threw off the mask of friendship which he had assumed for the purpose,
and immediately ordered a judicial investigation into his conduct as the
self-elected governor of Darien without sanction of royal authority.
This scrutiny was conducted by Espinosa, as the only lawyer in the
colony, and as he was completely dominated by Pedrarias, his findings
were exactly in accordance with his desires. Very soon the unfortunate
Balboa was involved in a legal net from which he could not extricate
himself until he had parted with more than ten thousand ounces of
gold--the greater part of his fortune. Much of his wealth, however, was
absorbed by the wily Quevedo, who, as bishop, exerted his influence in
favor of the accused, after having received from him a share in his
enterprises, considerable gold, and a drove of Indian slaves.
The scope of the inquiry, too, did not satisfy Pedrarias, for the
inexperienced lawyer went too largely into the discoveries and
invaluable services of Balboa to the crown, instead of confining himself
to his arbitrary acts in expelling Enciso and indirectly causing the
death of Nicuesa. The result was that through the remonstrances of the
bishop and the intercession of Dona Isabel--"upon whom the discoverer
never ceased to lavish costly presents, which he mingled with all the
politeness and attentions of the most refined courtier"--the governor
was induced to cease his persecutions for a while. It had been his
intention to send his rival to Spain, loaded with chains and charged
with crimes that would compel his conviction before the highest court;
but the bishop represented to him that to do so would be the surest way
to advance Balboa's interests instead of defeating his ambitions. The
king was already aware of his great discoveries, for the world was
ringing with the fame of his achievements, so he could not but be
rewarded and received with highest honors.
Pedrarias reluctantly abandoned the prosecution openly, but in secret
gathered much information from Balboa's enemies which he later used to
his injury, and set afloat reports which destroyed his effectiveness and
impaired his popularity. He was, in reality, digging the ground from
beneath his own feet, as well as undermining Balboa's reputation, for a
condition of affairs had developed which demanded all the energies of
both leaders in its correction. It was brought about by the governor's
recklessness and inexperience, which, combined, had plunged the colony
into dreadful calamities.
In the fleet with Pedrarias a vast amount of provisions had been brought
to Darien, which with economy would have lasted many months. At first
the colonists revelled in abundance; then it was discovered that one
ship-load of supplies had been spoiled by sea-water, and soon after
another, which had been deposited in a hut on shore, was destroyed by
fire. In a short time, in fact, the colonists found themselves face to
face with famine, the ravages of which, combined with the evils of the
tropical climate, produced a pestilence. In the course of a month no
less than seven hundred persons perished, all of them cavaliers who had
come with Pedrarias from Spain. A ship-load of the survivors fled the
colony, going to Cuba, and a few broken-hearted adventurers reached
their homes in Spain, which they had mortgaged for arms and equipments
they never had occasion to use. Those who remained at Darien were soon
reduced to the last extremity of hunger and despair. They wandered
through the streets of Antigua begging for food, and once-wealthy
cavaliers of proudest lineage might have been seen bartering their rich
ornaments and vestments for a few mouthfuls of cassava bread. Some, who
had never before labored with their hands, hired themselves out as
wood-cutters or burden-bearers, merely to sustain existence, while
others, in the pangs of starvation, fed on grass and the leaves of
trees.
One day, says the historian, "a noble knight rushed into the main street
of Antigua crying aloud that he was dying of hunger, and, in sight of
the whole population, fell, and rendered up his soul. So many perished
daily that it was impossible to give them Christian burial, and carts
were used for carrying away the dead, as in times of pestilence."
Pedrarias himself was taken with a fever, and, with his wife, was
carried to a salubrious spot among the hills, where he soon recovered.
Thence he sent orders for the old soldiers to set out, under his second
in command, Juan de Ayora, to visit the caciques with whom Balboa had
negotiated treaties when on his journey to the sea. This he did with an
eye to the occupation of the territory, in order to represent at court
that, while his rival might have discovered certain provinces, with
their inhabitants, he was the first to occupy and colonize beyond the
region of the coast. But Ayora, though he had with him a greater number
of soldiers than Balboa had ever commanded in one body, conducted
himself with such a reckless disregard for the rights of the
natives--seizing the women and children, and putting many Indians to the
torture--that the caciques united against and drove him from their
territory; so the expedition ended in disaster.
