THE
C O M P A N I O N S OF C O L U M B U S .
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These words were of no avail in his extremity, but they were fully believed by the populace. The execution took place in the public square of Acla ; and we are assured by the historian Oviedo, who was in the colony at the time, that the cruel Pedrarias was a secret witness of the bloody spectacle ; which he contemplated from between the reeds of the wall of a house, about twelve paces from the scaf足 fold!* Vasco Nuiiez was the first to suffer death.
Having confessed
himself and partaken of the sacrament, he ascended the scaffold with a firm step and a calm and manly demeanor ; and, laying his head upon the block, it was severed in an instant from his body.
Three of his officers, Valderrabano, Botello, and Hernan
Mufios, were in like manner brought one by one to the block, and the day had nearly expired before the last of them was exe足 cuted. One victim still remained.
It was Hernando de Arguello,
who had been condemned as an accomplice, for having written the intercepted letter. The populace could no longer restrain their feelings.
They
had not dared to intercede for Vasco Nunez, knowing the impla足 cable enmity of Pedrarias ; but they now sought the governor, and, throwing themselves at his feet, entreated that this man might be spared, as he had taken no active part in the alleged treason.
The daylight, they said, was at an end, and it seemed
as if God had hastened the night to prevent the execution. The stern heart of Pedrarias was not to be touched.
" No,"
said he, " I would sooner die myself than spare one of them." The unfortunate Arguello was led to the block. * Oviedo, Hist. Ind., p. 2, cap. 9, M S .
The brief tro-