The Third Voyage -(Continued) - 1

The Third Voyage -(Continued) - 1

It may perhaps be wearisome to the reader to return to the tangled and depressing

situation in Espanola, but it cannot be half so wearisome as it was for Columbus, whom

we left enveloped in that dark cloud of error and surrender in which he sacrificed his

dignity and good faith to the impudent demands of a mutinous servant. To his other

troubles in San Domingo the presence of this Roldan was now added; and the reinstated

Alcalde was not long in making use of the victory he had gained. He bore himself with

intolerable arrogance and insolence, discharging one of Columbus's personal bodyguard

on the ground that no one should hold any office on the island except with his consent.

He demanded grants of land for himself and his followers, which Columbus held himself

obliged to concede; and the Admiral, further to pacify him, invented a very disastrous

system of repartimientos, under which certain chiefs were relieved from paying tribute on

condition of furnishing feudal service to the settlers—a system which rapidly developed

into the most cruel and oppressive kind of slavery. The Admiral at this time also, in

despair of keeping things quiet by his old methods of peace and conciliation, created a

kind of police force which roamed about the island, exacting tribute and meting out

summary punishment to all defaulters. Among other concessions weakly made to Roldan

at this time was the gift of the Crown estate of Esperanza, situated in the Vega Real,

whither he betook himself and embarked on what was nothing more nor less than a

despotic reign, entirely ignoring the regulations and prerogatives of the Admiral, and

taking prisoners and administering punishment just as he pleased. The Admiral was

helpless, and thought of going back to Spain, but the condition of the island was such that

he did not dare to leave it. Instead, he wrote a long letter to the Sovereigns, full of

complaints against other people and justifications of himself, in the course of which he

set forth those quibbling excuses for his capitulation to Roldan which we have already

heard. And there was a pathetic request at the end of the letter that his son Diego might

be sent out to him. As I have said, Columbus was by this time a prematurely old man, and

feeling the clouds gathering about him, and the loneliness and friendlessness of his

position at Espanola, he instinctively looked to the next generation for help, and to the

presence of his own son for sympathy and comfort.

It was at this moment (September 5, 1499) that a diversion arose in the rumour that four

caravels had been seen off the western end of Espanola and duly reported to the Admiral;

and this announcement was soon followed by the news that they were commanded by

Ojeda, who was collecting dye-wood in the island forests. Columbus, although he had so

far as we know had no previous difficulties with Ojeda, had little cause now to credit any

adventurer with kindness towards himself; and Ojeda's secrecy in not reporting himself at

San Domingo, and, in fact, his presence on the island at all without the knowledge of the

Admiral, were sufficient evidence that he was there to serve his own ends. Some gleam

of Christopher's old cleverness in handling men was—now shown by his instructing

Roldan to sally forth and bring Ojeda to order. It was a case of setting a thief to catch a

thief and, as it turned out, was not a bad stroke. Roldan, nothing loth, sailed round to that

part of the coast where Ojeda's ships were anchored, and asked to see his licence; which

was duly shown to him and rather took the wind out of his sails. He heard a little gossip

from Ojeda, moreover, which had its own significance for him. The Queen was ill;

Columbus was in disgrace; there was talk of superseding him. Ojeda promised to sail

round to San Domingo and report himself; but instead, he sailed to the east along the

coast of Xaragua, where he got into communication with some discontented Spanish

settlers and concocted a scheme for leading them to San Domingo to demand redress for

their imagined grievances. Roldan, however, who had come to look for Ojeda, discovered

him at this point; and there ensued some very pretty play between the two rascals, chiefly

in trickery and treachery, such as capturing each other's boats and emissaries, laying traps

for one another, and taking prisoner one another's crews. The end of it was that Ojeda left

the island without having reported himself to Columbus, but not before he had completed

his business—which was that of provisioning his ships and collecting dye-wood and

slaves.

And so exit Ojeda from the Columbian drama. Of his own drama only one more act

remained to be played; which, for the sake of our past interest in him, we will mention

here. Chiefly on account of his intimacy with Fonseca he was some years later given a

governorship in the neighbourhood of the Gulf of Darien; Juan de la Cosa accompanying

him as unofficial partner. Ojeda has no sooner landed there than he is fighting the natives;

natives too many for him this time; Ojeda forced to hide in the forest, where he finds the

body of de la Cosa, who has come by a shocking death. Ojeda afterwards tries to govern

his colony, but is no good at that; cannot govern his own temper, poor fellow. Quarrels

with his crew, is put in irons, carried to Espanola, and dies there (1515) in great poverty

and eclipse. One of the many, evidently, who need a strong guiding hand, and perish

without it.

It really began to seem as though Roldan, having had his fling and secured the excessive

privileges that he coveted, had decided that loyalty to Christopher was for the present the

most profitable policy; but the mutinous spirit that he had cultivated in his followers for

his own ends could not be so readily converted into this cheap loyalty. More trouble was

yet to come of this rebellion. There was in the island a young Spanish aristocrat,

Fernando de Guevara by name, one of the many who had come out in the hope of

enjoying himself and making a fortune quickly, whose more than outrageously dissolute

life in San Domingo had caused Columbus to banish him thence; and he was now living

near Xaragua with a cousin of his, Adrian de Moxeca, who had been one of the

ringleaders in Roldan's conspiracy. Within this pleasant province of Xaragua lived, as we

have seen, Anacaona, the sister of Caonabo, the Lord of the House of Gold. She herself

was a beautiful woman, called by her subjects Bloom of the Gold; and she had a still

more beautiful daughter, Higuamota, who appears in history, like so many other women,

on account of her charms and what came of them.