IT was so plain to the Indians that Diego’s antics were caused by
satisfaction that they were immediately reassured, and were presently
gathered around him to discover what it was in the old man that caused
their heaven-sent visitor such pleasure.
“I believe ’tis gold,” said Juan.
“I am certain of it, and I will see if I can get it from the old
fellow,” answered Diego, and thereupon began to make signs.
He took a hawk’s bell from his pocket and jingled it before the eyes
of the dignified but, therewith, delighted savage. Then he tapped the
ring of gold with his finger, tapped the bell, and offered it to the
savage. The old man understood him in an instant, and it gave Diego and
Juan--their greed for gold being very great--a mighty satisfaction to
see with what trembling eagerness the old man took the ring from his
nose and exchanged it for the hawk’s bell.
[Illustration: “JINGLED IT BEFORE THE EYES OF THE SAVAGE.”]
“Say nothing to the others till we have our fill of it,” said Diego
feverishly to Juan, not knowing that the more gold he had the more he
would be likely to wish for, and that the time when he had his fill
would be little likely ever to come.
“Perhaps they have no more,” said Juan.
“That we will speedily learn,” answered Diego.
So he took from his pockets, Juan doing likewise, all the bells and
beads he had. Then he made signs that he would exchange them only
for rings of gold. Upon that the savages ran off and returned with a
handful altogether of the rings, and Diego and Juan were soon rid of
their trifles in exchange; though it must be said that the Indians gave
every evidence of thinking they had made the better bargain.
When they had procured all they could from the men, the boys, in great
excitement, hurried out of the grove and shouted for Martin Alonzo,
until he was pointed out to them.
“Well,” said he, “what madness is on you now?”
“Madness, indeed!” said Diego, his dark eyes sparkling like the
precious stones his head was now full of; for he was as certain as
if he had them in his pockets that he would soon be possessed of
burdensome quantities of diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and the like.
Martin Alonzo very quickly caught the expression, and demanded eagerly:
“What then? What then? Speak, Diego!”
“Look, cousin!” said Diego, softly, and drew several of the rings from
his pocket and gave them to Martin Alonzo.
“Gold!” said Martin Alonzo, in a tone that might fairly be called an
adoring one.
“I have twenty if I have one, and Juan has as many,” said Diego.
“Ha, ha!” cried Martin Alonzo, rubbing his hands gleefully, “did I not
say you should have it? Come! we must to the admiral with this.”
“Why,” said Diego, “let us get more ourselves, first.”
“Tut!” said Martin Alonzo, and laughed like a man drunk with
expectation, “be not so grudging, boy; there will be enough to load the
_Pinta_ to the rail. Come! Ah, this looks well, indeed.”
So he led the way to where the admiral sat, trying to extract some sort
of information from the natives.
“My lord admiral,” said he, joyously, “this boy here, or the two of
them together, for they run in couples now, though they were for
flying at each other’s throats a while since--this boy, I say, has
found the thing we have sought.”
“And what is that?” asked the admiral, looking kindly at the flushed,
eager faces of the two lads.
“Show him, Diego. A shrewd lad and a cousin of mine, admiral,” said
Martin Alonzo.
Diego, for the better showing of his shrewdness and his good fortune,
drew out all of the gold nose-rings he had obtained, and Juan turned
all he had into the same pile, Diego holding his two hands together to
accommodate them all.
The admiral took some of them in his hand, eagerly, too, and examined
them carefully before he spoke.
“Gold; and without alloy. Pure,” he said. “This is well. How came you
by them, my boy?”
So Diego told the story, looking to Juan for confirmation now and
again, and the latter responding loyally, giving Diego all the credit
that was his.
“I knew it would rejoice you,” said Martin Alonzo, very proud of Diego.
“And so it does,” said the admiral.
“And shall I issue bells and beads to the men, and let them barter for
the yellow stuff?” asked Martin Alonzo, eagerly; for he was anxious to
redeem his promises to his men.
“Not so,” answered the admiral, gravely. “Gold is a monopoly of their
majesties and can only be bartered for on their account. And ’tis the
same with cotton. All things else the men may procure from the natives.”
“Not barter for gold?” cried Martin Alonzo, in his quick, passionate
way.
“Not barter for gold,” repeated the admiral, with all the dignity of
his authority.
“And you will not return these rings to the boys?”
“Assuredly not, Martin Alonzo,” said the admiral. “You must see that it
would be impossible; though I would be glad to do it for the sake of
rewarding their shrewdness.”
“Then,” said Martin Alonzo, his bronzed face all aflame with wrath, “I
say you shall yield it up to them. I say you shall,” and he stamped his
foot on the hard sand of the beach where they stood.
“Martin Alonzo Pinzon!” said the admiral, in a stern tone, “you do
forget yourself.”
For a second it seemed as if he had, indeed, forgotten himself, and
would continue to do so, ere he would yield his point. But a better
judgment prevailed and he held his peace; though it was impossible for
him to quite control his temper. He caught Diego’s hand in his and
emptied the rings out of it upon the sand, and then swept both of the
boys along with him as he walked sternly away.
[Illustration: “‘NOT BARTER FOR GOLD?’ CRIED MARTIN ALONZO.”]
He said nothing to either of the boys, but stalked along in a towering
rage, and, when he had come to his boats, gave the order that the men
should be collected, so that they might go aboard for the night.
As for Diego and Juan, they were divided between indignation at the
manner in which their cherished gold had been taken from them and
dismay at the attitude Martin Alonzo had assumed towards Christoval
Colon, whose lofty manners as well as whose dignities awed them.
“I wish,” said Diego, who could never be wholly repressed, “that that
old man had not thrust his nose into my face.”
“Or that you had wrung it off, as I supposed you intended to do,” said
Juan.
“Hush! Martin Alonzo is looking this way. If he should see us smile
now, I think he would make but one bite of our two heads. But, say,
Juan, if we may not traffic in gold--cotton I would not have as a
gift--what is to become of us?”
“There are the precious stones.”
“Oh, ay!” said Diego, doubtfully; “but where are they? I saw no
semblance of any this day.”
“That’s because you saw nothing but noses,” said Juan, and both the
boys, easily recovered from the loss of their gold, laughed behind
their hands.