He
thought that on the whole that Hidalgo and Commander of
Calatrava was afraid.
Outside of the fortress that afternoon Juan Lepe kept
company with one who had come with the fire-new Governor,
a grim, quiet fellow named Pedro Lopez. He and
Luis Torres had been neighbors in Spain; it was Luis who
brought us together. I gave him some wine in Doctor Juan
Lepe's small room and he told readily the charges against
the Viceroy that Bobadilla, seizing, made into a sheaf.
Already I knew what they were. I had heard them. One
or two had, I thought, faint justification, but the mass, no!
Personal avarice, personal greed, paynim luxury, arrogance,
cruelty, deceit--it made one sorrowfully laugh who knew
the man! Here again clamored the old charge of upstartness.
A low-born Italian, son of a wool-comber, vindictive
toward the hidalgo, of Spain! But there were new charges.
Three men deposed that he neglected Indian salvation. And
I heard for the first time that so soon as he found the Grand
Khan he meant to give over to that Oriental all the islands
and the main, and so betray the Sovereigns and Christ and
every Spaniard in these parts!
The Adelantado arrived in San Domingo. He came with
only a score or two of men, who could have raised many
more. Don Francisco de Bobadilla saw to it that he had
word from his great brother, and that word was "Obedience.
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