"We shall die unless we have the favor of our good and wise white brothers."
Farther on, the people did not venture to come out in the paths and gather round them as the first had done, but stayed meekly in their houses, sitting with their faces turned to the wall, and with all their property heaped up in the middle of the floor.
"We could easily plunder and rob these simple folk," said Ponce de Leon, "but I charge you on your honor as knights to take nothing you do not pay for."
In spite of this the natives loaded them with valuable skins and other presents, and were eager and willing to show all the springs and creeks in their neighborhood.
"They pretend to know nothing of the miraculous gifts of the Fountain of Youth, but their own splendid endurance of heat and cold, and the fatigues of travel show how perpetually young and active they are. If their bodies were pierced through with arrows they would soon recover. They are trying to mislead us and conceal the source of their strength, but we will soon find it," the Spanish knights said, and Ponce de Leon, their leader, heartily agreed with them.
Never in the world had there been such a strange journey undertaken by gray and careworn men. On and on they went searching in the heart of the woods for a fountain where they could renew their youth. Yellow jasmine trailed in festoons above their heads; wild roses grew at their feet; the air was sweet with the odor of pine, while long gray moss hung from the branches of the live-oaks.
Finally they came to a spring which widened into a natural basin and bubbled up in such a cool, delicious manner, that Ponce de Leon plunged into it with joy. Coming up on the bank to dress himself, he exclaimed:
"It is enough. I have bathed in the Fountain of Youth. See, I am young again."
His companions hastened to try it, and they too said the same.
"Hurrah! hurrah! the Fountain of Youth has been found! Let us make haste to tell the world of your discovery."