They loudly complained of their hard lot, accusing their commander as
the author of all their troubles, and as deluding them with promises of a
fairy land, which seemed to recede in proportion as they advanced. It
was of no use, they said, to contend against fate, and it was better to take
their chance of regaining the port of Panama in time to save their lives,
than to wait where they were to die of hunger.
But Pizarro was prepared to encounter much greater evils than these,
before returning to Panama, bankrupt in credit, an object of derision as a
vainglorious dreamer, who had persuaded others to embark in an
adventure which he had not the courage to carry through himself. The
present was his only chance. To return would be ruin. He used every
argument, therefore, that mortified pride or avarice could suggest to turn
his followers from their purpose; represented to them that these were the
troubles that necessarily lay in the path of the discoverer; and called to
mind the brilliant successes of their countrymen in other quarters, and
the repeated reports, which they had themselves received, of the rich
regions along the coast, of which it required only courage and constancy
on their part to become the masters. Yet, as their present exigencies
were pressing, he resolved to send back the vessel to the Isle of Pearls, to
lay in a fresh stock of provisions for his company, which might enable
them to go forward with renewed confidence.
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