Vasconselos : a romance of the new world

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Chapter I

" Nature did Design us to be warriors, and to break through our ring, the sea, by which we ale environed ; and we, by force, must fetch in what is wanting, or precious to us."

lUssraant.

It is the province of romance, even more decidedly than history, to recall the deeds and adventures of the past. It is to fiction that we must chiefly look for those living and breathing creations which history quite too unfrequently deigns to summon tp her service. The warm atmosphere of present emotions, and present purposes, belongs to the dramatis personce of art ; and she is never so well satisfied in showing us human performances, as when she betrays the passions and affections by which they were dictated and endured. It is in spells and possessions of this character, that she so commonly supersedes the sterner muse whose province she so frequently invades ; and her offices are not the less legitimate, as regards the truthfulness of things in general, than are those of history, because she supplies those details which the latter, unwisely as we think, but too commonly, holds beneath her regard. In the work before us, however, it is our purpose to slight neither agency. W e shall defer to each of them, in turn, as they may be made to serve a common purpose. They both appeal to our assistance, and equally spread their possessions beneath our eyes. We shall employ, without violating, the material resources of the Historian, while seeking to endo* 1 >

2 VASCONSKLOS.

them with a vitality which fiction only can confer. It is in pursuit of this object that we entreat the reader to suppose the backward curtain withdrawn, unveiling, if only for a moment, the aspects of a period not so remote as to lie wholly beyond our sympathies. We propose to look back to that dawn of the sixteenth century ; at all events, to such a portion of the historical landscape of that period, as to show us some of the first sunny gleams of European light upon the savage dominions of the Western Continent. To review this epoch is, in fact, to survey the small but impressive beginnings of a wondrous drama in which we, ourselves, are still living actors. The scene is almost within our grasp. The names of the persons of our narrative have not yet ceased from sounding in our ears ; and the' theatre of performance is one, the boards of which, even at this momen', are echoing beneath their mighty footsteps. Our curiosity and interest may well be awakened for awhile, to an action, the fruits of which, in some degree, are inuring to our present benefit.

It is just three hundred years, since, in the spring season of the year of Grace, one thousand five hundred and thirty -eight, the infant city of Havana resounded with the tread of one of the noblest bodies of Spanish chivalry that ever set foot in our Western hemisphere. That gay and gallant cavalier, Hernando De Soto — equally the courtier and the soldier — having won wealth, no less than fame, under Francis Pizarro in Peru, had now resolved upon an independent enterprise, in another region, for himself. This enterprise, in the extravagant expectations of that period, promised to be of even more magnificent results than those of his great predecessor and companion, already distinguished by his sovereign as the Adelantado of Florida.

Florida — that wondrous terra incognita, which, for so long a time, led the European imagination astray — our ambitious cavalier was now busied in making the grandest preparations for its conquest. A thousand soldiers, many of whom were of the noblest blood of Spain and Portugal, had assembled at Havana for this enterprise, swelling his train with a strength which promised to make certain all his anticipations. More than one third

THE SPANISH CAVALIEB. 8

of this brilliant force — for such it was, if we compare it with the small' and ill-organized bands which were usually deemed sufficient for the conflict with the Indian races of America — consisted of cavalry; — belted knights, brave soldiers, already practised in the wars of Mexico and Peru, and young, hopeful gallants, of high blood, who had their fortunes to make, and who had expended the last remains of their patrimony in the decorations, for this enterprise, of their steeds and persons. The rest were stout bowmen and arquebusiers, — men of tough sinews, and morals quite as tough — rude, sturdy, desperate, in doublets of quilted cotton, which were only not quite impenetrable to an Indian arrow. Well might the ambitious spirit of Hernando de Soto become confident of success as he reviewed his squadrons. Their numbers, their manly vigor, their ardent enthusiasm; the splendor of their armor, the admirable horsemanship of his cavaliers — all tended to assure him of his future triumphs', neither Cortez nor Pizarro had been half so fortunate in such an equipment; and our adelantado, as he surveyed his forces, became impatient of the hour when he should dart upon the conquest which he already regarded as secure. Compelled, however", to await the tardy process of getting ships and stores in readiness, he enlivened the interval of delay, by exercising his gallants in all the military and social amusements in which they .took delight. While in Cuba, moved by the policy of winning to his banner the wealth and enterprise of the island, he cheerfully encouraged his knights and captains to engage in all those exercises of chivalry which could possibly beguile the affections of the people. The days were accordingly consumed in tilts and tournaments, bull-fights, and other manly sports. The nights were yielded to balls and masquerades, in which the victor of the morning but too commonly found himself vanquished by the feeblest as well as fairest of his foes. The Spaniard, naturally a person of parade and pomp, but too frequently sacrificed the substance of a life to the shadow which his fancy loved. The resources of an entire household were sometimes exhausted in making gay the graceful figure of its young cadet Beauty necessarily strove, with equal ardor, to render hei ft VASCONSKLOS.

