IN PANAMA 



207 



prepared to resist any examination of that part of the land. If they 

 believed the stories told them by the Indians, that they were to be 

 enslaved and have numbers branded upon their foreheads, one can 

 scarcely blame them. 



The objective point, however, was farther down the coast, so we 

 only saw the mouth of the Quebro River, with frowning mountains for 

 a background/ Very glad we were that the Quebro was not then in our 

 itinerary, for that part of the country was black with thunder clouds, and 

 drenched with showers that bore a close resemblence to cloudbursts. 



THE SCHOONER ALMIRANTE. 



Coasting along still further, we descried the mouth of the Mariato 

 River, where the first landing was to be made. Here a fresh difficulty 

 arose. El Capitan feared the shore and would not go nearer than five 

 miles without a pilot. After a lurid conference, in Spanish, Portuguese, 

 and English, it was suggested that he circle the nearby island of Cebaco, 

 stop at Gubernador Island and borrow a pilot. And so it was decided, 

 and the start made just as night fell. 



That night the air was heavy with moisture and had in it all of the 

 makings of an electrical storm of great violence, but aside from the 



