University of Virginia Library

16. CHAPTER XVI.
VICISSITUDES: NIGHT AND DAY STILL COME TOGETHER—A STORM
BREWING.

The failure of Vasco Nunez in his late enterprise, furnished
an excuse for his non-employment, of which Pedrarias
readily availed himself; and, though freed, the unfortunate
hero laboured under the obloquy and discredit which
naturally enough followed the hostility of the ruling powers.
He saw Pizarro and Morales, his own officers, despatched
on enterprises to the shores of that ocean which his eaglewing
had explored; and he saw them return, baffled and
beaten by the savage tribes whom they provoked by wanton
indignity and wrong to desperate hostility. In vain did
the good bishop of Darien, who still continued to be warmly
his friend, labour to change the unaccountable and bitter
hatred of the governor. In vain did he dwell upon the
shame and the dishonour which rested upon him in consequence
of his injustice. The sole effect of this interference
was to save the hero from those positive indignities, and
that harsher treatment, which the envious spirit of Pedrarias
would not have forborne, but for the prudent fear which the
resolute expostulation and occasional threats of the bishop,
continued to inspire in his mind. Arguments of even more
solid policy, tending to produce a change in his treatment
of the hero, were equally ineffective.

“Look,” said the bishop, “at the condition of the colony,
and you will see that this man alone can save it. You
have tried your own and his best officers, and they have
failed in every adventure.”

“He himself hath failed,” said Pedrarias.

“Speak not of that,” replied the other significantly—“it

had been a blessed and wondrous miracle had he done
otherwise with such a wretched creature as Carillo on his
back. But look at the miserable band brought back by
Pizarro from his expedition to the Pearl Islands. Sixty
veteran warriors reduced to sixteen; and this terrible massacre
of the force led by Becerra—one hundred and eighty
men—all slain by the poisoned arrow of the Indian, and
but one left to tell the story. The defeat of Ayora by Tubanama,
who hath made banners, after his own fashion, of
the bloody garments of the Spaniards he hath slain, should
be to thee sufficient warning of the fate awaiting us, unless
thou restore to command this captain, who, with a force
infinitely smaller than any which the savages have lately
destroyed, traversed the same paths of terror in the same
country, and by arms or arts—which are no less worthy of
the warrior than arms—made friends where thy lieutenants
have found but enemies. And now, what is our condition
in Darien? The savages, grown bold by our constant defeats,
beleaguer us in our dwellings. Our people stir not
forth but to see enemies, and rise at midnight to meet the
harassing assault. They see foes in the long grass of the
plains, and countless canoes rise up on every wave of the
ocean. Do as thou wilt, Don Pedrarias, but I hold it my
duty, as in a season of great peril, to cause prayers to be
put up, and proclaim fasts, that the calamities hanging over
the people of God's church, like storm-bringing clouds,
may pass away. Thou wilt be able to say to thy sovereign
whether thou hast taken the best means for the safety of
his people and dominion.”

But the heart of Pedrarias hardened within him, and
his neck grew more stiff amidst the misfortunes of the colony.
To yield to the solicitations of Quevedo in behalf of
Vasco Nunez, was, in fact, only to admit in brief the tyranny
and gross injustice of his conduct; and for this the pride
of a small mind was unprepared. But, about this time,
events were in progress which were calculated to effect a
change, either for good or evil, in the fortunes of our hero.
A vessel arrived from Spain, bringing important despatches
to the governor which stung his vanity, mortified his
pride, and filled his soul with new rage and an increased
hatred for the rival he had so unworthily treated. In a letter
from the king, he was instructed to consult Vasco Nunez
on all public affairs. To the latter, a letter was also written,

in which he was constituted governor of the provinces of
Panama and Coyba, with the swelling title of Adelantado
of the Southern Sea. The base Pedrarias withheld the letter
from his rival, and strove to keep the knowledge of its contents,
and the purport of his own despatches, from the public.
But the seamen who came in the vessel which brought
the tidings, were unrestrained by any such motives as prevailed
over the honour of the governor, and the important
intelligence soon reached the knowledge of the parties most
interested in it. With a soul burning with honest indignation,
the courageous bishop ascended the pulpit, and denounced
the conduct of the governor as an outrage upon
the sovereign no less than the subject.

