CHAP. I V . ]
CHRISTOPHER
COLUMBUS.
401
CHAPTER IV. MISSION OP DIEGO DE ESCOBAR TO THE ADMIRAL. [1504.]
EIGHT months had now elapsed since the departure of Mendez and Fiesco, without any tidings of their fate. For a long time the Spaniards had kept a wistful look-out upon the ocean, flatter足 ing themselves that every Indian canoe, gliding at a distance, might be the harbinger of deliverance. The hopes of the most sanguine were now fast sinking into despondency. What thou足 sand perils awaited such frail barks, and so weak a party, on an expedition of the kind ! Either the canoes had been swallowed up by boisterous waves and adverse currents, or their crews had perished among the rugged mountains and savage tribes of His足 paniola. To increase their despondency, they were informed that a vessel had been seen, bottom upwards, drifting with the currents along the coasts of Jamaica. This might be the vessel sent to their relief ; and if so, all their hopes were shipwrecked with it. This rumor, it is affirmed, was invented and circulated in the island by the rebels, that it might reach the ears of those who remained faithful to the admiral, and reduce them to despair.* It no doubt had its effect. Losing all hope of aid from a distance, Hist. del Almirante, cap. 104.