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VOYAGES
A N D DISCOVERIES OF
him from death when starving on a desert island. recompense.
Behold my
He repays me with imprisonment and chains.
Such is the gratitude the people of Darien may look for at his hands !" The subtle Bachelor Corral and his fellow envoy laid these matters to heart, and took their measures accordingly.
They hur
ried to depart before Nicuesa, and setting all sail on their caravel, hastened back to Darien.
The moment they arrived they sum
moned a meeting of the principal inhabitants.
" A blessed change
we have made," said they, " in summoning this Diego de Nicu esa to the command !
W e have called in the stork to take the
rule, who will not rest satisfied until he has devoured us."
They
then related, with the usual exaggeration, the unguarded threats which had fallen from Nicuesa, and instanced his treatment of Olano as a proof of a tyrannous and ungrateful disposition. The words of the subtle Bachelor Corral and his associate produced a violent agitation among the people, especially among those who had amassed treasures which would have to be refund ed.
Nicuesa, too, by a transaction which almost destroys sympa
thy in his favor, gave time for their passions to ferment.
On his
way to Darien he stopped for several days among a group of small islands, for the purpose of capturing Indians to be sold as slaves.
While committing these outrages against humanity, he
sent forward Juan de Cayzedo in a boat to announce his coming. His messenger had a private pique against him, and played him false.
He assured the people of Darien that all they had been
told by their envoys concerning the tyranny and ingratitude of Nicuesa was true ;—that he treated his followers with wanton severity ; that he took from them all they won in battle, saying that the spoils were his rightful property ; and that it was his in-