This public exposure drove the governor to other measures,
and he called a council of his public officers, to
whom, making a merit of necessity, he opened his despatches.
The bishop at once demanded that Vasco Nunez
should be invested with the dignities and power which the
king had conferred; but this proposition was resisted by
the alcalde mayor, who had been brought over to the party
of Pedrarias, and who, making a pretext of the late inquisition
into the conduct of Vasco Nunez, which still remained
unfinished, strenuously insisted that the offices ought in no
wise to be given to one, whose public conduct was still in
some sort the subject of official investigation—not, at least,
until the king had been apprised of the nature and results of
the inquest. The other councillors, who were all creatures
of Pedrarias, held the same language, and the bishop stood
alone in his opinion. But, though alone, he neither lost
heart in his cause, nor suffered any diminution of boldness
in his tongue. His vehemence and strong language effected
more than his arguments.

“I will denounce ye, Don Pedrarias, as disloyal to your
sovereign, inasmuch as you deliberately defeat his desires,
and refuse to obey his commands. He asks ye not to qualify
his judgments, and to rectify them where they fail—it
is he who shall correct your judgments, and, let me add,
shall punish them too, when it shall be that they err as they
do now, from passion and prejudice, and the most rank injustice.
I tell ye no more but this—Ferdinand shall know
from me, not merely of your disobedience, but of the evil
malice from which your disobedience springs. A malice
which, in seeking to destroy a man, hath come near to the

destruction of the whole colony, and hath too certainly destroyed
a thousand men. Look to it, señores—ye are all
the officers of the king—he shall know from me, if you
amend not your judgments, certainly and soon, what hath
been the character of your loyalty.”

The resolute indignation of the bishop produced its effect,
but did not altogether reach the end it aimed at. Pedrarias
well knew that if the jurisdiction, implied by the titles given
to Vasco Nunez, were once vested in him, it would leave
his own government of Darien but a very insignificant
command. He adopted a middle and more cunning
policy.

“Let Vasco Nunez give security that he will not attempt
to enter upon his jurisdiction, until the king hath knowledge
of the inquest upon him, in the business of the Señor
Diego de Nicuesa and of the Bachelor Enciso, and the titles
shall be conferred upon him forthwith. Thou mistakest
me, Quevedo, if thou think'st I would wrong this man, or
withhold from him any right, however little I may deem
him deserving of it. I have striven against him only as I
held him worthy rather of punishment than favour.”

“Be it so,” replied the bishop, with a scorn he was unable
entirely to conceal. “The Señor Vasco can have no
fear in submitting his cause to the king. Indeed, he hath
long since submitted it, and these honours and this power,
which ye are so reluctant to bestow, are his final judgments
upon the cause. But, as thou wilt. I will go forth
and greet the Adelantado of the Southern Seas with his new
and deserved dignities.”

The title was caught up and found a thousand echoes in
Darien. The old soldiers of Vasco Nunez crowded around
him with applauses and shouts of exultation, which galled
the angry Pedrarias to madness. He looked with a jealousy,
the parent of innumerable fears, to the high place
which his rival maintained in public opinion, and began to
apprehend the presence of an enemy, who was destined to
usurp his power and overthrow himself. It was while
these fears and feelings were uppermost, that Francisco
Pizarro sought him in secret, and furnished a new source
of disquiet to his mind, and a new motive for injustice.

“The adelantado is already busy, Don Pedrarias,” said
the ambitious soldier, who well knew that his own elevation
was retarded only by that of one so superior as Vasco

Nunez—“Look forth, señor, upon the harbour,—thou wilt
there see as handsome a brigantine as ever swam in salt
water. See,—she comes not to the quay—she rides securely
at a distance, some six leagues off. But there are
tidings already in Darien which speak of her objects, and
for whom she comes. A messenger hath left her for the
shore, and is even now in close conference with the adelantado.”

“The adelantado!—demonios! But speak out, Señor
Francisco—what are their objects—what brings she?”

“Arms and soldiers!”

“Ha!”

“As I live,—true, señor. There are men and arms on
board,—I know it from the Señor Vasco himself. Look
to it! He hath many in Darien to follow his banner, and
if, as I doubt not, the soldiers in the brigantine be numerous,
then will he have a force at his bidding to which
thou canst oppose nothing. Look to it—thou hast yet
time to do all—an hour may leave thee without strength
for any thing.”

The governor grasped the hand of the traitor with a cordial
pressure.

“Pizarro,—I thank thee—thou shalt be remembered for
this. Ho! there!”

A servant appeared.

“Away!—to the Señor Ayora—bid him instantly attend
me.”

The officer stood before him in a little while after, and
the vindictive governor at once gave him his commands.

