Heroic Adventures By Land And Sea - 4

Heroic Adventures By Land And Sea - 4

Late in the night, however, the moon rose, and Mendez had the joy of seeing its lower

disc cut by a jagged line which proved to be the little islet or rock of Navassa, which lies

off the westerly end of Espanola. New hope now animated the sufferers, and they pushed

on until they were able to land on this rock, which proved to be without any vegetation

whatsoever, but on the surface of which there were found some precious pools of rainwater.

Mendez was able to restrain the frantic appetites of his fellow-countrymen, but the

savage companions were less wise, and drank their fill; so that some of them died in

torment on the spot, and others became seriously ill. The Spaniards were able to make a

fire of driftwood, and boil some shell-fish, which they found on shore, and they wisely

spent the heat of the day crouching in the shade of the rocks, and put off their departure

until the evening. It was then a comparatively easy journey for them to cross the dozen

miles that separated them from Espanola, and they landed the next day in a pleasant

harbour near Cape Tiburon. Fieschi, true to his promise, was then ready to start back for

Jamaica with news of the safe accomplishment of the voyage; but the remnant of the

crews, Spaniards and savage companions alike, had had enough of it, and no threats or

persuasions would induce them to embark again. Mendez, therefore, left his friends to

enjoy some little repose before continuing their journey to San Domingo, and, taking six

natives of Espanola to row his canoe; set off along the coast towards the capital. He had

not gone half-way when he learned that Ovando was not there, but was in Xaragua, so he

left his canoe and struck northward through the forest until he arrived at the Governor's

camp.

Ovando welcomed Mendez cordially, praised him for his plucky voyage, and expressed

the greatest concern at the plight of the Admiral; but he was very busy at the moment,

and was on the point of transacting a piece of business that furnished a dismal proof of

the deterioration which had taken place in him. Anacaona—the lady with the daughter

whom we remember—was now ruling over the province of Xaragua, her brother having

died; and as perhaps her native subjects had been giving a little trouble to the Governor,

he had come to exert his authority. The narrow official mind, brought into contact with

native life, never develops in the direction of humanity; and Ovando had now for some

time made the great discovery that it was less trouble to kill people than to try to rule over

them wisely. There had evidently always been a streak of Spanish cruelty in him, which

had been much developed by his residence in Espanola; and to cruelty and narrow

officialdom he now added treachery of a very monstrous and horrible kind.

He announced his intention of paying a state visit to Anacaona, who thereupon

summoned all her tributary chiefs to a kind of levee held in his honour. In the midst of

the levee, at a given signal, Ovando's soldiers rushed in, seized the caciques, fastened

them to the wooden pillars of the house, and set the whole thing on fire; the caciques

being thus miserably roasted alive. While this was going on the atrocious work was

completed by the soldiers massacring every native they could see—children, women, and

old men included—and Anacaona herself was taken and hanged.

All these things Diego Mendez had to witness; and when they were over, Ovando still

had excuses for not hurrying to the relief of the Admiral. He had embarked on a

campaign of extermination against the natives, and he followed up his atrocities at

Xaragua by an expedition to the eastern end of Espanola, where very much the same kind

of business was transacted. Weeks and months passed in this bloody cruelty, and there

was always an excuse for putting off Mendez. Now it was because of the operations

which he dignified by the name of wars, and now because he had no ship suitable for

sending to Jamaica; but the truth was that Ovando, the springs of whose humanity had

been entirely dried up during his disastrous reign in Espanola, did not want Columbus to

see with his own eyes the terrible state of the island, and was callous enough to leave him

either to perish or to find his own way back to the world. It was only when news came

that a fleet of caravels was expected from Spain that Ovando could no longer prevent

Mendez from going to San Domingo and, purchasing one of them.

Ovando had indeed lost all but the outer semblance of a man; the soul or animating part

of him had entirely gone to corruption. He had no interest in rescuing the Admiral; he

had, on the contrary, great interest in leaving him unrescued; but curiosity as to his fate,

and fear as to his actions in case he should return to Espanola, induced the Governor to

make some effort towards spying cut his condition. He had a number of trained rascals

under his command—among them Diego de Escobar, one of Roldan's bright brigade; and

Ovando had no sooner seen Mendez depart on his journey to San Domingo than he sent

this Escobar to embark in a small caravel on a visit to Jamaica in order to see if the

Admiral was still alive. The caravel had to be small, so that there could be no chance of

bringing off the 130 men who had been left to perish there; and various astute

instructions were given to Escobar in order to prevent his arrival being of any comfort or

assistance to the shipwrecked ones. And so Escobar sailed; and so, in the month of March

1504, eight months after the vanishing of Mendez below the eastern horizon, the

miserable company encamped on the two decaying ships on the sands at Puerto Santa

Gloria descried with joyful excitement the sails of a Spanish caravel standing in to the

shore.