t a small expedition he had fitted out to search for
gold and pearls. This was the expedition in which Vasco Nunez de
Balboa first embarked for the New World, and which was so profitable
that the leaders returned (though their vessels had sunk at their
anchors in a harbor of Haiti) with sufficient pearls to give them each
a fortune. If they had been content to live at ease in Spain, they
might have done so during the remainder of their days; but both
Bastidas and La Cosa were lured back to the coast of Terra Firma by
the prospect of further enrichment, and there they came to untimely
ends.

La Cosa was created _alguazil mayor_ of the territory he and Vespucci
had coasted, and finding Ojeda in want--both of money and an
opportunity to display his prowess as a fighter--he generously shared
his fortune with him and fitted out a fleet containing a ship and two
small brigantines. Thenceforth, as fate willed it, the great-hearted
pilot and the fiery cavalier were inseparable until cut down by death.
In the month of November, 1509, they set sail from Santo Domingo with
their three vessels and three hundred men. La Cosa piloted the little
fleet into a safe harbor, as he knew the coast well from two previous
visits to Terra Firma, but he endeavored to induce Ojeda to attempt a
settlement farther on towards the Isthmus of Darien, as the Indians of
this region were very ferocious and used poisoned arrows.

Ojeda, however, would not be turned from his purpose, which was to
acquire a large number of slaves, either by stratagem or force. After
the monks who accompanied his command had read a requisition to the
savages, requiring them to submit gracefully and be converted, if they
did not wish to incur the vengeance of the King of Spain, the Pope of
Rome, and their emissaries there assembled, finding them obdurate,
Ojeda gave the command to attack. The Indians, by this time, had
assembled in great force, and if they understood the message (which
was not likely, as it was in Spanish, a language they had never heard
before) they manifested no inclination to heed its warnings. They
brandished their spears, shot their arrows, and yelled defiance to the
invaders. This was more than the rash Ojeda could endure, and he
dashed headlong at the naked enemy without waiting for his men to
follow.

Only the gallant La Cosa was with him at first, continually
remonstrating with his friend for his temerity, but fighting bravely
at his side. The o