“To the dwelling of Vasco Nunez with an hundred
picked men, and arrest me that black-hearted traitor. Do
thy bidding without hearing plea or prayer, and cast him
at once into the dungeon from which he was so lately and
unworthily set free. Away.”

The adelantado was conversing with the youth Pedro,
who had so well executed his commission, when the officer
of Pedrarias with a strong guard entered for his arrest.
At the first sight of the soldiers, Careta, the Indian damsel
who sat near the entrance, screamed aloud. Hearing her
voice, Vasco Nunez who sat within the chamber, behind a
curtain which half covered the doorway, and who saw
nothing of the soldiers though he heard their tread, started
to his feet, and caught up the sword which lay on a table

before him. The next moment Ayora entered the apartment
followed by a force which rendered unavailing every
offer at defence.

“What means this intrusion, Señor Ayora?” demanded
the adelantado.

“Your arrest, señor,—I am commanded by Don Pedrarias
to convey you to prison.”

“How!—Don Pedrarias—it cannot be! On what pretence?”

“Nay,—I know not that, señor,—nor is it for soldiers
to ask the why and wherefore of their commanders. I
must obey only, as, I trust, wilt thou.”

“Surely—there must be some mistake in this. Nay,
Careta, be not foolish—make no plaint,—Don Pedrarias
will soon find his error, and I will return to thee directly.
Pedro,—thou wilt be careful to keep things as I leave
them.”

There was a meaning in these parting words of the
chief which Ayora did not see, but which was readily understood
by the person addressed. He followed the party
to the Plaza near which stood the prison of Darien.

“Now,” said he, in hurried soliloquy as the door closed
upon the chief—“there is no farther charge upon me to
serve Vasco Nunez. The business I have taken for him
in hand is done, and he hath declared himself well content
with my performance. Surely, I have toiled for him
sharply, and as one who loved him. I forbore to slay him
when he was striding on with the pace of a giant to the
wondrous triumph which he achieved; a secret blow at
that moment, had been base like the shaft of the peasant
who lies in the cleft of the rock and strikes the mighty bird
when he is towering over the mountain. Wherefore did I
delay when he had made his triumph secure—wherefore
do I delay now, when his good fortune no longer attends
him?”

A well known and harsh voice at his side interrupted his
soliloquy. The boy started, and shrunk back with a feeling
of loathing, which the other interpreted into one of
fear. His grim smile betrayed something of triumph in
his mind at such a conviction.

“What! thou hast not forgotten, Pedro—thou art resolved
to remember old grudges. A truce to thy folly,
boy, and hearken to sober sense. Thou seest the fortunes

of thy old master. They will be thine if thou heed not.
He hath gone to the prison—he will go from thence to the
scaffold. Thou startest, but I tell thee truth; and thy own
danger is to come. Pedrarias knows not that thou hast
been the agent of this new treason of Vasco Nunez. He
knows not that it was thou who gottest ship and soldiers
for him in Cuba, that he might overthrow lawful sway in
Darien, and rise in rebellion against his sovereign. A
word from me will give thee to the same fate; and I will
speak that word, unless thou dost my bidding.”

The sallow cheeks of the youth grew red with indignation.
His lips quivered and the gleam of his eye was
darkened by an expression of such unusual ferocity that
even the brutal Pizarro beheld it with silent surprise.
But the feelings in the striving heart of the boy were
checked with the conviction in his mind, that such a man
was to be encountered by art only; and stopping the angry
defiance which his first impulse had carried to his quivering
lips, he changed the temper of his reply in an instant.

“And what would the Señor Francisco have me do?”

“Thou art willing—it is well. Thou shalt declare all
these things to the alcalde when he shall sit in judgment
on the Señor Vasco.”

“What things dost thou speak of Señor Pizarro?”

“What things? Have I not said? Hast thou not taken
money in his behalf to Cuba, and brought him hither a
vessel filled with armed men that he may overcome Pedrarias
and possess himself of the command.”

“Nay, Señor Francisco, thou errest—the adelantado
hath had no such object; and there are but seventy men
in the brigantine.”

“Nay,—thou shalt swear there are seven hundred, and
it is needful thou shouldst also swear his object to be as
I have declared it, and as thou knowest it to have been.
Thy own safety rests on thy readiness to do this.”

“Let me have time to think of it, Señor Francisco,”
said the youth temporizingly. A new feeling rose in his
mind, and a new resolution, which, friendly to the fortunes
of the oppressed conqueror, sprang rather from his dislike
to the man who strove to suborn him to perjury against
him, than from any more becoming sentiment of justice.
He saw that the myrmidons of Pizarro were at hand, and

a word from their master would have thrown him into
fetters also.

