ensued, and the result might have been
disastrous to the Spaniards had not one of them fallen from his horse
during the fray. This diversion of what they considered a single
animal into two, both living, alarmed the Indians so much, that they
desisted from the attack and withdrew, the Spaniards taking advantage
of the chance to return to the ships.

What to do next was the problem. They had not {62} sufficient force or
supplies with them to encounter the natives, or conquer or even explore
the country. The expedition was about as meagrely equipped as it well
could be and be an expedition at all. There were long discussions on
the ships and a fierce quarrel between the two partners. Finally, it
was composed outwardly, and it was decided that Pizarro should remain
at the coast at some convenient point while Almagro, the traverser,
went back for reenforcements. Pizarro elected to pitch his camp on the
little Island of Gallo which they had discovered. Those who were
appointed to remain with him rebelled at the decision which left them
marooned on a desolate island with no adequate provisions for their
needs. Pizarro, however, insisted and Almagro sailed with the other
ship. Shortly afterward, Pizarro sent the remaining ship with the most
obstinate of the mutineers to Panama. A letter revealing their sad
plight, which was concealed in a ball of cotton sent as a present to
the wife of the governor by one of the men on the island of Gallo, was
smuggled ashore at Panama when Almagro's ship reached that point,
despite his vigilant efforts to allow no such communications to pass.

There was a new governor in Panama, Pedro de los Rios. Incensed by the
loss of life and the hardships of the two expeditions, with the lack of
definite and tangible results, and disregarding the remonstrances of
Almagro, he dispatched two ships under one Pedro Tafur to bring them
back. Life on the island of Gallo had been a hideous experience.
Famine, disease and inclement weather had taken off many and had broken
the spirit of the most of the rest of the band. Nothing could break
that of Pizarro. When Tafur appeared, he refused to return. Drawing
{63} an east-and-west line upon the sand with his sword, he made a
brief soldierly address to his men.

"Friends and comrades," he said, facing the south, "on that side of the
line are toil, hunger, nakedness, the drenching storm, destruction and
death. On this side," turning to the north, "a