appeared undismayed, trusting to the influence of their friends in Spain
to protect them, and many relying on the well-known disposition of the
Bishop of Fonseca to favor all who had been opposed to Columbus.

The fleet which had brought out Ovando was now ready for sea; and was to
take out a number of the principal delinquents, and many of the idlers and
profligates of the island. Bobadilla was to embark in the principal ship,
on board of which he put an immense amount of gold, the revenue collected
for the crown during his government, and which he confidently expected
would atone for all his faults. There was one solid mass of virgin gold on
board of this ship, which is famous in the old Spanish chronicles. It had
been found by a female Indian in a brook, on the estate of Francisco de
Garay and Miguel Diaz, and had been taken by Bobadilla to send to the
king, making the owners a suitable compensation. It was said to weigh
three thousand six hundred castellanos. [121]

Large quantities of gold were likewise shipped in the fleet, by the
followers of Roldan, and other adventurers; the wealth gained by the
sufferings of the unhappy natives. Among the various persons who were to
sail in the principal ship, was the unfortunate Guarionex, the once
powerful cacique of the Vega. He had been confined in Fort Conception,
ever since his capture after the war of Higuey, and was now to be sent a
captive in chains to Spain. In one of the ships, Alonzo Sanchez de
Carvajal, the agent of Columbus, had put four thousand pieces of gold, to
be remitted to him; being part of his property, either recently collected,
or recovered from the hands of Bobadilla. [122]

The preparations were all made, and the fleet was ready to put to sea,
when, on the 29th of June, the squadron of Columbus arrived at the mouth
of the river. He immediately sent Pedro de Terreros, captain of one of the