Balboa, meanwhile, was kept inactive at Antigua, and his adherents--for
he still had many favorably disposed towards him, who would gladly have
followed wherever he led--were not slow in pointing out to Pedrarias the
contrast between the old times and the new. "Before you and your minions
came," said they, "Antigua del Darien was tranquil within and without.
Under the command and control of Vasco Nunez, she reigned as queen of
the isthmus, and gave laws to twenty Indian nations. Our town was well
ordered, more than two hundred huts had been erected, the people were
cheerful and happy, amusing themselves on their feast-days by jousting
with reeds, the soil was cultivated, and all the caciques so pacific
that a single Castilian might cross from sea to sea, fearless of
violence or insult; whereas at present many Spaniards are dead, the rest
dismayed and broken-spirited, and the Indians in insurrection. All this
has been caused by the process against Vasco Nunez. Had he been allowed
to proceed in his discoveries, the truth respecting the promised
treasures of Dobaybe would ere this have been revealed; the Indians
would still have been peaceful, the soil yielding its abundance, and the
Castilians content. Give us again Vasco Nunez as a leader, for he alone
can pacify the Indians; he alone knows the secrets of the land."
The jealous and irritable Pedrarias was greatly incensed by the sneers
and reproaches of Balboa's friends. "So they want that rebel and that
assassin to lead them against Dobaybe? Inasmuch as there could not be
another expedition so likely to be defeated as one against that
province, thither shall he go--and may the devil catch him by the way,
say I."
This the crafty old governor said to himself, by-the-way, and not to
others; nor did he reveal his intentions until after the expedition had
departed, when it was found to be badly equipped and lacking in many
particulars which the careful Balboa, had he been unhampered, would have
supplied. He was rejoiced to be actively employed once more, and
especially in the search for that mysterious temple and its golden
treasure, which had, so far, eluded the Spaniards; but he was
disappointed in having to share the command with Luis Carillo, a friend
of the governor and a man of small capacity. His veterans also were
outnumbered by the recent arrivals, who were more enthusiastic than
prudent, and knew nothing of Indian warfare.
Having ascertained that in his former enterprise in search of Dobaybe he
had made a mistake in advancing by land, Balboa resolved to approach it
by water, and, embarking his force in canoes, entered a large and
unexplored river at the head of the gulf. It ran through a swamp
infested with vampires and alligators, and also--according to reports of
the Indians--the abode of a monstrous dragon which, with its progeny,
had been brought there by a hurricane. From what the Indians told the
Spaniards they inferred that these monsters were harpies, for they had
the faces of men or women, the claws of vultures or eagles, and huge,
leathery wings. They were so monstrous that only the largest trees could
support them when they alighted, and so fierce and powerful that
whenever they espied a man on the ground they would swoop down like a
hawk, and, seizing him in their claws, bear him off to their dens in the
mountains. Those who had been there affirmed that these dens were
littered with the bones of such unfortunates as had been torn to pieces
and devoured by the dragons, who seemed to have established themselves
as the self-constituted guardians of the golden temple and its idol.
It is doubtful if Balboa believed this tale of the dragons; but if so he
did not let it daunt him, and pushed on through the dismal morass by
means of the noisome stream that traversed it. Suddenly, on turning a
bend of the river, the Spaniards found themselves face to face with an
immense swarm of savages in canoes, who proceeded, with howls and yells,
to surround them. At the same time they let fly clouds of darts and
arrows, by which many soldiers were killed or wounded, while many more
were drowned by the vicious savages plunging into the water and
overturning the canoes. The two commanders were wounded: Balboa
slightly, and Carillo, who was pierced through the breast by a lance, so
badly that he shortly died.
