With a view to avoiding the treacherous winds and coastwise
currents that had previously wrought such havoc with his ships, he set
his rudders due east on leaving Veragua; his idea being to sail first
east and then north to San Domingo.
Straightway the crews became alarmed, thinking he meant to return direct
to Spain, in spite of the fact that the ships were too rotten for the
long trip. But no; the Admiral hoped, besides escaping currents, to
mystify them as to the geographical position of the gold coast.
Remembering how Alonzo de Ojeda had gone back and reaped riches from the
pearl coast, and how Pedro Nino, that captain who brought slaves to
Cadiz and sent word that he had brought a cargo of gold, and also been
to Paria, Christopher decided to zigzag about in such a manner that no
one could ever find his way back to the gold country ten days inland
from Darien. Suffering and misfortune were surely telling on the
Admiral's mind, else he would never have written this childish note:
"None of them [the crew] could explain whither I went nor whence I came;
they did not know the way to return thither."
But all the time his men grumbled, and could not understand why they
were starting for Spain on crazy, crumbling ships, when San Domingo lay
so much nearer.
Pages:
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195