ella he
shall have the bell for a present. Poetry and public policy struggle
together in Caonabo's heart, but poetry wins; the great powerful savage,
urged thereto by his childish lion-heart, will come to Isabella if they
will give him the bell. He sets forth, accompanied by a native retinue,
and by Ojeda and his ten horsemen. Presently they come to a river and
Ojeda produces his bright manacles; tells the King that they are royal
ornaments and that he has been instructed to bestow them upon Caonabo as
a sign of honour. But first he must come alone to the river and bathe,
which he does. Then he must sit with Ojeda upon his horse; which he
does. Then he must have fitted on to him the shining silver trinkets;
which he does, the great grinning giant, pleased with his toys. Then, to
show him what it is like to be on a horse, Ojeda canters gently round in
widening and ever widening circles; a turn of his spurred heels, and the
canter becomes a gallop, the circle becomes a straight line, and Caonabo
is on the road to Isabella. When they are well beyond reach of the
natives they pause and tie Caonabo securely into his place; and by this
treachery bring him into Isabella, where he is imprisoned in the
Admiral's house.

The sulky giant, brought thus into captivity, refuses to bend his proud,
stubborn heart into even a form of submission. He takes no notice of
Columbus, and pays him no honour, although honour is paid to himself as
a captive king. He sits there behind his bars gnawing his fingers,
listening to the voice of the bell that has lured him into captivity,
and thinking of the free open life which he is to know no more. Though
he will pay no deference to the Admiral, will not even rise when he
enters his presence, there is one person he holds in honour, and that is
Ojeda. He will not rise when the Admiral comes; but when Ojeda comes,
small as he is, and without external state, the chief makes his obeisance
to him. The Admiral he sets at defiance, and boasts of his destruction
of La Navidad, and of his plan to destroy Isabella; Ojeda he respects and
holds in honour, as being the only man in the island brave enough to come
into his house and carry him off a captive. There is a good deal of the
sportsman in Caonabo.

The immediate result of the capture of Caonabo was to rouse the islanders
to further hostilities, and one of the brothers of the captive king led a
force of seven thousand men to the vicinity of S