QUARREL FOR THE GOLD.
"They drew their swords and were about to fight, when the young chief seized the scales and dashed their contents to the ground.
"'Why do you quarrel about such trash as this?' said he. 'If you come here for gold, go beyond those mountains, where there is a great sea on which sail vessels like your own. The streams that flow into it are filled with gold; the people who live on its coast eat and drink from vessels of gold.'"
Balboa was present at this incident; he had not interfered in the quarrel, but when the chief spoke he became interested. He talked long and earnestly with the chief, who represented the dangers and difficulties of the way, but offered to show it to the adventurer, if he was determined to go there.
"Balboa returned to the colony at Darien to make preparations for an expedition to discover the great sea beyond the mountains, and obtain the gold of the people along its coast. He sent to Spain for the men he required for the journey, but after he had waited long and anxiously a ship arrived with news that his enemy Enciso had obtained a favorable hearing before the king, and was coming back to assume command, while Balboa was to be sent to Spain to answer a charge of treason.
"He determined to make a bold stroke, and called for volunteers to accompany him on the expedition, as he could not expect the men he had asked for from the king. One hundred and ninety men volunteered, and on the 1st of September, 1513, he sailed with a brigantine and ten canoes. He reached the dominions of his father-in-law, Careta, near the modern village of Careto, about twenty miles from the mouth of the Caledonia River, on the route taken by Lieutenant Strain.
MARCHING THROUGH THE FOREST.