ght his plans to nought. Instead of reaching
the mouth of the Amazon, the flotilla drifted to the left, in that
wonderfully tangled river, and got into the Rio Negro. The sluggish
currents prevented their discovering their mistake, and they worked
ahead into the Cassiquiare, and thence into the Orinoco. On the 1st of
July, 1561 (a year to a day had been passed in navigating the labyrinth,
and the days had been marked with murder right and left), the
desperadoes reached the Atlantic Ocean; but through the mouth of the
Orinoco, and not, as they had expected, through the Amazon. Seventeen
days later they sighted the island of Margarita, where there was a
Spanish post. By treachery they seized the island, and then proclaimed
their independence of Spain.

This step gave Aguirre money and some ammunition, but he still lacked
vessels for a voyage by sea. He tried to seize a large vessel which was
conveying the provincial Monticinos, a Dominican missionary, to
Venezuela; but his treachery was frustrated, and the alarm was given on
the mainland. Infuriated by his failure, the little monster butchered
the royal officers of Margarita. His plan to reach Panama was balked;
but he succeeded at last in capturing a smaller vessel, by means of
which he landed on the coast of Venezuela in August, 1561. His career on
the mainland was one of crime and rapine. The people, taken by surprise,
and unable to make immediate resistance to the outlaw, fled at his
approach. The authorities sent as far as New Granada in their appeals
for help; and all northern South America was terrorized.

Aguirre proceeded without opposition as far as Barquecimeto. He found
that place deserted; but very soon there arrived the maestro de campo,
(Colonel) Diego de Paredes, with a hastily collected loyal force. At the
same time Quesada, the conqueror of New Granada, was hastening against
the traitor with what force he could muster. Aguirre found himself
blockaded in Barquecimeto, and his followers began to desert. Finally,
left almost alone, Aguirre slew his daughter (who had shared all those
awful wanderings) and surrendered himself. The Spanish commander did not
wish to execute the arch-traitor; but Aguirre's own followers insisted
upon his death, and secured it.

* * * * *

There were many subsequent attempts to discover the Gilded Man; but they
were of little importance, except the one undertaken by Sir Walter
Raleigh in 1595. H