se enmity they had provoked
by their own conduct? No one ever knew.

It was reported that years afterward on the coast of Veragua some
wandering adventurers found this legend, almost undecipherable, cut in
the bark of a tree, "_Aqui anduvo el desdichado Diego de Nicuesa_,"
which may be translated, "Here was lost the unfortunate Diego de
Nicuesa." But the statement is not credited. The fate of the gallant
little gentleman is one of the mysteries of the sea.

Of the original eleven hundred men who sailed with the two governors
there remained perhaps thirty of Ojeda's and forty of Nicuesa's at
Antigua with Encisco's command. This was the net result of the first
two years of effort at the beginning of government in South America on
the Isthmus of Panama, with its ocean on the other side still undreamed
of. What these men did there, and how Balboa rose to further
prominence, his great exploits, and finally how unkind Fate also
overtook him, will form the subject of the next paper.

[1] At least, the assertion is gravely made by the ancient chroniclers.
I wonder what kind of an outfielder he would have made today.

[2] From the Spanish word "bachiller," referring to an inferior degree
in the legal profession.

[3] In the absence of particular information, I suppose the ships to be
small caravels of between fifty and sixty tons, and the brigantines
much smaller, open, flat-bottomed boats with but one mast--although a
modern brigantine is a two-masted vessel.

[4] The castellano was valued at two dollars and fifty-six cents, but
the purchasing power of that sum was much greater then than now. The
maravedi was the equivalent of about one-third of a cent.

[5] Evidently he was quoting the exquisite measures of the Eightieth
Psalm, one of the most touching appeals of David the Poet-King, in
which he says over and over again, "Turn us again, O God, and cause Thy
Face to shine, and we shall be saved."

{31}

II

Panama, Balboa and a Forgotten Romance

I. The Coming of the Devastator

This is the romantic history of Vasco Nunez de Balboa, the most
knightly and gentle of the Spanish discoverers, and one who would fain
have been true to the humble Indian girl who had won his heart, even
though his life and liberty were at stake. It is almost the only love
story in early Spanish-American history, and the account of it,
veracious though it is, reads like a novel or a play.

After Diego de Nicuesa had s