunate adventurers under Balboa. + +The king himself thought so well of the venture that he had expended +upon the armada more than fifty thousand ducats, and had sent out with +Pedrarias a number of friars, over whom was placed his favorite preacher +Juan de Quevedo. He was consecrated as bishop of Antigua del Darien, +which was elevated to the dignity of a metropolitan city, as capital of +the Golden Castile. While the sovereign provided for the spiritual +interests of the colony in this manner, at the same time he ordained +that no lawyers should be permitted to practise there, as experience had +shown they were detrimental to the welfare of new settlements. In spite +of this inhibition, however, one lawyer went out to Darien as alcalde +mayor, or chief judge, where he fully justified the king's apprehensions +regarding men of his profession. His name was Gaspar de Espinosa, and +though he knew little of the law, he knew enough to make a deal of +mischief in the colony, and eventually became a tool in the hands of +Pedrarias, by which he effected the downfall of his enemies, among whom +he soon reckoned Vasco Nunez de Balboa. + +The fleet swarmed with cavaliers and men of distinction, but there was +only one lady of importance aboard the flag-ship, the wife of Governor +Pedrarias, Dona Isabel de Bobadilla, a distant relative of royalty and +formerly a favorite at Queen Isabella's court. So attached was she to +the crusty old cavalier, her husband, that, notwithstanding she was +mother of several children, she chose to abandon them all and accompany +the governor to his capital in the wilderness. Needless to say, she was +a lady of grace and refinement, and deserved better of fate than to be +wedded to a sanguinary monster such as Pedrarias soon proved himself to +be. She has left no record of her sorrows; but they must have been +great, since the crimes she was compelled to witness were frequent, and +revolting even to the hardened soldiery of Darien. + + + + +XV + +PEDRARIAS, THE SCOURGE OF DARIEN + +1515 + + +At the time of the fleet's arrival at Darien, the town of Antigua +consisted of about two hundred huts thatched with straw, with five +hundred white men and fifteen hundred Indians composing its population. +It was badly situated, in a deep valley between high hills which cut off +the salutary sea-breeze, but the soil was rich, and, owing to the +exertions and example of Balboa, gardens of fruits and vegetables were +already numerous and well tilled. + +Since his return from the sea beyond the mountains, Balboa had devoted +himself assiduously to the improvement of the colony: erecting huts for +dwellings, extending the area of cultivated ground, and devising means +for inspiriting the lonely inhabitants of this isolated post in the +wilderness. The demands upon his time were constant and pressing, for +he was looked up to as the savior of the colony, while the simple +natives regarded him almost as a father, and came to him for advice on +all occasions. Having heard nothing from Spain since the sailing of +Arbolancha, the arrival of Pedrarias and his fleet took him by surprise; +but it did not destroy his balance. If he had but known that, at that +very time, his messenger was being received at court, and that the old +king, charmed by the story of discovery, the pearls and the gold, +already repented of the slight he had put upon him, Balboa might have +assembled his veterans and prevented the landing of Pedrarias. They were +only one-fourth the number of the new arrivals, but every man was a +seasoned soldier, and there would have been little doubt as to the +result of an encounter. + +But fate played Vasco Nunez false again, for Arbolancha had passed +Pedrarias on the ocean and arrived in Spain too late to change the +decision of the king, who then regretted that he had not rewarded Balboa +with the governorship of Darien. He was the governor, in fact, elected +to office by the votes of his adoring comrades; but Pedrarias came with +royal authority, and Balboa bowed to the decree of the king. + +There was doubt in the mind of Pedrarias as to the nature of his +reception by Balboa; for he knew himself as a usurper, who had come out +to reap the rewards of another, so he sent an envoy to announce his +arrival and ascertain the sentiment ashore. This emissary, says the old +chroniclers, expected to find the governor of the Golden Castile seated, +of course, on a golden throne and lording it over a horde of captive +slaves. What, then, was his astonishment to find the redoubtable Vasco +Nunez de Balboa, Conqueror of the Mountains, and Pacificator of the +Indians, overseeing a group of natives who were engaged in thatching his +humble hut with straw! He wore no robe of state, but merely a cotton +shirt over one of linen, cotton _pantolones_, or wide trousers, and +hempen sandals, called _alpargatas_, on his feet. + +He looked up from his work as the messenger approached, and, seeing that +he was a stranger, saluted him with courtly dignity. Without manifesting +emotion of any sort, he received the message, to which he replied: +"Convey to Don Pedrarias de Avila my congratulations on his safe +arrival, of which I am rejoiced to hear, and say also that I am ready, +with my companions, to receive and to serve him who cometh in the name +of the king." + +The news soon spread that a new governor had arrived, and, hastily +arming themselves, some of Balboa's comrades began to assemble around +their chieftain, imploring him not to allow his authority to be usurped, +even by an emissary from the king. Their leader seemed absorbed in his +work, to which he had returned after the departure of the envoy; but his +thoughts were busy over the problem with which he was so suddenly +confronted. Though outwardly calm, he was deeply disturbed by the action +of the sovereign he had so loyally served, upon whom he had thrust +inestimable blessings--who thus requited all he had done with insult and +rebuke. But finally, in answer to the clamors of his friends, he slowly +said: "Nay, nay, my comrades. Though doubtless we are strong enough to +repel Pedrarias and his carpet knights, who come to harvest with their +swords the crops we have planted with ours, and watered with our blood, +yet will we not oppose him, for he comes with authority from our +sovereign. And, I understand, there is with him fair Mistress Bobadilla, +erstwhile a companion of our late queen, who is now with God in glory. +So it behooves us, caballeros, to receive them gallantly, as if, indeed, +we were glad to do so, and to place at their disposal the best we +have--which, God knows, is poor enough." + +Thus saying, Balboa strode within his house, and when he emerged again +he had on his complete suit of armor; but his good sword was in its +scabbard, and in his hand only the wand of office. Likewise unarmed were +his battle-scarred followers, though clad in armor which was no longer +bright and shining, but rusty, dented, and battered by blows from many a +weapon wielded by arm of savage foe. These veterans suffered in +appearance by contrast with the foppish cavaliers who landed from the +fleet, nearly two thousand in number, brave in their glistening armor +and confident from their numerical superiority. When they saw them, +however, they smiled significantly, being well assured that they could +defeat them in open encounter, and by no means afraid to essay it. + +"They are our guests and our brothers, remember," remarked Balboa, as +the veterans seemed disposed to murmur at his lack of precaution. "They +come as we once came, hopeful, and expectant of wealth. Think, then, of +the disappointment in store for them, and not of their arrogance. And, +too, forget not the governor's lady. Ah, here they come! We must be at +the boats to greet them, comrades. Into line! March!" The bugle sounded, +the drum beat, and the veterans went to meet Pedrarias at the shore. + +As the boat touched ground a plank was thrown out and across it walked +Pedrarias, followed by his wife, the bishop, and the alcalde, behind +them a train of cavaliers who formed a body-guard and led the way to the +town, preceded by the veterans of Darien. Balboa doffed his helmet, and +extended a hand to assist Dona Isabel ashore, as he said: "Thy servants +greet and welcome thee, lady. To serve thee we are here; but we regret +we have so little to offer one who deserves so much." And to the +governor: "Don Pedrarias de Avila, thou art welcome, coming in the +king's name, whose hand I kiss, whose orders I shall ever obey." + +Dona Isabel was a tall and stately woman, scarcely past her prime, and +still retaining some of the beauty for which she was famous when at +Isabella's court. She was not insensible to the gallant bearing of the +handsome cavalier Balboa, whose straight and stalwart frame was in +decided contrast to her husband's misshapen body, and his frank +countenance grateful to her gaze, after long acquaintance with the +sinister face of Pedrarias. That she smiled graciously on Balboa at the +end of his speech, and perhaps showed pleasure at his flattery, was not +to be wondered at; but old Pedrarias noted these things with a twinge of +ignoble jealousy, and frowned at his host instead of smiling. + +"Where is the palace?" he growled at Balboa, as they approached his +straw-thatched hut and halted at the door. "This is not a fit habitation +for my wife to dwell in, let alone a domicile for the executive." + +"That I freely grant, your excellency, and it vexes me that it be so," +replied his host, with a smile and deprecatory wave of the hand. "But +such as it is, I trust you and your noble lady will accept and avail of +it, until we can erect a better, which we will do without delay." + +They entered without another word, and seating themselves at the table, +which Balboa caused to be spread with as great a variety as the +settlement afforded, gazed at the meagre banquet with amused disgust. +For, though there was an abundance of food, it consisted entirely of +vegetarian products, such as maize and cassava bread, wild roots and +fruits; and as for drink, there was no beverage except water from the +river. + +The frown upon the governor's face deepened to a scowl, but his wife +broke into a merry laugh, in which she was joined by the bishop, who +said: "So, Senor Caballero, this is the best you can afford in this +so-called land of plenty? Faith, I had heard we were but to open our +mouths and luscious fruits would fall into them; while as for gold, we +could kick it up in the streets, as it were." + +Balboa was presiding at the table with a gracious dignity that, in the +eyes of Dona Isabel, made ample amends for the lack of provand. An +amused smile crept over his face, but he answered, gravely: "Needs it be +said, your lordship, that this is the _best_ we can afford? Would that +it were not, for the sake of such distinguished guests as this day I am +honored with; but, the truth to tell, we have not been compelled to fast +on Fridays, merely, for meats of any sort have been hardly to be found. +As for gold--well, my last remittance to the king was no less than fifty +thousand ounces; but we did not by any means find it easy of +acquisition, let me assure you. It is to be found far in the forest +only, and must be won chiefly by toil, the sword, and the shedding of +blood, your lordship." + +"Then, perchance, many lives have been needlessly sacrificed?" It was +the Dona Isabel who asked the question, and her host's bronzed cheeks +flushed darkly as he slowly answered, "Gracious lady, doubtless there +have been!" He said no more, either in explanation or extenuation of his +deeds, for a flood of disagreeable memories surged over him and choked +his utterance. Admiring his frankness, but pitying his evident distress, +Lady Isabel hastily added, "And pearls, brave sir--rumor hath it that +they have been also found, since we sailed from Spain." + +"In sooth have they," replied Balboa. "And I have a necklace of them +that, though they have been slightly injured by the Indian mode of +piercing them, are good to behold. He then called a servant, who, in +obedience to his whispered order, went into another room and soon +returned with the pearls. + +"By your leave, lady, let me show you these," said Balboa to Dona +Isabel, who, at sight of the pearls, exclaimed outright, in pure ecstasy +of delight: "Why, they are the most perfect and beautiful in all the +world! None like these have I seen, even at the court of my queen." + +"But, I trust, some time these may be seen at the court of the king, my +lady, and that you may wear them there!" + +"Why--how can that be?" asked Dona Isabel, in surprise. + +"If his excellency will allow me, and if you, fair lady, will accept +from me, these baubles, then are they yours," rejoined Balboa, rising +from his seat and bowing, with his hand upon his heart. + +"No, no," she exclaimed, hastily, but yet fondling the necklace +admiringly, "it cannot be." + +"Ay, but it can," said her husband, gruffly, his small, black eyes +twinkling with avarice. "As I take it, this gift to thee, Isabel, comes +from a portion due the crown, and hence belongs to me as well as to +thee--if so be the king himself doth not lay claim to it, forsooth." + +"Nay, nay; not so!" exclaimed Balboa, the hot blood rising to his brow, +his eyes sparkling with anger. "The king hath had his fifths, justly +apportioned before we took our shares, and a donative besides. These +pearls are--that is, they were--_my_ pearls, and if I chose to bestow +them upon the Dona Isabel, your excellency, as her husband, has only the +right to refuse them, and that, too, without questioning my motive or my +ownership of these pearls." + +"Our host, the gallant cavalier, is right," interposed the bishop. "He +hath, in a most magnificent manner, done honor to thee, Don Pedro, and +to thy wife, by despoiling himself of treasure that must have cost him +dear, and presenting it to the Lady Isabel. It ill becomes thee, Pedro, +to receive this precious gift so sourly. Verily," he added, with a sigh, +"it is a gift worthy of acceptance by the Church!" + +"I have reserved for thee and for the Church a tithe of the gold that +was apportioned me, good father," declared Balboa. + +"And for me what hast thou?" demanded Pedrarias. + +"My services, your excellency, which are potential gold and pearls! For +the wilderness contains much which has not yet been revealed, and which +I have not had time to seek." + +"Since that be so, suppose you, to-morrow, give me an account of your +stewardship: an exact statement concerning the country and the savages, +which I may send to the king." + +"It shall be forthcoming, your excellency; but not to-morrow, I fear, +since much have I to do, as well as much to write. Within the week will +I have it ready for your perusal." + +"Be it so, then, and see to it that the report is comprehensive as to +the regions of gold and the great South Sea, which, I understand, you +claim to have discovered." + +"Which, of a truth, I _did_ discover," answered Balboa, indignantly, +"Many had sought it, as you should know, but none had found it, or the +way thereto, until I, Vasco Nunez de Balboa, showed the way. Mayhap I be +deprived of fortune and of life, but of the honor, the immortal glory, +of that discovery, none shall rob me!" + +"There lives no man who could, perhaps none so base as to desire to," +exclaimed Dona Isabel. Her voice trembled, not alone with indignation +but with fear; for at her side sat the one man base enough to do such a +thing, and that man was her husband. Pedrarias was possessed of a +crabbed disposition that made him envy every man who had done something +worthy of renown, and hate him who stood in the pathway of his own +ambition. Hence he hated Balboa with a bitter, unreasoning hatred, and, +as his wife had divined, was already scheming to deprive him of his +laurels. + +This conversation, at the frugal repast spread by Balboa for his guests, +will show the trend of occurrences at and during the first week after +the arrival of Pedrarias. He landed at Darien already prejudiced against +its original settlers, and especially their leader, whom he was not +satisfied to have superseded, but determined to degrade, bring to ruin, +and if possible to an ignominious ending. The plot of this story will +henceforth contain five principal characters: Pedrarias, Balboa, Bishop +Quevedo, Espinosa the lawyer, and Dona Isabel. The governor and Balboa +were soon at open enmity, the former persistently seeking to circumvent +the latter, assisted by the lawyer, and sometimes opposed by the bishop, +but frequently foiled by Dona Isabel, who was at heart the persecuted +victim's only friend. + + + + +XVI + +IN THE DOMAIN OF THE DRAGONS + +1515 + + +Balboa faithfully complied with his promise to render the governor an +accurate account of the land's resources, giving him, within a few days' +time, a list of the mountains, rivers, and ravines where he had found +gold in the virgin state; a statement of the colony as he had governed +it; his discovery of the South Sea and the route thither; a description +of the pearl islands and their wealth; and, finally, the names of the +caciques, more than twenty in number, with whom, through force of arms +or diplomacy, he had made treaties of peace. + +Having obtained this invaluable information from his rival, Pedrarias +threw off the mask of friendship which he had assumed for the purpose, +and immediately ordered a judicial investigation into his conduct as the +self-elected governor of Darien without sanction of royal authority. +This scrutiny was conducted by Espinosa, as the only lawyer in the +colony, and as he was completely dominated by Pedrarias, his findings +were exactly in accordance with his desires. Very soon the unfortunate +Balboa was involved in a legal net from which he could not extricate +himself until he had parted with more than ten thousand ounces of +gold--the greater part of his fortune. Much of his wealth, however, was +absorbed by the wily Quevedo, who, as bishop, exerted his influence in +favor of the accused, after having received from him a share in his +enterprises, considerable gold, and a drove of Indian slaves. + +The scope of the inquiry, too, did not satisfy Pedrarias, for the +inexperienced lawyer went too largely into the discoveries and +invaluable services of Balboa to the crown, instead of confining himself +to his arbitrary acts in expelling Enciso and indirectly causing the +death of Nicuesa. The result was that through the remonstrances of the +bishop and the intercession of Dona Isabel--"upon whom the discoverer +never ceased to lavish costly presents, which he mingled with all the +politeness and attentions of the most refined courtier"--the governor +was induced to cease his persecutions for a while. It had been his +intention to send his rival to Spain, loaded with chains and charged +with crimes that would compel his conviction before the highest court; +but the bishop represented to him that to do so would be the surest way +to advance Balboa's interests instead of defeating his ambitions. The +king was already aware of his great discoveries, for the world was +ringing with the fame of his achievements, so he could not but be +rewarded and received with highest honors. + +Pedrarias reluctantly abandoned the prosecution openly, but in secret +gathered much information from Balboa's enemies which he later used to +his injury, and set afloat reports which destroyed his effectiveness and +impaired his popularity. He was, in reality, digging the ground from +beneath his own feet, as well as undermining Balboa's reputation, for a +condition of affairs had developed which demanded all the energies of +both leaders in its correction. It was brought about by the governor's +recklessness and inexperience, which, combined, had plunged the colony +into dreadful calamities. + +In the fleet with Pedrarias a vast amount of provisions had been brought +to Darien, which with economy would have lasted many months. At first +the colonists revelled in abundance; then it was discovered that one +ship-load of supplies had been spoiled by sea-water, and soon after +another, which had been deposited in a hut on shore, was destroyed by +fire. In a short time, in fact, the colonists found themselves face to +face with famine, the ravages of which, combined with the evils of the +tropical climate, produced a pestilence. In the course of a month no +less than seven hundred persons perished, all of them cavaliers who had +come with Pedrarias from Spain. A ship-load of the survivors fled the +colony, going to Cuba, and a few broken-hearted adventurers reached +their homes in Spain, which they had mortgaged for arms and equipments +they never had occasion to use. Those who remained at Darien were soon +reduced to the last extremity of hunger and despair. They wandered +through the streets of Antigua begging for food, and once-wealthy +cavaliers of proudest lineage might have been seen bartering their rich +ornaments and vestments for a few mouthfuls of cassava bread. Some, who +had never before labored with their hands, hired themselves out as +wood-cutters or burden-bearers, merely to sustain existence, while +others, in the pangs of starvation, fed on grass and the leaves of +trees. + +One day, says the historian, "a noble knight rushed into the main street +of Antigua crying aloud that he was dying of hunger, and, in sight of +the whole population, fell, and rendered up his soul. So many perished +daily that it was impossible to give them Christian burial, and carts +were used for carrying away the dead, as in times of pestilence." + +Pedrarias himself was taken with a fever, and, with his wife, was +carried to a salubrious spot among the hills, where he soon recovered. +Thence he sent orders for the old soldiers to set out, under his second +in command, Juan de Ayora, to visit the caciques with whom Balboa had +negotiated treaties when on his journey to the sea. This he did with an +eye to the occupation of the territory, in order to represent at court +that, while his rival might have discovered certain provinces, with +their inhabitants, he was the first to occupy and colonize beyond the +region of the coast. But Ayora, though he had with him a greater number +of soldiers than Balboa had ever commanded in one body, conducted +himself with such a reckless disregard for the rights of the +natives--seizing the women and children, and putting many Indians to the +torture--that the caciques united against and drove him from their +territory; so the expedition ended in disaster. + +Balboa, meanwhile, was kept inactive at Antigua, and his adherents--for +he still had many favorably disposed towards him, who would gladly have +followed wherever he led--were not slow in pointing out to Pedrarias the +contrast between the old times and the new. "Before you and your minions +came," said they, "Antigua del Darien was tranquil within and without. +Under the command and control of Vasco Nunez, she reigned as queen of +the isthmus, and gave laws to twenty Indian nations. Our town was well +ordered, more than two hundred huts had been erected, the people were +cheerful and happy, amusing themselves on their feast-days by jousting +with reeds, the soil was cultivated, and all the caciques so pacific +that a single Castilian might cross from sea to sea, fearless of +violence or