To the Indies (32 page)
Authors: C. S. Forester
Tags: #Inquisition, #treasure, #Caribbean, #Indian islands, #Indians, #aristocrats, #Conquistadors, #Orinoco, #Haiti, #Spain, #natives
A boat was coming out to the
Vizcaya
; presumably it had on board Alonso de Villegio, the captain, with Bobadilla’s final dispatches for Spain, and they would be under way directly. Villegio was a man of capacity, who had listened, at Bobadilla’s side, with much attention to Rich’s account of the island. He would be pleasant, sane company for Rich during the long voyage home, and a word in the King’s ear (for Rich could be certain of the King’s attention for a space on his arrival) could give him much deserved promotion.
But in the stern of the boat, beside Villegio, was a strangely familiar figure. Rich recognized the bent shoulders and the white hair and beard immediately, and only hesitated because of the unlikeliness of what he saw.
The boat came alongside, and Villegio sprang lightly to the deck, his captain’s eye taking in at a flash all the preparations for departure. Then he stood by the rail to help up the man who followed him; another sailor came to help, and the head of a third was visible over the side engaged on the same task. And the man who mounted was in need of this help, for he was old and feeble and stiff. Furthermore, as he raised his hands to the rail, there was a dull clanking to be heard. The Admiral was coming on board with chains upon his wrists.
Rich was inexpressibly shocked. He had approved of the temporary confinement of the Admiral, on the grounds that it was necessary to keep him harmless until the reforms should be under way. But that the Admiral of the Ocean, the Viceroy of the Indies, the man who had discovered a new world, should be thus publicly put to shame by being packed off home in chains, without either trial or sentence, was a dreadful thing, and the more dreadful because it showed that Bobadilla was a tactless man who would never manage the Indies.
Rich hurried across to where the Admiral still stood by the ship’s side, looking about him blindly and unseeing, the chain dangling from his wrists and the land breeze ruffling his white beard.
“Your Excellency,” he said, and bowed low. His heart was wrung with pity as the Admiral peered at him with rheumy eyes.
“Oh, Don Narciso,” said the Admiral, slowly.
All about them was clamor and bustle, as Villegio was giving orders for sail to be set and the anchor to be got in. Farewells were already being shouted from the boat alongside.
“It is dreadful to see Your Excellency treated in this fashion,” said Rich.
“It is not dreadful for me,” said the Admiral. “This is the sort of gratitude that benefactors can always expect of the world. And Christ had his cross and crown of thorns, while I have only this chain.”
The ship was under way now, with her sails filled with the last of the land breeze, as she plunged southward to make an offing. Villegio returned to them now that the immediate business of departure was completed. He, too, bowed low.
“Your Excellency,” he said. “I can remove that chain now, thank God.”
“And why?” asked the Admiral. “What about the orders given by His genuine Excellency, Don Francisco de Bobadilla?”
Villegio snapped his fingers.
“I am at sea now,” he said. “I am master of my ship, and no orders here have any weight save mine. I shall call the armorer.”
The Admiral restrained him with a gesture, the chain clattering as he put out his hand.
“No!” said the Admiral. “Never! I wear this chain by order of the King, through his mouthpiece Bobadilla, and I shall continue to wear it until I am freed by the King’s own order again. The world will see the sort of treatment the discoverer of the Indies has received.”
Villegio stood hesitant.
“Your Excellency,” interposed Rich. “Take the chain off now for the sake of your own comfort. You can put it on again when we sight Spain.”
“No, no, no!” said the Admiral. “I will not!”
Rich and Villegio exchanged glances. They both of them recognized the sort of fanaticism which brooked no argument.
“As Your Excellency pleases,” said Villegio, bowing again. He was already looking round him at his ship; there must have been scores of matters clamoring for his attention. “I must ask Your Excellency’s kindness to spare me for a few minutes again.”
The Admiral motioned him away with superb dignity.
“I understand,” he said. “I myself was once a captain of a ship.”
As Villegio departed the Admiral rounded upon Rich.
“I had forgotten until now,” he said, “but I suppose, Don Narciso, that I have you to thank for this treatment. What did you say in that lying report of yours to Their Highnesses?”
“I said nothing but what I saw to be the truth,” said Rich, taken quite aback and only collecting himself slowly; it was the Admiral himself who gained for him the necessary time to take up the defensive.
“Who bribed you?” asked the Admiral. “What friend at court have you to put in my place?”
“No one,” said Rich hotly, stung by the monstrous imputation. “I have done my duty, that and no more.”
His genuine indignation may perhaps have been remarked by the Admiral.
“No matter,” he said. “I care not whether you are my friend or my enemy. I am strong enough to stand alone against all the liars and detractors in Spain or in the Indies. Half an hour with Their Highnesses and these chains will be struck off and I shall be Admiral and Viceroy again. I have only to tell them of the discoveries I have made on this voyage — of the mines of Ophir, of the Earthly Paradise, of the Westerly passage to Arabia. I have only to remind them of the wealth to be won, the new kingdoms to be discovered.”
The dull blue eyes had a light in them now, and the wrinkled face, until now wooden and impassive, was animated and alive. The Admiral had forgotten Rich’s presence, he was staring at the horizon and dreaming dreams, just as he had always dreamed them. Rich, gazing at him, realized quite fully that the Admiral was right — that he had only to talk in that fashion, as he undoubtedly would, to Their Highnesses for a few minutes to have all he wanted again. Within a year, perhaps, he would be at sea again in command of a squadron provided by Their Highnesses — and seeking the Fountain of Youth, or the Tree of Knowledge, or the Golden City of Cambaluc. And he would find — God only knew what he would find; but, being the Admiral, he would find something.
Rich glanced astern to where Española’s mountains were fast sinking into the sea. There was a magnificent rainbow across them, adding fresh richness to their superb green summits towering above the blue, blue sea. He caught his breath a little at the sight, and felt a fresh twinge of regret at leaving the Indies behind. He had to think very hard about the solid realities of the island to allay that twinge. He shook off his momentary depression. He was on his way home.