THE
155
C O M P A N I O N S OF COLUMBUS.
C H A P T E R V. DISASTER
ON THE
BLACK
RIVER.
INDIAN PLOT AGAINST
DARIEN.
BARTOLOME H U R T A D O , being left to his own discretion on the banks of the Black River, occupied himself occasionally in hunt足 ing the scattered natives who straggled about the surrounding forests.
Having in this way picked up twenty-four captives, he
put them on board of a large canoe, like so much live stock, to be transported to Darien and sold as slaves.
Twenty of his follow足
ers, who were infirm either from wounds or the diseases of the climate, embarked also in the canoe, so that only ten men re足 mained with Hurtado. The great canoe, thus heavily freighted, descended the Black River slowly, between banks overhung with forests.
Zemaco, the
indefatigable cacique of Darien, was on the watch, and waylaid the ark with four canoes filled with warriors, armed with warclubs and lances hardened in the fire. The Spaniards, being sick, could make but feeble resistance ; some were massacred, others leaped into the river and were drowned.
Two only escaped, by
clinging to two trunks of trees that were floating down the river, and covering themselves with the branches.
Reaching the shore
in safety, they returned to Bartolome Hurtado with the tragical tidings of the death of his followers.
Hurtado was so disheart足
ened by the news, and so dismayed at his own helpless situation, in the midst of a hostile country, that he resolved to abandon the fatal shores of the Black River, and return to Darien.
He was
quickened in this resolution by receiving intimation of a con-