rymen who had to do
with the Spanish invaders. Put on board ship and sent as a prize of valor
to Spain, the unfortunate chief died on the voyage, perhaps from a broken
heart, or as a result of the change from his free forest life to the
narrow confines of a fifteenth-century ship.

The life of Ojeda after that date was one full of adventure, in which he
distinguished himself as much by rashness as by valor. In 1499 he was put
in command of an exploring expedition and sent out from Spain, one of his
companions being Amerigo Vespucci, he whose first name gained the
immemorial honor of being given to the great western continent. In this
voyage Ojeda discovered part of the continent of South America, which he
called Venezuela, or Little Venice, a name suggested by an Indian village
built on piles in the water. Eight years later Ojeda sought to plant a
colony in New Andalusia, but the natives there proved too bold and hostile
for him, and he failed to subject them to his authority.

Many were his adventures, all of them characterized by a rash daring like
that he had shown in the capture of Caonabo. When at length he died, he
was buried, in response to his own request, in the doorway of the
Franciscan monastery in the city of Santo Domingo, so that all who entered
that place of worship should walk over his grave.

THE EARLY DAYS OF A FAMOUS CAVALIER.

The island elysium which Columbus had discovered, and of which he wrote
and conversed in the most glowing terms, seemed like a fairy-land of
promise to the people of Spain, and hundreds of adventurers soon crossed
the seas, hopeful of winning gold and ready for deeds of peril and daring
in that wonderful unknown land. Some of them were men of wealth, who were
eager to add to their riches, but the most of them had little beyond their
love of adventure and their thirst for gold to carry them across the seas,
needy but bold soldiers and cavaliers who were ready for any enterprise,
however perilous, that might promise them reward. The stories of many of
these men are full of romantic interest, and this is especially the case
with one of them, the renowned Hernando Cortez.

We propose here to deal with the interesting early history of this most
famous of the New World conquerors. The son of a Spanish captain, of good
family, his buoyant spirit and frolicsome humor led him into many wild
escapades while still a boy. The mystery and romance of the strange land
beyond the