“Thou shalt have till to-morrow noon,” was the reply—
“meanwhile, know for certain that the Señor Vasco cannot
escape the anger of Pedrarias. Even shouldst thou fail
him, shouldst thou do, as it were thy death also to do, there
is sufficient proof of his treachery. Beware, boy—thy fate
hangs, in this matter, on a slender thread; and thou partakest
of the crime against which thou wilt not boldly declare
thyself. More than this, thy compliance will bring
thee reward—thou wilt win the favour of him who can
protect thee, in lieu of that which thou losest, and which
is of little worth to any now.”

“And if such be thy base policy,” murmured the youth
as he sped from the presence of the malicious traitor,
“such is not mine. No! If thou that hast followed him
in the day of his prosperity with the smiling sycophancy
of the selfish slave, turn'st upon him in his misfortune like
the base cur that yelps at the heels of the wretched, it is
reason enough for one who did not strike his enemy in his
hour of pride, to avoid and utterly reject the counsel of
which thou givest him so fitting an example. I will not
lift my voice against him when all others shrink from his
side, and such as thou art every where his foes.”

But all had not shrunk from the side of Vasco Nunez,
and every voice was not lifted against him in the day of
his evil fortune. While the youth sped along the thoroughfare,
and whenever the voices of a group reached his
ears, he heard nothing but murmurs against the new act of
tyranny which the governor had committed. Angry censures
were spoken out with little caution, and the professed
followers of the adelantado did not forbear to
mingle threats with their execrations. That sympathy
with greatness which had hitherto operated to discourage
the youth from putting into execution his vow of vengeance,
even when the opportunity was frequent, and had
made him labour faithfully in behalf of his destined victim,
now served to move him to yet farther performances, of
greater peril to himself, and of like generous tendency. A
sudden impulse, a thought rapid as the lightning, rushed
through his brain, and he stopped short among the
speakers.

“The secretary of the adelantado!—So, Señor Pedro,

what news is this of the Señor Vasco and of Don Pedrarias?
Shall the old soldiers of Darien be always made footstools
of these new-comers with their fine coats? What are
we to have next?”

“What you please!” replied the youth. “Ye are men—
strong men—and as ye know your own wants and wishes,
so also should ye, by this time, know how to obtain them.
Lo, you! Have you not arms, and fear you these silk-shodden
gentry? You are scarce less numerous, and, a
word in your ears; see you yonder vessel—a signal rings
her in two hours to the shore, and another signal adds an
hundred stout soldiers to your ranks. Put yourselves in
readiness—say nothing—arm secretly and gather behind
the pillars of Santa Maria del Antigua two hours hence.
So shalt thou know what can be done for the adelantado.
Arguello will meet you there and be your leader.”

“Ha, Señor Pedro, dost thou swear this—how shall
we believe you.”

“By the pillar and the cross, I swear. I go now to
Arguello—and to make signal to the brigantine. Keep
your counsel—trust none that ye know not—keep your
lips shut and your hearts firm, and meet me where I
tell you, in two hours, with lighted matches.”

From group to group the enthusiastic youth sped with
all the haste of one warmed with a new and agreeable employment.
A single word to one, a sentiment to another, a
judicious hope held out to a third, and a flattering speech
to a fourth, sufficed to give vigour and concentration to
those floating feelings of indignation, which the renewed ill-treatment
of their favourite commander had inspired among
the greater number of the old soldiers of Darien. There
were others of a higher order of intellect, if not of feeling,
to secure whom Pedro was not less mindful. One of these,
whose interests he well knew to depend very much upon
the release, as well as the favour of Vasco Nunez—one
Hernando de Arguello—he sought out with arguments
equally convincing and provocative. This man, though
no soldier, and a notary merely, was yet popular in the
colony, and was possessed of a considerable private fortune.
Much of this was invested in certain agricultural schemes
of Vasco Nunez, and in the erection of a new town called
Acla, which the latter had founded at a port to the west of
Darien, which, in compliment to the Indian damsel, had

been called Careta. To alarm him on the subject of these
interests, the youth well knew, was the most easy way to
bring Arguello into the field.

“Let Pedrarias convict Vasco Nunez of treason, and all
his property is confiscated. Your interests are so hidden
among his, that they go together in loss, equally as in good
fortune. Who knows, besides myself and ye two, that you
are equal owner with the Señor Vasco of all the fields of
Santa Maria?—who knows that your wealth has raised
from the base more than two-thirds of the houses at Acla?”

