nds, the dog receiving the same share of plunder that would have
been due to an armed man. Leoncico is said to have brought his captain
in this way more than a thousand crowns.

"You called him off, eh, General?" Saavedra asked, bending to stroke the
terrible head. He and Vasco Nunez had been friends for years; in fact it
was Saavedra who had managed the smuggling of Balboa on board the ship
in a cask, to escape his creditors, when the expedition set out. They
were intimate, as men are intimate who are different in character but
alike in feeling and tradition. Pizarro was an outsider and knew it.

"Yes; Enciso's dog would be better for a whipping, perhaps, but I had no
mind to make the Bachelor any more an enemy than he is. Pizarro,--" he
turned to the soldier of fortune, with a frank smile, "I have work for
you to do. It is dangerous, but I know that you do not care for that.
Pick out six good men, and be ready to see if there is any truth in
those stories about the Coyba gold mines."

Pizarro's black brows unbent. Nothing could have suited him better than
just these orders. He was, like Balboa, a native of the province of
Estremadura in Spain, and being shut out by his low birth from
advancement in his own land, had come to the colonies in the hope of
gaining wealth and position by the sword. His reckless courage, iron
muscle, and a certain cold stubbornness had given him the reputation of
an able man, but though nearly ten years older than Balboa, he had never
held any but a subordinate position. He had nearly made up his mind that
his chance would never come. These hidalgos wanted all the glory as well
as all the power for themselves. He could not see why Balboa should turn
the possible discovery of a rich new province over to him, but if the
gold should be there, Pizarro would get it. He bowed, thanked the
general, and took his leave.

"General," said Saavedra, "I never like to put my neck in a noose, but
if you were only Vasco Nunez I would ask you why you made exactly that
choice."

Balboa laughed and pulled the ears of Leoncico, who had laid his head in
full content on his master's knee. "I am always Vasco Nunez to you,
_amigo_," he said easily, "as you very well know. Pizarro is a bulldog
for bravery, and he has a head on his shoulders. Also he is ambitious,
and this will give him a chance to win renown."

"And keeps him out of mischief for the time being," put in Saavedra
dryly.

Balboa laughed again.