insult; whereas at present many Spaniards are dead, the rest +dismayed and broken-spirited, and the Indians in insurrection. All this +has been caused by the process against Vasco Nunez. Had he been allowed +to proceed in his discoveries, the truth respecting the promised +treasures of Dobaybe would ere this have been revealed; the Indians +would still have been peaceful, the soil yielding its abundance, and the +Castilians content. Give us again Vasco Nunez as a leader, for he alone +can pacify the Indians; he alone knows the secrets of the land." + +The jealous and irritable Pedrarias was greatly incensed by the sneers +and reproaches of Balboa's friends. "So they want that rebel and that +assassin to lead them against Dobaybe? Inasmuch as there could not be +another expedition so likely to be defeated as one against that +province, thither shall he go--and may the devil catch him by the way, +say I." + +This the crafty old governor said to himself, by-the-way, and not to +others; nor did he reveal his intentions until after the expedition had +departed, when it was found to be badly equipped and lacking in many +particulars which the careful Balboa, had he been unhampered, would have +supplied. He was rejoiced to be actively employed once more, and +especially in the search for that mysterious temple and its golden +treasure, which had, so far, eluded the Spaniards; but he was +disappointed in having to share the command with Luis Carillo, a friend +of the governor and a man of small capacity. His veterans also were +outnumbered by the recent arrivals, who were more enthusiastic than +prudent, and knew nothing of Indian warfare. + +Having ascertained that in his former enterprise in search of Dobaybe he +had made a mistake in advancing by land, Balboa resolved to approach it +by water, and, embarking his force in canoes, entered a large and +unexplored river at the head of the gulf. It ran through a swamp +infested with vampires and alligators, and also--according to reports of +the Indians--the abode of a monstrous dragon which, with its progeny, +had been brought there by a hurricane. From what the Indians told the +Spaniards they inferred that these monsters were harpies, for they had +the faces of men or women, the claws of vultures or eagles, and huge, +leathery wings. They were so monstrous that only the largest trees could +support them when they alighted, and so fierce and powerful that +whenever they espied a man on the ground they would swoop down like a +hawk, and, seizing him in their claws, bear him off to their dens in the +mountains. Those who had been there affirmed that these dens were +littered with the bones of such unfortunates as had been torn to pieces +and devoured by the dragons, who seemed to have established themselves +as the self-constituted guardians of the golden temple and its idol. + +It is doubtful if Balboa believed this tale of the dragons; but if so he +did not let it daunt him, and pushed on through the dismal morass by +means of the noisome stream that traversed it. Suddenly, on turning a +bend of the river, the Spaniards found themselves face to face with an +immense swarm of savages in canoes, who proceeded, with howls and yells, +to surround them. At the same time they let fly clouds of darts and +arrows, by which many soldiers were killed or wounded, while many more +were drowned by the vicious savages plunging into the water and +overturning the canoes. The two commanders were wounded: Balboa +slightly, and Carillo, who was pierced through the breast by a lance, so +badly that he shortly died. + +The Indians forced Balboa to retreat to shore, where he beat them back, +but was compelled to return to Darien through the inundated forests +swarming with noxious reptiles, and without having obtained even a +glimpse of Dobaybe. The dangers and horrors of that retreat exceeded +anything that the brave soldier had previously experienced; and it was +his first defeat! His partisans attributed it to the fact that he had +not been given absolute command; but those of Pedrarias taunted him with +cowardice and weakness, two qualities which, as those acquainted with +his life know full well, were not a part of his nature. But he began to +fear his evil star had risen above the horizon, and he was downcast, if +not dispirited, while in proportion as he was depressed rose the spirits +of the rancorous old governor. He exulted greatly in the misfortunes of +Balboa, even at the expense of his soldiers, the loss of life being as +nothing, in his eyes, compared with the pleasure he experienced by his +enemy's downfall. + +His rejoicing, however, was of short duration, for soon after Balboa's +return Pedrarias received a letter from King Ferdinand, commanding him +to consult with his "faithful servant, Vasco Nunez de Balboa," on all +affairs of importance, for, as he would see by the enclosed credentials, +he had constituted him adelantado of the great South Sea, and governor +of the provinces of Coyba and Panama. He was, however, to be subordinate +in authority to Pedrarias, "who, on his part, was charged so to favor +and advance the pretensions and enterprises of that chief as might prove +to him the esteem in which the king held his person. The court doubtless +intended thus to reconcile the respect due to the character and +authority of the governor with the gratitude and rewards earned by +Balboa; however, that which seemed so easy at court, was impossible in +the Darien, where so many passions were constantly in collision." + +Pedrarias, in fact, should never have been appointed to control the +territory of Darien, which so manifestly belonged to Balboa as supreme +executive; but, having made that appointment--unfit and ill-advised as +it was--in order to "save face," the king thought to reward the +discoverer, and at the same time placate the usurper with the honors of +a captain-generalcy. That they were empty and valueless, Pedrarias knew +full well, for the rich regions lay within the boundaries of Balboa's +territory, while his own government included only the country contiguous +to the gulf, which was devoid of intrinsic riches, unhealthy, and +impoverished. + +For these reasons the choleric Pedrarias, when he received the royal +order, fumed and raved, declaring to this wife that never should that +rebel and assassin, Vasco Nunez, be so highly honored at cost to +himself. He would withhold the letter, and if possible keep the +intelligence secret; but he found this to be impossible, for Balboa's +friends at court communicated to him what had been ordered by the king, +and he forthwith demanded his rights. In this demand he was joined by +the bishop, who denounced this interference with the evident intention +of the king as an outrage upon the rights of his friend, and the +rebellious governor was quickly brought to terms. + +At a council of officials called by Pedrarias sometime in the latter +part of the year 1515, Balboa was invested with his titles and +dignities, and thenceforth was always addressed as "Adelantado." But the +wily old governor had neatly turned the tables on his rival by bestowing +upon him, in fact, the empty honors, and reserving to himself the +substantial emoluments of office, since he had forced from him a +stipulation that he would not enter upon the actual government of his +provinces without his permission! + +Even the concession he was compelled to make sufficed to fan the +smouldering fires of the governor's jealousies to a flame, and he was +more than ever convinced that in the person of Balboa he had a deadly +rival and insidious foe, who should be removed from his path at whatever +cost. It was at this juncture, while the friends of the discoverer were +flocking about him with rejoicings, and he himself was openly exultant, +that there arrived in the gulf a vessel consigned to him, freighted with +arms and ammunition, and containing seventy adventurers, evidently +intended for a secret expedition. It was, in fact, commanded by one of +his former comrades, Andres Garabito, who had been sent by him to Cuba, +several months before, with orders to raise a force and procure an +armament for a projected expedition to the Pacific coast. + +It may have been Balboa's intention to proceed over the mountains with +this armed band and seize upon the government of which he had been +deprived by stratagem; but this is unlikely, as the movement was made +before he had received the royal title to it. The mere fact, however, +that a mysterious ship was off the coast and holding secret +communication with the adelantado, was sufficient to rouse the old +governor's passions, and in a transport of fury he ordered him to be +seized and imprisoned in a wooden cage. + + + + +XVII + +A COMPACT WITH THE ENEMY + +1516 + + +Fortunately for Balboa, his friend the bishop interposed before the +governor carried out his intention, and persuaded him, not only to +release the prisoner, but to give him the benefit of an impartial +inquiry. The inquiry was entered into, but was conducted by the lawyer +Espinosa, and so protracted that, though the accused was acquitted of +any evil intentions in importing the men and armament, yet he was +harassed to the verge of desperation and completely impoverished. Lawyer +Espinosa was enjoying a monopoly of all legal processes, owing to the +king's prohibition against others of his class, and had already involved +nearly every man in the colony in some sort of entanglement, from which +he could extricate himself only by paying to the licentiate a good fat +fee. + +The good offices of the bishop did not cease with a single effort in +behalf of his friend, for he recommended him to Pedrarias as the proper +person to conduct an expedition across the mountains, to the sea he had +discovered, for the purpose of investigating the islands abounding in +pearls. This step, however, the yet jealous Pedrarias refused to take. +He intended to have the islands explored, but not by their discoverer, +as that would only add to the laurels he already wore, and increase his +popularity both at Darien and in Spain. + +An expedition was formed, consisting of sixty men, commanded by one +Gaspar Morales, a relative of the governor, with the redoubtable +Francisco Pizarro as his lieutenant. The man whom the world was to know +as the conqueror of Peru had already been to the coast with Balboa, and, +knowing the way thither, led the party safely to the shores of the +Pacific. Leaving thirty men with a cacique named Tutibara, Pizarro +embarked with the others for the pearl islands, where he encountered a +fierce resistance from the islanders, whom he overcame, after great +slaughter had been inflicted, and compelled to pay him tribute. The +cacique of the island brought him a basketful of pearls as a +peace-offering, among which were several of great beauty and +extraordinary size. These he gladly exchanged for iron hatchets, beads, +and hawk-bells, sagely remarking, when the Spaniards smiled at his +simplicity, "These things I can turn to useful purpose; but of what +value are those baubles to me? The shores of this island and the deep +places of the waters around them abound in pearls without number, which +my divers can get for me whenever I wish." + +Taking the Spaniards to the summit of a high hill, and showing them the +distant coast of the mainland, with its towering mountains and bluff +promontories, he remarked: "Beyond and beyond, as far as you can see, +and much farther, lies a land containing a rich kingdom called Biru +[Peru], where gold is as plentiful as stones are with us. That is a +country worthy your efforts; that is something which will richly reward +you--if you can but conquer it." It is thought that then and