wigwams to be put up for the soldiers under the
shading mulberry trees, placed houses at the disposal of the officers
and made everything bend to the comfort of the Spaniards to such a
degree that the delighted army approached their general with a petition
to make a permanent settlement there. But De Soto was a man of one
controlling passion and was impervious to all pleas, reiterating these
words, "Our quest is for gold, not for comfort or for courtesy. We must
press on."

A man of few words but of inflexible purpose, the soldiers knew only too
well the uselessness of entreating him further and putting aside their
emotional appreciation of Cofachiqui's kindness, even while accepting
all that she gave them, set to work and secretly discovered the burial
place of her people, and robbed it not only of figures of babies and
birds made of iridescent shells, but also of three hundred and fifty
weight of pearls. Then, fired with the lust of possession, and having
found out that Cofachiqui's widowed mother, who lived in retirement
forty miles down the river, was the owner of many fine pearls, De Soto
at once began to plan to get her in his power. Of this he gave no hint
to the princess, but pretended, in his long daily conversations with
her, that he was her loyal friend, and his only aim was peace so long as
he and his men should be in her territory. At the same time he suggested
casually to Cofachiqui, who was still somewhat under the spell of his
magnetic personality, (although now not altogether unconscious of the
selfish deeds done to her people in his name) that perhaps her mother
would enjoy coming up to Yupaha to meet his people who were unlike any
she had ever known, also to see the wonderful animals they rode,--for
the fine horses of the Spanish cavalrymen were the greatest admiration
of the Indians. To his suggestion Cofachiqui gave a pleasant assent, and
at once De Soto's message was conveyed to the Queen's mother by a young
Indian who had been brought up as the elder woman's own son. But the
Queen's mother had lived longer, and had a broader knowledge of the
world and of the treachery of the white man than had her daughter, and
instead of accepting the invitation in the spirit in which it was
apparently given, she sent a sharp reproof to Cofachiqui for having
allowed strangers about whom she knew nothing to invade her capital.

The news was duly brought to De Soto, who set his firm lips more firmly
still, and the