He would be cool and distant
and impregnable behind the royal word. Juan Lepe
saw plainly that that lavish and magnanimous person aboard
the _Consolacion_ would not meet here his twin. The Adelantado
must still, I thought, sail the _Margarita_. And yet,
looking at all things, that exchange of ships should have
been made. A Spaniard, wheresoever found, should have
cried "Aye!" to it.
The Governor's officer who still kept by us was not averse
to talk. All those preparing ships in the harbor? Why,
they were the returning fleet that brought Don Nicholas
in. Sailing to-morrow--hence the hubbub on land and
water. They had a lading now! He gazed a moment at us,
and as we seemed sober folk, saw no reason why we should
not have the public news. Forth it came like water out of
bottle. Bobadilla was returning. "A prisoner?" "Why,
hardly that! Roldan, too." "A prisoner?" "Why, not
precisely so." Many of the old regime--Bobadilla's regime
--were returning and Roldan men likewise. Invited to go,
in fact, though with no other harsh treatment. One of
the ships would be packed with Indian rebels, Gwarionex
among them. Chained, all these. The notable thing about
the fleet, after all that, was the gold that was going! A
treasure fleet! Bobadilla _had_ gathered gold for the crown.
He was taking, they said, a sultan's ransom.
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