there, +while listening to the cacique of the pearl islands, Francisco Pizarro +formed the resolve to seek out and effect the conquest of that golden +empire which he subjugated sixteen years later. + +We shall have nothing further to do with this expedition, except to +relate its results as they bear upon the fortunes of Balboa. It came +near sharing the fate of nearly all those which were sent out while +Pedrarias ruled the isthmus, for, on the way back to Darien, Pizarro and +Morales were fiercely attacked by several caciques, whom they had +outraged by their cruelties, and for seven days pursued through the +forests in disastrous retreat. Their command was nearly exterminated, +and but a remnant arrived at Darien, after enduring incredible +sufferings. + +The administration of Pedrarias was replete with disaster from beginning +to end, and every enterprise he undertook ended in misfortune and +disgrace. A valiant captain, Francisco Becerra, undertook to invade the +province of Zenu, where, according to report, gold in unlimited +quantities could be drawn from the rivers in nets. He had one hundred +and eighty men and three small cannon when he entered the forest and +bade farewell to the settlement; but never a man of that gallant command +came back, nor were the cannon ever recovered. All were swallowed up in +the forest, as though the earth had opened and taken the invaders into a +subterranean tomb. + +While Balboa was detained inactive at the settlement, these various +expeditions under inexperienced commanders overran the country, and +effected nothing more than had been already--and better--done by the +discredited commander who was being consumed by vexation and despair. +All the littoral Indians of Darien had been reduced to subjection by +him, and the most that was effected by Pedrarias was a reconquest, which +was worse than useless, as it roused the rage of the caciques and +provoked retaliation. Among those who, though powerful and warlike, +Balboa had overcome and compelled to sue for peace was the mountain +cacique Tubanama. He was blunderingly attacked, by orders of Pedrarias, +and not only repulsed the Spaniards from his stronghold, but drove them, +bootless, back to Darien, where the survivors arrived breathless and +panic-stricken. Stripping the slain Spaniards as they lay in the forest, +Tubanama displayed their bloody shirts on poles as banners, and marched +his warriors around the walls, striking terror and dismay to the hearts +of all within the settlement. The garrison was beleaguered, +foraging-parties assaulted, sorties ambuscaded, and such was the alarm, +says the good Bishop Las Casas in his history, that the people feared to +be burned within their dwellings. + +"They kept a watchful eye upon the mountains, the plains, the waving +branches of the trees, for their imaginations were infected by their +fears. If they looked towards the land, the long, rustling grass +appeared to them to be moving hosts of savages; if they looked towards +the sea, they beheld fleets of canoes in the distance. Pedrarias +endeavored to hush all rumors that might increase the alarm; at the same +time he ordered the smelting-house to be closed, which was never done +except in time of war. This was done at the suggestion of the bishop, +who caused prayers to be offered and fasts proclaimed in order to avert +the impending calamities." + +The one man by whom these calamities could have been obviated, Vasco +Nunez de Balboa, was by the governor's orders restrained from action and +confined, virtually a prisoner, within the walls of Antigua. While +courageous and daring enough in the field, he yet possessed an +excessive regard for his sovereign and his representatives, hence his +servile submission to the persecutions of Pedrarias. He has remained +silent for a long while beneath the governor's opprobrium and calumnies; +now let him speak in his own behalf. While the ravage of Tubanama was in +progress, and his warriors were raging around the settlement, he +approached the bishop one day as he emerged from the rude chapel that +served as church and cathedral. "Your lordship," he said, "I can endure +this no longer! My patience, beneath the insults and indignities which +the governor has heaped upon me, has reached its limit. Even the king, +were he to know all that has occurred in this colony since that base +usurper came here, could not but sustain me in rebelling against his +authority. He has, as you know, kept me here in durance, while others +have been intrusted with expeditions that have invariably returned in +disaster. In justice to the survivors of this once-flourishing colony, +which I alone placed on a basis of prosperity, but which Pedrarias has +reduced to lamentable ruin, I demand that I be established in power +again. If not here at Darien, then on the coast of the great sea, of +which so little has been learned since I discovered it." His eyes +flashed, his breast heaved with deep emotion, and the bishop saw that he +was at last aroused from his lethargy--that the lion within him was +crouching for a spring. + +He heard him through without interruption, then said, soothingly: "My +son, it is even so as thou hast said. I have beheld these things with +grief and inward rage; but, as thou knowest, Don Pedro hath been +appointed by the king, and, though he be technically a usurper, still he +is supported by the crown. Had but Arbolancha arrived a few weeks sooner +than he did all might have been in thy favor; but now--now the king's +eyes have been opened too late to bestow upon thee thy deserts. But +patience, my son, for yet a little while. To-day, this very morning, +will I see the governor and plead thy cause." + +The good bishop quickly redeemed his pledge, and within an hour was in +the presence of the governor and his lady. Without a moment's delay he +plunged into the subject of which he was so full, representing to +Pedrarias that "by keeping the finest capacity in the land in idleness +and obscurity he was injuring none more than himself, thus losing the +fruits which the friendship of Vasco Nunez would produce for him." + +"There is no doubt," he said to the surly Pedrarias, "that Vasco Nunez +will, in some way or other, make known to the king the oppression and +contumely in which he has been held, to the defiance of royal command +and the injury of his majesty's interest. Why, then, persist in driving +a man to become your deadliest enemy whom you may grapple to your side +as your firmest friend?" + +"Why, forsooth?" exclaimed Pedrarias, with a growl. "Because he has +chosen to oppose me and to oppose the royal commands. But even were we +disposed to agree--of which there is doubt--how could I, now that I have +humbled and discredited him, still regain his confidence and friendship? +It is incredible!" + +"Nay, Pedro," said the bishop, bending forward and bestowing a glance +full of meaning upon his listeners. "To the contrary, it is the simplest +thing in the world. You have two marriageable daughters. Give him one of +them!" + +"What? One of our daughters marry that base-born caitiff? Hearest thou +that, Isabel?" + +"I hear," replied his wife, demurely. "But I do not consider Vasco Nunez +so far beneath us that he could not aspire. He is of the hidalguia +[nobility] by birth, and not base-born, my lord." + +"Aha! the rope of pearls! Hath it, then, bound thee to Balboa?" + +"Shame! Thou knowest it is not so. That remark is unworthy of thee, +Pedro," exclaimed the bishop, hotly. + +Dona Isabel did not respond, but her eyes flashed until their fire was +extinguished by the tears that welled up from them. She was used to +insult from her lord, but not yet calloused. + +Bestowing upon her a glance of sympathy, the bishop continued: "My +friends, Vasco Nunez would be a suitable match for your daughter. He is +a man of merit, an hidalgo by birth, and--whether thou likest or not to +hear it, Pedro--a favorite of the king. Whilst thou art advanced in +years, Pedro, he is in the prime of life, in the very vigor of his days. +Make him, then, thy son-in-law, and as thy lieutenant he can carry out +thy plans. Thus all his achievements will redound to the advancement of +thy family, and to the credit of thy administration." + +"Enough!" exclaimed Pedrarias, won over, not so much by the bishop's +earnestness and eloquence as by the evident advantages to himself in +such a match. "Send for Vasco Nunez and for a notary. He shall espouse +Maria, our eldest daughter. She is in Spain; but that matters not, so +the marriage agreement be written out and signed before witnesses. Send +for my son-in-law!" + + + + +XVIII + +BUILDING THE BRIGANTINES + +1516 + + +The life led by Vasco Nunez de Balboa in the New World, accustomed as he +had been to scenes of rapine and to the indulgence of the baser +passions, was not conducive to the upbuilding of an elevated character. +But that he had a shred of manliness remaining, was shown when, in +response to the command of Pedrarias, he presented himself before that +worthy at his official residence. When he learned of the compact that +had been proposed by the bishop and sanctioned by the governor, he at +first seemed stunned by the intelligence; but recovering himself with an +effort, he exclaimed: "And this is to be the purchase of my freedom? +Bound by pledges which cannot be broken, I am to be delivered into the +hands of mine enemy! Never! never will I consent to such a compromise. +It is disgraceful, humiliating!" + +"Tut, tut," said the bishop. "You forget, my son, in whose presence thou +art speaking: the head of thy Church, the head of the government--not +only--but before a lady of a rank the equal of, if not exceeding, thine +own." + +"I crave her pardon," said Balboa, now for the first time allowing his +gaze to rest upon Dona Isabel. "But do you, my lady, approve this +alliance? As the mother of your daughter, and knowing me for what I +am--what I have been in this wild land--do you consent to such a +sacrifice?" + +"She is my eldest, and dear to my heart," responded the Lady Isabel; +"but I not only consent to--I approve of this arrangement." + +"Then so be it," rejoined Balboa, with a sigh. "Never have I seen the +maiden; but if she be like her gracious mother, then truly shall I be +the most fortunate of men." He advanced, and bowing low before her, with +courtly dignity, pressed his lips to the hand which she extended. + +"Most fortunate of men, indeed," exclaimed Pedrarias, with a sneer; "not +only in what you gain, but what escape. Dost hear, Isabel? he +_condescends_ to marry our daughter! We will make note of that; but, +inasmuch as I have decided, we will for the moment overlook it. Now the +notary, and the marriage compact. These, our signatures, you witness, +notary. Enough. It is done; it is affirmed. Maria shall be sent for, and +when she arrives the marriage shall be solemnized. Now, son-in-law, what +is it thou desirest most of all--saving, of course, to be my +son-in-law?" + +"Your excellency," responded Balboa, ignoring the sneering tone and +look, "when you came hither it was my intention soon to build some +ships, and, after transporting them to the coast of the new sea, to +explore its shores and islands." + +"Then proceed. It is a good intention, and should be carried out at +once. But how, son-in-law, wilt transport the ships across the +mountains? The way is long and rugged--impossible." + +"Nay, not impossible. After what has been achieved, it is feasible. At +the port of Acla, in Careta's country, I would fain cut the timbers, +collect the material for fittings, and thence have them taken by +carriers to the southern sea-coast." + +"Good! In the province of Careta, another father-in-law of