The other officers tried to console the terrified Indians by saying:
"If we were to leave him lying by the roadside, some wild animal would come along and eat him, so it is just as well for him as if we had done as you wished."
Many people now say that Aguirre was insane, and to this day the poor Christian Indians cross themselves when they hear strange noises at night, and exclaim:
"It is the soul of the tyrant Aguirre, who plunged a dagger through the heart of his own daughter when the King's officers came to arrest and punish him for his cruelties. He is doomed to wander over the swamps at night, and wail over his terrible sins. His soul can never be at rest."
Like thistle-down scattered by the wind, were the wonderful tales of El Dorado. No matter where white men went they failed to find it, but the cunning Indians always told them that it was still farther away, because they wanted to get rid of the unwelcome visitors, who tortured and enslaved, as well as robbed them.
Finally Sir Walter Raleigh, who helped colonize the state of Virginia, and named it for Good Queen Bess of England, heard about the city of Omagua, and the White Sea of the Manoas, and he determined to find them, because there, he believed, was El Dorado.
Some English sailors under his command traded some pieces of old iron to the Indians for shields of gold.
"Where did you get this metal?" was asked of the Indians.
"In Omagua, where the tiles on the roofs of the houses are made from the same glittering substance, and where we hang crescents of it in front of our doors to keep away evil spirits."
"What they say must be true," said the sailors among themselves, "for they have gold crowns on their heads, and breast-plates and earrings."