THE SPANISH STORY ENDS 203 



to send to the Viceroy two despatches, the one to say 

 that Quiros was to be given ships, the other to say that 

 he was to be detained. There was fear that Quiros might 

 discover the existence of the second despatch, and might 

 go to other princes. Quiros strongly suspected the truth. 

 But life and patience, he writes, were worn out, and he 

 went. Thus abruptly his narrative ends. The only 

 further knowledge we possess is that he died at Panama Death of 

 in 161 5, at the age of fifty. It was, as Sir Clement Markham 

 observes, " a timely death." He would never have been 

 sent on voyage again. And, if he had been sent on 

 voyage again, the voyage would have failed. He could 

 not have controlled the best crews of Spaniards that ever 

 sailed from Callao. It is well that .our Don Quixote 

 died with the divine madness still ablaze, still cherishing 

 unconquerable belief that the cause of God and of His 

 Church will unite the World, and that this " will be done 

 by means of a few Spaniards." 



In following the story of Quiros we have continuously Don Quixote 

 in mind the contemporary Spanish picture of the Knight Q h ^ ^ 

 of the rueful countenance, with withered and dusty visage, 

 and with respectful demeanour, who affirmed that the w r orld 

 stood in need of nothing so much as Knights Errant, 

 and the revival of Chivalry. But the Knight Errantry 

 of Quiros was the Knight Errantry of Christ ; and the 

 Chivalry which he revived was the Chivalry of the Holy 

 Ghost. He did not discover a continent, but he achieved 

 a spiritual exploit. He so dreamed that his dreams entered 

 into the aims ofvthose, of other times and other nations, 

 who achieved the work which Spain had refused. 



Note on the history of the original sources of information 

 about the voyages of Quiros. 



The Narrative of Quiros was not printed till 1876-1882, Knowledge 

 but Figuera's Life of one of the Viceroys of Peru " con- ^SjJLg of 

 tains an abbreviated version " (Markham, vol. i. p. xiii). Quiros and 

 Torquemada's narrative, which gave the Franciscan view ^j^ 5 ' l 7 

 of the story, was published in 1614. The narrative of the 



