Threatened by their
swords and with his hands clasped in those fatal bracelets, Caonabo was
forced to submit, and was carried by his captors for many miles through
the heart of his own country to Fort Isabella, a stronghold which Columbus
had built at a site on the sea-coast, fronting a bay in which all his
vessels could ride in safety. Here the bold Ojeda, as the culmination of
his daring enterprise, delivered his captive to Columbus, and he was
locked up in a secure cell.
As the story goes, the brave cacique had a greater admiration for courage
than anything else in the world, and instead of hating Ojeda for the
crafty way in which he had been captured, he seemed to hold him in high
esteem as the bravest of the Spaniards. Whenever Ojeda appeared in his
cell he would rise and courteously salute him, while he treated the visits
of Columbus with haughty disregard. So far as the captive cacique could
make himself understood, the high rank of Columbus was nought to him. He
had no proof that he was a man of courage, while the manner in which Ojeda
had captured him showed him to be a brave man.
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