THE
COMPANIONS
OF
COLUMBUS.
to learn that Sotomayor was in danger.
271
The life of her lover
was more precious in her eyes than the safety of her brother and her tribe ; hastening, therefore, to him, she told him all that she knew or feared, and warned him to be upon his guard.
Soto
mayor appears to have been of the most easy and incautious nature, void of all evil and deceit himself, and slow to suspect any thing of the kind in others.
He considered the apprehension of
the princess, as dictated by her fond anxiety, and neglected to profit by her warning. He received, however, about the same time, information from a different quarter, tending to the same point.
A Spaniard,
versed in the language and customs of the natives, had observed a number gathering together one evening, painted and decorated, as if for battle.
Suspecting some lurking mischief, he stripped
and painted himself in their manner, and, favored by the obscu rity of the night, succeeded in mingling among them undiscovered. They were assembled round a fire performing one of their mystic war-dances, to the chant of an areyto or legendary ballad.
The
strophes and responses treated of revenge and slaughter, and re peatedly mentioned the death of Sotomayor. The Spaniard withdrew unperceived, and hastened to apprise Don Christoval of his danger.
The latter still made light of
these repeated warnings ; revolving them, however, in his mind in the stillness of the night, he began to feel some uneasiness, and determined to repair in the morning to Juan Ponce de Leon, in his strong-hold at Caparra.
With his fated heedlessness, or temerity,
however, he applied to Agueybanà for Indians to carry his bag gage, and departed slightly armed, and accompanied by but three Spaniards, although he had to pass through close and lonely forests, where he would be at the mercy of any treacherous or lurking foe.