Days of the Discoverers

lves too much. They need

h! wo

rh! arr

as unmistakable as the snarling, snapping, furious bark of Cacafuego, who belonged to the Bachelor Enciso. The two hated each other at sight, months ago. Now

d been the practical seizure of the office of captain-general by Vasco Nu?ez de Balboa. Pizarro himself, and Juan de Saavedra, to whom he addressed his comment, had s

g was of medium size but very powerful, tawny in color with a black muzzle, and the scars on his compact body recorded many battles, not with other dogs but with hostile Indians. He had been his master's body-guard in several

t it was Saavedra who had managed the smuggling of Balboa on board the ship in a cask, to escape his creditors, when the expedition set out.

zarro,-" he turned to the soldier of fortune, with a frank smile, "I have work for you to do. It is dangerous, but I know that you

d position by the sword. His reckless courage, iron muscle, and a certain cold stubbornness had given him the reputation of an able man, but though nearly ten years older than Balboa, he had never held any but a subordinate position. He had nearly made up his mind that his chance would ne

neck in a noose, but if you were only Vasco Nu?ez

I am always Vasco Nu?ez to you, amigo," he said easily, "as you very well know. Pizarro is a bulldog for brav

schief for the time bein

thing besides quarrel among ourselves. Gold is an apology for whatever one does, out here. If there is as much of it as they say, in this Coyba, the King may be able to gild t

charged instantly, and actually put the enemy to flight, then beat a quick retreat. Every man of them despite their body armor had wound

u? Where is Fra

" answered Pizarro sulkily; he saw w

om savages and left a comrade to

s men back over the road just trav

f the Orient than any they had before seen. It was one hundred and fifty paces long by eighty paces broad, the lower part of the walls built of logs, the floors and upper walls of beautiful and ingenious wood-work. The son of this cacique presented to Balboa seventy slaves, captives taken by himself, and golden ornaments weighing altogether four thousand ounces. The gold was at once melted into

us to you that you leave your homes, invade the land of peaceable nations

streams in their country are full of gold. The King eats from golden dishes, for gold is as common there as iron is among you,"-he glanced at the cumbrous armor and weapons of his guests. Indeed the panoply of the Spaniards, made necessary by the constant possibility of attack, and the weight of thei

no one else had told the story with such boldness. The young cacique said that to invade this land, a thousand

e first settlers in the New World was this matter of provisioning the camps. For the Indians the natural fruits and produce of the country were sufficient, and they seldom laid up any great store. The small surplus of any one chief was soon exhausted by a large body of guests. Moreover, the

dmiral and governor of the island, explaining his need for more troops in view of what he had just learned about a new and wealthy ki

defend Balboa's course. Everything, it seemed, had gone wrong. The King had listened to the eloquence of the Bachelor, and would probably send for Balboa to come to Spain to answer criminal charges

over to Saavedra to read, "seems to me

shall

tively, "I think I will be on the top of that mount

ssented the other. "Did you know that Pizarro h

alboa, extracting a thorn with the u

d character when he changed masters. When Enciso had him he was little more than a puppy, and then he was thievish a

men. I think there is more in that fellow than we have sup

wondered whether Balboa were really as u

izarro himself would. I think that Leoncico, left here without Balboa, would die. Neither a dog or a man has any busi

pany remained on shore at Coyba to guard the brigantine and canoes, and with the others Bal

ns familiar with the country, they could count on little or nothing in the way of game or other provisions. Balboa's friendly ways with the natives had secured him Indian guides and porters, but it was difficult work, even so. In four days they traveled no more than ten leagues, and it took them from the sixth to the twenty-fifth of September to cover the ground between the coast of Darien and the foot of the last mountain they must climb. One-

e others to rest, while

next him, "is the man who is always sa

iled rather satirically. He, and he alone, kn

all go on alone. I want no one with me when I look down the other side of that range. Whether I see a mere lake, which these savag

an inkling of the importance his success or failure would have for him personally. The whole of his future lay on

untain top to the shore of this great body of water sloped a wild landscape of

oked upon the sea. A mound of stones was piled up for an additional monument, and the names of the sovereigns were carved on neighboring trees. Then Balboa, leading his men down the southern slope of the mountain, sent out three scouting parties under Francisco Pizarro, Juan de Escaray and Alonso Martin to discover the best route to the shore. Martin's party were first to reach it, after two days' journey, and found there two large canoes. Martin stepped into one of them, calling his companions to witness that he was the first European who had ever embarked upon those waters; Blas de Etienza, who followed,

ched into the sea. In a formal speech he again took possession, in the names of the sovereigns, of the seas and lands and coasts and ports, the islan

of the expedition, Saavedra, who was standing near the margin of th

e had happened to think of finding out whether the water was fresh or salt. This discov

oa, high in expectation of the change which this fortunate adventure would make in his career, went on triumphantly exploring the neighboring country, gaining here and there considerable quantities of gold an

Saavedra hinted at his suspicions. "You have not given me one positive proof t

ornly. "He is making up to the Indians, and that

, and Cacafuego leaped upon the prowler and bore him to earth, tearing savagely at his throat and receiving half a dozen wounds from the arrows the Indian carried in his hand and in his belt. He had been trained by Pizarro to fly at an Indian, and made no distinctions. Within an hour or two the

absolutely certain," said Saavedra gr

o

t is not thus, Pizarro, that you were wont to greet me!" Pizarro's jealousy and ill-will are evident in

nte

O' TH

the stars tha

sought to

riend-now by t

ng out of Po

the sea-roads

leiro read

point to glor

the s

galhaen

he smiled, a

way to that

tripling with t

me was Admira

as that lay be

it when the f

en in that B

they droppe

ttle altar

Mass in that

e pilot kne

were kindly,-brown

ntles, used no

man's flesh

tle daunted,

et them runnin

them, and plan

aying card, th

six fowls! There

turnip, chestn

atata in shi

made the suga

ola, and t

ctar to their se

feasted and

nted Eden see

dazzling many

lossom-parrots r

like live jewe

h spoon-shaped bi

astic frieze o

low monkeys le

etebos in their

d beyond their s

ple said. The

y carved out wit

hamacs, woven

re called cacic

wn in the thric

Pigafetta

easure when the

ore they sailed,

days lengthened,

-circled midn

of what race a

ind kings at

river flowed

ea-lions,-on

lk-white and sabl

ad of flying,

the Isle o

they

arbor called

e flame of muti

rtuguese turne

ed midwinter

f execution

o traitors. Outwar

a-birds there t

lay a bleak a

fog a wild

savage, called a

ge men were, an

ange, for kinfo

his home bey

eat shoes filled

named them men

teered, and buf

arrow channel,

uncil. One re

alsehood and

others valiant

heir Admiral'

craven captai

e to the end, th

the yards!" And

at strait pat

d the shining

dmiral followed

ra-then bega

eat uncharted

re was never s

gentle toward h

ughter of the t

them pounced

lhaens, giving

ific, and th

estward where hi

l the stars o

rse,-if he had

tayed his hand?

itch, who ofte

n him, kept the

t and famine;

ther, gnawed wo

Patagonian

ch vermin for

jest outworn, b

ands called the

to more islands

bright lands

miral land, and

then realm,-an

trange allies i

s adventure

oria, faithf

harge upon her,

pe and westwa

t her in, and

peror. "And th

t indeed these

d all be Christ

ars above the

wer upon the

n to great

marvels,-an

ingdom, but w

nte