They had committed suicide rather than be carried
off by the ruthless strangers.
All this time there was such a rough sea that no small boats could get
ashore from the caravels to obtain news of the eighty colonists under
Bartolome. At last a sailor offered to swim to land; when he came back,
it was with the news that this settlement had gone the way of Isabella
and San Domingo, for half its men had mutinied. The gold did not seem
worth fighting for where natives were so hostile that a man could not
even pick fruit from a tree and eat it! Columbus saw that there was
nothing to do but get the men back on the boats and abandon all thought
of colonizing what he had already named Costa Rica (Rich Coast).
But to carry out this decision for a while appeared impossible; the
waves were too high for any boat to venture out; but at last the clever
Diego Mendez, by lashing two canoes together into a sort of raft, got
near enough to shore to rescue Don Bartolome and his men and stores.
When Diego had succeeded in this perilous task, his Admiral was so
grateful that, in the presence of all the men, he kissed him on both
cheeks, a mark of great respect in those days. Ah, if only Christopher
had found such a stanch, capable friend earlier in his career!
Ever since they reached the mainland Columbus had been suffering
torments with rheumatism.
Pages:
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193