THE
C O M P A N I O N S OF C O L U M B U S .
dangerous rival and an insidious foe.
217
Just at this critical junc足
ture, Andres Garabito, the agent of Vasco Nunez, arrived on the coast in a vessel which he had procured at Cuba, and freighted with arms and ammunition, and seventy resolute men, for the secret expedition to the shores of the Pacific Ocean.
He
anchored six leagues from the harbor, and sent word privately to Vasco Nunez of his arrival. Information was immediately carried to Pedrarias, that a mysterious vessel, full of armed men, was hovering on the coast, and holding secret communication with his rival.
The suspicious
temper of the governor immediately took the alarm.
He fancied
some treasonable plot against his authority ; his passions mingled with his fears ; and, in the first burst of his fury, he ordered that Vasco Nuiiez should be seized and confined in a wooden cage. The Bishop of Darien interposed in time to prevent an indignity which it might have been impossible to expiate.
He prevailed
upon the passionate governor, not merely to retract the order respecting the cage, but to examine the whole matter with cool足 ness and deliberation.
The result proved that his suspicions had
been erroneous ; and that the armament had been set on foot without any treasonable intent.
Vasco Nuiiez was therefore set
at liberty, after having agreed to certain precautionary conditions ; but he remained cast down in spirit and impoverished in fortune, by the harassing measures of Pedrarias.