Part 8
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.