thine, by the +way, thy relations with whom thou must sever! Thou canst not but +understand what I mean?" + +"I understand," rejoined Balboa, "and your law is my will." + +"Certes, thou shouldst have no other, henceforth, as thou'lt find!" + +This allusion to Cacique Careta had reference, of course, to the +fact--which was well known in Darien--that his daughter, the Cacica, was +still held in regard by Balboa, and had not yet returned to her father. +Perhaps Dona Isabel had not been aware of the circumstances, for she +looked inquiringly at Balboa, who avoided her gaze, and retired in +confusion from her presence. + +Then ensued scenes of activity at Antigua del Darien to which it had +long been a stranger. When it became known that Pedrarias and Balboa +were again in accord, the settlers took heart and began to improve their +condition. Establishing himself at Acla, a port in Careta's province, to +the west of Antigua, where he had already erected a fortress, Balboa +began the construction of four brigantines. Timber for two of them was +already hewn and shaped, when it was discovered that, having been cut +near the sea-coast, it was subject to the ravages of destructive worms, +and all the work had to be done over again. + +During long weeks and months, troops of negroes and Indians trudged +painfully over the rugged trails of the mountains, from the north coast +to the south, bearing heavy loads comprised of rigging, anchors, and +iron-work for the brigantines, arms, ammunition, and provisions, a +distance of fifty or sixty miles. Timber for the second pair of +brigantines was felled on the banks of a river called the Balsa, which +flowed into the South Sea; but hardly had it been cut and shaped before +a flood came down from the mountains and swept it nearly all away. Then, +a third time, did the indefatigable Balboa set his men an example by +Herculean labors, and after almost incredible toil, exposure, suffering +from famine and sickness, two brigantines were finally constructed and +floated on the river. They drifted down to the sea-coast, and there, +while timber for the other two was being prepared and their fittings +brought from Acla, Balboa equipped them with sails and set forth upon +the bosom of the ocean he had discovered three years before. This, he +thought, was the consummation of his labors and the triumph of his +genius; but before him yet lay the country in which he hoped to round +out his career by a grand and startling conquest. + +A trial trip was made to the islands of pearls, on one of which, called +_Isla Rica_, or the Rich Island, he established a base of supplies, and +then, with one hundred men aboard his clumsy brigantines, he set sail +for the coast of the mainland, where it stretched away to the west and +the southward. He was then, if he had but known it, on the watery +highway to Peru, but which another was to traverse, to its ending at the +gateway of the golden empire. He had found the way, however, and was +content, for, with four brigantines soon to be under his orders, and +three hundred men in his command, it seemed to him that the treasures of +Peru now lay open before him. He could exploit them at his leisure, he +thought, and when a school of whales appeared ahead of his vessel--which +he mistook for reefs--and a contrary wind assailed him, he abandoned his +cruise to the southward and returned to Isla Rica. + +Balboa was a careful commander, and he had been three years dreaming of +and preparing for the invasion of Peru. He would not, then, jeopardize +his chances by starting out half equipped, with less than one-third the +number of men he desired and in all probability needed. So he returned +to Isla Rica, which, having reduced its people to subjection and +investigated its resources, he planned to make his headquarters. + +With what exultation he found himself at last free from the domination +of Pedrarias! With what delight he rambled over his island realm and +thought upon the freedom that would be his, the glorious opportunities +unfolded, the treasure he would obtain, when, at last afloat, with +armament complete, he would bear down for the land that then lay dim and +shadowy upon the horizon! + +But, even while indulging in these dreams of future conquest, sinister +rumors reached him from the northern shores of the isthmus. At least, +viewed in the light that Pedrarias was now his friend, they seemed so, +for they related to the arrival of a new governor, who might not look +with favor on his schemes, and indeed supplant him with favorites of his +own. After consulting with the most trusty of his officers, he resolved +to send a messenger to Acla, in order to ascertain the exact condition +of affairs in Antigua, for reports were conflicting, and he knew not +what to do. The man selected for this important mission was none other +than Andres Garabito, who had brought the contingent of armed men from +Cuba. Balboa thought he could trust him, as they had campaigned +together, passed through perils together, and existed in close +comradeship for years; but he had not taken into the account a recent +occurrence which had changed Garabito's friendship into bitter hatred. + +His enmity was secret, but was none the less vindictive, and it was +occasioned by his fondness for Careta's daughter, of whom Balboa claimed +sole proprietorship. When, therefore, he one day discovered Garabito +paying her attentions--which she seemed not to receive unwillingly--he +rebuked his subordinate severely, and sent him away in anger. The +occurrence faded quickly from Balboa's mind, for his generous nature did +not harbor resentment long; but not so with Garabito, who felt he had +been unjustly treated, and meditated revenge. + +Before setting out with Balboa on this very expedition, he wrote to +Pedrarias that his prospective son-in-law was so completely enamored of +the Indian girl Cacica that, rather than give her up, he would fly with +her to the wilds and abandon the settlement forever. This poisoned +missive had done its dastardly work most effectually during Balboa's +absence on the southern coast, and when, by a sinister coincidence, +Garabito was chosen to return to Darien to spy upon the Spaniards there, +he found the mind of Pedrarias ripe to receive any accusation whatever +against the man he hated yet had so highly honored. He was furious from +wounded pride and jealousy. His former suspicions revived, and were +augmented by the arrival of the malignant Garabito at Acla. This +despicable wretch allowed himself to be arrested as a spy, and when +threatened with punishment pretended to reveal what he knew and +suspected of Balboa's intentions. He declared that his chief intended, +as soon as the brigantines were ready for sea, provisioned and equipped, +to embark upon the southern ocean. As an independent commander, said +Garabito, he proposed to sever all relations with the government of +Darien, and cast off his allegiance to the king. Thus was Balboa accused +of the crime of treason by this dastard scoundrel, a crime which, as he +well knew, was punishable with death! + +As the new governor had died in the very harbor of Antigua before he +could take up the burden of government, Pedrarias was not only +undisturbed, but at liberty now to proceed unrestrained with his +persecution of Balboa. In his blind fury, he cast all considerations of +justice or fairness to the winds, and listened to the accusations of +Balboa's enemies, who now rose up on all sides to condemn him. The +colony was again thrown into a ferment by the several factions, for +Balboa still had many friends besides those who were with him on the +coast; and every advantage which had been gained by the alliance between +the governor and the discoverer was thus thrown away. The interests of +the colony were subordinated by Pedrarias to the gratification of his +malice, and all enterprises halted while he pursued his enemy to the +last extremity. + +Garabito had, as though unintentionally, let drop that his chief had +sent for Cacica, who was instructed to join him in his camp at Isla +Rica, he said, without delay. But this was an untruth, for Balboa had +broken with her from the day he had promised Pedrarias to do so. As an +honorable man--according to the code of honor at that time--he felt +himself constrained to abide by the letter of his marriage agreement +with the governor's daughter, and had held himself aloof from all +temptations. His deep regard for Dona Isabel constrained him also; for, +though she had condoned his past, she expected him to comport himself +like a true knight in the future. As the mother of his bride in +prospective, and as the first pure woman he had met in many years, he +regarded her with worshipful reverence. For her sake he had resolved to +crucify his lusts and purge himself of all iniquities. + +But Balboa's righteous resolve had been made too late, for the Cacica, +though she had long since steeled her heart against her master, was +piqued at his coldness, and it was that which had caused her to receive +the attentions of Garabito, who failed not to tell her of the marriage +contract with the governor's daughter. Balboa had, then, at least two +enemies who, with a desire for revenge, though from different motives, +aided Pedrarias in fastening the fetters upon him. + +If this were but a story of love and revenge, rather than the simple +biography of a historical character, we should find the material at hand +for a most fascinating romance; and if the reader will recall the +leading features of chapters v. and ix., in this connection, perhaps +such a story may be woven, after all! For we have all the essentials for +a plot: valiant hero, beautiful heroine, despicable villain; love, +intrigue, the deadly enmity of a base tyrant; and finally, a tragic +ending. This final tragedy we are leading up to now, and we shall +attempt to show how Vasco Nunez de Balboa's crimes in the early part of +his career came to be visited upon him when at the height of apparent +prosperity and power, and brought him to the headsman's block! + +When Pedrarias heard from Garabito that the Cacica had been ordered by +Balboa to join him on his expedition, he sent an officer to bring her +before him. She came tremblingly, having in mind the tortures to which +her brother had been subjected when summoned before a similar council by +the magistrates. She was waylaid by Garabito, who whispered in her ear: +"You have only to say that your master sent for you, but that you +refused to go. If you testify otherwise, you are lost, for the governor +will put you to the torture!" + +The power of Garabito was in the ascendent, over that of Balboa, and the +girl testified as he commanded, greatly to the satisfaction of the +governor, who grimly regarded this rival of his daughter with something +like approval. Her evidence was the last link in the chain he was +forging to connect his enemy with treason towards the king. The fact +that he had sent for her proved his intention of making the southern +coast his base of operations and place of permanent abode. It also +showed, the governor argued, that Balboa had no thought of fulfilling +his obligations to his daughter, whom he thus virtually repudiated. This +thought enraged him to the verge of frenzy. That he should have +meditated an alliance with this base-born adventurer (as he styled him +then) was exasperating; but that the graceless fellow should have +spurned that alliance, and preferred an Indian female to his high-born +daughter, stirred his malignant nature to its depths. + + + + +XIX + +IMPRISONED AND IN CHAINS + +1517 + + +While his enemies were plotting to take his life, Balboa was beyond +their reach at Isla