Chapter 32 Chapter Thirty-One

"My lord, are you looking for me?" Out of habit, despite the raging waves around him, Jia Boye still spoke in a low voice. The night is dark, and you can't see your fingers.A first-quarter moon is hidden behind the clouds, flickering.Moonlight shone dimly on the rough sea.The lanterns on the boat swayed and creaked as if some ghost was playing with them mischievously.Whenever there was a wind, the yards of the rigging sails and all the masts of the ship clanged, and the chains on the anchors tinkled as the anchor dragged astern. Although it is only a stone's throw away, the situation on Puna Island cannot be seen clearly.

Holding the handle of the bow boom with both hands, with his feet spread apart, and a long sword hanging on his body like a tail, Mr. Francisco Pizarro stared straight at the night in front of him.In the dark, his gray beard phosphorescent like the breaking waves of the sea.In order to answer Jia Boye's question, he slightly turned his eyes away from the sea. "Twelve nautical miles! Twelve nautical miles, and three days' voyage, that's the distance between us and Peru, Jaber! Tumbes is almost here, not far away, and that will be our first city to anchor, Five years, the golden kingdom that the king ordered to find..."

He stopped for a moment, squinting his eyes, as if he had seen the local temples and the dazzling gold and silver treasures. "Tomorrow will be a new beginning, child!" He murmured suddenly, his voice was so small that Jia Boye had to get close to him to hear it. "No matter what difficulties we encounter, the Virgin Mary will definitely assist us in completing this expedition..." "My lord, ever since we left Cadiz," Jia Boye maintained his consistent tone, "I have never doubted. Even if life at sea is like a year, even if the journey is full of difficulties and dangers, even if we have to wait in Panama, Suffering from persecution and discrimination..."

"I always promised you that in the future we will bring back a lot of gold and emeralds." Pizarro said, showing an unusual sneer. Mr. Francisco's shriveled fingers held the shoulder strap of the long sword again, and he stopped for a long time without speaking, only the sound of the howling tsunami was around him.Suddenly he asked: "What do you think of Captain Su Tuo?" Jia Boye was thinking about what words to use to describe it: "Well, I think he is a very brave captain, brave and good at fighting." Pizarro rubbed his beard tremblingly, angrily said:

"He was exactly what you said, really. Unfortunately, alas..." Pizarro shut up suddenly.A burst of waves hit, the hull lost its balance and swayed from side to side.Jia Boye fell on the slippery deck, but fortunately he reached out and grabbed the railing in time.When he stood up straight again, he said to Pizarro: "With all due respect, my lord, I am glad he joined us in Nicaragua! Just think: two ships, a hundred sailors, twenty-five horses! That doubles the cost of our expedition!" "Benakasa has also joined us and I have great confidence in him." "But Benacasa has only thirty followers."

Pizarro waved the back of his hand, indicating that he did not want to continue the debate. "The success of an expedition has nothing to do with numbers, my boy." Jia Boye fell into deep thought, since he firmly believed that the Virgin would protect him no matter what the circumstances, why did Pizarro lose his temper? "Let me tell you," Jia Boye calmly resumed the topic, "as long as I believe in something, I don't doubt it, and I never doubt it. However, it has been two years since we set off from Spain, and we can only wait or wait. I even fell into restlessness, causing a whole body of illness!"

"But you've been doing great!" "Now at last we are about to see that coast of Peru you speak of," Jaberye went on at once, "but this rainy season may keep us on this island for six months. Those who were enthusiastic when we landed Welcome our Indians, now you can relax a hundred and twenty hearts, they will definitely find a chance to kill us. Before, those guys who you regard as soldiers raped Indian girls without any scruples. Now, they only need one Seeing the shadow of the Indians, run as fast as you can!... Your brother Enando, whose behavior is no better than a rough German soldier, by the way, he has an arrow in the thigh, and it will be two weeks Can't ride a horse. As for your two brothers, whether it's Juan or Gonzalo, they only know how to enjoy themselves. With the help of Captain Su Tuo, you will never even think about becoming the Governor of Peru!"

