Having thus secured the sanction of the executive, the two associates lost no time in fitting out a small vessel with stores and a supply of arms and ammunition, and despatched it to the island. The unfortunate tenants of this little wilderness, who had now occupied it for seven months, *9 hardly dared to trust their senses when they descried the white sails of the friendly bark coming over the waters. And although, when the vessel anchored off the shore, Pizarro was disappointed to find that it brought no additional recruits for the enterprise, yet he greeted it with joy, as affording the means of solving the great problem of the existence of the rich southern empire, and of thus opening the way for its future conquest. Two of his men were so ill, that it was determined to leave them in the care of some of the friendly Indians who had continued with him through the whole of his sojourn, and to call for them on his return. Taking with him the rest of his hardy followers and the natives of Tumbez, he embarked, and, speedily weighing anchor, bade adieu to the "Hell," as it was called by the Spaniards, which had been the scene of so much suffering and such undaunted resolution. *10 [Footnote 9: "Estubieron con estos trabajos con igualdad de animo siete meses" Montesinos, Annales, Ms., ano 1527.] [Footnote 10: Xerez, Conq. del Peru, ap. Barcia, tom. III. p. 182. - Montesinos, Annales, Ms., ano 1527. - Naharro, Relacion Sumaria, Ms. - Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 3, lib. 10, cap. 4. - Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.]