Rica, where, all unconscious of the dangers that +menaced him, he was completing preparations for the voyage southward to +Peru. He had sent for and expected supplies and reinforcements, but +while they were, presumably, on the way, he did not abate his diligence +for a moment. + +He relaxed, however, his strenuous exertions, for the great object of +the past months of terrible toils had been in a measure accomplished in +the building of the brigantines. While the work went on beneath his eye, +he allowed himself a little recreation, and amid the delights of Isla +Rica indulged in dreams of future conquests. One evening, while +reclining in company with some comrades on a couch of palm-leaves spread +upon the sands, he pointed to a particular star in the heavens above +them, and said: "There is the planet that holds my fate in its keeping. +See you yon star, my friends? Well, I was told by Micer Codro (the +Venetian astrologer who was with us, you remember, when we first found +these shores) that when that star appeared in this position in the +firmament my life would be in jeopardy. But should I survive this period +of peril, I would become the richest, the most renowned man in the +Indies! + +"Now, what think ye, comrades? That was more than three years ago, and, +according to Micer Codro's prophecy, I should be in peril of my life; +yet here am I, almost within reach of my desires, sound in health, with +four brigantines and three hundred good men at my command, and on the +point of exploring the great Southern Ocean, which I was the first to +find! Out upon all astrologers, say I. That man is surely womanish who +gives credit to diviners, and especially to old Micer Codro. Star, I +salute thee! Continue thou to shine; but thy baleful radiance is not for +Vasco Nunez de Balboa!" + +"He was a learned man," replied one of his companions. "Of a truth, I +have heard fearsome stories of his sagacity. But what is that? See, +yonder on the sea: a canoe approaches. What can fetch a boat hither from +the main, save unwelcome tidings?" + +"I cannot conceive," rejoined Balboa, "except that the new governor has +arrived and it is a summons for us to return. But we shall see as to +that, for while the isthmus intervenes between him and me, no power +shall stay us nor cause us to delay." + +Propelled by the sinewy arms of naked Indians, the canoe darted over the +sea and through the surf to the strand, when a man in the garb of a +king's official leaped out and approached the group. Going up to Balboa, +who was standing expectantly, he bowed low, then said: "Senor +Adelantado, a letter I bring you from his excellency the governor." + +"Which I receive as his dutiful servant," answered Balboa, taking it in +his hand, and reading it by the light of a torch held by one of his +aids. "It seems my intended father-in-law is desirous of seeing me and +consulting with respect to our projected expedition," he explained to +his comrades. "As his wishes are my desires, I shall start in the +morning. Meanwhile I am gone, Francisco Companon, you will be in +command of the ships and the soldiers. Messenger, what tidings in +Antigua del Darien? For, sooth, my father-in-law says not a word as to +happenings there. Is all well? Has the new governor arrived? Perchance +not, else Pedrarias would not have written." + +"The new governor, who was to supersede his excellency, died as he +entered the harbor," answered the messenger; but he was silent, or +evasive, as to other happenings at Antigua. + +On the shore of the mainland other messengers were in waiting, who, +finding that Balboa had set out unarmed and without a suspicion of the +fate that was in store for him, consulted together as to the +advisability of informing him. They did not do so, however, until the +mountains were passed and the little party drew near Acla, when, won by +Balboa's frankness and open conduct, their sympathies prevailed over +their fears of the governor's vengeance, and they informed him of the +snare into which he was hurrying. Balboa was astounded, and at first +refused to believe in the perfidy of the man to whose daughter he was +pledged in marriage. + +"I am innocent of any evil intention," he finally exclaimed. "Faithfully +have I served Pedrarias, and faithfully have I served my king. No, I +will not retreat," he said, in answer to a suggestion that he should +escape while the opportunity offered. "I have done nothing worthy of +punishment, and I will go forward, for my innocence I can prove." + +"To-morrow it will be too late," answered one of the messengers, "for at +Acla awaits Francisco Pizarro, with a command, to arrest you. +Adelantado, we entreat you: return while you may." + +"Nay, never! My back I have never turned to an enemy yet. But I cannot +believe that Pedrarias will continue my enemy; and as for Francisco +Pizarro, have I not reared him in the profession of arms? Have we not +campaigned together, fought and starved together?" + +Sorrowfully, then, the little band of unarmed Spaniards held on their +way to Acla, in the environs of which they were met by Pizarro and a +company of soldiers, who barred the way. Pizarro drew from his corselet +an order of arrest and proceeded to read it, while Balboa regarded him +with reproachful astonishment. When it was concluded, he exclaimed: +"How is this Francisco? You were not wont to come out in this fashion to +receive me!" His former comrade made no reply, for he was only obeying +the orders of his superior, and had no alternative but to choose between +the two: Pedrarias, supreme in authority, and Balboa, discredited +commander. He chose to serve the former, and, as shown in the light of +future events, he may have chosen wisely, for it was under Pedrarias, +then governor of Panama, that he made his first voyage southward, +eventually achieving the conquest of Peru, and tearing Balboa's laurels +from his brow. + +At a muttered command from Pizarro, two soldiers stepped forward with +manacles, which they placed upon Balboa's wrists and ankles, and in +chains he was conducted to Acla and thrown into prison. There he was +soon visited by the wily Pedrarias, who could scarce conceal his +exultation at having in his power the man he hated because his +reputation was greater than his own. But, concealing his true feelings, +he said to Balboa: "Be thou not afflicted, my son. Thou art here through +the charges brought against thee by Alonzo de Puente, who, being the +king's treasurer, hath compelled me to this proceeding. But, doubtless, +an investigation will not merely establish thy innocency, but serve to +render thy zeal and loyalty to the crown the more conspicuous." + +Balboa made no reply, for, frank and generous himself, without the power +of dissembling, he despised, detested a hypocrite. He knew that Puente's +charge was a mere pretence behind which were cloaked deeper designs than +had yet been revealed; and so it proved, for when, in the course of a +few days, Pedrarias was satisfied that the grounds of the legal process +were sufficiently strong to secure Balboa's conviction of treason and +enable him to put his unhappy prisoner to death, he threw off the mask. +Returning to the prison, he said to Balboa, with the hard and +threatening countenance which he habitually wore: "Hitherto I have +treated you as a son, because I gave you credit for fidelity to the +king, and to me, in his name. Since, however, I find myself mistaken, +you have no longer to expect from me the conduct of a father, but of a +judge and an enemy, as I shall henceforth treat you." + +"As for your feelings towards me," indignantly replied the prisoner, +"it matters not to me one whit; but as to my conduct towards the king, +my sovereign, your charges are false! If what you impute to me were +true, holding as I did at my command four ships and three hundred men, +by whom I am beloved, why should I not have gone straight to sea without +permitting anything to impede my purpose? Safe in the consciousness of +my innocence, I returned at your command; and little did I dream of +being treated so rigorously and with such enormous injustice. This is my +reward for trusting you: a dungeon, with slander, indignities, and +chains." + +"Yea, traitor," rejoined Pedrarias, hotly, "a dungeon is truly your +merited reward for despising the alliance I would have made with you. +Truly, I shudder to think of what my family has escaped: of the foul +blot which the marriage of my daughter with one of your stamp would have +spread upon my proud escutcheon. And all the time you had an Indian +mistress, for whom you sent to accompany you on the expedition which +would have placed you well beyond my reach. But know, traitor and +scoundrel, that she has confessed, and thus the means by which you +would have covered my daughter's name with obloquy have been those for +encompassing your own destruction!" + +"Who, Cacica, the pledge of amity between me and Careta? She has +confessed? Nothing had she to confess, for I sent her no message. After +my word was given to you that I would not see her, of a truth, I saw her +no more. You are a liar, Pedro Pedrarias, and were I but free, with my +good sword in hand, fain would I render you unable to utter more false +statements against me and those who were once true to me!" + +"Ha! Would you, then? Here, jailer, double this fellow's irons, and if +he protest, weight him to the floor with them! My throat you would slit, +eh? Old as I am, you will find that when it comes to the cutting of +throats, Don Pedrarias de Avila needs not rely upon his own unaided +sword. There is one in my employ who wields a more potent weapon--mark +you--and that is Gomez, the headsman. I go to tell him now to sharpen +his axe for four!" + +"For four?" exclaimed Balboa, as the old man retreated from the cell. +"Who else have you enmeshed in your net, base wretch? Will not one +victim suffice you? Who are they? Tell me." + +"Who?" repeated the old man, mockingly, peering at his victim through +the bars. "Why, who but Hernan de Arguello, Hernan Munos, Valderrabano, +and Botello. Were they simply your friends, it were enough; but they are +more: they are traitors to the king, and to me, Pedrarias de Avila, +governor-in-chief of Darien, whose authority you have endeavored to +usurp." + +"They, my officers, condemned to die merely because they were friends, +and loyal to me," groaned Balboa as, left in the solitude of his cell, +he sank helpless to the floor. "Truly is this Pedrarias a fiend, an +intimate of the devil, and scarce human! And they will die, being my +friends, but no man's enemies." + +Realizing that he had proceeded so far it was impossible to leave Balboa +alive in the same land with himself, Pedrarias left no stone unturned to +accomplish his death. Urged to activity by promise of the command of +Balboa's expedition in the event of his death, the vile lawyer, +Espinosa, found an indictment against the five which warranted his +master in proclaiming they were doomed to die for treason against the +king. The proclamation was made at Acla, and not in Antigua, where +resided most of the settlers, because, as Pedrarias knew, it would +provoke an uprising of the people. + +While they were supremely loyal to the crown, and, in their timidity, +afraid to declare against its representative, Pedrarias, the people of +Darien were yet well inclined towards Vasco Nunez de Balboa, and most of +them his friends, because of his possessing many lovable qualities which +the governor lacked. + +When, affrighted at the vindictiveness of Pedrarias, Espinosa explained +to him that the verdict against Balboa was technical only, and that on +account of his great services he should be inclined to mercy, the fiend +replied: "No, if he has merited death, let him suffer it. Die he must, +and shall, and on your head be his blood!" + + + + +XX + +THE END OF VASCO NUNEZ DE BALBOA + +1517 + + +We are compelled, in this chapter, to narrate the details of a horrible +crime, to commit which the name of justice was invoked by its +perpetrator, Pedro Arias de Avila, the one-time governor of Darien. We +have followed the hero of this story, Vasco Nunez de Balboa, through the +various stages of his career: a penniless adventurer, self-elected +governor of Darien, savior of the settlement when on the point of +dissolution, subjugator of the caciques, discoverer of the Pacific, +faithful servant of the king, builder of the first brigantines that +ploughed the waters of the great Southern Ocean. We are now to behold +him led forth from his prison cell as a criminal, a traitor to his +sovereign, and executed in the very town which was founded, through his +unwearied efforts, in chief Careta's province. + +He was then scarcely forty-two years of age, in the prime of life, seven +long years of which had been passed in the wilderness of Darien. He had +labored, he had fought, he had committed crimes against humanity--all +that his sovereign might acquire a realm beyond the sea--and this was +his reward: to perish as a felon, to die as a traitor, "in the full +career of his glory, one of the most deserving of the Spanish +discoverers--a victim to the basest and most perfidious envy." He had, +indeed, deserved well of his king, for of all the Spaniards who explored +the regions of America, he was one of the greatest, the most persistent +in carrying the flag of his country into unknown lands, in compelling +the inhabitants to accept his religion and acknowledge the sovereignty +of Spain. + +He was not the first of the Spanish explorers and conquistadores to +experience that king's ingratitude, nor the last to meet a violent +death. Columbus and Cortes died in their beds, but they were victims of +their sovereign's neglect. De Soto, worn out by his toils, perished on +the bank of the Mississippi, which became his grave. Ponce de Leon, +returning to Florida, the land he had discovered, received his +death-wound from an Indian arrow. Pizarro was assassinated, by men he +had reduced to poverty and exasperated by his taunts. + +The reward, then, of exploration and discovery mainly inheres in the +accomplishment itself, for few of the world's great explorers have lived +to receive the fruits of their labors, as witness Magellan and Hudson +and Cook. Of them all, however, perhaps there was none who was so basely +requited as Vasco Nunez de Balboa. Were it not for the fact that there +was in Darien, at the time Pedrarias wreaked his vengeance upon Balboa, +a veracious chronicler of events, whose name has survived as author of a +great history, we should be loath to accept as true this story of +revenge, ingratitude, and crime. But we have it from Gonzalo Fernandez +de Oviedo, a contemporary of the chief characters in this tragedy, who +was sent out by King Ferdinand as inspector of mines, and who +subsequently, as historiographer of the Indies, wrote a great work, +which first appeared in 1526. He was intimate with both Pedrarias and +Balboa, and after the death of the latter had access to his private +papers, from the perusal of which, and from his knowledge of our hero, +he drew conclusions as to his merits, which were long since sanctioned +by the voice of posterity. + +The day arrived in which the sentence of death was to be carried out, +and found the little town of Acla overspread with gloom. The horrified +inhabitants moved about as in a dream, unable to wholly comprehend the +nature of their dread surroundings, hardly daring to allow their tears +to flow, much less their voices to be raised in protest. For they +realized that in Pedrarias, the governor, they had a man to deal with +not in his right mind, warped by envy, malice, jealousy, until he had +become a frenzied maniac. They dared not provoke his wrath by protest, +even in a whisper, for they were cowards all, rendered so by their +subserviency to the crown, which might commit any atrocity and yet be +accounted blameless. + +Pedrarias had sentenced his prisoner to death in the name of the king, +yet he allowed him no appeal, either to the king or to the Council of +the Indies; for he knew that sentence would be reversed and the +discoverer set free should his voice reach the throne. It never reached +it, save as wafted across the sea and ocean in the indignant outcry of +the people--after the deed was done by which Balboa lost his head. Then +it did not avail to redress Balboa's wrongs nor to bring Pedrarias to +justice, for he continued in his crimes for years, and at the last died +in his bed, like many another wretch of lesser note. + +But the day had arrived, Balboa's last on earth. The hot afternoon wore +away, and the sun sank towards the mountains which the prisoner had been +the first to explore, and touched with its rays the roofs of the +dwellings he himself had erected. The dungeon door was thrown open, and +forth came Balboa, preceded by his jailer and loaded with clanking +chains. But the burden of the chains was as naught to the armor he had +carried in the days of his great deeds, and he bore himself erect, +dauntless in mien as of yore. + +He searched the village square with flashing eye, sweeping his glance +over the assembled crowd of cowards, held back by mailed soldiers under +the command of his former comrade and lieutenant, Francisco Pizarro. He +was no coward--that Balboa knew; but he had his own reasons for serving +Pedrarias, as already narrated. If Pizarro had but weakened, if he had +allowed his sense of justice to prevail over his lust for power and +lucre, and said one word for Balboa, all the men under him would have +joined in an effort to save the man they loved from him they loathed and +hated. But Pizarro was a clump, a stick, a stone--anything inanimate, +or, in other words, a soldier--and when Balboa's piercing glance fell on +him he looked to the ground and remained immovable. + +Preceding the prisoner walked the public crier, who announced: "This is +the punishment inflicted by command of the king and his lieutenant, Don +Pedrarias de Avila, governor of this colony, upon this man, as a +traitor, and usurper of lands belonging to the crown." + +"Nay, nay," exclaimed the still loyal Balboa when he heard this lie +proclaimed; "it is false! You, my former comrades, know it is false. +Never hath thought of such a crime entered my mind. I have ever served +my king with truth and loyalty, and ever sought to augment his +dominions!" + +[Illustration: EXECUTION OF BALBOA] + +He raised his eyes to heaven and stretched forth his manacled hands, +while a murmur of compassion went around the throng in the square of +Acla. But there was no demonstration in his favor, for there was no man +left in Darien, apparently, with a heart in his breast. The best of +Balboa's followers, the original conquerors of the territory, were +awaiting his return to Isla Rica, where lay the brigantines ready for +exploration, where were gathered the men for a voyage Balboa was never +to make, for a conquest he was never to achieve. + +There was no man present capable of leading an uprising against the +tyrant, save Pizarro, and he was unready. There was no man in authority +who could resist the tyrant's authority, for Bishop Quevedo had returned +to Spain; but a priest was present, who offered Balboa the sacrament as +he ascended the scaffold, and whispered words of consolation. It is +doubtful if Balboa heeded them, for, coming from such a source, from a +man in the hire of Pedrarias, his words must have seemed meaningless and +a mockery. + +The rude scaffold stood in the centre of the square, a platform erected +on posts, reached by a ladder, which, manacled as he was, Balboa climbed +with difficulty. Why he should have climbed at all, and why he so tamely +submitted to his fate, seems strange to those acquainted with his +courageous nature. But probably the spell of authority was on him, for +the magician who had enthralled him had invoked the name of a monster, +living afar, but held to be omnipotent. That monster was the king, at +mention of whose dread name the most valiant of fighters became servile +and abject. + +So Vasco Nunez de Balboa, mistakenly supposing himself bound by the will +of a dastard king, went meekly to the scaffold. With a firm step he +ascended to the platform, without a tremor viewed the block on which he +was to lose his head, and looked calmly on while the grim headsman made +it ready. "Now haste," growled the man with the axe, "for there are +others, and the sun is low in the sky." Then Balboa gave a +start--remembering the others. But it was too late now to save them, +and, with a pang at his heart for those he had involved in deadly +perils, he sank to the platform and laid his neck on the block. The +headsman raised his axe--a thrill of horror ran through the spectators; +it fell, and, as the blood spurted from the headless trunk, their groans +and lamentations rent the air. + +The executioner's work was not finished with Balboa, whose head was +held aloft, and then, by orders of the implacable Pedrarias, stuck on a +pole, where all might view the gory trophy. The three officers followed, +and the head of each was taken off at a stroke. The dusk of evening +gathered as the last one was beheaded. But there yet remained another +victim, one Arguello, whose sole offence lay in the writing of a letter +to Balboa warning him of what Pedrarias intended. The people assembled +about the scaffold had witnessed--with what feelings of grief and horror +may be imagined!--the execution of four gallant soldiers whose offences +were such Pedrarias would not pardon them. But now, overcome by their +sympathies, they entreated, with sighs and with tears, that this life +might be spared, "inasmuch as God had not given daylight for the +execution of his sentence." The stony-hearted governor, resentful and +relentless, replied: "Never! Rather would I die myself than permit one +of those traitors to escape unpunished!" + +Chilled with horror, the people returned to the square, where the +scaffold was but dimly visible in the gloom of approaching night, and +where the last act of the horrible drama was being performed in +darkness. They heard the clank of Arguello's chains as he fell across +the block, and then, after an interval of breathless silence, the thud +of the axe, proclaiming all was over. + +Pedrarias had witnessed all, hidden behind a palisade of reeds, through +the crevices of which he watched the doings on the scaffold, less than +twenty feet away. There he crouched, a demon in human semblance, +gloating over the anguish of the people, the groans of his victims, and +counting the strokes of the headsman's axe. + +Beneath a tree on the verge of the forest cowered a fearsome watcher, +the Cacica, formerly beloved of Balboa. Peering through the screen of +leaves, she witnessed the dreadful ending of him whom she had both loved +and hated. But she did not exult, like the man-fiend Pedrarias. +Believing that her testimony had sealed Balboa's fate, by the reproaches +of conscience she was driven into the forest, where (as nothing more was +ever heard of her) she probably perished, an outcast from her tribe, and +forgotten by her family. + +In Antigua del Darien, a broken-hearted woman mourned the gallant Vasco +Nunez de Balboa; for he had been betrothed to her daughter, who, +through her father's vengeful deed, was widowed ere she had been made a +bride. + + + + +INDEX + + +Abebeiba, Indian cacique, 103, 104. + +Acla, port of, Darien, 