the ships on the gay water and about them the boats and the
red men's canoes.

We went to the _Marigalante_, I with the Admiral. Dancing across in
the boat there spoke to me Don Diego Colon, born Giacomo Colombo, and I
found him a sober, able man, with a churchly inclination. Here rose the
Marigalante, and now we were upon it, and it was a greater ship than
the _Santa Maria_, a goodly ship, with goodly gear aboard and goodly
Spaniards. Jayme de Marchena felt the tug of blood, of home-coming into
his country.

CHAPTER XXVIII

FINDING young Sancho upon the _Marigalante_, I kept him beside me for
information's sake. He, too, had his stories. And he asked me how Pedro
and Fernando died.

In this ship were two sets of captives, animals brought from Spain and
Indians from those fiercer islands to the south. The _Monsalvat_ that
was a freight ship had many animals, said Sancho, cattle and swine and
sheep and goats and cocks and hens, and thirty horses. But upon the
_Marigalante_, well-penned, the Admiral had a stallion and two mares,
a young bull and a couple of heifers, and two dogs--bloodhounds. The
Caribs were yonder, five men in all.

He took me to see them. They were tall, strong, sullen and desperate in
aspect, hardier, fiercer than Indians of these northward lands. But they
were Indians, and their guttural speech could be made out, at least in
substance. They asked with a high, contemptuous look when we meant to
slay and eat them.

"They eat men's flesh, every Caribal of them! We saw horrid things in
Guadaloupe!"

Away from these men sat or stood seven women. "They were captives," said
Sancho. "Caribs had ravished them from other islands and they fled in
Guadaloupe to us."

These women, too, seemed more strongly fibred, courageous, high of head
than the Hayti women. There was among them one to whom the others gave
deference, a chieftainess, strong and warlike in mien, not smoothly
young nor after their notions beautiful, but with an air of sagacity
and pride. A ship boy stood with us. "That is Catalina," he said. "Ho,
Catalina!"

The woman looked at him with disdain and what she said was, "Young fool
with fool-gods!"

"They came to us for refuge," said Sancho. "We think they are Amazons.
There was an island where they fought us like men--great bow-women! Don
Alonso de Ojeda first called this one Catalina, so now we all call her
Catalina. At first they liked us, but now that they are safe away from
Car