The rebels were not a little mortified at this miscarriage of the Indian plot, for it was reported that it had been concerted with their privacy and consent, and they had therefore waited to see whether Guarionex might bring affairs to such a pass, that by joining with him they might be able to destroy the lieutenant. But perceiving that it failed of success, they considered themselves insecure in the province where they then were, and therefore went away to Xaragua, still proclaiming themselves the protectors of the Indians, whereas they were thieves in their actions and inclinations, having no regard to God or the opinion of the world, but following their own inordinate appetites. Every one stole or took away what he could, and their leader Roldan more than any of the rest, commanding every cacique to entertain him that could; and though he forbade the Indians from paying any tribute to the lieutenant, he exacted much more from them under pretence of acting as their defender, insomuch that from one cacique only, named Monicaotex, he received every three months a calabash full of pure gold, containing three marks or a pound and a half, and to make sure of him he detained his son and nephew as hostages. He who reads this must not wonder that we reduce the marks of gold to the measure of a calabash, which is here done to shew that the Indians dealt in all these cases by measure, as they never had any weights. The Christians being thus divided, and no supplies coming from Spain, the lieutenant and his brother were unable to keep the people in quiet who still remained with them; for most of them were mean persons, and desirous of leading that life of ease and licentiousness which Roldan offered for their acceptance, by which they became so insolent that it was impossible to keep them in order, or to punish the guilty lest they might be utterly forsaken; neither dared they in these circumstances to attempt reducing the rebels to order, and were necessitated, to bear patiently with their audacious contempt of government. But it being the will of God to afford them some comfort, it pleased him to order that the two ships should arrive which had been dispatched about a year after the departure of the admiral from the Indies. He, considering the nature of the country and the dispositions of the people whom he had left in the colony, and the great danger which might arise from his long absence, had pressed for and obtained, not without great solicitation and difficulty that two of the ships, out of the eight[16] which he had been ordered to fit out, might be sent on before with supplies. The arrival of these, the supplies which they brought of men and provisions, and the assurance that the admiral had safely arrived in Spain, encouraged those who were with the lieutenant to serve him more faithfully and made those who adhered to Roldan apprehensive of being punished.