ters gently round in
widening and ever widening circles; a turn of his spurred heels, and the
canter becomes a gallop, the circle becomes a straight line, and Caonabo
is on the road to Isabella. When they are well beyond reach of the
natives they pause and tie Caonabo securely into his place; and by this
treachery bring him into Isabella, where he is imprisoned in the
Admiral's house.

The sulky giant, brought thus into captivity, refuses to bend his proud,
stubborn heart into even a form of submission. He takes no notice of
Columbus, and pays him no honour, although honour is paid to himself as
a captive king. He sits there behind his bars gnawing his fingers,
listening to the voice of the bell that has lured him into captivity,
and thinking of the free open life which he is to know no more. Though
he will pay no deference to the Admiral, will not even rise when he
enters his presence, there is one person he holds in honour, and that is
Ojeda. He will not rise when the Admiral comes; but when Ojeda comes,
small as he is, and without external state, the chief makes his obeisance
to him. The Admiral he sets at defiance, and boasts of his destruction
of La Navidad, and of his plan to destroy Isabella; Ojeda he respects and
holds in honour, as being the only man in the island brave enough to come
into his house and carry him off a captive. There is a good deal of the
sportsman in Caonabo.

The immediate result of the capture of Caonabo was to rouse the islanders
to further hostilities, and one of the brothers of the captive king led a
force of seven thousand men to the vicinity of St. Thomas, to which
Ojeda, however, had in the meantime returned. His small force was
augmented by some men despatched by Bartholomew Columbus on receipt of an
urgent message; and in command of this force Ojeda sallied forth against
the natives and attacked them furiously on horse and on foot, killing a
great part of them, taking others prisoner, and putting the rest to
flight. This was the beginning of the end of the island resistance. A
month or two later, when Columbus was better, he and Bartholomew together
mustered the whole of their available army and marched out in search of
the native force, which he knew had been rallied and greatly augmented.

The two forces met near the present town of Santiago, in the plain known
as the Savanna of Matanza. The Spanish force was divided into three main
divisions, under the command of Chri