taste and treasure appropriate auxiliaries to her natural charms ■ and thus it was that the brief interval during which our adventurers lingered in the island, after reaching it from Spain, passed like a dream of enchantment — one of those fairy tales of pleasure that we read of in the romances of Arabia. But the time was fast approaching when these gay scenes of pleasure — the relaxations and the mimicry of war — were to give place to its absolute and hard realities. The arrangements of our adelantado were at length nearly completed. The ships had taken in most of their storeu, and two of them had been already dispatched with the view to a better exploration of the coast of Florida, and in search of a fitting harbor for the descent of the armament. But a few weeks — perhaps days — would elapse, and the little city would sink into its ancient dullness and repose. The sad thought of separation from such delights as had been enjoyed by all parties, could only be dissipated by renewed efforts at . enjoyment. Gloomy reflections were only to be banished by fresh indulgences ; and, duly, as the time lessened for delay, the plans and schemes for pleasure were hurriedly increased. The young damsels of Cuba put forth all their attractions to arrest the fugitive hearts whose heroic influences had but too much touched their own ; and more than one brave cavalier was found to hesitate as the time drew nigh for his departure. His imagination painfully contrasted the pleasures which he enjoyed, with the toils and perils "which were in prospect. Care and anxiety naturally followed such comparisons; and, though the sports of the island were not forborne until the armament had fairly taken its departure, yet were they felt to be more or less deeply shadowed by the consciousness of the change which was at hand. The song was growing much less lively than at first — the tinkle of the guitar less frequent and merry — the voice of the singer more subdued, while the tremulous sighs that mingled with its strain, and formed its tender echo and fitting accompaniment, bore evidence quite as frequently of the really saddened fancy, as of the beguiling artifice of the fair musician.

The cares of Hernando de Soto were of a different character

HKBNAKCO DK SOTO. 6

Though wedded to one of the most lovely of all the beauties of Spain, — a princely dame, of family quite as distinguished as her charms, — it was not the tender passion which disturbed his fancies. Love satisfied — the early gush of youthful ardor lulled to rest by gratification — and ambition, that sterner passion which more particularly inspires the bosom of the matured man, superseding all others, except avarice, took possession of his soul, swaying it with little interruption or interval. He was only anxious to be gone on his path of triumph; and every event which was calculated to delay his departure was an additional source of anxiety, and even bitterness. Of these delays, the causes were frequent. The very sports and pleasures which he encouraged sometimes embarrassed the toils of his subordinates while diminishing his own resources, and the shows of reluctance and hesitation on the part of some of his favorite officers, together with certain awkward domestic occurrences, at which it is only necessary that we should glance in passing, rendered active all that was irritable and unamiable in his temper and deportment. It is our fortune to place him before our readers at a moment which found him particularly ruffled by the misconduct of one favorite cavalier, and the expected falling off" of another. In a private chamber of the Governor's palace, — for he was Governor- General of Cuba, as well as Adelantado of Florida, — he holds in close conference one of his chief advisers. Hernando de Soto was at this time about thirty-six years of age, in the very prime of manhood, healthy, vigorous, accomplished, graceful in carriage, commanding in deportment ; above the middle height, of a countenance dark and animated, and with a large and fiery eye. Of noble family, a gentleman " by all four descents," as was the phrase, he had yet gone forth as a mere adventurer on the conquest of Peru. There he had proved his personal merits to be superior to those of birth ; ranking next to Pizarro himself in the use of lance and sword, and particularly distinguished by his wonderful excellence in horsemanship. He might have retired in ease and affluence on the wealth and refutation which he acquired in Peru, but that the master passion of his soul forbade the sacrifice of endowments, of strength, skill and courage, which were too precious and too conspicuous to be consigned to inactivity. It was a fete that brought him once more from his native country in search of greater distinctions than he had yet acquired, in a perilous strife with the fierce natives that occupied the melancholy wastes of Florida.

His companion, at the moment when we seek to present him to the reader, was a person of a very different mood and character. Don Balthazar de Alvaro was a cold, dark, and somewhat ostentatious hidalgo, — a man of passions rather more intense than fierce, — subtle, yet tenacious, — capable of secret vices, yet equally capable of concealing them, — a prudent man, in the worldly signification of the term, yet a profligate in every better sense. But he outraged few external proprieties. He had the cunning of the serpent, without the dove's innocence, and possessed the art of hiding the fang and" venom from discovery, even at the moment when he most harbored and prepared both faculties for use. He .had been for ten years a resident of the island, was a man of large estates, and larger enterprises, with involvements more than corresponding with the former, and such a»« might well be supposed to follow from a somewhat reckless indulgence of the latter. He was now forty-five years . of age, and remarkably erect and vigorous, had frequently distinguished himself in war with the Indians, and it surprised nobody in that day that he should eagerly prepare to embark his fortunes with those of Hernando de Soto. The public voice imputed to him and other cavaliers no higher ambition in undertaking this enter prise than the capture of such a number of red-men of the continent as would enable them to stock with slaves their vast landed estates in Cuba. Don Balthazar was a widower, without family, save in the person of a single niece, the only child of a brothei", who, with his wife, had been dead for several years. The child had been thrown upon the care of her uncle from an early period. She was now seventeen, with considerable estates of her own, upon which it was shrewdly conjectured that her uncle had trespassed frequently, and with no light hand. She was as beautiful

A DELICATE QUESTION. 7

as young, — a tall, majestic woman, with pale but highly expressive features, a deep, dark eye, full of tenderness and thought, with an expression of melancholy in her countenance, which seemed rather to heighten than disparage the eminent beauty of her face. We shall see and hear more of her hereafter.

While the two cavaliers conferred together, De Soto paced the apartment with an air of much vexation and anxiety. He showed himself deeply chafed with matters, the discussion "of which had evidently occupied for some time before the thoughts and feelings of the two. Don Balthazar kept in a sitting posture; he watched the movements of his superior with eyes that sometimes gleamed , with a sinister expression. This seemed to show him not wholly dissatisfied with the annoyances of the other ; a slight smile at moments played about his mouth, — but these were not allowed to attract the notice of De Soto, who broke into speech Occasionally in regard to the subject of his vexation.

" Methinks, Don Balthazar, you make too light of this mischief! You forget that it was to the particular care of my wife that the Count de Gomera confided his daughter. What if she were a natural child 1 — did he love her the less 1 Was she the less honored by the people under her father's government 1 You say that she had the mother's weakness ! All women are weak ; and that she should yield when man persuades, is due rather to her nature than to the vices in her heart. Her security is in our justice, and if that fails, she fails also. But Leonora de Bovadilla should have had additional securities in my household ; and I hold it as an outrage on myself, scarcely to be forgiven, with any atonement made, that one of my own trusted Lieutenants should have been the first to abuse these securities. It is a wrong done to my wife's honor and mine own, which, but for the responsibilities of this expedition, would impel me to punish the transgressor with lance and sword, and compel him to make the last atonement with his blood !" w

" It is better that he should make atonement by marrying the girL" was the reply of the other. " I trow, it shall better please one of the parties at least."

" It shall please them both ! He shall marry her, or he makes of me such an enemy as shall make death itself a desirable release to him from punishment."

" He is prepared for this," said the other. " Let your anger cool. Saving the offence to yourself and your honorable lady, there will be no wrong done to the damsel. He will repair the breach in her condition, and make an honest woman of her ; so that no one shall have reason to complain. Nuno de Tobar is a free gallant. What he hath done hath not been of purpose, but in the warmth of a passion, that has rather found its countenance in the easy nature of the damsel herself,— rperhaps in her own willingness, "

" Nay, nay ; I will not have it so, Don Balthazar," was the impetuous response of De Soto ; — " this is too much thy irreverent way of speaking where woman is concerned. The virtue and modesty of the Lady Leonora were above reproach."

" Well, I mean not harm, your Excellency ; we speak of women as we have found them. It nas been your fortune to meet only with such as are pure ; but I "

" Let it pass, Senor," was the interruption. " Thou wilt see Nuno de Tobar, and teach him my desires — my demands. Let him marry the Lady Leonora without delay. Myself and the Lady Isabella shall grace the nuptials, which shall not be slighted. There shall be state in the arrangements, such as becomes the daughter of the Count de Gomera ; such as becomes a lady in the guardianship of my wife. I will give him no countenance till this be done ! I will not see him till the moment when he unites his hand with the maiden he hath wronged, under the sanction of theHoly Church."

The speaker was suddenly answered from another quarter, —

" Alas ! your Excellency, but the offender must again trespass, and again, rely upon your generous nature in the hope for par, don," said the voice of a third person, who entered the door of the chamber at this moment.

"How now, Senor! wast thou not forbidden this presence?" demanded De Soto, angrily. The intruder was the offending

THE DIFFICULTY SETTLED. 9

cavalier, Nuno de Tobar, whose liaison with the fair charge of the adelantado had formed the subject of the preceding conference. No more graceful or superb cavalier had ever found favor in the eyes of woman; and, as now, with a softened demeanor, with the air of a man conscious of offence, and sincerely regretting it, he entered the presence of his superior, his frank and ingenuous countenance, his noble though modest carriage, insensibly won upon the mood of De Soto, and prepared him to listen patiently to the apologies of the offender.

"I have erred," he continued, "and I crave pardon for my offence. I will make all the amendment in my power. Unhappily, I can make but little "

"Thou wilt wed with the Lady Leonora?"

"That were no atonement, your highness, since J shall esteem it rather a reward for services yet to be performed, that you confer upon me a prize the most precious to my fancy. That the Lady Leonora has suffered me to know what is the power which my heart exercises upon hers, rather commends her to my love, than lessens the value which I set upon her. Believe me, Senor, that, in giving me this lady, you offer the most powerful motives to my courage and fidelity, in the progress which lies before us, in the deep forests of the Floridian."

This was so gracefully said that De Soto was disarmed. He was only too glad of the opportunity, thus afforded him, by the readiness of. the offender to repair his misconduct, to take once more into favor one of the most accomplished gallants in his train.

" I have been angry with" thee, Nuno de Tobar, but thy. heart has not meant to offend. Away with thee, then ; I forgive thee ! See, if thy lady-love shall so readily forgive thee, in making her ready to attend thee to the altar. Thou shalt be duly warned of the time when it shall please my wife to see thee wedded to thine. Meanwhile, prepare thee with all dispatch, for there must Ihe no needless delays in our expedition. Our departure is at nana."

Some farther conference ensued between the parties, and

1# when the young cavalier had left the presence, which he did with out rendering necessary the commands of his superior, De Soto resumed as follows :

" This passeth my hope ! I had feared a struggle with the hot passions of this youth. Few men tolerate compulsion in aflairs of love ; still fewer the necessity of an alliance with the thing they have dishv/nored. Strange that we should be so heedful of a stain which is of our own making : hut verily such is man's nature. That Nuno de Tobar is so easy in this matter, — though it likes me as repairing the shame of the Lady Leonora, and- relieving me of some of the trouble in my path, — yet somewhat lessens him in my favor. He seemeth to me rather heedless on the point of honor."

" Nay, your excellency is now unreasonable," was th3 answer of Don Balthazar; " Nuno de Tobar is a philosopher somewhat after my own fashion. He hath made no large calculation upon the sex ; therefore he shall not suffer greatly from experience hereafter. Thou wilt do well to suffer him to see no diminution of thy favor. Hast thou not declared him thy lieutenant-general ] Wilt thou revoke thy trust ? If thou dost, the offence were more grievous than the command which weds him to this damsel. That were not so readily forgiven. Trust me, he is one to resent a wrong done to his ambition, where he might submit to one inflicted on his heart."

" It may be so," was De Soto's answer to this suggestion, " yet I have resolved that he goes no longer as my lieutenant-general. I think of this office for another. It shall certainly be his no longer. He shall win his way to favor ere he gains it. What thinkest thou of Vasco Porcallo for this station V

" Does he join the expedition?" inquired the other.

" Will such an appointment fail to persuade him to the enterprise 1 Such is the bait which I have passed before his eyes."

" His treasures are an object, surely !"

" He is brave also, and full of spirit."

" But he is old and capricious ! a single skirmish with the red men will suffice for his ambition."

REASONS FOB A CHANGS. 11

" Be it so ; but he shall have made his investments ! His oas tellanoes will have embarked in the expedition. These are not easily recalled. He may retire from toils which are too' great for his years; but what shall restore him his gold when it shall have been expended in the enterprise ]"

De Soto had made his calculations shrewdly. One of his vices — the greatest — was avarice. This impaired the dignity and virtue of his ambition. Don Balthazar was soon persuaded to see, in the argument of the adelantado, good reasons for con firming the office of lieutenant-general on the rich hidalgo, Vasco Porcallo de Figueroa, and for deposing from it the poor but gallant young cavalier who had so grievously offended. The subject, however, was soon dismissed, to give way to another of considerable interest to both the parties. But, for the discussion of this, we reserve ourselves for a fresh chapter, as it will need the presence of another of the persons of our drama.

Chapter II

" Go, Philostrale, Stir up the Athenian youth to merriment* ; Awake the pert and risible spirit of mirth ; Turn melancholy forth to funeral ; The pale companion is not for our pomp." — Shaksfeaki.

" Have you sounded these Portuguese brothers, as I counselled you ?" was the inquiry of De Soto.

