The man and the dog would have attracted attention anywhere, separately or together.  The man was well-made and vigorous, with red-brown hair and beard, and clear merry eyes, a leader who would rather lead than command.  The dog was of medium size but very powerful, tawny in color with a black muzzle, and the scars on his compact body recorded many battles, not with other dogs but with hostile Indians.  He had been his master’s body-guard in several fights, and Balboa sometimes lent him to his friends, the dog receiving the same share of plunder that would have been due to an armed man.  Leoncico is said to have brought his captain in this way more than a thousand crowns.

“You called him off, eh, General?” Saavedra asked, bending to stroke the terrible head.  He and Vasco Nunez had been friends for years; in fact it was Saavedra who had managed the smuggling of Balboa on board the ship in a cask, to escape his creditors, when the expedition set out.  They were intimate, as men are intimate who are different in character but alike in feeling and tradition.  Pizarro was an outsider and knew it.

“Yes; Enciso’s dog would be better for a whipping, perhaps, but I had no mind to make the Bachelor any more an enemy than he is.  Pizarro,—­” he turned to the soldier of fortune, with a frank smile, “I have work for you to do.  It is dangerous, but I know that you do not care for that.  Pick out six good men, and be ready to see if there is any truth in those stories about the Coyba gold mines.”

Pizarro’s black brows unbent.  Nothing could have suited him better than just these orders.  He was, like Balboa, a native of the province of Estremadura in Spain, and being shut out by his low birth from advancement in his own land, had come to the colonies in the hope of gaining wealth and position by the sword.  His reckless courage, iron muscle, and a certain cold stubbornness had given him the reputation of an able man, but though nearly ten years older than Balboa, he had never held any but a subordinate position.  He had nearly made up his mind that his chance would never come.  These hidalgos wanted all the glory as well as all the power for themselves.  He could not see why Balboa should turn the possible discovery of a rich new province over to him, but if the gold should be there, Pizarro would get it.  He bowed, thanked the general, and took his leave.

“General,” said Saavedra, “I never like to put my neck in a noose, but if you were only Vasco Nunez I would ask you why you made exactly that choice.”

Balboa laughed and pulled the ears of Leoncico, who had laid his head in full content on his master’s knee.  “I am always Vasco Nunez to you, amigo,” he said easily, “as you very well know.  Pizarro is a bulldog for bravery, and he has a head on his shoulders.  Also he is ambitious, and this will give him a chance to win renown.”

“And keeps him out of mischief for the time being,” put in Saavedra dryly.