THE
C O M P A N I O N S OF C O L U M B U S .
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to cut and draw wood, to procure water from a distance, and to carry enormous burdens.
The cacique died soon after their cap足
ture, and was succeeded by another called Taxmar.
He was a
chief of some talent and sagacity, but he continued the same rigorous treatment of the captives.
B y degrees they sank be足
neath the hardships of their lot, until only two were left ; one of them a sturdy sailor named Gonzalo Guerrero, the other a kind of clerical adventurer named Jeronimo de Aguilar.
The sailor
had the good luck to be transferred to the service of the cacique of the neighboring province of Chatemal, by whom he was treated with kindness.
Being a thorough son of the ocean, seasoned to
all weathers, and ready for any chance or change, he soon ac足 commodated himself to his new situation, followed the cacique to the wars, rose by his hardihood and prowess to be a distinguished warrior, and succeeded in gaining the heart and hand of an Indian princess. The other survivor, Jeronimo de Aguilar, was of a different complexion.
He was a native of Ecija, in Andalusia, and had
been brought up to the church, and regularly ordained, and shortly afterwards had sailed in one of the expeditions to San Domingo, whence he had passed to Darien. He proceeded in a different mode from that adopted by his comrade, the sailor, in his dealings with the Indians, and in one more suited to his opposite calling.
Instead of playing the hero
among the men, and the gallant among the women, he recollected his priestly obligations to humility and chastity.
Accordingly, he
made himself a model of meekness and obedience to the cacique and his warriors, while he closed his eyes to the charms of the in足 fidel women.
Nay, in the latter respect, he reinforced his clerical
vows by a solemn promise to God to resist all temptations of the