Pastwatch_ The Redemption Of Christopher Columbus Part 26

"Stop it!" Pedro screamed.

The men looked at him like a bug on their bed, to be flicked away.

"She's a child!" he shouted at them.

"She's a woman now," said Moger. Then he and the others burst out laughing again.

Chipa was already heading for the girl. Pedro tried to stop her. "No, Chipa."

But Chipa seemed oblivious to her own danger. She tried to get around one of the men to see to Parrot Feather. He shoved her out of the way - and into the hands of Rodrigo de Triana. "Let me see if she's alive," Chipa insisted.

"Leave her alone," said Pedro. But now he wasn't shouting.

"Looks like this one's a volunteer," said Clavijo, running his fingers along Chipa's cheek.

Pedro reached for his sword, knowing that there was no hope of him prevailing against any of these men, but knowing also that he had to try.

"Put the sword away," said Pinzn, behind him.

Pedro turned. Pinzn was at the head of a group of officers. The Captain-General was not far behind.

"Let go of the girl, Rodrigo," said Pinzn.

He complied. But instead of heading back toward safety, Chipa made for the girl, still lying motionless on the ground, putting her head to the girl's chest to listen for a heartbeat.

"Now let's get back to the stockade and get to work," said Pinzn.

"Who is responsible for this?" demanded Coln.

"I've taken care of it," said Pinzn.

"Have you?" asked Coln. "The gifl is obviously just a child. This was a monstrous crime. And it was stupid, too. How much help do you think we'll get from the Indians now?"

"If they don't help us willingly," said Rodrigo de Triana, "then we'll go get them and make them help."

"And while you're at it, you'll take their women and rape them all, is that the plan, Rodrigo? Is that what you think it means to be a Christian?" asked Coln.

"Are you a Captain-General, or a bishop?" asked Rodrigo. The other men laughed.

"I said I've taken care of it, Captain-General," said Pinzn.

"By telling them to get back to work? What kind of work will we get done if we have to defend ourselves against the Taino?"

"These Indians aren't fighters," said Moger, laughing. "I could fight off every man in the village with one hand while I was taking a s.h.i.+t and whistling."

"She's dead," said Chipa. She arose from the body of the girl and started back toward Pedro. But Rodrigo de Triana caught her by the shoulder.

"What happened here shouldn't have happened," said Rodrigo to Coln. "But it's not that important, either. Like Pinzn said, let's get back to work."

For a few moments, Pedro thought that the Captain-General was going to let this pa.s.s, just as he had let so many other slights and contemptuous acts go by unremarked. Keeping the peace, Pedro understood that. But this was different. The men started to disperse, heading back toward the stockade.

"You killed a girl!" Pedro shouted.

Chipa was heading for Pedro, but once again Rodrigo reached out his hand to catch her. I should have waited a little longer, thought Pedro. I should have held my tongue.

"Enough," said Pinzn. "Let's have no more of this."

But Rodrigo couldn't let the accusation go unanswered. "n.o.body meant her to die," said Rodrigo.

"If she was a girl of Palos," said Pedro, "you would kill the men who did this to her. The law would demand it!"

"Girls of Palos," said Rodrigo, "don't go around naked."

"You are not civilized!" shouted Pedro. "Even now, by holding Chipa that way, you are threatening to murder again!"

Pedro felt the Captain-General's hand on his shoulder. "Come here, Chipa," said Coln. "I will need you to help me explain this to Guacanagari."

Chipa immediately tried to obey him. For a moment, Rodrigo restrained her. But he could see that no one was behind him on this, and he let her go. At once Chipa returned to Pedro and Coln.

But Rodrigo could not resist a parting shot. "So, Pedro, apparently you're the only one who gets to go rutting on Indian girls."

Pedro was livid. Pulling at his sword, he stepped forward. "I've never touched her!"

Rodrigo immediately began to laugh. "Look, he intends to defend her honor! He thinks this little brown b.i.t.c.h is a lady!" Other men began to laugh.

"Put the sword away, Pedro," said Coln.

Pedro obeyed, stepping back to rejoin Chipa and Coln.

Again the men began moving toward the stockade. But Rodrigo couldn't leave well enough alone. He was making comments, parts of them clearly audible. "Happy little family there," he said, and other men laughed. And then, a phrase, "Probably plowing his own furrow in her, too."

But the Captain-General seemed to be ignoring them. Pedro knew that this was the wisest course, but he couldn't stop thinking about the dead girl lying back there in the clearing. Was there no justice? Could white men do anything to Indians, and no one would punish them?

The officers were first through the stockade gate. Other men had gathered there, too. The men who had been involved in the rape - whether doing it or merely watching - were the last. And as they reached the gate and it closed behind them, Coln turned to Arana, the constable of the fleet, and said, "Arrest those men, sir. I charge Moger and Clavijo with rape and murder. I charge Triana, Vallejos, and Franco with disobedience to orders."

Perhaps if Arana had not hesitated, the sheer force of Coln's voice would have carried the day. But he did hesitate, and then spent a few moments looking to see which of the men would be likely to obey his orders.

That gave Rodrigo de Triana time enough to collect himself. "Don't do it!" he shouted. "Don't obey him! Pinzn already told us to go back to work. Are we going to let this Genovese flog us because of a little accident?"

"Arrest them," said Coln.

"You, you, and you," said Arana. "Put Moger and Clavijo under-"

"Don't do it!" shouted Rodrigo de Triana.

"If Rodrigo de Triana advocates mutiny again," said Coln, "I order you to shoot him dead."

"Wouldn't you like that, Coln! Then there'd be n.o.body to argue over who saw land that night!"

"Captain-General," said Pinzn quietly. "There's no need to talk of shooting people."

"I have given an order to arrest five seamen," said Coln. "I am waiting for obedience."

"Then you'll have a h.e.l.l of a long wait!" cried Rodrigo.

Pinzn put out a hand and touched Arana's arm, urging him to delay. "Captain-General," said Pinzn. "Let's just wait until tempers cool down."

Pedro gasped. He could see that Segovia and Gutierrez were just as shocked as he was. Pinzn had just mutinied, whether he meant it that way or not. He had come between the Captain-General and the Constable, and had restrained Arana from obeying Coln's order. Now he stood there, face to face with Coln, as if daring him to do anything about it.

Coln simply ignored him, and spoke to Arana. "I'm waiting."

Arana turned to the three men he had called upon before. "Do as I ordered you, men," he said.

But they did not move. They looked at Pinzn, waiting.

Pedro could see that Pinzn did not know what to do. Probably didn't know what he wanted. It was obvious now, if it had not been obvious before, that as far as the men were concerned, Pinzn was the commander of the expedition. Yet Pinzn was a good commander, and knew that discipline was vital to survival. He also knew that if he ever intended to return to Spain, he couldn't do it with a mutiny on his record.

At the same time, if he obeyed Coln now, he would lose the support of the men. They would feel betrayed. It would diminish him in their minds.

So ... what was the most important to him? The devotion of the men of Palos, or the law of the sea?

There was no way of knowing what Pinzn would have chosen. For Coln did not wait until he finally made up his mind. Instead he spoke to Arana. "Apparently Pinzn thinks that it is for him to decide whether the orders of the Captain-General will be obeyed or not. Arana, you will arrest Martin Pinzn for insubordination and mutiny."

While Pinzn dithered about whether to cross the line, Coln had recognized the simple fact that he had already crossed it. Coln had law and justice on his side. Pinzn, however, had the sympathy of almost all the men. No sooner had Coln given the order than the men roared their rejection of his decision, and almost at once they became a mob, seizing Coln and the other officers and dragging them to the middle of the stockade.

For a moment, Pedro and Chipa were forgotten - the men had apparently been thinking of mutiny for long enough to have figured out who it was that they needed to subdue. Coln himself, of course, and the royal officers. Also Jacome el Rico, the financial agent; Juan de la Cosa, because he was a Basque, not a man of Palos, and therefore couldn't be trusted; and Alonso the physician, Lequeitio the gunner, and Domingo the cooper.

Pedro moved as un.o.btrusively as possible toward the gate of the stockade. He was about thirty yards from where the officers and loyal men were being restrained, but someone would be bound to notice when he opened the gate. He took Chipa by the hand, and said to her, in halting Taino, "We will run. When gate open."

She squeezed his hand to show that she understood.

Pinzn had apparently realized that it looked very bad for him, that he and his brothers had not been restrained with the other officers. Unless they killed all the royal officials, someone would testify against him in Spain. "I oppose this," he said loudly. "You must let them go at once."

"Come on, Martin," shouted Rodrigo. "He was charging you with mutiny."

"But Rodrigo, I am not guilty of mutiny," said Pinzn, speaking very clearly, so that everyone could hear. "I oppose this action. I won't allow you to continue. You will have to restrain me, too."

After a moment, Rodrigo finally got it. "You men," he said, giving orders as naturally as if he had been born to it. "You'd better seize Captain Pinzn and his brothers." From where he was standing, Pedro couldn't see whether Rodrigo winked as he said this. But he hardly needed to. Everyone knew that the Pinzns were only being restrained because Martin had asked for it. To protect him from a charge of mutiny.

"Harm no one," said Pinzn. "If you have any hope of seeing Spain again, harm no one."

"He was going to flog me, the lying b.a.s.t.a.r.d!" cried Rodrigo. "So let's see how he likes the las.h.!.+"

If they dared to lay the lash to Coln, Pedro realized, then there was no hope for Chipa. She would end up like Parrot Feather, unless he got her out of the stockade and safely into the forest.

"Sees-in-the-Dark will know what to do," Chipa said quietly in Taino.

"Quiet," said Pedro. Then he gave up on Taino and continued in Spanish. "As soon as I get the gate open, ran through it and head for the nearest trees."

He dashed for the gate, lifted the heavy crossbar, and let it drop out of the way. At once an outcry arose among the mutineers. "The gate! Pedro! Stop him! Get the girl! Don't let her get to the village!"

The gate was heavy and hard to move. It felt like it was taking a long time, though it was only moments. Pedro heard the discharge of a musket, but didn't hear any bullet striking nearby - at that range, muskets weren't very accurate. As soon as Chipa could squeeze through, she did, and a moment later Pedro was behind her. But there were men in pursuit of them, and Pedro was too frightened to dare to stop and look to see how close they were.

Chipa ran light as a deer across the clearing and dodged into the undergrowth at the forest's edge without so much as disturbing the leaves. By comparison, Pedro felt like an ox, clumping along, his boots pounding, sweat flowing under his heavy clothing. His sword smacked against his thigh and calf as he ran. He thought he could hear footsteps behind him, closer and closer. Finally, with a killing burst of speed he broke into the underbrush, vines tangling around his face, gripping his neck, trying to force him back out into the open.

"Quiet," said Chipa. "Hold still and they won't be able to see you."

Her voice calmed him. He stopped thras.h.i.+ng at the leaves, and then discovered that by moving slowly it was easy to duck through the vines and thin branches that had been holding him. Then he followed Chipa to a tree with a low-forking branch. She lifted herself easily up onto the branch. "They're going back into the stockade," she said.

"n.o.body's following us?" Pedro was a little disappointed. "They must not think we matter."

"We have to get Sees-in-the-Dark," said Chipa.

"No need," said a woman's voice.

Pedro looked around frantically, but still couldn't see where the voice was coming from. It was Chipa who spotted her. "Sees-in-the-Dark!" she cried. "You're here already!"

Now Pedro could see her, dark in the shadows. "Come with me," she said. "This is a very dangerous time for Coln."

"Can you stop them?" asked Pedro.

"Be quiet and follow me," she answered.

But he could only follow Chipa, for he lost sight of Sees-in-the-Dark from the moment she moved away. Soon he found himself at the base of a tall tree. Looking up, he could see Chipa and Sees-in-the-Dark perched on high branches. Sees-in-the-Dark had some kind of complicated musket. But how could a weapon be of any use from this far away?

Diko watched through the scope of the tranquilizer gun. While she was busy intercepting Pedro and Chipa, the mutineers had stripped Cristoforo to the waist and tied him to the cornerpost of one of their cabins. Now Moger was preparing to lay on the lash.

Which were the ones whose anger was driving the mob? Rodrigo de Triana, of course, and Moger and Clavijo. Anyone else?

Behind her, clinging to another branch, Chipa spoke quietly. "If you were here, Sees-in-the-Dark, why didn't you help Parrot Feather?"

"I was watching the stockade," said Diko. "I didn't know anything was wrong until I saw Dead Fish run in and get you. You were wrong, you know. Parrot Feather isn't dead."

"I couldn't hear her heart."

"It was very faint. But after all the white men left, I gave her something that will help. And I sent Dead Fish to get the women of the village to help her."

"If I hadn't said that Parrot Feather was dead, then all the rest of this-"

"It was going to happen, one way or another," said Diko. "That's why I was here, waiting."

Even without the scope, Chipa could see that Coln was being flogged. "They're whipping him," she said.

"Quiet," said Diko.