ying, "Commend thyself to God, my
daughter, for I am about to kill thee, that thou mayest not be pointed
at with scorn, nor that it be in the power of any one to call thee the
daughter of a traitor." A woman snatched the weapon from his hand, but,
drawing his poniard, he stabbed the girl in the breast, saying, "Die!
because I must die!" Rushing then to the door, he found the house
surrounded by Spanish soldiers, who compelled him to surrender, and
almost immediately took him out to be shot.

This put an end to treasure-seeking on the Amazon, but the search for
"El Dorado" had been going on and was still continued along the banks of
the Orinoco. The first attempt to reach the golden city by this river
appears to have been made by Pedro de Acosta about the year 1530, but
after most of his men had been killed and eaten by the cannibals, he was
compelled to abandon his project. After him came Diego de Ordas, the
following year, whose expedition became afterwards famous. He, however,
found nothing himself, although he went as far as the mouth of the
Caroni--it was from one of his men that the "El Dorado" story was
gleaned. By some accident the whole of the gunpowder was exploded, and
this being attributed to the negligence of the munitioner, Juan
Martinez, he was sentenced to be put in a canoe, without paddles or
food, and allowed to drift at the mercy of the current.

What became of the culprit was not known, but some months afterwards a
strange white man was brought by some Indians to Margarita. He was
wasted by sickness, naked, and apparently destitute, but, through the
kindness of a ship-captain, he got a passage to Porto Rico, and was
there placed in a religious house, under the care of some Dominican
friars. Here he became worse, but when on the point of death he
presented his friends with two gourdsful of gold beads to pay for the
repose of his soul; he also declared himself to be Juan Martinez, and
told the wonderful story of his adventures.

After being cast adrift, the canoe floated down the stream until
evening, when it attracted the attention of some Indians, who paddled
out from the shore and rescued Martinez from his perilous situation.
These were Guianians, who had never before seen a white man, and
therefore resolved to take him to their king as a curiosity. He was,
however, blind-folded to prevent his seeing the direction they were
taking, and led on and on, through forest and over mountain, for fifteen
d