in a feverish state. He was not well assured of the fidelity of the late
rebels, though so dearly purchased; there was a rumor of a threatened
descent into the Vega, by the mountain tribes of Ciguay, to attempt the
rescue of their captive cacique Mayobanex, still detained a prisoner in
the fortress of Conception. Tidings were brought about the same time from
the western parts of the island, that four strange ships had arrived at
the coast, under suspicious appearances. These circumstances obliged him
to postpone his departure, and held him involved in the affairs of this
favorite but fatal island.

The two caravels were dispatched for Spain in the beginning of October,
taking such of the colonists as chose to return, and among them a number
of Roldan's partisans. Some of these took with them slaves, others carried
away the daughters of caciques whom they had beguiled from their families
and homes. At these iniquities, no less than at many others which equally
grieved his spirit, the admiral was obliged to connive. He was conscious,
at the same time, that he was sending home a reinforcement of enemies and
false witnesses, to defame his character and traduce his conduct, but he
had no alternative. To counteract, as much as possible, their
misrepresentations, he sent by the same caravel the loyal and upright
veteran Miguel Ballester, together with Garcia de Barrantes, empowered to
attend to his affairs at court, and furnished with the dispositions taken
relative to the conduct of Roldan and his accomplices.

In his letters to the sovereigns, he entreated them to inquire into the
truth of the late transactions. He stated his opinion that his
capitulations with the rebels were null and void, for various reasons,
viz.--they had been extorted from him by violence, and at sea, where he
did not exercise the office of viceroy--there had been two trials relative
to the insurrection, and the insurgents having been condemned as traitors,