"Come back! come back!" But Ponce de Leon stood up in the boat and shook his head, and made them understand by signs that he would not do as they wished. This made them all the more frantic and one of the warriors, snatching up a poisoned arrow, sped it with deadly aim. It went through the thigh of the gallant old knight where he stood, and it was not long until death ended his search for the Fountain of Youth. Since then no one has ever tried to locate this wonder-working fountain, but philosophers say that it is in our own hearts and that we find it when we realize that the soul never dies, and is perpetually young because of its immortality.
Montezuma and the Paba
COLUMBUS died poor and in prison because nobody was interested in his effort to find a northwest passage to India, or cared whether the earth was round or flat. They wanted gold, and the stories of El Dorado told by the ignorant sailors had more influence on the people than anything Columbus said or did.
"I have merely opened the gates for others to enter," he exclaimed bitterly, when he found himself thwarted in all his plans, but there is more honor accorded his memory than to any of the others who came after him, and made immense fortunes.
The same year that Queen Isabella died, a young man, but nineteen years old, named Hernando Cortez, sailed from Spain for Cuba. Already there was quite a Spanish settlement on the island, and when the Governor offered him a large tract of land with Indian slaves to cultivate it, he answered angrily:
"I came to get gold, not to till the soil like a peasant."
He expected to find untold wealth locked up in the unexplored regions of the new world, and had no patience with any of the slower methods of gaining riches. Instead of working he meant to fight for what he wanted and we shall find when we know more about him that he broke his word to his king, the governor of Cuba, to his wife, to his soldiers, and to every friend who served him. Yet he was born a gentleman, handsome and well mannered, but a greedy love of gold rendered him brutal and treacherous to a degree.
In his company were gallant knights of chivalry, servile retainers of the king, soldiers of fortune, and bearded friars, who left behind them country, home, family, friends and sweethearts, to seek El Dorado, which to them meant simply gold. When we study the history of the United States we shall be surprised to find men like them in full armor of steel, with lance, shield and helmet, mounted on prancing steeds, caparisoned in gay colors, glittering through the untracked wilderness of Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and even as far west as Arizona, always in search of El Dorado. And in every case their greed for gold led to such bloodshed and violence, that it makes the heart ache to think about it.
Not many years after Cortez landed in Cuba, the Governor sent for him and said: