The Story of Magellan and The Discovery of the Philippines Part 11

"The hands of the other two giants were bound," says the original narrative, "but it was with great difficulty; then the Captain sent them back on sh.o.r.e, with nine of his men to conduct them, and to bring the wife of one of those who had remained in irons, because he regretted her greatly." This last touch gives us a very favorable view of this young giant.

But on being conducted away, one of the two giants who were to be liberated, untied his hands and escaped. As soon as he found that he was free, his feet were picked up nimbly indeed. He flew, as it were, his long strides leaving his late captors far behind him. He had no heart to trust Europeans again. He rushed to his native town, but he found only the women there, who must have been greatly alarmed; the men had gone to hunt.

He rushed after the hunters to tell them how his companions had been betrayed.

What became of the other giant whose hands were bound? He struggled, too, to break the cords, seeing which, one of the men struck him on the head. He became quiet when he saw that he was helpless, and led the men to the giant's town where the women and children were.

The men concluded to pa.s.s the night there, as it was near night and everything there looked harmless and inviting.

But during the night the other giant who had gone to meet the hunters returned with his companions. These saw the bruised head of the giant who had also been bound, and warned the women who began to run. We are told that the youngest "ran faster than the biggest" and that the men "ran faster than horses," at which we can not wonder. The fleeing giant shot one of the men from the ships, and he was buried there on sh.o.r.e.

The poor giant in irons who had lamented for his wife probably never saw the giantess again.

The methods of treating sickness in the town of the giants were curious.

For an emetic one ran a stick down his throat. For a headache, one cut a gash on the forehead, not unlike the old method of bleeding. The philosophy of this latter treatment was interesting--blood did not remain with pain, and pain departed with blood--quite true; white people have advanced theories as conclusive.

"When one of them dies," says our Knight, "ten devils appear and dance around the dead man." One of the poor giants who was forced to remain on board said he had seen devils with horns, and hair that fell to their feet, who spouted fire. There seems to be the color of the European imagination in this statement.

The giants lived on raw meat, thistles, and sweet root, and one of them drank a "bucket of water" at a time.

The expedition remained at St. Julian five months, and acquired much information about the country from the captive giants with whom they learned to talk by sign language.

They here set up a cross on a mountain and took possession of the country in the name of the King of Spain. They called the signal elevation where they planted the cross the Mount of Christ.

The primitive people of the sh.o.r.es of Brazil and Patagonia delighted in exciting the wonder of their visitors. Many of these people who thought that the Europeans had come down from the sky, where they conceived all life must be wonderful indeed, liked to show them some of the feats that the people of the earth could do. The people who came down from the sky they reasoned had great wisdom in sailing the seas, but they were not giants. They could trail a lantern along the sea in the night air in some unaccountable way, but they did not know how to run with flying feet on the land or how to wing arrows with unerring aim into the sky and sea.

One day there came from a company of the primitive people, a champion in an art of which the Europeans could have never heard. They had seen these people run, leap, and vault with almost magic power, but they had never seen one who could make a tube of himself.

This new champion approached the men in the usual way, inviting attention. He carried in his hand an arrow which was a cubit and a half long.

He tilted it, opened his great mouth to receive it, dropped it into his throat, when, amid muscular contortions, it began to descend. The sailors watched him with amazement as it went down. It disappeared at last, having, as we are told, descended to the "bottom of his stomach."

It seemed to cause him no pain.

Presently the quiver began to appear again. The long arrow slowly rose out of the human tube which the man had made of himself, and dropped into his hand at last, the whole being performed by muscular movement.

He must have been delighted at the sensation which this mental control over the muscles of digestion had produced. It was less strange that the arrow should have gone down than that it should have come up again.

Such feats as these entertained the sailors from time to time when they were on sh.o.r.e. Pigafetta was now seeing the "wonders of the world"

indeed.

Magellan's mind was given to the more serious problems of the voyage.

The Antarctic pole star now rose to his view. It was cold. Magellan saw that the voyage would be likely to last long.

Not only the Portuguese came to distrust him, but some of the Spanish sailors caught the infection of the deleterious atmosphere. They reasoned differently from the Portuguese.

"The Admiral is a native of Portugal," said they, "and though the Portuguese court rejected him, he will be sure in the end to be true to his own people and King. He will never allow the glory of his discoveries to go to Spain."

Some of them came to him to say that the wind blew cold, that the sea was full of perils, that nothing but disaster could come by pushing on into the sea where they were tending.

"Turn south," said they.

The answer of Magellan was royal and loyal. We give it in what, from what was reported of it, must be in his own thought, and very nearly his own words.

"Comrades, my course was laid down by Caesar (the King) himself.

I--will--not--depart--from--it--in--any--degree. I will open to Caesar an unknown world."

CHAPTER XII.

THE MUTINY AT PORT JULIAN.--THE STRAITS.--1519.

Days of mutiny came in the cold waters.

The spirit of disloyalty that had found expression in the inspector broke out anew at Port St. Julian. It spread through the officers and crews of three of the ships. These caused to be published the resolution that they would sail no farther.

"You are leading us to destruction," said the mutineers.

Luis de Mendoza, Captain of the Victoria, the treasurer of the expedition, was a leader of the mutiny. Another disturbing spirit was Gasper de Queixada, Captain of the Concepcion.

Magellan, of the kind heart, had, as we have seen, the resolution to meet emergencies. This expedition was his life. It must not be opposed, hindered, or thwarted. He lived in his purpose. He must stamp out the mutiny. He no more used gentle and courteous words. He thundered his will.

One day Ambrosia Fernandez, his constable, came to him, and said:

"Three crews are ready to mutiny, to force you to go back."

Magellan saw that he must make the leaders of these ships his prisoners, or that he would become theirs.

"Constable," he said, "pick out sixty trusty men and arm them well. Go with them on board the treasurer's ship, and arrest Mendoza and lay him dead on the deck."

The fleet was moored in line. It was flood tide, and Mendoza's ship rode astern of Magellan's, and the ship of Queixada, ahead.

Magellan prepared his own crew to face the consequences of a tragedy should one occur. He ordered his hawser to be attached to the cable, and called his crew to arms.

When the flood tide was at its height, Fernandez, the constable, prepared to execute his order.

He appeared before the ship of the mutinous Mendoza, and asked to be received on board.

"Back to your own ship," said the mutineer. "I command the Victoria."

"But we are few against many," said the constable, "and I have a message from the Admiral which I must deliver."

He was helped on board the Victoria.

His feet had no sooner touched the deck than he seized Mendoza.

"I arrest you in the name of the Emperor."