Then he rode off to see how the men left behind at Isabella were
getting on.
There, since the day when he had taken away the best (that is, the most
industrious) men to work in San Domingo, those remaining had known
nothing but misfortune. Many had died; and of those left, many were ill
and all were discontented. Unluckily, Don Bartolome was not the man to
offer much sympathy or even to stay and put things in order. Instead, he
left this first American town to its fate and started on to the second.
All the way across the island to San Domingo he kept demanding tribute
from the natives he passed. The poor creatures, though they well knew
the malignant power of the Spaniards, determined to make one more
attempt at resistance. The result was that most of them were killed or
taken captive. By this time the tribute of Xaragua was to be ready, and
Don Bartolome went after it and did not continue on to the new seaport
of San Domingo.
While he was gone, his younger brother Diego was left in command of the
eastern part of the island. Diego was far less of a disciplinarian than
either Cristobal or Bartolome, and the Spaniards themselves now
revolted. In this they were led by a man named Francisco Roldan whom the
Admiral had appointed chief-justice. Roldan gathered about him nearly
all the well men on the island, taking them from their work in the mines
and on the new town.
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