THE
COMPANIONS
OF
COLUMBUS.
89
board, bad assumed the command as a matter of course.
Tala足
vera, who claimed dominion over the ship, by the right no doubt of trover and conversion, or, in other words, of downright piracy, resisted this usurpation. Ojeda, as usual, would speedily have settled the question by the sword, but he had the whole vagabond crew against him, who overpowered him with numbers and threw him in irons. his swelling spirit was unsubdued.
Still
He reviled Talavera and his
gang as recreants, traitors, pirates, and offered to fight the whole of them successively, provided they would give him a clear deck, and come on two at a time.
Notwithstanding his diminutive size,
they had too high an idea of his prowess, and had heard too much of his exploits, to accept his challenge ; so they kept him raging in his chains while they pursued their voyage. They had not proceeded far, however, when a violent storm arose.
Talavera and his crew knew little of navigation, and
were totally ignorant of those seas.
The raging of the elements,
the baffling winds and currents, and the danger of unknown rocks and shoals, filled them with confusion and alarm.
They knew
not whither they were driving before the storm, or where to seek for shelter.
In this hour of peril they called to mind that Ojeda
was a sailor as well as a soldier, and that he had repeatedly navigated these seas. Making a truce, therefore, for the common safety, they took off his irons, on condition that he would pilot the vessel during the remainder of the voyage. Ojeda acquitted himself with his accustomed spirit and intre足 pidity ; but the vessel had already been swept so far to the west足 ward that all his skill was ineffectual in endeavoring to work up to Hispaniola against storms and adverse currents.
Borne away
by the Gulf Stream, and tempest-tost for many days, until the