little better than a freebooting expedition. To call him to account, and
oppose his aggressions, required an agent of spirit and address. No one
seemed better fitted for the purpose than Roldan. He was as daring as
Ojeda, and of a more crafty character. An expedition of the kind would
occupy the attention of himself and his partisans, and divert them from
any schemes of mischief. The large concessions recently made to them
would, he trusted, secure their present fidelity, rendering it more
profitable for them to be loyal than rebellious.

Roldan readily undertook the enterprise. He had nothing further to gain by
sedition, and was anxious to secure his ill-gotten possessions and atone
for past offences by public services. He was vain as well as active, and
took a pride in acquitting himself well in an expedition which called for
both courage and shrewdness. Departing from San Domingo with two caravels,
he arrived on the 29th of September within two leagues of the harbor where
the ships of Ojeda were anchored. Here he landed with five-and-twenty
resolute followers, well armed, and accustomed to range the forests. He
sent five scouts to reconnoitre. They brought word that Ojeda was several
leagues distant from his ships, with only fifteen men, employed in making
cassava bread in an Indian village. Roldan threw himself between them and
the ships, thinking to take them by surprise. They were apprised, however,
of his approach by the Indians, with whom the very name of Roldan inspired
terror, from his late excesses in Xaragua. Ojeda saw his danger; he
supposed Roldan had been sent in pursuit of him, and he found himself cut
off from his ships. With his usual intrepidity he immediately presented
himself before Roldan, attended merely by half a dozen followers. The
latter craftily began by conversing on general topics. He then inquired
into his motives for landing on the island, particularly on that remote
and lonely part, without first reporting his arrival to the admiral. Ojeda
replied, that he had been on a voyage of discovery, and had put in there