Days of the Discoverers

been on the other side of the world,

plying between Darien and Hispaniola. It was a t

drove out the Moors and sent her husband home to her, she would give her infant son to the Church. That was twenty-four years ago, and never had the power of the Church been so grea

planters with treachery, theft, murderous conspiracy, and utter laziness. With a little bitter smile Aguilar remembered how the hidalgo, who would not dig to save his life, railed at the Indian who died of the work he had never learned to do. It was not for a priest to oppose the policy of t

nything thereafter but the heaving, tumbling wilderness of black waves and howling tempest and hissing spray. Valdivia, regidor of Darien, had been sent to Hispaniola by Balboa, the govern

get his one boat into the water, with its crew of twenty men. Without food or drink, sails or proper oars, the survivors tossed for thirteen dreadful days on the uncharted cro

ich they had all heard. There were traces of human presence, and they could see a cone-shaped low hill with a stone temple or building of some kind on t

taken to a kind of pen, where they were fed. So great is the power of the body over the mind that for a few days they hardly thought of anything but the unspeakable joy of having enough to eat and drink,

other men who were now less gaunt and famine-stricken than when c

top, the central figure in a procession of priests and attendants, he was laid upon a stone altar and his heart was cut out and offered to the idol, after which the body was eaten at a ceremonial feast. The eight capt

during the hurricane, pulled Jerónimo by the sleeve, "What in the name of all the

the rays of the moon, white and calm, shone into the e

m him and left only the bare scaffolding, the faith of his childhood. At the familiar syllables

ied by torture. The poor and ignorant men who listened were caught up for the moment into the vision of Fray Jerónimo and regained their self-control. When the prayer was ended Gonzalo Guerrero sprang up, and rallied them to furious labor. Under his direction and Aguilar's they dug and wrenched at their cage like desperate rats

realm into which they had been exiled. When they ventured out of the forest, driven by famine, they were captured by Acan Xooc, the cacique of another province, Jamacana. Here they were made slaves, to cut wood, carry water and bear burdens. Water was scarce in that region. There had been reservoirs, bu

a friend, cacique of Chatemal, but kept

elf in his own language. Taxmar had once seen a slave from the north who had been a priest in his own country and knew how to remember things by string-talk, knotting a string in a peculiar fashion; but he was not like this man. When the white slave saw the crosses carved on their old walls he had eagerly asked how they came there, and Taxmar gathered that the cross had some meaning in th

nce and meekness until it should be the will of God to free him from the savages. He had begun to think that this freedom would never be his in his lifetime, but a vow was a vow. He no m

his slave, but Aguilar generally did not seem to see them. One day the India

y aim at-if they aim at a nose they hit a nose. They can shoot so near you

the savages he thought nothing more likely than his

at you please. I think you are too wise to

the order of Taxmar, and the a

worse off. The only sure way to win the respect of these barbarians was by efficiency as a soldier. Taxmar upon request gave his steward the military outfit of the Mayas-bow and arrows, wicker-work shield, and war-club, with a dagger of obsidian, a volcanic stone very hard and capable of being made very keen of edge, but brittle. Jerónimo when a boy had been an expert archer, and his old skill soon returned. He also remembered warlike devices and stratagems he had seen and heard of. Old soldiers chatting with his fathe

bjects call themselves Christians and observe the customs of the Church, it was all they attempted. Taxmar was not the sort of person to be converted in that informal way. He demanded reasons. If Aguilar advised him against having unhappy people murdered to brib

lous, angry and suspicious. He had heard, he said, that Taxmar sought the aid of a stranger, who worshiped strange gods, in a campaign directed against his neighbors. He wished to know if Taxmar

s business but the chief's. That would be in line with the cacique's character as he knew i

mastiff-like mouth looked as immovable as the carving on the basalt stool upon

ink the blood of the stranger; it is sweet

on hot stones. "When a man serves me well, I do not reward him with death. My slave's wisdom is gr

e in rage and disappoint

for himself. He had always been under the authority of a superior. He had questioned and wondered, seen the injustice of this thing and that, but only in his own mind. When everything

he councilors took alarm and repeated the suggestion that Aguilar should be

captives in their honor. This man's gods help him when he is a slave, alone, far from his

charged upon the front of Taxmar's army. It gave way, and they rushed in with triumphant yells. When they were well past, Aguilar's division came out of the bushes and took them in the rear. At the same instant Taxmar and his warriors faced ab

, without the help of the natives, he could not reach any Spanish colony without a boat. There were rumors of strange ships filled with bearded men, whose weapons were the thunder and the lightning. Old pe

seven long years after he came to Jamacana, three coast Indians from the island of Cozumel came timidly to the cacique wi

Cozumel and there heard of white men held as captives somewhere inland. He had persuaded the Indians to send messengers for them, sayin

htning, and the wonderful presents they gave in exchange for what they wanted. Aguilar's account of the squadron was even more complete. He describ

the previous visits of the Spaniards to that coast. He asked Aguilar if he thought that the strange warriors would accept him, their c

Guerrero behind. The sailor had married the daughter of a chief and become a great man in his a

ose a picture of the lofty austere sierras, the sunny vineyards, the wine, so unlike pulque, the bread, so unlike flat cakes of maize, the maidens of Barcelona an

drag down the lobe of the ear. He would cut a figure in the streets of Seville. The little boys would run after him as if he were a show. He grinned, sighed mightily, and sent word to Aguilar that he though

st part of the channel between the mainland and Cozumel, and in spite of a very strong current got across to the island. No sooner had they landed when some Spaniards rushed out of the bushes, with drawn swords. The Indians were about to fly i

tes, giving up hope of rescuing any Christian captives, had left the island, but one of his ships had sprung a leak and he had put back. When he saw an Indian canoe coming he had sent scouts to see what it might be. They now led Jerónimo Aguilar and his Indian companions into the presence of the captain-general and his staff. Aguilar saluted

strat

his shoulders his

o

he account of his adventures will be found in Irving's "Life of Columb

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