Presently the Ensign came with the rest of the soldiers, and Don Lorenzo disarmed him, and delivered him to four arquebusiers with irons, to be taken to a corps de garde at some distance. The wife of the prisoner went crying among the houses and branches, well aware of the danger of her husband, for she was weeping before he came.
Don Lorenzo went to call the Chaplain, and the good father, as one seeing a turbulent river, did not dare to pass it. He said: “Sir Captain, what is it that you want with me? Remember that I am a priest. Oh, for the sake of the one God, do not kill me!” “Come with me,” said Don Lorenzo, “just for a little.” “Here! here!” said the priest; “I cannot go any further.” It was explained to him that it was to confess the Ensign, and he was reassured. He presently was taken behind a tree, where the prisoner was. He began to persuade him to confess, as they were going to kill him. The prisoner said: “I to die? wherefore?” The priest undeceived him. Those who were present relate that the Ensign then said: “Let it be then as God wills;” and he knelt down at the feet of the confessor, whose duty it was and who performed his office. A black servant of the General had orders, and, with a knife, gave him a blow and then another, by which his head was cut off, and put with the other two. The body was covered with some branches, and soon afterwards thrown into the sea, at which his wife wept bitterly.
The Ensign being finished with, the Captain, Don Lorenzo, in the hearing of the General, asked who should be taken out of the stocks next. He ordered that it should be the Lieutenant of the Sergeant-Major, but all entreated the Adelantado to spare his life, which he did, taking him in his hands and receiving the oath. He then retired, that he might not be asked by the next one who was ordered to be taken out of the stocks, for the Sergeant-Major had him by one arm, the Chief Pilot taking the other; but the prisoner, shaking them off, exclaimed: “Here I am. If I deserve it, cut off my head.” Doña Isabel and all the others entreated the Adelantado to spare his life. He made him take the same oath as the other, and pardoned him. Rising up, the prisoner cast his eyes on the head of the Camp Master. With his hands over his face and weeping, he said, in a voice so that we could all hear: “Ah, thou honoured old man! and have you come to this at the end of so many years of service to the King? This is the reward they have given you! a vile death, and your head and grey hairs stuck on a pole.” There was a soldier by his side, who said: “I cannot but mourn for the sad fate of the Camp Master, whom we looked upon as a father.” The Adelantado heard them, and ordered them to be silent. They said that he should give thanks for having been delivered from the dangers in which he was, and that he should be grateful to his sponsors for the good intercession they made. He gave thanks to all, and embraced his companion with many tears.
While this was passing, the murderer of Malope called to the Chief Pilot, and told him of his condition. In the name of God, he entreated the Pilot to be a good intercessor for him in his need, and for a second time he asked him to pray to the Adelantado to pardon his crime. He might be sure how well he would serve hereafter, and he wanted to marry Pancha, the Adelantado’s servant (this was a native girl of Peru, of bad character, carachanta,[1] and the rest), whom the Adelantado had in his service. The Chief Pilot reassured him, saying that he might be certain that, without doing what he had pointed out, he would be a good mediator, as he would presently see. The Adelantado came to take him out of the stocks with his own hands, that he might be judged. The Chief Pilot prayed that his life might be spared, but the Adelantado said, almost in a rage: “How am I to pay for the death of my friend Malope but with the death of this man?” The Chief Pilot replied that he might show the heads of the two who were executed to the natives, and make them think that they were punished for the death of Malope; adding, that he must remember we are few, and that the position of affairs made pardon advisable. The Adelantado answered that he would consider that, and would keep him a prisoner. The Chief Pilot gave thanks for the mercy, and the prisoner was taken out of the stocks and sent on board the ship in charge of four men.
This man did not care to eat, and drank salt water, turning his head to the wall with shame because some said to him: “Why did you kill that good native without cause?” Others told him he deserved to be quartered for having committed such a crime. At last it seemed to him that it would be better to die than to live. He left off caring for himself, and died very suddenly after a few days, having first received the holy sacrament, a privilege not enjoyed by the others. With this ended the tragedy of the islands where Solomon was wanting.
[1] Caracha is a cutaneous disease in Peruvian parlance; caaranta, a person who has no eyebrows, also a Peruvianism.
Chapter XX.
Of the great mourning for Malope among the natives. The great sickness that prevailed in the camp; with the deaths of the Adelantado and the Chaplain, and the victories gained by the natives.