degrees they sank beneath the hardships of their lot until only two were left; one of them a sturdy sailor named Gonzalo Guerrero, the other a kind of clerical adventurer named Geronimo de Aguilar. The sailor had the good luck to be transferred to the service of the cacique of the neighboring province of Chatemal, by whom he was treated with kindness. Being a thorough son of the ocean, seasoned to all weathers and ready for any chance or change, he soon accommodated himself to his new situation, followed the cacique to the wars, rose by his hardihood and prowess to be a distinguished warrior, and succeeded in gaining the heart and hand of an Indian princess.

The other survivor, Geronimo de Aguilar, was of a different complexion. He was a native of Ecija, in Andalusia, and had been brought up to the Church and regularly ordained, and shortly afterwards had sailed in one of the expeditions to San Domingo, whence he had passed to Darien.

He proceeded in a different mode from that adopted by his comrade, the sailor, in his dealings with the Indians, and in one more suited to his opposite calling. Instead of playing the hero among the men and the gallant among the women, he recollected his priestly obligations to humility and chastity. Accordingly

he made himself a model of meekness and obedience to the cacique and his warriors, while he closed his eyes to the charms of the infidel women. Nay, in the latter respect, he reinforced his clerical vows by a solemn promise to God to resist all temptations of the flesh, so he might be delivered out of the hands of these Gentiles.

Such were the opposite measures of the sailor and the saint, and they appear to have been equally successful. Aguilar, by his meek obedience to every order, however arbitrary and capricious, graduaily won the good-will of the cacique and his family. Taxmar however subjected him to many trials before he admitted him to his entire confidence. One day when the Indians, painted and decorated in warlike style, were shooting at a mark, a warrior who had for some time fixed his eyes on Aguilar, approached suddenly and seized him by the arm. "Thou seest," said he, "the certainty of these archers; if they aim at the eye, they hit the eye-if at the mouth, they hit the mouth-what wouldst thou think, if thou wert to be placed instead of the mark, and they were to shoot at and miss thee?"

Aguilar secretly trembled lest he should be the victim of some cruel caprice of the kind. Dissembling his fears, however, he replied with great submission, "I am your slave, and you

may do with me as you please; but you are too wise to destroy a slave who is useful and obedient." His answer pleased the cacique, who had secretly sent his warrior to try his humility.

Another trial of the worthy Geronimo was less stern and fearful indeed, but equally perplexing. The cacique had remarked his unexampled discretion with respect to the sex, but doubted its sincerity. After laying many petty temptations in his way, which Geronimo resisted with the self-denial of a saint, he at length determined to subject him to a fiery ordeal. He accordingly sent him on a fishing expedition, accompanied by a buxom damsel of fourteen years of age. They were to pass the night by the seaside, so as to be ready to fish at the first dawn of day, and were allowed but one hammock to sleep in. It was an embarrassing predicament—not apparently to the Indian beauty, but certainly to the scrupulous Geronimo. He remembered however his double vow, and suspending his hammock to two trees, resigned it to his companion; while, lighting a fire on the sea-shore, he stretched himself before it on the sand. It was, as he acknowledged, a night of fearful trial, for his sandy couch was cold and cheerless, the hammock warm and tempting; and the infidel damsel had

VOL. V.-4

been instructed to assail him with all manner of blandishments and reproaches. His resolution however, though often shaken, was never overcome; and the morning dawned upon him still faithful to his vow.

The fishing over, he returned to the residence of the cacique, where his companion being closely questioned, made known the triumph of his self-denial before all the people. From that time forward he was held in great respect; the cacique especially treated him with unlimited confidence, intrusting to him the care, not merely of his house, but of his wives, during his occasional absence.

Aguilar now felt ambitious of rising to greater consequence among the savages, but this he knew was only to be done by deeds of arms. He had the example of the sturdy seaman, Gonzalo Guerrero before his eyes, who had become a great captain in the province in which he resided. He entreated Taxmar therefore to entrust him with bow and arrows, buckler and war-club, and to enroll him among his warriors. The cacique complied. Aguilar soon made himself expert at his new weapons, signalized himself repeatedly in battle, and, from his superior knowledge of the arts of war, rendered Taxmar such essential service as to excite the jealousy of some of the neighboring caciques.

One of them remonstrated with Taxmar for employing a warrior who was of a different religion, and insisted that Aguilar should be sacrificed to their gods. "No," replied Taxmar, "I will not make so base a return for such signal services : surely the gods of Aguilar must be good, since they aid him so effectually in maintaining a just cause.”

The cacique was so incensed at this reply that he assembled his warriors and marched to make war upon Taxmar. Many of the counsellors of the latter urged him to give up the stranger who was the cause of this hostility. Taxmar however rejected their counsel with disdain, and prepared for battle. Aguilar assured him that his faith in the Christians' God would be rewarded with victory; he in fact concerted a plan of battle, which was adopted. Concealing himself with a chosen band of warriors among thickets and herbage, he suffered the enemy to pass by in making their attack. Taxmar and his host pretended to give way at the first onset. The foe rushed heedlessly in pursuit; whereupon Aguilar and his ambuscade assaulted them in the rear. Taxmar turned upon them in front; they were thrown into confusion, routed with great slaughter, and many of their chiefs taken prisoners. This victory gave Taxmar the sway over the land