The English Adventurer by Hosker Griff

Author:Hosker, Griff [Hosker, Griff]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sword Books Ltd.
Published: 2022-12-22T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

We were looking for rivers and places where we might build ports. All three ships’ masters made the maps that would help them find the places again. As the owner of the ship, I was privy to the map-making process and the captain saw no problem in my making my own copy. This was real gold for Lord Collingwood. We found a place that we thought would make a good port and Pizarro decided to name it, Puerto Deseado, desired port. We anchored just off the beach and men were sent ashore to search for food, water and natives. Pizarro led the expedition ashore and Pedro de Candia led the six men from our ship. I was not asked to join them and I was happy for the jungle still brought back bad memories. Instead, I joined the other men in building a wooden jetty to make the loading of any supplies that were found easier. Hernando de Luque claimed the land for God and Spain. Pizarro and the explorers arrived back before dark. They hunted for some food and found a village. The village was deserted and Francisco thought that the villagers must have fled. They brought back items from the village and the presence of gold, silver and jewels found in the dwellings suggested that we were on the right path. The food was cooked on the shore but we ate on our ships.

The second day was a repeat of the first and we managed to complete the rudimentary jetty. Some of the merchants and potential settlers had contemplated staying there to complete the port but when Francisco told them that he would not be leaving any soldiers, they accepted his decision but I knew that some would settle in the area. The difference between the first day and the second was that the natives had been warned and there was an ambush. It was close enough to us for the sound of combat to reach us. Only three men suffered minor wounds and the bodies of the dead natives were brought back to the beach so that we could examine them.

I had fought the Aztecs and I saw, immediately, that these natives, whilst they had similar features and colouring, were dressed and armed totally differently. Their hair was festooned with the feathers of the brightly coloured birds we spied in the jungle. They wore no armour of any kind and most just had a loin cloth. They used clubs and stone-tipped spears. The wounds they could cause would be ugly but they had no weapons that could penetrate the metal breastplates worn by those who had accompanied Pizarro. They did, however, have bows and arrows. Whilst the arrows did not look powerful the tips seemed to have been dipped in something. It smelled pungent and my thoughts were that it was a poison of some kind. The greatest discovery, however, was the fact that all had some gold, silver or jewels about them. Some wore then in their ear lobes while others had them as necklets.

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