Vega, after the catastrophe of the sedition of Moxica; his brother, the
Adelantado, accompanied by Roldan, was pursuing and arresting the fugitive
rebels in Xaragua; and Don Diego Columbus remained in temporary command at
San Domingo. Faction had worn itself out; the insurgents had brought down
ruin upon themselves; and the island appeared delivered from the
domination of violent and lawless men.

Such was the state of public affairs, when, on the morning of the 23d of
August, two caravels were descried off the harbor of San Domingo, about a
league at sea. They were standing off and on, waiting until the sea
breeze, which generally prevails about ten o'clock, should carry them into
port. Don Diego Columbus supposed them to be ships sent from Spain with
supplies, and hoped to find on board his nephew Diego, whom the admiral
had requested might be sent out to assist him in his various concerns. A
canoe was immediately dispatched to obtain information; which, approaching
the caravels, inquired what news they brought, and whether Diego, the son
of the admiral, was on board. Bobadilla himself replied from the principal
vessel, announcing himself as a commissioner sent out to investigate the
late rebellion. The master of the caravel then inquired about the news of
the island, and was informed of the recent transactions. Seven of the
rebels, he was told, had been hanged that week, and five more were in the
fortress of San Domingo, condemned to suffer the same fate. Among these
were Pedro Riquelme and Fernando de Guevara, the young cavalier whose
passion for the daughter of Anacaona had been the original cause of the
rebellion. Further, conversation passed, in the course of which Bobadilla
ascertained that the admiral and the Adelantado were absent, and Don Diego
Columbus in command.

When the canoe returned to the city, with the news that a commissioner had
arrived to make inquisition into the late troubles, there was a great stir