When left in doubt, after the appearance of Escobar, as to whether assistance would really be sent, Columbus endeavoured by kind measures to win back Porras and his rebel crew to their allegiance.
Porras, however, who had formed a plan to attack and plunder the stranded caravels and make the Admiral prisoner, persuaded his men to hold out. On this the sturdy Adelantado resolved to try the effect of force, and taking with him fifty followers, he set out for the camp of the traitor.
On approaching he sent two messengers, who had before accepted the offer of pardon, to treat with Porras; but he would not permit them to approach, and he and his men, brandishing their weapons, defied the Adelantado, six of them vowing that they would put him to death. Two of the strongest of their number, however, quickly fell beneath his flashing sword; and many others lay killed or wounded, when Porras, rushing forward, struck at the Adelantado’s shield, in which his sword remained fixed. Before he could withdraw it, several of the Adelantado’s party closing on him, made him prisoner. His followers, seeing this, fled, and Don Bartholomew returned in triumph with his prisoner to the Admiral.
Next day the fugitives sent a petition, couched in abject terms, for pardon, swearing that they would for ever afterwards remain faithful.
At length, after a year of alternate hope and despondency, the Spaniards saw two vessels approaching the harbour. One had been fitted out by Diego Mendez, and the other was sent by Ovando, placed under the command of Salcedo, the Admiral’s agent at San Domingo.
Joy filled the hearts of the exiles as they approached. Columbus nobly forgave the rebels, and all were received on board, Porras alone being still kept a prisoner, while the Indians wept when they beheld the departure of their guests, having experienced nothing but just and gentle treatment from Columbus.
The vessel set sail on the 28th of June for San Domingo. Adverse winds and currents still opposed his progress, and it was not until the 3rd of August that Columbus reached the little island of Beata, on the coast of Hispaniola, and not, in consequence of the same cause, until the 13th that he anchored in the harbour of San Domingo. Here a strong reaction in his favour took place, and many of those who had jeered as he was led away a prisoner in chains, now came forward to welcome him with every mark of respect. He was lodged in the house of Ovando, who, however, set at liberty the traitor Porras, and even talked of punishing the Admiral’s followers for having, in the fray at Jamaica, killed several of the mutineers.
Columbus had much cause for grief when he saw the desolation brought upon the island by the cruel treatment of the natives, and heard of the horrible massacres which had been perpetrated by Ovando and his agents. He was eager to depart, and as soon as the vessels which had brought him from Jamaica could be repaired, he put one under charge of the Adelantado, while he, with his son and domestics, embarked on board the other.
Most of his late crew remained at San Domingo, and even the most violent of the rebels were helped from his purse. Scarcely had he left the harbour than the mast of his vessel was carried away; so sending her back, he embarked on board that commanded by the Adelantado.
The caravel continued her voyage, sorely buffeted by storms, during which one of her masts was sprung, he all the time lying prostrated by sickness in his cabin. It was not until the end of several weeks that the tempest-tossed barks anchored, on the 7th of November, in the harbour of San Lucar.