The strange thing is that instead of being angry or refuting, Pizarro coughed lightly and smiled. "It doesn't matter. Anyway, I'm already the governor. The Virgin agrees, the king agrees, and I agree! But Su Tuo, he wants to have a piece of land of his own, and I'm worried that he will leave us as soon as he gets the chance..." "It's possible, Mr. Francisco!" Jia Boye muttered. "It's possible! But that's not the problem now. Instead, all the sailors will be exhausted before they reach El Dorado, because they're starving, poor, and sick! It's said that they're infecting each other with a terrible tumor disease." , people die from the disease every day, plus the disease usually attacks patients in their sleep, so they dare not close their eyes to sleep. Others say that this Peruvian tumor virus comes from fish or crabs, and they dare not eat it indiscriminately since then Stuff. In fact we have nothing to eat at all except fish and crabs..."

"It's all new to you, boy!" laughed Mr. Francesco. "This is your first expedition, and you're learning. As for me, these stories are clichés, I've been listening to it for forty years!" Despite the pitching of the ship, Pizarro's eyes remained fixed on the distance, as persistent as his beard.He straightened his face, and after a moment of silence, he suddenly grabbed Jia Boye's wrist, squeezed it tightly, and asked in a polite tone: "Mr. Jia Boye, do you remember the day you followed me to the outskirts of Toledo and asked me to take you on an expedition to Peru?"

"I will remember that moment as long as I live, my lord!" "Do you remember my answer?" "You demanded of me 'absolute loyalty. Willingness to obey me, and only me, at any cost! It comes at a price, and it's expensive...'" "Well, the time has come to fulfill part of your promise. Tomorrow at daylight we will set off for Tumbes. But as the bilge is not big enough for all the men and horses, I have consulted with the Indian chief of Tumbes beforehand, Ask him to send us some of the balsa rafts they made." "I saw some light rafts just now," Jia Boye said excitedly. "It's well done, bigger and stronger than expected! The luggage of you and your brother Anando has been delivered to the raft."

