"Nay, nay; not so!" exclaimed Balboa, the hot blood rising to his brow, his eyes sparkling with anger. "The king hath had his fifths, justly apportioned before we took our shares, and a donative besides. These pearls are--that is, they were--_my_ pearls, and if I chose to bestow them upon the Doña Isabel, your excellency, as her husband, has only the right to refuse them, and that, too, without questioning my motive or my ownership of these pearls." "Our host, the gallant cavalier, is right," interposed the bishop. "He hath, in a most magnificent manner, done honor to thee, Don Pedro, and to thy wife, by despoiling himself of treasure that must have cost him dear, and presenting it to the Lady Isabel. It ill becomes thee, Pedro, to receive this precious gift so sourly. Verily," he added, with a sigh, "it is a gift worthy of acceptance by the Church!" "I have reserved for thee and for the Church a tithe of the gold that was apportioned me, good father," declared Balboa. "And for me what hast thou?" demanded Pedrarias. "My services, your excellency, which are potential gold and pearls! For the wilderness contains much which has not yet been revealed, and which I have not had time to seek." "Since that be so, suppose you, to-morrow, give me an account of your stewardship: an exact statement concerning the country and the savages, which I may send to the king." "It shall be forthcoming, your excellency; but not to-morrow, I fear, since much have I to do, as well as much to write. Within the week will I have it ready for your perusal." "Be it so, then, and see to it that the report is comprehensive as to the regions of gold and the great South Sea, which, I understand, you claim to have discovered." "Which, of a truth, I _did_ discover," answered Balboa, indignantly, "Many had sought it, as you should know, but none had found it, or the way thereto, until I, Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, showed the way. Mayhap I be deprived of fortune and of life, but of the honor, the immortal glory, of that discovery, none shall rob me!" "There lives no man who could, perhaps none so base as to desire to," exclaimed Doña Isabel. Her voice trembled, not alone with indignation but with fear; for at her side sat the one man base enough to do such a thing, and that man was her husband. Pedrarias was possessed of a crabbed disposition that made him envy every man who had done something worthy of renown, and hate him who stood in the pathway of his own ambition. Hence he hated Balboa with a bitter, unreasoning hatred, and, as his wife had divined, was already scheming to deprive him of his laurels.