Ballester found Roldan in company with Pedro Riquelme, Pedro de Gamez, and
Adrian de Moxica, three of his principal confederates. Flushed with a
confidence of his present strength, Roldan treated the proffered pardon
with contempt, declaring that he did not come there to treat of peace, but
to demand the release of certain Indians captured unjustifiably, and about
to be shipped to Spain as slaves, notwithstanding that he, in his capacity
of alcalde mayor, had pledged his word for their protection. He declared
that, until these Indians were given up, he would listen to no terms of
compact; throwing out an insolent intimation at the same time, that he
held the admiral and his fortunes in his hand, to make and mar them as he
pleased.

The Indians he alluded to were certain subjects of Guarionex, who had been
incited by Roldan to resist the exaction of tribute, and who, under the
sanction of his supposed authority, had engaged in the insurrections of
the Vega. Roldan knew that the enslavement of the Indians was an unpopular
feature in the government of the island, especially with the queen; and
the artful character of this man is evinced in his giving his opposition
to Columbus the appearance of a vindication of the rights of the suffering
islanders. Other demands were made of a highly insolent nature, and the
rebels declared that, in all further negotiations, they would treat with
no other intermediate agent than Carvajal, having had proofs of his
fairness and impartiality in the course of their late communications with
him at Xaragua.

This arrogant reply to his proffer of pardon was totally different from
what the admiral had been led to expect, and placed him in an embarrassing
situation. He seemed surrounded by treachery and falsehood. He knew that
Roldan had friends and secret partisans even among those who professed to