1492

by Mary Johnston

  CHAPTER XXII

  IN the small, small cabin of the _Nina_ Christopherus Columbus sat for atime with his head bowed in his arms, then rose and made up a mission togo to the cacique Guacanagari and, relating our misfortune, request aidand shelter until we had determined upon our course. There went Diego deArana and Pedro Gutierrez with Luis Torres and one or two more, and theytook Diego Colon and the two St. Thomas Indians. It was now full light,the shore and mountains green as emerald, the water its old unearthlyblue.

  The _Nina_ swung at anchor just under the land and the now receding tideuncovered more and more those sands where the Santa Maria lay huddledand dying. The Admiral gazed, and the tears ran down his face. He was sogreat that he never thought to hide just emotion. He spoke as though tohimself. "Many sins have I, many, many! But thou wilt not, O God, castme utterly away because of them! I will not doubt Thee, nor my calling!"

  There was little space about him. The _Nina_ seemed to quiver, packedand dark with men. His deep voice went on, and they could hear him, buthe did not seem to know that they were there. "As though upon a raft,here a thousand leagues in Ocean-Sea! Yet wilt Thou care for thy GoodNews. I will come to Spain, and I will tell it. Chosen, and almost byvery name pointed out in Thy Book! The first Christian shore that Itouch I will walk barefoot and in my shirt at the head of twelve to thefirst shrine. And, O my Lord, never more will I forget that that tomb inwhich thou didst rest, still, still is held by the infidel!" He beat hisbreast. "_Mea culpa! mea culpa!_"

  His voice sank, he looked at the sky, then with a turn of the wristat the wheel he put that by and became again the vigilant Admiral of afleet of one. "She will hold together yet a while! When the tide is out,we can get to her and empty her. Take all ashore that can be carried orfloated and may be of use. Up and down--down and up!"

  The inhabitants of Hispaniola were now about us in canoes or swimming.They seemed to cry out in distress and sympathy, gazing at the _SantaMaria_ as though it were a god dying there. Their own canoes were livingthings to them as is any ship to a mariner, and by analogy our greatcanoe was a Being dying, more of a Being than theirs, because it hadwings and could open and fold them. And then back came our boat withDiego de Arana and the others, and they had with them that same brotherof the cacique who had come to us in St. Thomas Harbor. And had we beenwrecked off Palos, not Palos could have showed more concern or been moreready to help than were these men.

  We had three boats and the Indian canoes and hands enough, white andcopper-hued. Now at low tide, we could approach and enter the _SantaMaria_. A great breach had been made and water was deep in her hold, butwe could get at much of casks and chests, and could take away sailsand cordage, even her two cannon. Eventually, as she broke up, we mightfloat away to shore much of her timber. When I looked from the wreck tothe little Nina, I could see, limned as it were in air, the Viceroy'sfirst colony, set in Hispaniola, beside Guacanagari's town. AllChristmas day we toiled and the Indians at our side. We found themready, not without skill, gay and biddable.

  Toward sunset came Guacanagari. All the little shore was strewn andheaped with our matters. And here I will say that no Indian stole thatday though he might have stolen, and though our possessions seemed tohim great wonders and treasure beyond estimation. What was brought fromthe _Santa Maria_ lay in heaps and our men came and went. The most ofour force was ashore or in the boats; only so many on the Nina. TheAdmiral, just returned to the ship, stretched himself upon the bench inher small cabin. Powerful was his frame and constitution, and powerfullytried all his life with a thousand strains and buffetings! It seemedstill to hold; he looked a muscular, sinewy, strong and ruddy man. Butthere were signs that a careful eye might find. He lay upon the bench inthe cabin and I, who was his physician, brought him wine and biscuitand made him eat and drink who, I knew, had not touched food since theevening before; after which I told him to close eyes and go away toGenoa and boyhood. He shut them, and I sitting near brought my will asbest I could to the quieting of all heavy and sorrowful waves.

