o Perez de la Rua, and other
unquiet spirits, raised a seditious tumult; their object was to seize
ten thousand pieces which yet remained entire, and divide them at their
pleasure. After some contests, in which there were many arrests and a
great display of animosity, the malcontents plotted to surprise Vasco
Nunez and throw him into prison. He knew it, and quitted the town as
if going to the chase, foreseeing that, when these turbulent men had
obtained possession of the authority and the gold, they would so abuse
the one and the other that all the rational part of the community would
be in haste to recall him. And thus it was; masters of the treasure,
Rua and his friends showed so little decency in the partition that the
principal colonists, ashamed and disgusted, perceiving the immense
distance that existed between Vasco Nunez and these people, seized the
heads of the sedition, secured them, and called back Balboa, whose
authority and government they were anxious again to recognize.

In the interim, two vessels, laden with provisions and carrying two
hundred men, one hundred fifty of whom were soldiers commanded by
Cristoval Serrano, arrived from Santo Domingo. They were all sent by the
admiral, and Balboa received from the treasurer Pasamonte the title of
governor of that land; that functionary conceiving himself authorized to
confer such a power, and having become as favorable as he had formerly
been the reverse. Exulting in his title and his opportune success,
and secure of the obedience of his people, Vasco Nunez liberated his
prisoners, and resolved to sally forth into the environs and to occupy
his men in expeditions and discoveries; but, while engaged in making his
preparations, he received, to embitter his satisfaction, a letter from
his friend Zamudio, informing him of the indignation which the charges of
Encisco, and the first information of the treasurer, had kindled against
him at court. Instead of his services being appreciated, he was accused
as a usurper and intruder; he was made responsible for the injuries and
prejudices of which his accuser loudly complained; and the founder and
pacificator of the Darien was to be prosecuted for the criminal charges
brought against him.

This alloy, however, instead of subduing his spirit, animated him to new
daring and impelled him to higher enterprises. Should he permit another
to profit by his toils, to discover the South Sea, and to ravish from him
the wealth an