princess, "she supported herself during the remainder of her life, having
no other wish than to exhort every one to love and confidence towards God,
offering them as an example, the great pity which he had shown for her."



XX

BIMINI AND THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH


When Juan Ponce de Leon set forth from Porto Rico, March 13, 1512, to
seek the island of Bimini and its Fountain of Youth, he was moved by the
love of adventure more than by that of juvenility, for he was then but
about fifty, a time when a cavalier of his day thought himself but in his
prime. He looked indeed with perpetual sorrow--as much of it as a Spaniard
of those days could feel--upon his kinsman Luis Ponce, once a renowned
warrior, but on whom age had already, at sixty-five, laid its hand in
earnest. There was little in this slowly moving veteran to recall one who
had shot through the lists at the tournament, and had advanced with his
short sword at the bull fight,--who had ruled his vassals, and won the
love of high-born women. It was a vain hope of restored youth which had
brought Don Luis from Spain to Porto Rico four years before; and, when
Ponce de Leon had subdued that island, his older kinsman was forever
beseeching him to carry his flag farther, and not stop till he had reached
Bimini, and sought the Fountain of Youth.

"For what end," he said, "should you stay here longer and lord it over
these miserable natives? Let us go where we can bathe in those enchanted
waters and be young once more. I need it, and you will need it ere long."