“But you can prove these things, Pedro, before the alcalde,”
replied the other in alarm.

“I prove! Ay, and what would be the value of my
proof in the ears of Pedrarias, when it is his desire to get
this property into his possession? It were as much as my
head were worth to give such testimony. I should look to
be found guilty of the same honourable crime with the adelantado,
and be despatched after him, as a secretary that
knows quite too much for the good of better people. No!
no! Señor Hernando,—your hope is to save the adelantado
from the jaws of the denouncing governor—in his safety
you are safe, and I tell thee if Vasco Nunez dies as a traitor
to King Ferdinand, then, the bare suspicion that thou
hast a claim upon property held as his, will go far to bringing
you guilty of the same crime, and will ensure you the
benefits of a like sharp judgment.”

“But to take command of these soldiers for his rescue is
treason.”

“Ay, but strong treason is always respectable, and makes
its own terms. Weak treason is a cur that barks without
teeth. Already they regard you as such a cur, and the
Señor Vasco is himself not without the imputation. If,
indeed, he had been less loyal, Pedrarias had not suspected
him of treason. Had he but shown his teeth at the first
indignity of this governor,—I tell thee he had this day been
sole master in Darien. It took from my admiration of the
Señor Vasco, that he was so patient, and so loyal, under all
his injuries. It is for him and his friends, now—it is not too
late—to show that they have teeth, and will not wait for
too much provocation.”

“Thou art wise beyond thy years, Pedro—thou shouldst
have been a soldier.”

The boy looked down at his own shrivelled limbs, and a
bitter smile passed over his features.

“Ay, ay,—but I am not, and what is worse, can never
be—but, Señor Hernando. I have teeth, and can show
them too when there is need. There is need for thee to
show thine now.”

“I do not fear, Pedro, as thou knowest; but, in truth,
I am as little soldier as thou. I cannot array men for
battle—”

“It shall be done to thy hands, señor; I will be at
thy side and will prompt thee. Fear not that I lack. I
tell thee—and I tell thee with sorrow rather than with
pride,—I have looked on war and battle with a strange
pleasure,—a pleasure that was ever dashed in the next moment
with a bitter grief, that I could only be a looker-on.
But enough of this. We are bound for speed. The men
gather at the Pillar of Santa Maria, and the signal is
thrice made for the soldiers of the brigantine. Get thee
thy weapon, señor,—and be surely at the Pillar within a
proper time. Thou art a lawyer, too—it were not amiss
if thou conned'st some flattering speech for the soldiers.
Thou canst tell them of the gold and the glory, of which
thou well know'st how small is the share which they ever
get. But this latter is a truth scarcely wholesome to be
said by those who need their succour. They will take
thy promises on trust, and ask for no proof such as would
trouble thee to procure, satisfactory to them as well as to
Pedrarias. Señor, thy fortune rests on thy speed, and by
our Lady of the Pillar, I tell thee, as in truth I believe, thy
head hangs on thy shoulders, when that of the Señor Vasco
is off, only by thy modest forbearance to claim any interest
in his forfeited possessions.”

“I will be there, Pedro—I fear not Pedrarias. Thou
art sure of the temper of the men?”

“Would thou wert as sure of thine arm, señor.”

“Nay, mistrust me not. This Pedrarias shall feel me.
He hath dealt foully with the Señor Vasco,—nay, I know
he strives only at his possessions; but there shall be blows
in that bargain. Thou hast said nothing to Pizarro?”

“Pizarro! No! Beware of him,—he is a thrice black
traitor to the Señor Vasco, who hath kissed his lips when
he carried poison on his own. I tell thee, if any hath
counselled Pedrarias to these doings, other than his own

vexing spirit, that other hath been Francisco Pizarro. Keep
thou from his sight, señor, until thou tak'st the lead of thy
men, then if he approach thee, as it will be but seemly in
him to do, with a traitorous speech of friendship to thee
and to Vasco Nunez, give him thy dagger in his mouth for
an answer, and let a short cord lift him to a high tree.
There is not a blacker heart in all Spain, than works in the
bosom of Francisco Pizarro.”

“Thy phrase is that of an old soldier, Pedro. Thou
wilt be a captain yet—nay, I will make thee my lieutenant
now. See that thou fail me not at the Pillar,—I shall have
little wisdom to command without thy help.”

“Be thou there, señor. I will no more fail thee, than I
will fail the Señor Vasco in the last moment.”