The Indians forced Balboa to retreat to shore, where he beat them back,
but was compelled to return to Darien through the inundated forests
swarming with noxious reptiles, and without having obtained even a
glimpse of Dobaybe. The dangers and horrors of that retreat exceeded
anything that the brave soldier had previously experienced; and it was
his first defeat! His partisans attributed it to the fact that he had
not been given absolute command; but those of Pedrarias taunted him with
cowardice and weakness, two qualities which, as those acquainted with
his life know full well, were not a part of his nature. But he began to
fear his evil star had risen above the horizon, and he was downcast, if
not dispirited, while in proportion as he was depressed rose the spirits
of the rancorous old governor. He exulted greatly in the misfortunes of
Balboa, even at the expense of his soldiers, the loss of life being as
nothing, in his eyes, compared with the pleasure he experienced by his
enemy's downfall.
His rejoicing, however, was of short duration, for soon after Balboa's
return Pedrarias received a letter from King Ferdinand, commanding him
to consult with his "faithful servant, Vasco Nunez de Balboa," on all
affairs of importance, for, as he would see by the enclosed credentials,
he had constituted him adelantado of the great South Sea, and governor
of the provinces of Coyba and Panama. He was, however, to be subordinate
in authority to Pedrarias, "who, on his part, was charged so to favor
and advance the pretensions and enterprises of that chief as might prove
to him the esteem in which the king held his person. The court doubtless
intended thus to reconcile the respect due to the character and
authority of the governor with the gratitude and rewards earned by
Balboa; however, that which seemed so easy at court, was impossible in
the Darien, where so many passions were constantly in collision."
Pedrarias, in fact, should never have been appointed to control the
territory of Darien, which so manifestly belonged to Balboa as supreme
executive; but, having made that appointment--unfit and ill-advised as
it was--in order to "save face," the king thought to reward the
discoverer, and at the same time placate the usurper with the honors of
a captain-generalcy. That they were empty and valueless, Pedrarias knew
full well, for the rich regions lay within the boundaries of Balboa's
territory, while his own government included only the country contiguous
to the gulf, which was devoid of intrinsic riches, unhealthy, and
impoverished.
For these reasons the choleric Pedrarias, when he received the royal
order, fumed and raved, declaring to this wife that never should that
rebel and assassin, Vasco Nunez, be so highly honored at cost to
himself. He would withhold the letter, and if possible keep the
intelligence secret; but he found this to be impossible, for Balboa's
friends at court communicated to him what had been ordered by the king,
and he forthwith demanded his rights. In this demand he was joined by
the bishop, who denounced this interference with the evident intention
of the king as an outrage upon the rights of his friend, and the
rebellious governor was quickly brought to terms.
At a council of officials called by Pedrarias sometime in the latter
part of the year 1515, Balboa was invested with his titles and
dignities, and thenceforth was always addressed as "Adelantado." But the
wily old governor had neatly turned the tables on his rival by bestowing
upon him, in fact, the empty honors, and reserving to himself the
substantial emoluments of office, since he had forced from him a
stipulation that he would not enter upon the actual government of his
provinces without his permission!
Even the concession he was compelled to make sufficed to fan the
smouldering fires of the governor's jealousies to a flame, and he was
more than ever convinced that in the person of Balboa he had a deadly
rival and insidious foe, who should be removed from his path at whatever
cost. It was at this juncture, while the friends of the discoverer were
flocking about him with rejoicings, and he himself was openly exultant,
that there arrived in the gulf a vessel consigned to him, freighted with
arms and ammunition, and containing seventy adventurers, evidently
intended for a secret expedition. It was, in fact, commanded by one of
his former comrades, Andres Garabito, who had been sent by him to Cuba,
several months before, with orders to raise a force and procure an
armament for a projected expedition to the Pacific coast.
It may have been Balboa's intention to proceed over the mountains with
this armed band and seize upon the government of which he had been
deprived by stratagem; but this is unlikely, as the movement was made
before he had received the royal title to it. The mere fact, however,
that a mysterious ship was off the coast and holding secret
communication with the adelantado, was sufficient to rouse the old
governor's passions, and in a transport of fury he ordered him to be
seized and imprisoned in a wooden cage.
