Ovando, whose heart, if he ever had one, had
shriveled to the size of a mustard grain, practically refused to send
help. On hearing Mendez' tale he said he was sorry for the Admiral and
his men, but he did not say he would send them a ship. Mendez kept at
him, telling him very emphatically that the one hundred and thirty
stranded Spaniards would certainly die unless soon rescued; still Ovando
said he was sorry, but did not offer to send relief. Instead, scoundrel
that he was, he _did_ send a small caravel, very small indeed, so
that it could not accommodate the forlorn men, and could not carry them
any provisions. The captain, one of Roldan's rebels, was carefully
instructed merely to see if Columbus and his shipmates were still alive,
and then to come back and report. The Roldan rebel took his caravel to
Don Christopher's Cove, rowed out in a small trailer until within
shouting distance of the two rotting hulks on the beach, and yelled out
that Governor Ovando was very sorry to learn from Mendez that the
Admiral and his party were in trouble, and regretted that he had no ship
large enough to send to their rescue. And then the villain sailed back
to his villainous master.
Imagine this studied, impudent message to a group of men whose eyes had
been straining for months to see a relief ship head their way! Imagine
sending such a message to the most illustrious discoverer the world has
ever known! A more dastardly bit of cruelty hardly exists in history!
This expedition was kept secret from Diego Mendez, however; and Diego,
still storming about because nothing was being done, went among the
populace of San Domingo and declared that it was a base, shameful
business to leave a sick old man to perish on a savage island,
especially when that old man had discovered all these lands for Spain.
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