s it
is that men are often made by their fortunes; that is to say,
their latent qualities are brought out, and shaped and
strengthened by events, and by the necessity of every exertion
to cope with the greatness of their destiny."

While Vasco Nunez was thus exulting in his successful expedition,
fortune was preparing for him a sad reverse. The bachelor Enciso had
arrived in Spain, and notwithstanding the statements of Zamudio, had
made an unfavourable impression in regard to Vasco Nunez. The result
was, that a new governor of Darien was appointed, in the person of Pedro
Arias Davila, commonly called Pedrarias, a brave warrior, but little
fitted to command in a colony such as that to which he was sent. A
number of young Spanish nobles and gentlemen determined to accompany
him, having heard wild stories of the wealth and adventures which the
new world offered. Pedrarias was also attended by his heroic wife, Dona
Isabella de Bobadilla, and by the bishop Quevedo, a just and benevolent
priest. Scarcely had the new expedition left the shores of Spain, when
news arrived there of the splendid discoveries of Vasco Nunez, and the
king repented that he had so hastily superseded him.

In the month of June, the squadron of Pedrarias anchored before Darien.
When the hardy veterans of the colony heard that their beloved commander
was to be thus removed, they were loud in their murmurs, and eagerly
desired to resist the newly arrived governor. Not so Vasco Nunez; he
bowed at once to the mandates of the king, and acknowledged the
authority of Pedrarias. This frank and honourable conduct was ill repaid
by the new chief; he took advantage of the unsuspecting confidence of
Vasco Nunez, and directed him to be prosecuted for usurpation and
tyrannical abuse of power. Fortunately, the bishop was opposed to the
conduct of the governor, and even his wife ventured to express her
respect and sympathy for the discoverer. This alone saved him from being
sent in irons to Spain. In the mean time, the gallant Spanish cavaliers
sunk beneath the fatal climate, to which they were unaccustomed, and the
affairs of the colony became distracted. Pedrarias, to engage them,
fitted out an expedition for the Pacific, but it ended in disappointment
and disaster, and had little result but to change some of the friendly
Indian tribes into implacable enemies.

While things were in this state, despatches arrived from Spain. In a
letter addresse