220
LIFE
AND
VOYAGES
OF
[BOOK
XII.
and divert them from any schemes of mischief. The large con cessions recently made to them would, he trusted, secure their present fidelity, rendering it more profitable for them to be loyal than rebellious. Roldan readily undertook the enterprise. He had nothing further to gain by sedition, and was anxious to secure his illgotten possessions and atone for past offences by public services. He was vain as well as active, and took a pride in acquitting himself well in an expedition which called for both courage and shrewdness. Departing from San Domingo with two caravels, he arrived on the 29th of September within two leagues of the har bor where the ships of Ojeda were anchored. Here he landed with five-and-twenty resolute followers, well armed, and accus tomed to range the forests. He sent five scouts to reconnoitre. They brought word that Ojeda was several leagues distant from his ships, with only fifteen men, employed in making cassava bread in an Indian village. Roldan threw himself between them and the ships, thinking to take them by surprise. They were ap prised, however, of his approach by the Indians, with whom the very name of Roldan inspired terror, from his late excesses in Xaragua. Ojeda saw his danger ; he supposed Roldan had been sent in pursuit of him, and he found himself cut off from his ships. With his usual intrepidity he immediately presented him self before Roldan, attended merely by half a dozen followers. The latter craftily began by conversing on general topics. He then inquired into his motives for landing on the island, particu larly on that remote and lonely part, without first reporting his arrival to the admiral. Ojeda replied, that he had been on a voyage of discovery, and had put in there in distress, to repair his ships and procure provisions. Roldan then demanded, in the