Summary

The book opens in the year of 934 with the main character, Mustafa ibn Muhammad, arriving with a small Castilian exploration group at the coast of La Florida. Mustafa has been a slave for five years and was renamed Estebanico by his master, Señor Dorantes. The group explores an abandoned Indian village once they arrive. Mustafa is fascinated by the Indians as he’s heard many legends about them, which make them sound like a mystical race. Mustafa finds a strange looking pebble, which turns out to be a piece of gold. He gives it to his master, who shows it to the governor and leader of the expedition, Don Pánfilo Narváez. The governor is pleased, and over the next few days he sets up the rest of the expedition in the abandoned village.

A few days later, a group of soldiers...