The weight of gold is a weary weight
When we toil for the sake of our own--
But our masters are branding our hearts and souls
With a Christ that is carved in stone!
VIII
THE DOG WITH TWO MASTERS
"They fight among themselves too much. They need the man with the whip."
"_Bough! wough!_"
"_Yar-r-rh! arrh!--agh!_"
A spirited and entertaining dog-fight was going on just outside the
house of the governor of Darien. The deep sullen roar of Balboa's big
hound Leoncico was as unmistakable as the snarling, snapping, furious
bark of Cacafuego, who belonged to the Bachelor Enciso. The two hated
each other at sight, months ago. Now they were having it out. The man
with the whip evidently came on the scene, for there was a final
crescendo of barks, yelps and growls, followed by silence.
Pizarro's remark, however, did not refer to the dogs but to the
settlers, who had been rioting over the governorship of the colony. The
outcome of this disturbance had been the practical seizure of the office
of captain-general by Vasco Nunez de Balboa. Pizarro himself, and Juan
de Saavedra, to whom he addressed his comment, had supported Balboa.
Saavedra did not commit himself further than to answer, with a shrug,
"Balboa can use the whip on occasion, we all know that.
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