Bartolome. At last a sailor offered to swim to land; when he came back,
it was with the news that this settlement had gone the way of Isabella
and San Domingo, for half its men had mutinied. The gold did not seem
worth fighting for where natives were so hostile that a man could not
even pick fruit from a tree and eat it! Columbus saw that there was
nothing to do but get the men back on the boats and abandon all thought
of colonizing what he had already named Costa Rica (Rich Coast).

But to carry out this decision for a while appeared impossible; the
waves were too high for any boat to venture out; but at last the clever
Diego Mendez, by lashing two canoes together into a sort of raft, got
near enough to shore to rescue Don Bartolome and his men and stores.
When Diego had succeeded in this perilous task, his Admiral was so
grateful that, in the presence of all the men, he kissed him on both
cheeks, a mark of great respect in those days. Ah, if only Christopher
had found such a stanch, capable friend earlier in his career!

Ever since they reached the mainland Columbus had been suffering
torments with rheumatism. Now to add to his agonies a fever attacked
him. Along with these ills, and the murmurings of his hungry men, one of
the ships was wrecked; and after they had rescued its men and
provisions, and were about to find room for them on another ship, this
other ship was discovered to be too worm-eaten and disabled to continue
the voyage. Columbus, in all his pain, directed the removal of men and
goods to the best two caravels. This done, he started for San Domingo,
turning his back on his last chance to find the passage to India--the
broad Pacific Ocean--if only he had crossed the isthmus between!