r strong-box full of gold, to the
courts of that island for a decision. They arrived at a port on the
western coast of Hispaniola, and in the night the manacled Ojeda
slipped overboard into the water, intending to swim ashore and make
his escape. The fetters on his feet were heavy, however, though his
arms were free, and he was nearly drowned before his companions,
hearing his cries for help, pulled him out of the water and again
confined him in the hold of the vessel.

Taken to the city of Santo Domingo, he was placed on trial for
attempting to defraud the government, and the decision was against
him. He was not only deprived of his lands, but was stripped of
everything he owned. For several years thereafter he roamed about the
island, and made occasional voyages, but as a penniless, rather than
an influential, adventurer. His good friend, the "ungodly bishop,"
Fonseca, was still in power, but inaccessible through the great
distance that separated them. One happy day, however, Ojeda met La
Cosa, who was then in the enjoyment of a considerable fortune, and
who, with the reckless generosity for which sailors are proverbial,
placed all his means at his disposal. He went to Spain, where he saw
the bishop, secured a fleet (as already mentioned), and in it sailed
for Santo Domingo, where he was met by his partner, and together the
soldier and the sailor set out for Terra Firma.

Before they left the island, however, Ojeda must needs plunge himself
into another difficulty by picking a quarrel with a rival discoverer,
Nicuesa, whom he challenged to fight a duel. It seems that King
Ferdinand had granted territory in Terra Firma to both these men; and,
though there was certainly room enough and to spare in that vast
region, they began to dispute over their perspective boundaries before
they had staked them out. The hot-headed Ojeda was a skilled
swordsman, but Nicuesa was artful enough to avoid an encounter, in
which there was little doubt he would be killed, by insisting that
each contestant should deposit five thousand castellanos with an
umpire before engaging in the fight. As this was a larger sum than
poor Ojeda could raise--which, of course, Nicuesa knew full well--the
irate cavalier was obliged to sail without having obtained
satisfaction.

This was the expedition that ended so disastrously, as narrated in a
previous chapter. The Spaniard who was charged with La Cosa's last
message to Ojeda was the only survivor of se