The brow of Don Balthazar slightly darkened as he answered :

" It is not easy to sound them. They are suspicious and resentful. The jealousies of our people have made them so ; and you have been able to offer chem no position. I should have preferred, were this possible, that one of them should have this very office you propose to confer upon Vasco Porcallo."

" That is out of the question."

" I feel it ; and yet, beyond the hope of profit; which is felt by the commonest arquebusier in the army, what is the motive for the enterprise on the part of these brothers i They are both young and nobis — ambitious and full of valor. Their follower* are few, it is true, but they will make good fight ; and really, the abilities of the elder brother, Philip de Vasconselos, are probably of greater value than those of any of your cavaliers. The companion of De Vaca, he hath traversed all these wilds of Florida, and probably knoweth all the secrets of which De Va^a made such glorious boast and mystery. Besides, he speaks and understands the language of the natives ; an advantage of which it is difficult to measure the importance. Of his valor and conduct we have sufficient testimony of our own eyes, even if the evidence of other witnesses were wanting; De Va$a himse'f spoke of him as one of the most prudent and valiant of his cavaliers."

1*

AN UNPLEASANT SUGGESTION. 18

" All this, I wot," answered the other impatiently, " but what of thy mission ? what mean they by the reserve which seeks me not, and the change of mood which makes them declare themselves doubtful whether or not to proceed upon the enterprise ?"

"They have spoken somewhat of the evident dislike and jealousies of certain of our knights, to say nothing of the rude disfavor of the common soldiers."

"This alone should show them how impossible it would be to give them command over our Spaniards. Are they not satisfied of this?"

" Yet doth it also afford sufficient reason why they should be unwilling to proceed in any enterprise with companions so unreasonable, for whom they will peril life and fortune, and from whom they can expect nothing in return."

" And thou hast gathered nothing further from thy inquiries into this matter ? Hath nothing occurred to thy own thought and observation to add force to the difficulty which thou hast seen so clearly, and which thou hold'st so weighty? Bethink thee, Don Balthazar, hast thou not a niece, a damsel lovely as any that ever blossomed in bright Castile ? These knights of Portugal have looked upon the maiden with eyes of love 1 Ha ! Is't not so 1 Dost thou not see it ?"

The brow of the person addressed again darkened as this suggestion met his ears. His lips might be seen more closely to contract together. He was about to speak when the rustling of. silken garments at the entrance announced a new visitor ; and the door opened, a moment after, for the admission of the lady of the adelantado. Both knights approached her as she appeared, with shows of the most profound deference.

"Am I permitted to attend these solemn councils?" was the inquiry of the noble lady as she passed into the- apartment ; her voice softly attuned to the playful question, and her lips parting with the sweetest smiles.

"To one who so admirably unites the wisdom of the one, with the virtues of the other sex^the strength and dignity of manhood with the grace and loveliness of woman — counsel her self must willingly incline her ear. We were foes to wisdom did we refuse to hearken to the words of her best favorite."

The stately compliment, so perfectly Spanish, was from the lips of Don Balthazar, upon whom the lady smiled most sweetly, not wholly insensible, it would seem, to the honeyed flattery.

" Now, verily," exclaimed De Soto, who beheld the expression in her face; "now, verily, hath this politician won thy whole heart by the silliest speech. He is like the cunning knave who possesseth counterfeit castellanoes, who, knowing their just worthlessness, yet circulates them for the value which they derive only from the ignorance of him who receives. He hath put his copper trinket upon thee, and will look for the golden one in return, even as we look to our. Floridian savage for the precious metals, in exchange for others, which are as dear to his eyes, as despicable in ours. Is it not so, my lady ? And yet, if thou aft thus easily put upon, what shall be my security, leaving the government of Cuba in thy hands ?"

" Oh ! fear nothing, my lord ; I shall ere long become schooled in all the subtleties of thy politicians, so that thy government shall have no wrong during thy absence. Be not deceived, my good lord, in the supposed estimate which our sex makes of the flatteries of thine. We receive the coin that thou offerest, not because we overvalue it or esteem it very highly, but simply as we know that it is quite too commonly the most precious which ye have to offer. Were sincerity one of the virtues of the man, we should perhaps never listen to his flatteries ; but it were unreasonable to reject his false tokens, when we know that such constitute his whole treasure ; and we receive the tribute of his lips only in the absence of all better securities lodged within his heart. It is something of an acknowledgment, in behalf of our authority, that he is solicitous to show the devotion which he has not always the nobleness to feel." *

" Ha ! Senor Balthazar, we gain nothing by this banter. Our lady knows that our gold is copper It is for such only that