  But then the cacique came. So small was the _Nina_ that we could hearwell enough the word of his arrival. The Admiral opened his eyes and satstiffly up. He groaned and took his head into his hands, then droppedthese and with a shake of his shoulders resumed command. So many andgrievous a sea had dashed over him and retreated and he had stood! Whathe said now was, "The tide of the spirit goes out; the tide comes backin. Let it come back a spring tide!"

  Guacanagari entered. This cacique, whose fortunes now began to beintertwined with ours, had his likeness, so far as went state andcustom, to that Cuban chieftain whom Luis Torres and I had visited.But this was an easier, less strongly fibred person, a big, amiable,indolent man with some quality of a great dog who, accepting you andbecoming your friend, may never be estranged. He was brave after hisfashion, gifted enough in simple things. In Europe he would have beenan easy, well-liked prince or duke of no great territory. He kept asimple state, wore some slight apparel of cotton and a golden necklet.He brought gifts and an unfeigned sympathy for that death upon the sandbar.

  He and the Admiral sat and talked together. "Gods fromheaven?"--"Christian men and from Europe," and we could not make him,at this time, understand that that was not the same thing. We beganto comprehend that "heaven" was a word of many levels, and that theyascribed to it everything that they chose to consider good and that wasmanifestly out of the range of their experience.

  In his turn the Admiral was ready for all that Guacanagari could tellhim. "Gold?" His eyes were upon the Indian's necklet. Removing it, thecacique laid it in the god's hand. All Indians now understood thatwe made high magic with gold, getting out of it virtues beyond theircomprehension. In return the Admiral gave him a small brazen gong andhammer. "Where did they get the gold?" Again like the Cuban chief thiscacique waved his hand to the mountains. "Cibao!" and then turning hetoo pointed to the south. "Much gold there," said Diego Colon. "Inland,in the mountains," quoth the Admiral, "and evidently, in very greatquantity, in some land to the south! This is not Cipango, but I thinkthat Cipango lies to the south." He asked who ruled Hayti that we calledHispaniola. We understood that there were a number of caciques, but thatfor a day's journey every way it was Guacanagari's country.

  "A cacique who ruled them all?" No, there was no such thing.

  "Had ships like ours and clothed men ever before come to them?"

  No, never! But then he seemed to say that there was undoubtedly atradition. Gods had come, and would come again, and when they did sogreat things would follow! But no cacique nor priest nor any knew whenthe gods had come.

  The Admiral made some question of Caribs. Again there was gesturesouthward, though it seemed to us that something was said of folk withinthis great island who were at least like Caribs. And where was themost gold and the greatest other wealth that they knew of? Again south,though this time we thought it rather south by west. The Admiral sighed,and spoke of Cuba. Yes, Guacanagari knew of Cuba. Had it end far yonderto the westward, or no end? Had any one ever come to its end? Thecacique thought not, or knew not and assumed deliberation. Luis andI agreed that we had not met among these Indians any true notion ofa continent. To them Hayti was vast, Cuba was vast, the lands of theCaribs, wherever they were, were vast, and vast whatever other islandsthere might be. To them this was the _OEcumene_, the inhabited andinhabitable world, Europe--Asia--Africa? Their faces stayed blank. Werethese divisions of heaven?

  Guacanagari would entertain and succor us. This canoe--oh, the hugemarvel!--was too crowded! Yonder lay his town. All the houses that wemight want were ours, all the hammocks, all the food. And he would feastthe gods. That had been preparing since yesterday, A feast with dancing.He hoped the great cacique and his people from far nearer heaven thanwas Guacanagari would live as long as might be in his town. Guarico washis town. A big, easy, amiable, likeable man, he sat in nakedness onlynot utter, save for that much like a big hidalgo offering sympathy andshelter to some fire-ousted or foe-ousted prince! As for the part ofprinc
e it was not hard for the Admiral to play it. He was one naturally.

  He thanked the cacique to whom, I could see, he had taken liking. Sevenhouses would be enough. To-night some of us would sleep upon the beachbeside the heaped goods. To-morrow we would visit Guacanapri. Thebig, lazy, peaceable man expressed his pleasure, then with a wide anddignified gesture dismissing all that, asked to be shown marvels.