THE COMPANIONS
OF COLUMBUS.
75
than this instance of loyalty to the last gasp, in the death of the stanch Juan de la Cosa.
The Spaniard who escaped to tell the
story of his end, was the only survivor of seventy that had fol足 lowed Ojeda in this rash and headstrong inroad.
C H A P T E R TV. ARRIVAL
OF NICUESA.
VENGEANCE TAKEN ON THE INDIANS.
W H I L E these disastrous occurrences happened on shore, great alarm began to be felt on board of the ships.
Days had elapsed
since the party had adventured so rashly into the wilderness ; yet nothing had been seen or heard of them, and the forest spread a mystery over their fate.
Some of the Spaniards ventured a
little distance into the woods, but were deterred by the distant shouts and yells of the savages, and the noise of their conchs and drums.
Armed detachments then coasted the shore in boats,
landing occasionally, climbing rocks and promontories, firing signal guns, and sounding trumpets.
It was all in vain ; they
heard nothing but the echoes of their own noises, or perhaps the wild whoop of an Indian from the bosom of the forest. A t length, when they were about to give up the search in despair, they came to a great thicket of mangrove trees on the margin of the sea. These trees grow within the water, but their roots rise, and are intertwined above the surface.
In this entangled and almost im足
pervious grove, they caught a glimpse of a man in Spanish attire. They entered, and, to their astonishment, found it to be Alonzo de Ojeda.
He was lying on the matted roots of the mangroves,
his buckler on his shoulder, and his sword in his hand ; but so