ey had guns, ammunition, and a fair supply of weapons,
but their fighting capacity was very small. The Indians--or most of
them--must be at the oars. Out of less than a score of Europeans, some
must be about deck duties. A mere handful of men would be left to work
the guns and fight. A foe of any strength must inevitably capture them.

Should they attempt to cross the Atlantic to England? There again came
the question of capture. Would the Indians remain faithful if any
attempt were made to take them thousands of miles from their homes?
Should they turn corsairs; capture a sailing ship; set the Indians
ashore on their own coast, or leave them the galley to do as they
pleased with it? The two men could not make up their minds.

The next day the same thoughts came to the rest of the Europeans, and
they were heard discussing their chances of ultimate escape. Another
full council was held, and the position placed clearly before them all.
There were many differences of opinion, but eventually it was agreed
that there was too much danger in remaining near the seaboard of
Spanish America, and equal or greater peril to be encountered in an
attempt to make a winter passage to Europe. No man would face the
voyage round Cape Horn with an inadequate crew and a clumsy galley
mainly propelled by oars. The voyage would take nearly a year, and
they had provisions for about a fortnight. The plan of capturing a
small ship was more favourably considered; but the question arose,
Where could such a ship be found? If they got into the ordinary track
of navigation, other and less welcome vessels might sight them. The
position was distinctly perilous, and a bad feature of it all was that
some of the rescued men were thoroughly treacherous and untrustworthy,
and others so broken down by years of slavery as to be helpless for
strenuous action. The three ringleaders saw plainly that they had less
than a dozen men, including themselves, that could be relied upon for
loyal, valiant, and intelligent conduct in an emergency. They went to
rest that night with no definite plans for the morrow. The galley was
kept slowly going northward towards the Pacific coast of Mexico; the
oars were little used.

The next morning Hernando took definite steps. He took the captured
officers and the recalcitrant whites, put them into a boat within sight
of land, set them adrift, and stood out to sea again. He had none
under his command then who were