247, 252; + scene of Balboa's arrest, 262, and execution, 269, 276. + +Aerial dwellings, 101, 107. + +Albitez, one of Balboa's men, 42. + +Antigua del Darien, 37; + description of, 206; + famine in, 223, 224; + under Balboa and Pedrarias, compared, 225. + +Arbolancha, Pedro, sent to King Ferdinand, 200, 207. + +Areito, or areyto, Indian chant, 56. + +Arguello, Hernan, condemned to death, 267; + executed, 277. + +Armor of Spaniards, 96. + +Atrato River, 100. + +Avila, Pedro Arias de, sails for Darien, 203; + arrives, 206; + meets Balboa, 208-211; + his jealousy, 212; + entertained by Balboa, 213-216; + demands an accounting, 217; + at open enmity with Balboa, 220-222; + plots his destruction, 226; + blunders and crimes of, 237; + gives Balboa his daughter in marriage, 244; + makes peace with Balboa, 247, and sends him to the Pacific, 248; + frenzied by tales of Balboa's perfidy, 256, and schemes for revenge, 257; + orders him back to Antigua, 260; + sends Pizarro to arrest him, 262; + visits him in prison, 263; + consoles with and then denounces him, 264; + places him in double irons, 266; + causes sentence of death to be proclaimed, 268, and allows no appeal, 273; + orders him beheaded, 277; + exults over and witnesses his death, 278. + [Avila may be pursued further in the "Lives" of _Pizarro_ and _De Soto_ + (of this series), with whose careers he was intimately identified. + He died at Leon, in Nicaragua, 1531, at the age of ninety. + His eldest daughter, Maria, to whom Balboa was affianced, + retired to a convent; the youngest, Isabel, married De Soto, + whom she accompanied to Cuba, where she died.] + + +Balboa, Vasco Nunez de, advent of, 8, 9, 10, 11; + farm and major-domo of, 11-14; + packed in a cask, 15; + appearance of before Enciso, 17-22; + his friends, 23-26; + advises Enciso, 29, 30; + becomes prominent, 34; + conspires against Enciso, 38; + saves the colony, 47; + fine qualities of, 48; + in supreme command, 49; + captures Careta, 56-60; + rescues an Indian girl, 64, with whom he falls in love, 67-69; + discovers treasure, 70; + spies upon his mistress, 72; + sacks Ponca's capital, 78; + invades Comogre's province, 79, 80, where he finds gold, 83; + first hears of the Pacific, 85; + sends gold to King Ferdinand, 88; + despatches Valdivia to Spain for reinforcements, 89; + invades Dobaybe province, 98, 99; + discovers tree-dwellers, 101; + in aerial dwellings, 107; + tortures Indians, 121; + sends Colmenares to Tichiri, 130-140; + retreats to forest to avoid dissensions, 143; + entreated to return to + Antigua, 144-146; + in disfavor with the King, 150; + commissioned captain-general, 152; + sends commissioners to Spain, 155; + his intrepidity, 157; + projects great expedition, 159; + sets out for Austral Ocean, 162; + treats with Chief Ponca, 163; + in Quaraqua's country, 165; + massacres Indians, 168; + on verge of discovery, 170; + his first sight of the Pacific, 171; + on its shores, 174; + compared with Columbus, 175; + takes possession of Pacific, 179, 180, and embarks on, 182-184; + discovers pearls, 189; + success with Indians, 196; + returns from expedition, 197; + popularity of, 198; + sovereign's opinion of, 201; + superseded by Pedrarias, 203, whom he receives at Antigua, 208-212; + his courtesy to Dona Isabel, 211, 212; + angers Pedrarias, 216, who demands an accounting, 217; + seeks Dobaybe, 227, and fails, 229; + appointed adelantado by the king, 230, 231; + ordered confined in a cage, 233; + protests to Bishop Quevedo, 240; + engages to marry the governor's daughter, 242, 246; + character of, 245; + builds brigantines, 248, + 249, and sails them on Pacific, 250; + freed from Pedrarias, 251; + accused by Garabito, 253; + suffers for his crimes, 256; + flouts astrologer's prophecy, 259; + returns to Acla, 261, where he is arrested, 262; + imprisoned, 263; + visited in prison by Pedrarias, 263, whom he defies and denounces, 265; + his career reviewed, 269, 270; + scenes at his execution, 272-275; + beheaded, 276. + +Balsa, river in Darien, 249. + +Barbacoa, Indian structure, 54, 101. + +Bastidas, Rodrigo de, explorer, 1-7. + +Becerra, Francisco, lost in Zenu, 237. + +Biru (Peru) described to Pizarro, 236. + +Bobadilla, Francisco de, 3-7. + +Bobadilla, Dona Isabel de, 205; + entertained by Balboa, 212-216, whom she befriends, 243; + mourns Balboa's death, 278. + +Bohio, or Indian hut, 53. + +Bonouvama, friendly Indian, 195. + +Brigantines, building the, 248-250. + + +Cacica, the fair, Balboa's prisoner, 69; + entertains spies, 116; + betrays her people 119; + sought by + Garabito, 252; + seals Balboa's fate, 257; + witnesses his execution, 278. + +Caciques of Darien, the, chap, v.; + dead, 71. + +Caicedo, Juan de, 154, 200. + +Calaboose, from Spanish _calabozo_, 141. + +Caribs of Uraba, 52. + +Carillo, Captain Luis, 227; + death of, 228. + +Carita, Cacique, 50, 56; + capture of, 57; + speech of, 65; + bestows daughter upon Balboa, 66, and becomes his ally, 78. + +Cartagena, harbor of, 26, 28. + +Chiapes, native chief, 176-178, 181, 182, 188. + +Chicha, fermented beverage, 108. + +Colmenares, Diego de, rescues colonists, 39; + and Nicuesa, 40-42; + assists Balboa, 81, and invades Dobaybe with him, 98; + advises Balboa, 127; + captures Tichiri, 131; + kills chiefs, 132; + builds a fortress, 139; + sent to Spain by Balboa, 154, 155, 200. + +Colombinos, followers of Columbus, 4. + +Columbus, Christopher, allusion to, 1, 3, 4, 8, 10. + +Columbus, Don Diego, governor of Santo Domingo, 10, 11. + +Columbus, appeal to, by Balboa, 88. + +Comogre, Cacique, 78, 79; + sons of, 81, 84-86; + baptized, 87; + death of, 194. + +Companon, Francisco, 261. + +Corral, companion of Balboa, 42; + in irons, 144. + +Cortes, Hernando, never at Darien, 176. + +Cosa, Juan de la, pilot, 1, 4, 7. + +Coyba, province of, 50; + invasion of, 52. + + +Darien, Caciques of, chap. v; + gulf of, 33; + Indians of, 53-56; + river, 100. + +Dobaybe, the golden, 92, 93; + expedition to, 95 et seq.; + second expedition to, 226-229. + +Dragons of Dobaybe, 227, 228. + + +Enciso, Martin Fernandez De, Ojeda's partner, 11; + encounters Balboa, 19; + by whom he is outwitted, 20-22; + arrives at Cartagena, 26; + parleys with Indians, 30, 31; + sends Balboa and Pizarro to fight them, 32; + loses a vessel, 33; + unable to restrain his men, 35, who depose him, + electing Balboa and Zamudio to fill his place, 39; + expelled and sent to Spain, 45. + +Encomiendas of Indians, 9. + +Escary, Juan de, with Balboa, 178. + +Espinosa, Gaspar de, lawyer, 205; + prosecutes Balboa, 221, and impoverishes him, 234; + finds indictment against, 267, which results in his execution, 268. + +Explorers, fate of, 270, 271. + + +Famine in the colony, 223. + +Fonseca, Bishop, allusion to, 203. + + +Garabito, Andres, 232; + turns against Balboa, 252, and plots his ruin, 253-257. + +Gold, in nets, 29, 237; + in abundance, 185; + by thousand pieces, 198; + object of all explorations, 202; + sent to the king, 214. + +Golden Castile, 202. + +Golden sepulchres, 29. + + +Hurtado, Bartholomew, 113-115; + commands at Darien, 140. + + +Indian sepulchres, 71-73. + +Indians of Darien, 53-56. + +Isabel, Dona. See Bobadilla, Dona Isabel de. + +Isla Rica (rich island), 250; + Balboa recreates in, 258. + + +Keats, the poet, mistake of, respecting Balboa and Cortes, 175. + + +Leoncico, Balboa's blood-hound, 16, 17, 24-26, 60-63; + great exploits of, 166, 167. + +Lianas, 58. + +Llamas, first description of, 186. + + +Martin, Alonzo, first Spaniard on Pacific (at Darien), 178. + +Micer Codro, astrologer, predicts Balboa's end, 259. + +Morales, Gaspar, expedition of, 235; + attacked and defeated, 237. + +Munos, Hernan, condemned to die with Balboa, 267. + + +Nicuesa, Don Diego de, 23, 38; + sufferings of, 40; + character of, 41; + barbarous treatment and fate of, 43-45. + +Nino, Pedro, 2. + +Nombre de Dios, port of, 41. + + +Ocoa, Bay of, 2. + +Ojeda, Alonzo, 11, 23, 26-28; + settlement founded by, 33, 38, 40, 100. + +Olano, Lope de, 42. + +Ovando, the atrocious, 10, 27. + +Oviedo, Gonzalo Fernandez de, historian, 199; + intimately acquainted with Balboa and Pedrarias, 271. + +Ozama River, 3. + + +Pacific Ocean, first information of, given to Balboa, 85, 86; + first sight + of, by Balboa, 170; + date of discovery, 174; + taken possession of, 179; + first brigantines on, at Darien, 249. + +Pasamonte, Miguel de, 152, 153. + +Pearl Islands, the, 187, 236. + +Pearls, discovery of, 184, 185; + by the basketful, 236. + +Pedrarias. See Avila, Pedro Arias de. + +Perez, Alonzo de la Rua, 140, 141, 143, 144. + +Peru, first mention of, to Spaniards, 86; + rumors regarding, 186. + +Pizarro, Francisco, with Ojeda, 11, 28, 178; + leads an expedition, 235; + hears of Peru, 236; + sent to arrest Balboa, 262, whom he places in irons, 263; + commands guard at his execution, 273; + loyal to the tyrant, 275. + +Poisoned arrows, 32, 52. + +Ponca, Indian chief, 56, 76, 78, 162; + tortured and killed, 189. + +Puertocarrero, Pedro, 8. + + +Quaraqua, Cacique, 115, 167, 177. + +Quevedo, Bishop, 204; + guest of Balboa, 213; + absorbs his wealth, 221; + intercedes for him, 241, 242; + arranges marriage with daughter of Pedrarias, 243; + returns to Spain, 275. + +Quintana, Don Manuel J., author of Balboa's biography, 158. + + +Rio Negro, or Black River, 100. + + +Salvatierra, town of, 12. + +San Miguel, bay of, 181. + +San Sebastian, settlement of, 33; + removal of colony to Darien, 47. + +Sea of the South, or Pacific, 180. + + +Techoan, Cacique, 188. + +_Te Deum Laudamus_, chanted, 173. + +Terra Firma, 2, 5, 23. + +Tichiri, Indian settlement, 119; + captured, 131. + +Toledo, swords of, 96, 98. + +Tom-tom, African drum, 56. + +Tubanama, Cacique, 86, 191; + the gold of, 193; + defeats Spaniards, 238. + +Tuira, Indian deity, 53. + +Tumaco, Indian cacique, 184 et seq., 188. + +Tutibara, Indian chief, 235. + + +Uraba, Gulf of, 23, 33, 92, 99. + + +Valderrabano, Andres de, notary, 180; + condemned to death, 267. + +Valdivia, regidor, sent to Spain, 88, 89; + lost at sea, 90; + his unhappy fate, 94. + +Vara, Andres de, chaplain, 172. + +Vela, Cape de la, 23. + + +Weapons of the Spaniards, 95, 96. + + +Xeres de Los Caballeros, Balboa's birthplace, 8. + + +Zamudio, alcalde, 39; + mistreats Nicuesa, 44; + sent to Spain, 46; + Balboa's friend at court, 150, 156. + +Zemaco, Cacique, 35, 93; + defeats Spaniards, 114. + +Zenu, province of, 237. + + +THE END + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] This was the hurricane predicted by Columbus, as narrated in his +_Life_ by the author of this biography, and it occurred in 1502. For the +further adventures of La Cosa, see the _Life of Amerigo Vespucci_, in +this series. + +[2] Calaboose, from Spanish _Calabozo_, a dungeon or prison. + +[3] Don Manuel Josef Quintana, _Vidas de Espanoles Celebres_. + +[4] By a curious _lapsus_ in Keat's otherwise perfect poem, _On First +Looking into Chapman's Homer_, Cortes, conqueror of Mexico, is +substituted for Balboa, discoverer of the Pacific-- + + "Then felt I like some watcher of the skies, + When a new planet swims into his ken, + Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes + He star'd at the Pacific--and all his men + Look'd at each other with a wild surmise-- + Silent, upon a peak in Darien." + +Cortes was never at Darien, nor nearer to it than Honduras, or Santo +Domingo. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Vasco Nunez de Balboa, by Frederick Albion Ober + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VASCO NUNEZ DE BALBOA *** + +***** This file should be named 34802.txt or 34802.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/8/0/34802/ + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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