The Indians, discovering their negligence, made a heap of stones from the ballast directly under the hatchway. Several of their most powerful warriors then mounting on the top, and bending their backs, by a sudden effort forced up the hatch. In an instant the greater part of the Indians sprang forth, some plunging into the sea and swimming for the shore. Several were seized and forced back into the forecastle, when the hatchway was chained down and a guard was set for the remainder of the night.
In the morning the Spaniards, on lifting the hatch, found to their horror that their captives were all dead. Some had hanged themselves with the ends of ropes, their knees touching the floor, while others lay strangled, having drawn the ropes tight with their feet. Columbus, fearing that the prisoners who had escaped would stimulate their countrymen to some act of vengeance, was anxious to communicate with his brother. It still seemed impossible for the boat to reach the shore, when Pedro Ledesma, a pilot of Seville, volunteered to swim to the beach if the boat would carry him outside the breakers and wait his return.
Stripping himself, he plunged into the sea, and buffeting the surges, reached the shore. He here found the intended settlers verging on despair, and also heard the fate of Diego Tristan.
With a message from the Adelantado, the brave pilot made his way back to the boat. Columbus, on receiving the alarming intelligence brought by the pilot, was thrown into a state of the greatest anxiety. Rather than allow the settlement to be broken up, he would have joined the Adelantado with all his people; but how, then, could he send tidings of his important discovery to the sovereigns? After much trouble of mind he resolved to embark the people and abandon the settlement.
Bad weather and a heavy sea rendered this for a long time impossible. At length the wind going down, the sea became calm, and he was able to send the boat on shore. Every exertion was at once made to bring off the people. The zealous Diego Mendez had been actively employed in making sacks to hold the biscuit. He also constructed a raft, which greatly facilitated the conveyance of the stores, arms, and ammunition.
The caravel was also dismantled. Her provisions and stores were got off, so that nothing remained but her hull. The joy of the Spaniards when they found themselves safe on board was unbounded, and the Admiral, as a reward for his services, gave the command of the caravel, vacant by the death of the unfortunate Diego Tristan, to the zealous Diego Mendez.
By the end of April, with a favourable wind, Columbus left the disastrous shores of Veragua; but his ships, honeycombed by the teredo, could with difficulty be kept afloat. To the surprise of his pilots, instead of standing northwards towards Hispaniola, he steered due east, knowing that the the current, which has a strong set into the Caribbean Sea, would have swept him far away out of his intended course.
He continued on to Puerto Bello, where he found that one of his caravels was so pierced by the teredo that he was compelled to leave her behind, and to divide her crew between the two remaining vessels. He then proceeded on as far as what is now known as the Gulf of Darien.
Having struggled in vain against contrary winds and currents, he on the ist of May stood northward in quest of Hispaniola. As the wind was easterly, with a strong current setting to the west, he kept as near the wind as possible. So ignorant were the pilots that they fancied all this time that they were to the east of the Caribbean Islands, whereas the Admiral feared truly that he should fall to the westward of Hispaniola.