No amount of searching revealed
it; instead, another painful sight, a few dead Spaniards; that was all.
Inland, far away from his original abode, the king was found who had so
kindly helped Columbus when the _Santa Maria_ was wrecked--King
Guacanagari. From him came the only account ever obtained of the fate of
the colony; a true account apparently, for later investigations
confirmed it. The Spaniards, with the exception of their leader, Arana,
had behaved very badly toward each other and toward the natives. They
wanted wives, and had stolen all the young women from Guacanagari's
village and then had fought with each other for the prettiest. Having
obtained wives, some deserted the little European colony and went to
live as savages among the Indians. Others had gone to find the gold
mines, which quest took them to the eastern part of the island where the
fierce chief Caonabo ruled. So enraged was this chief at their invasion
that he not only killed _them_, but descended upon their
compatriots at La Navidad, and attacked them one night when all was
still and peaceful. Guacanagari heard the savage war whoops, and out of
friendship for the Admiral he tried to drive off the assailants, but he
himself was wounded and his house was burned. The Spanish fort was
fired; the inmates rushed out, only to be butchered or driven into the
sea and drowned.
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