not at least faithful.

For a couple of days he went north, well out to sea. Then he turned
inshore again, coasted for a while, until he came to a wooded bay that
offered good anchorage. Entering this he dropped his anchor, and went
ashore with Morgan and half a dozen or so of the Indians. The party
was away for some hours, and only returned at sunset. The next day the
object of the expedition was disclosed. Hernando called the whole
crew, white and Indian, before him. He explained the dangers they were
hourly in on the high seas, and the impossibility of fighting any
strong adversary. Food was running short, and a long voyage in the
galley was out of the question. He proposed to take to the land
himself, and hazard his chance of life and liberty there. The Indians
could scatter abroad. The forest teemed with game, and he and his
party had seen many streams. No village or town was anywhere in sight.
The chances of escape into Mexico were excellent for whites and natives
alike. Or any man who wished it might try to reach his own tribe
again; a matter of half a moon of marching would bring him to his
people. Every man should take some weapon and as much food as he cared
to carry. His plan included the burning of the galley, so that all
trace of them might be lost.

The natives rejoiced at the chance of quitting the hated galley for
their native woods, and the Europeans saw that their captain's plan
offered them the best hope of safety; they agreed also.

The _Santa Maria_ was partially dismantled. All that was of value in
her was taken out; the food was shared, arms distributed, and the whole
party went ashore in the boats. Hernando stayed last, and fired the
vessel before he left her. During the whole night she blazed,
illuminating the camp of her late occupants amid the trees on the
shore. The Indians had rigged up two tents with the sails, and in
these their white companions slept comfortably.

No move was made from the camping-place on the shore for several days.
The Indians scouted round in all directions, going fifty or sixty miles
through forest and over mountain, and spying out the land. Hernando,
meanwhile, tried to get some idea of his position on the Pacific coast.
From his observations, and the reports of the natives, he concluded
that he must be somewhere west of the great lake of Nicaragua, and in a
line for the small town of San Juan on the Atlantic coast, not more
than a week's marc