He would
not have many. "No show of force, no gaud of office!"
He rode unarmored, on his gray horse. The banner that
was always borne with him--"Yea, carry it still, until
he demands it!"
We were a bare dozen, but when we entered San Domingo
one might think that Don Francisco de Bobadilla feared
an army, for he had all his soldiers drawn up to greet us!
The rest of the population were in coigns, gazing. We saw
friends--Juan Ponce de Leon and others--but they were
helpless. For all the people in it, the place seemed to me
dead quiet, hot, sunny, dead quiet.
The Admiral rode to the square. Here was his house,
and the royal banner over it. He dismounted and spoke to
men before the door. "Tell Don Francisco de Bobadilla
that Don Cristoval Colon is here."
There came an officer with a sword, behind him a dozen
men. "Senor, in the name of the Sovereigns, I arrest
you!"
Christopherus Columbus gazed upon him. "For what,
senor?"
The other, an arrogant, ill-tempered man, answered loudly
so that all around could hear, "For ill-service to our lord
the King and Queen, and to their subjects here in the Indies,
and to God!"
"God knows, you hurt the truth!" said the Admiral.
"Where is my brother, Don Diego?"
"Laid by the heels in the Santa Catarina," answered the
graceless man; then to one of the soldiers, "Take the banner
from behind him and rest it against the wall.
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