XVII
A COMPACT WITH THE ENEMY
1516
Fortunately for Balboa, his friend the bishop interposed before the
governor carried out his intention, and persuaded him, not only to
release the prisoner, but to give him the benefit of an impartial
inquiry. The inquiry was entered into, but was conducted by the lawyer
Espinosa, and so protracted that, though the accused was acquitted of
any evil intentions in importing the men and armament, yet he was
harassed to the verge of desperation and completely impoverished. Lawyer
Espinosa was enjoying a monopoly of all legal processes, owing to the
king's prohibition against others of his class, and had already involved
nearly every man in the colony in some sort of entanglement, from which
he could extricate himself only by paying to the licentiate a good fat
fee.
The good offices of the bishop did not cease with a single effort in
behalf of his friend, for he recommended him to Pedrarias as the proper
person to conduct an expedition across the mountains, to the sea he had
discovered, for the purpose of investigating the islands abounding in
pearls. This step, however, the yet jealous Pedrarias refused to take.
He intended to have the islands explored, but not by their discoverer,
as that would only add to the laurels he already wore, and increase his
popularity both at Darien and in Spain.
An expedition was formed, consisting of sixty men, commanded by one
Gaspar Morales, a relative of the governor, with the redoubtable
Francisco Pizarro as his lieutenant. The man whom the world was to know
as the conqueror of Peru had already been to the coast with Balboa, and,
knowing the way thither, led the party safely to the shores of the
Pacific. Leaving thirty men with a cacique named Tutibara, Pizarro
embarked with the others for the pearl islands, where he encountered a
fierce resistance from the islanders, whom he overcame, after great
slaughter had been inflicted, and compelled to pay him tribute. The
cacique of the island brought him a basketful of pearls as a
peace-offering, among which were several of great beauty and
extraordinary size. These he gladly exchanged for iron hatchets, beads,
and hawk-bells, sagely remarking, when the Spaniards smiled at his
simplicity, "These things I can turn to useful purpose; but of what
value are those baubles to me? The shores of this island and the deep
places of the waters around them abound in pearls without number, which
my divers can get for me whenever I wish."
Taking the Spaniards to the summit of a high hill, and showing them the
distant coast of the mainland, with its towering mountains and bluff
promontories, he remarked: "Beyond and beyond, as far as you can see,
and much farther, lies a land containing a rich kingdom called Biru
[Peru], where gold is as plentiful as stones are with us. That is a
country worthy your efforts; that is something which will richly reward
you--if you can but conquer it." It is thought that then and there,
while listening to the cacique of the pearl islands, Francisco Pizarro
formed the resolve to seek out and effect the conquest of that golden
empire which he subjugated sixteen years later.
We shall have nothing further to do with this expedition, except to
relate its results as they bear upon the fortunes of Balboa. It came
near sharing the fate of nearly all those which were sent out while
Pedrarias ruled the isthmus, for, on the way back to Darien, Pizarro and
Morales were fiercely attacked by several caciques, whom they had
outraged by their cruelties, and for seven days pursued through the
forests in disastrous retreat. Their command was nearly exterminated,
and but a remnant arrived at Darien, after enduring incredible
sufferings.
The administration of Pedrarias was replete with disaster from beginning
to end, and every enterprise he undertook ended in misfortune and
disgrace. A valiant captain, Francisco Becerra, undertook to invade the
province of Zenu, where, according to report, gold in unlimited
quantities could be drawn from the rivers in nets. He had one hundred
and eighty men and three small cannon when he entered the forest and
bade farewell to the settlement; but never a man of that gallant command
came back, nor were the cannon ever recovered. All were swallowed up in
the forest, as though the earth had opened and taken the invaders into a
subterranean tomb.
While Balboa was detained inactive at the settlement, these various
expeditions under inexperienced commanders overran the country, and
effected nothing more than had been already--and better--done by the
discredited commander who was being consumed by vexation and despair.
