The fleet that had brought out Ovando lay in the harbour ready to put to sea, and was to take home Bobadilla, together with Roldan and many of his adherents, to be tried in Spain for rebellion.  Bobadilla was to embark in the principal ship, on board of which he had put an immense amount of gold, which he hoped would atone for all his faults.

Among the presents intended for his sovereign was one mass of virgin gold, which was famous in the Spanish chronicles; it was said to weigh 3600 castillanos.  Large quantities of gold had been shipped in the fleet by Roldan and other adventurers—­the wealth gained by the sufferings of the unhappy natives.

Columbus sent an officer on shore to request permission to shelter his squadron in the river, as he apprehended an approaching storm.  He also cautioned them not to let the fleet sail, but his request was refused by Ovando, and his advice disregarded.

The fleet put to sea, and Columbus kept his feeble squadron close to shore, and sought for shelter in some wild bay or river of the island.

Within two days, one of those tremendous storms which sometimes sweep those latitudes gathered up, and began to blow.  Columbus sheltered his little squadron as well as he could, and sustained no damage.  A different fate befel the other armament.

The ship in which were Bobadilla, Roldan, and a number of the most inveterate enemies of Columbus, was swallowed up with all its crew, together with the principal part of the ill-gotten treasure, gained by the miseries of the Indians.

Some of the ships returned to St. Domingo, and only one was able to continue her voyage to Spain; that one had on board four thousand pieces of gold, the property of Columbus, which had been recovered by the agent whom he sent out with Ovando.

Thus, while the enemies of the admiral were swallowed up as it were before his eyes, the only ship enabled to pursue her voyage was the frail bark freighted with his property.

CHAPTER VII.

PARLEY TELLS HOW COLUMBUS WAS SHIPWRECKED, AND ALSO OF THE MANNER OF HIS DEATH.

Columbus soon left Hispaniola where he met with so inhospitable a reception, and steering towards the west, he arrived on the coast of Honduras.  There he had an interview with some of the inhabitants of the continent, who came off in a large canoe; they appeared to be more civilized than any whom he had hitherto discovered.

In return to the inquiries which the Spaniards made with their usual eagerness, where the Indians got the gold which they wore by way of ornaments, they directed him to countries situated to the west, in which gold was found in such profusion that it was applied to the most common uses.

Well would it have been for Columbus had he followed their advice.  Within a day or two he would have arrived at Yucatan; the discovery of Mexico and the other opulent countries of New Spain would have necessarily followed, the Southern Ocean would have been disclosed to him, and a succession of splendid discoveries would have shed fresh glory on his declining age.