ack to Cuba, probably to obtain fresh supplies
of military stores; some say that it was to teach the army that, there
being no possibility of escape, it now must depend upon its own valor
for existence.

De Soto was very unwilling to set out for a march into the interior
for discovery and in search of gold, while leaving so powerful a tribe
as that over which Ucita reigned, in hostility behind him. He
therefore sent repeated messages to Ucita expressing his utter
detestation of the conduct of Narvaez; his desire to do everything in
his power to repair the wrong which had been inflicted upon him, and
his earnest wish to establish friendly relations with the
deeply-injured chief.

These reiterated friendly advances, ever accompanied by correspondent
action, at length in some slight degree mitigated the deadly rancor of
Ucita, so that instead of returning a message of defiance and hate, he
sent back the truly noble response:

"The memory of my injuries prevents me from returning a kind reply to
your messages, and your courtesy is such that it will not allow me to
return a harsh answer."

The man who, under these circumstances, could frame such a reply, must
have been one of nature's noblemen. De Soto could appreciate the
grandeur of such a spirit. While these scenes were transpiring, a man
was brought into the camp, in Indian costume, who announced himself as
a Spaniard by the name of Juan Ortiz. He had been one of the
adventurers under Narvaez. In the extermination of that infamous band
he had been taken captive and bound to the stake, to be consumed. He
was then but eighteen years of age, tall and very handsome. As the
tongues of torturing flame began to eat into his quivering flesh,
cries of agony were extorted from him.

He was in the hands of a powerful chief, whose daughter is represented
as a very beautiful princess, by the name of Uleleh. She was about
sixteen years of age, and could not endure the scene. She threw her
arms around her father's neck, and with tears of anguish pleaded that
his life might be saved. He was rescued; and though for a time he
suffered extreme cruelty, he eventually became adopted, as it were,
into the tribe, and for ten years had resided among the Indians,
sometimes regarded as a captive, upon whom heavy burdens could be
imposed, and again treated with great kindness. Juan Ortiz being thus
familiar with the habits of the natives and their language, became an
invaluable acquisition