CUTTING TIMBER FOR THE SHIPS.
"Already a new governor had been appointed, and shortly after Balboa's messenger had sailed the governor arrived. Balboa was tried on the old charges, and acquitted, and he then started to carry out his intention of exploring the Pacific. Crossing the mountains, he built vessels on the banks of the Valsa River, visited the Pearl Islands in Panama Bay, and explored parts of the coast. It was reported that he intended to establish a colony on the Pacific Ocean, and set up in opposition to the newly appointed Governor of Darien—or, rather, independently of him.
DEATH OF BALBOA.
"The governor summoned Balboa to Darien to meet him in friendly consultation, and the latter went, in spite of the advice of his comrades, who suspected that official's intentions. The governor arrested him on a charge of treason, and went through the form of a trial, which resulted in Balboa's conviction and condemnation to death. When he was led forth to execution a crier preceded him, proclaiming him a traitor to the crown. 'It is false!' exclaimed Balboa with great indignation; 'I have sought to serve my king with truth and loyalty, and no such crime as treason has ever entered my mind.'
"Balboa was only forty-one years of age when he perished, the victim of the same jealousy and hatred which caused Columbus to be carried in chains to the prison where he died. There is no doubt that his career was marked by many acts of cruelty, but nothing in his history indicates other than the most devoted loyalty to his sovereign and to the country of his birth."
The study of the history of Balboa was followed by a careful inspection of the map of the Darien Isthmus, in the effort to determine the identity of the mountain from which the Pacific Ocean was first seen by the eyes of a European. The Doctor told the youths that the mountain had not been identified, but was thought to lie between the rivers which Strain attempted to follow in his explorations for a canal. All the peaks in this region are difficult of access, and few of them have been ascended by white men.
The steamer reached Guayaquil on the morning of the fourth day from Panama. Our friends secured a boat for themselves and their baggage, and went on shore immediately; it was their intention to spend a fortnight in Ecuador, and then take steamer again to Callao.