South American Fights and Fighters | Page 9

enable him to leave, or cause his
bones to rot on the shore. Cruel, fierce, implacable as were these
Spaniards, there is something Homeric about them in such crises as
these.
That was not the end of their misfortunes, for one of the two
brigantines was capsized. The old chroniclers say that the boat was
struck by a great fish. That is a fish story, which, like most fish stories,
it is difficult to credit. At any rate, sink it did, with all on board, and
Pizarro and about thirty men were all that were left of the gallant three
hundred who had followed the doughty Ojeda in the first attempt to
colonize South America.
Encisco was for hanging them at once, believing that {19} they had
murdered and deserted Ojeda, but they were able to convince him at
last of the strict legality of their proceedings. Taking command of the
expedition himself, as being next in rank to Ojeda, the Bachelor led
them back to San Sebastian. Unfortunately, before the unloading of his
ship could be begun, she struck a rock and was lost; and the last state of
the men, therefore, was as bad as the first.
Among the men who had come with Encisco was a certain Vasco
Nuñez, commonly called Balboa. He had been with Bastidas and La
Cosa on their voyage to the Isthmus nine years before. The voyage had
been a profitable one and Balboa had made money out of it. He had lost

all his money, however, and had eked out a scanty living on a farm at
Hispaniola, which he had been unable to leave because he was in debt
to everybody. The authorities were very strict in searching every vessel
that cleared from Santo Domingo, for absconders. The search was
usually conducted after the vessel had got to sea, too!
Balboa caused himself to be conveyed aboard the ship in a provision
cask. No one suspected anything, and when the officers of the boat had
withdrawn from the ship and Hispaniola was well down astern, he
came forth. Encisco, who was a pettifogger of the most pronounced
type, would have dealt harshly with him, but there was nothing to do
after all. Balboa could not be sent back, and besides, he was considered
a very valuable reënforcement on account of his known experience and
courage.
It was he who now came to the rescue of the wretched colonists at San
Sebastian by telling them that across the Gulf of Darien there was an
Indian tribe with many villages and much gold. Furthermore, these {20}
Indians, unfortunately for them, were not acquainted with the use of
poisoned arrows. Balboa urged them to go there. His suggestion was
received with cheers. The brigantines, and such other vessels as they
could construct quickly, were got ready and the whole party took
advantage of the favorable season to cross the Gulf of Darien to the
other side, to the present territory of Panama which has been so
prominent in the public eye of late. This was Nicuesa's domain, but
nobody considered that at the time.
They found the Indian villages which Balboa had mentioned, fought a
desperate battle with Cacique Cemaco, captured the place, and
discovered quantities of gold castellanos (upward of twenty-five
thousand dollars). They built a fort, and laid out a town called Maria de
la Antigua del Darien--the name being almost bigger than the town!
Balboa was in high favor by this time, and when Encisco got into
trouble by decreeing various oppressive regulations and vexatious
restrictions, attending to things in general with a high hand, they calmly
deposed him on the ground that he had no authority to act, since they
were on the territory of Nicuesa. To this logic, which was irrefutable,

poor Encisco could make no reply. Pending the arrival of Nicuesa they
elected Balboa and one Zamudio, a Biscayan, to take charge of affairs.
The time passed in hunting and gathering treasure, not unprofitably and,
as they had plenty to eat, not unpleasantly.
V. The Desperate Straits of Nicuesa
Now let us return to Nicuesa. Making a landfall, Nicuesa, with a small
caravel, attended by the two {21} brigantines, coasted along the shore
seeking a favorable point for settlement. The large ships, by his orders,
kept well out to sea. During a storm, Nicuesa put out to sea himself,
imagining that the brigantines under the charge of Lope de Olano,
second in command would follow him. When morning broke and the
storm disappeared there were no signs of the ships or brigantines.
Nicuesa ran along the shore to search for them, got himself embayed in
the mouth of a small river, swollen by recent rains, and upon the
sudden subsidence of the water coincident with the ebb of the tide,