.

No man was in the mind to turn back, and progress by boat was resolved
upon. What should be done with the ship? She must not be wholly
abandoned, for she was wanted for the voyage home. Some counselled
that she should be taken back to Trinidad and harboured there for three
months, coming back to the river again at the end of that period.
Others were for hiding her, as Oxenham had hidden his ship; but Nick
and Ned Johnson were loud against any such proceeding. A plan
suggested by Trelawny was to the effect that half the company should go
buccaneering amongst the islands in the _Golden Boar_, whilst the other
half should try for "El Dorado's" land, the spoils of each expedition
to be put into the common fund, and then shared according to the terms
of the cruise. A few reckless spirits agreed to this, but Captain
Drake would make no such division of his forces. To do so, he argued,
would be to weaken both parties to the verge of powerlessnesa.

Matters were at a deadlock. Then Dan Pengelly went hunting, and caught
a native canoe and two natives. He brought them to the ship. Yacamo
could make himself understood. He persuaded the Indians that his
masters were not Spaniards, but tender-hearted white men, who loved the
brown man like a brother. Generosity in the matter of presents helped
the faith of the two men. They declared their willingness to help the
white strangers. Their own village was near at hand, hidden in the
wooded recesses of an island, and they had intercourse with other
villages along the delta, and could guide the adventurers through the
network of channels to the main stream.

But the problem what to do with the ship remained unsolved. The two
natives declared that it was impossible to get her into the main river;
and even if that could be done, her voyage up-stream would be short, as
waterfalls blocked the passage.

Captain Drake and a small retinue proceeded to the Indian village, and
talked with the chief. He proved friendly enough, and quite willing to
help, when he found that the newcomers were foes to his oppressors, the
Spaniards. He paid a return visit to the ship, and, learning the
difficulty concerning her, offered to hide her in a deep pool on the
eastern side of his own island. She could there be effectively
screened. A survey of the spot and the channels leading to it showed
that the plan was feasible; and, with ship's boats and native canoes,
the _Golden Boar_ was towed