He sent his voice, which he could
make deep as a drum and reaching as one of those great
shells. "Friends--friends! Bringing Christ!"
An arrow sang past him. His son would have drawn him
down, but, "No--no!" and "Friends--friends! Bringing
Christ!"
And whether they thought that "Christ" was the beads
and the bell, or whether the bowman in him did send over
good will and make it to enter their hearts, or whether it
was somewhat of both, they did suddenly grow friendly.
Whereupon we landed.
Gold! We took much gold from this place. One of our
men, touched by the sun, sat and babbled. "Oh, the faithful
golden coast! Oh, the gold that is to come! Great
golden ships sailing across blue sea! A hundred--no, a
thousand--what do I say? A million Indians with baskets
long and wide on their backs and the baskets filled with
gold! The baskets are so great and the gold so heavy that
the Indians are bowed down till they go on all fours. Gold,
--a mountain of pure gold and every Spaniard in Spain
and a few Italians--golden kings--" When we had all we
could get, up sail and on!
Sail on and on along the golden coast of Veragua! Come
to a river and land, for all that again we heard drums and
those great shells strongly blown. Make peace and trade.
And here again was gold, gold, gold. We were now assured
that the main was far richer than any island.
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