The Seven Serpents Trilogy Read Online Free PDF Page B

silent. I started another tune on the gittern and was told to stop. The men pressed Señor Guzmán for more details of this fabulous land, and he supplied them, talking out of what he had heard or his imagination until the moon rose high and the watch was changed.
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CHAPTER 6
    L ATER ON WHEN NIGHT HAD FALLEN, SMALL FIRES APPEARED ALONG the beach. The sound of voices came to us faintly across the water. But in the morning the beach was deserted, and there was no sign of life anywhere.
    Don Luis had the
lancha
lowered and went ashore with his eight soldiers and six bowmen, leaving the rest of us aboard. He was gone for an hour or more, and I could see him moving along the edge of the jungle, appearing and disappearing among the heavy brush and tall trees.
    After an hour he came back to the caravel in a hurry, sent the crew ashore, cautioned the bowmen and mus keteers to be on guard and, with me and Captain Roa in tow and a sack of hawk’s bells, returned to the island.
    He led us up the sandy beach a half league to the banks of a stream that flowed through a narrow opening into the sea. Beyond this opening, masked from the sea by a forest of mangroves, was a wide lagoon. There upon the still waters of the lagoon rode more than a hundred canoes of various sizes, painted in many bright colors and moored to colored stakes.
    â€œThose who own the canoes are hiding, but where?” Don Luis said to Esteban.
    â€œThey watch from nearby,” the slave replied.
    â€œCall them,” Don Luis said. “Say that we come to trade. We come in peace.”
    Cupping his hands, Esteban let out a piercing cry. It died away, unanswered. But presently a man with a gray beard, naked except for a circlet of shells around his waist, appeared at the edge of the clearing. He waved, and Esteban went forward to meet him. They talked for a time, mostly with their hands, while a silent group of young men came out of the shadowy forest and gathered around.
    Esteban and the cacique, followed by his men, who carried short bows and a bundle of arrows, then came up to Don Luis. The cacique bowed and was about to drop to his knees when Don Luis put out his hand and gently stopped him. I noticed that at this moment his eyes took in with one swift glance the ornament the chieftain wore around his neck. It was a clump of gold, half as big as an apple, studded with small objects that looked like pearls.
    Guzmán brought out a basket of trinkets and spread them on the ground in front of the cacique—green and blue beads, hawk’s bells, holland shirts, and red caps.
    In return, the cacique brought ten braces of fowl, maize cakes, prickly pears, and gourds filled with plums. Then Don Luis asked Esteban to translate his words and in his most commanding voice said to the chieftain and his servants:
    â€œWe have come to this beautiful island in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ and our Royal King and Queen and of our advocate, St. Peter. We come in peace, with love in our hearts, to explain to you our holy faith.”
    Here Don Luis paused and had a small image brought forth of Our Lady with Her Child in Her arms. Then he explained to them that this image was a like ness of the Blessed Mary, who dwells in the high heavens and is the Mother of Our Lord.
    The cacique listened carefully, his lips moving as Esteban translated, and when the speech was finished he bowed as if he understood everything and welcomed us to his island, which was called Tecoa. Beyond him, I noticed that many of his subjects—men, women, and children—had gathered and were shyly looking out at us through the underbrush.
    Don Luis had a rude cross brought, two tree limbs held together with rawhide, and had it planted in front of the cacique and again asked Esteban to translate as he explained its true meaning.
    â€œThis is like the cross,” he said, “upon which Our Lord Jesus Christ was fastened and put to death.”
    He told how afterward Our