All the littoral Indians of Darien had been reduced to subjection by
him, and the most that was effected by Pedrarias was a reconquest, which
was worse than useless, as it roused the rage of the caciques and
provoked retaliation. Among those who, though powerful and warlike,
Balboa had overcome and compelled to sue for peace was the mountain
cacique Tubanama. He was blunderingly attacked, by orders of Pedrarias,
and not only repulsed the Spaniards from his stronghold, but drove them,
bootless, back to Darien, where the survivors arrived breathless and
panic-stricken. Stripping the slain Spaniards as they lay in the forest,
Tubanama displayed their bloody shirts on poles as banners, and marched
his warriors around the walls, striking terror and dismay to the hearts
of all within the settlement. The garrison was beleaguered,
foraging-parties assaulted, sorties ambuscaded, and such was the alarm,
says the good Bishop Las Casas in his history, that the people feared to
be burned within their dwellings.
"They kept a watchful eye upon the mountains, the plains, the waving
branches of the trees, for their imaginations were infected by their
fears. If they looked towards the land, the long, rustling grass
appeared to them to be moving hosts of savages; if they looked towards
the sea, they beheld fleets of canoes in the distance. Pedrarias
endeavored to hush all rumors that might increase the alarm; at the same
time he ordered the smelting-house to be closed, which was never done
except in time of war. This was done at the suggestion of the bishop,
who caused prayers to be offered and fasts proclaimed in order to avert
the impending calamities."
The one man by whom these calamities could have been obviated, Vasco
Nunez de Balboa, was by the governor's orders restrained from action and
confined, virtually a prisoner, within the walls of Antigua. While
courageous and daring enough in the field, he yet possessed an
excessive regard for his sovereign and his representatives, hence his
servile submission to the persecutions of Pedrarias. He has remained
silent for a long while beneath the governor's opprobrium and calumnies;
now let him speak in his own behalf. While the ravage of Tubanama was in
progress, and his warriors were raging around the settlement, he
approached the bishop one day as he emerged from the rude chapel that
served as church and cathedral. "Your lordship," he said, "I can endure
this no longer! My patience, beneath the insults and indignities which
the governor has heaped upon me, has reached its limit. Even the king,
were he to know all that has occurred in this colony since that base
usurper came here, could not but sustain me in rebelling against his
authority. He has, as you know, kept me here in durance, while others
have been intrusted with expeditions that have invariably returned in
disaster. In justice to the survivors of this once-flourishing colony,
which I alone placed on a basis of prosperity, but which Pedrarias has
reduced to lamentable ruin, I demand that I be established in power
again. If not here at Darien, then on the coast of the great sea, of
which so little has been learned since I discovered it." His eyes
flashed, his breast heaved with deep emotion, and the bishop saw that he
was at last aroused from his lethargy--that the lion within him was
crouching for a spring.
He heard him through without interruption, then said, soothingly: "My
son, it is even so as thou hast said. I have beheld these things with
grief and inward rage; but, as thou knowest, Don Pedro hath been
appointed by the king, and, though he be technically a usurper, still he
is supported by the crown. Had but Arbolancha arrived a few weeks sooner
than he did all might have been in thy favor; but now--now the king's
eyes have been opened too late to bestow upon thee thy deserts. But
patience, my son, for yet a little while. To-day, this very morning,
will I see the governor and plead thy cause."
The good bishop quickly redeemed his pledge, and within an hour was in
the presence of the governor and his lady. Without a moment's delay he
plunged into the subject of which he was so full, representing to
Pedrarias that "by keeping the finest capacity in the land in idleness
and obscurity he was injuring none more than himself, thus losing the
fruits which the friendship of Vasco Nunez would produce for him."
"There is no doubt," he said to the surly Pedrarias, "that Vasco Nunez
will, in some way or other, make known to the king the oppression and
contumely in which he has been held, to the defiance of royal command
and the injury of his majesty's interest. Why, then, persist in driving
a man to become your deadliest enemy whom you may grapple to your side
as your firmest friend?"
"Why, forsooth?" exclaimed Pedrarias, with a growl. "Because he has
chosen to oppose me and to oppose the royal commands. But even were we
disposed to agree--of which there is doubt--how could I, now that I have
humbled and discredited him, still regain his confidence and friendship?
It is incredible!"