kindly helped Columbus when the _Santa Maria_ was wrecked--King
Guacanagari. From him came the only account ever obtained of the fate of
the colony; a true account apparently, for later investigations
confirmed it. The Spaniards, with the exception of their leader, Arana,
had behaved very badly toward each other and toward the natives. They
wanted wives, and had stolen all the young women from Guacanagari's
village and then had fought with each other for the prettiest. Having
obtained wives, some deserted the little European colony and went to
live as savages among the Indians. Others had gone to find the gold
mines, which quest took them to the eastern part of the island where the
fierce chief Caonabo ruled. So enraged was this chief at their invasion
that he not only killed _them_, but descended upon their
compatriots at La Navidad, and attacked them one night when all was
still and peaceful. Guacanagari heard the savage war whoops, and out of
friendship for the Admiral he tried to drive off the assailants, but he
himself was wounded and his house was burned. The Spanish fort was
fired; the inmates rushed out, only to be butchered or driven into the
sea and drowned. Not one man escaped.

Thus ended Columbus's second trip westward across the Atlantic. What a
landing! Blackened ruins, dead bodies, the enmity of the natives, and--
no gold; all this where he had hoped to be greeted by happy, prosperous
men. Here were the first fruits of his great discovery; here the first
sample of Spanish ability at colonizing; here the first specimen of what
the white man could do in a new and peaceful land; and our great
Admiral, thinking of the mixed band he had brought out from Spain to
colonize, dropped his head and covered his face with his hands.

All were anxious to leave the scene of this tragedy; but before they
left, the native king, Guacanagari, who appeared as friendly as ever,