The same with their faces--
he could not tell about them--he thought they were fair.
Suddenly, it seemed, Pan had fallen upon him and put him
forth in terror. He had turned and raced through the
forest, here to the sea. He did not think the white-clad
men had seen him.
We took him to the Admiral who listened, then brought
his hands together. "Hath it not--hath it not, I ask you
--sound of Prester John?"
With the dawn he had men ashore, and there he went
himself, with him Juan de la Cosa and Juan Lepe. The
crossbowman--it was Felipe Garcia--showed the way.
We found indeed the forest aisle and nave, and the three
trees and the purple grapes, a vast vine with heavy clusters,
but we found no men and no sign of men.
The Admiral was not discouraged. "If he truly saw
then, and I believe he did, then are they somewhere--"
We beat all the neighborhood. Solitary, solitary! He
divided the most determined of us--so many from each
ship--into two bands and sent in two directions. We were
to search, if necessary, through ten leagues. We went, but
returned empty of news of clothed men. We found desolate
forest, and behind that a vast, matted, low growth,
impenetrable and extending far away. At last we determined
that Felipe Garcia had seen white cranes. Unless it were
magic--
We sailed on and we sailed on.
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