"The problem is not whether the light raft is strong or not, but my confidence in Suto," Francisco interrupted him with humor, "Suto made an excuse that these balsa could run faster than our boat, so he suggested that we Indians left first, and went to prepare for matters related to going ashore. Of course, I also hope to be greeted in a beautiful manner, but I really don't want to lose most of my troops at once..." A wave stronger than before knocked them back and forth again.From the invisible shore behind came the roar and scream of horses.Pizarro grabbed Jia Boye by the elbow and pulled him towards him. The tip of the long sword was right against the waist of this Andalusian youth: "When Captain Suto met the Indians of Tumbes, I want you to see if he was playing tricks." "It is said that balsa rafts capsize easily..." "You can swim, boy!" said Don Francisco angrily, with the inhumanity of his nature. "I hope it comes in handy. Especially, you must look around and listen to all directions. This time, you must keep your mouth shut." "I need a trusted partner. Let Sai Batian help me." "If you can trust a nigger, so be it!" Those balsa rafts are really strong. The balsa was shaped like a large hand, with a beam for a mast and a sailcloth attached to it, reminiscent of a schooner gliding on the Mediterranean.But as long as the waves are a little bigger, the sea water will pour into the boat.The wood at the bottom of the boat was as thick as a cow's thigh, and it was tightly bound together with agave rope.Only an hour after leaving Puna, the height of Hernando Pizarro's suitcase, although it was only slightly higher than the edge of the raft, was already wet from the sea. "My God!" Borganag complained, "Mr. Enando's clothes are going to be soaked in water in no time at this rate. His fine linen shirts, and some spare boots . . . , and in a day they'll be as hard as coals. He'll be pissed off when he finds out!" "If it were me, I wouldn't care if the captain's brother would die of anger," Sai Batian sneered. "It seems to me that you yourself have enough to worry about..." With a sigh and a forced grin, André de Bauganague turned away his distorted face and curled up into a ball.This poor fellow was also one of the patients whose body was mutated by the Peruvian tumor virus.On his left cheek hung a hideous wart the size of a fig, and a smaller, purple-red one just at the end of his nose.In addition, there were about a dozen small sarcoid tumors the size of a chickpea parasitic on the enlarged parent tumor on his neck and shoulders. This morning, just an hour before leaving Puna Island, because of the pain, Bauganag cut off the tumor growing on his chin using the indigenous method of steelmaking.Because of the profuse bleeding, he covered his entire face with a cloth.But since noon, several strange-shaped small blisters appeared near his right temple, which not only stretched his eyes, but even made his whole face look like a stone adorned on the gutter spout of a Catholic church. A carved head of a beast. Because it was too scary, Jia Boye only dared to sneak a glance at him.However, at this time he was actually worried about other issues. Standing on the trunk, holding on to the mast of the raft, he watched the breakers on the sea. "Can't see anything," he said to Sebatian, "not even a ghost." Then he left where he was standing, walked to the stern of the raft, and crouched carefully. "There is only one boat left now," he said, frowning. "There are still eight rafts on the sea this morning!" "It's the water flow," Bauganag replied in a low voice without turning his head. "I've seen this kind of situation. The engine of that kind of boat has no keel, so the boat is unstable." "Is it the water flow, or what Captain Su Tuo meant?" Jia Boye retorted, "Martinilo thinks the same as him. Su Tuo can order people to separate us from other ships! Mr. Francisco should really suspect him..." Sebatian muttered, "I'm afraid it's neither." With a lift of his chin, he pointed to the four Indians at the helm. "I don't like them. Every time someone looks at them, they just smirk at people." "so what?" "There is one thing you must know, Mr. Gabriel, that when an Indian smiles at you, it means he thinks badly of you." Just when Jia Boye was about to refute, one of the Indians yelled some words that no one could understand, and then pointed straight ahead with his finger. Just in front of me, as if floating on the surface of the sea, a land emerged from the crest of the waves, and the dense green shade was almost black. "It's a small island!" Sai Batian shouted. "We have sailed to the end." "Finally," Jia Boye said with a smile, "our companions didn't think badly about us. They knew where they were headed. At least we can have a good sleep tonight. Tomorrow night, according to the original plan, we will dock Tumbes." Bauganag groaned, "I'm not going ashore! I swear I'll never sleep under a tree or on the beach again in my life." In the dark night, lying on the beach, staring at the orange-red mountaintop in the distance, Sai Batian and Jia Boye were silent.A few Indians chatted loudly, which sounded like intermittent whispers mixed with the sound of the waves. Jia Boye took off his shirt and looked at his chest and arms, which were wrinkled due to malnutrition and lack of care. Sai Batian draws on the sand. "what is this?" "Look well, it's the first thing the Greeks and I have ever seen on the sands of Tumbes!" Jia Boye laughed out loud. "A big cat! That thing on my shoulder, isn't it?" "Don't you think it's time to meet it?" With one simple stroke, Sai Batian adds living strength and wildness to this animal. Jia Boye glanced at the big cat on the ground.As long as you sail across the ocean, you can see those remote and mysterious beaches, forests and mountains.The dream was about to come true, and he was intoxicated. It was about midnight when the first roar was heard. After the second sound, Jia Boye woke up in fright. He lifted the quilt and stood up, guessing that Sai Batian should have been standing beside him. "Baoganag!" Jia Boye shouted.That poor thing!Maybe he's cutting off another tumor with a knife... There was another scream, sharper than the previous two, piercing the silent night and shaking the surging tide. "No!" Sebatian said, "Bauganag wouldn't scream over a tumor. He wouldn't scream even if it was thirty of these bastard eggs! It's something else." The two have the same idea. They jumped up at the same time, rushed to hide in the shade of crooked trees, and then ran quickly to the beach. The night was darker than the stove, but fortunately there was Bauganag's call as a guiding signal.When he walked to the firmer wet sand, Jia Boye drew out his long sword and swung it vigorously, the blade whizzing in the wind. Bauganag's voice suddenly changed into a clear cry for help: "Help, comrades! Someone is stealing the ship. They want to kill me, they want to kill me!" There were shadows in the dark night, and Jia Boye could vaguely see the sails blown by the wind on the raft.The light raft had drifted away from the shore, and under the impact of the waves, it swayed up and down obliquely. At this time, the exclamation sounded again. "Those hateful Indian rebels!" Sebatian yelled, "They dumped us..." Jia Boye was furious and rushed straight into the sea. In the dark night, the waves drew rows of white waves on the sea surface.He held up the long sword in his hand, and he was about to drive straight in, approaching the end of the raft.He clearly saw Bauganag being held at the bottom of the boat by two Indians, and the third shot him to death with a mace.The screaming stopped abruptly.Now only the rolling waves of the sea remain.Then he heard Sai Batian's voice calling to him: "Mr. Jia Boye, don't be impulsive! Come back, come back! You will be drowned by the sea..." But he was so angry that anger pushed him forward like a long wave.He blocked the waves with his wrist and broke through the first wave wall.He was now only a sword's length from the stern of the balsa raft, and he saw the Indian at the helm with startled eyes in his swarthy eyes. After that, the sea suddenly rushed forward like a roaring beast, and Jia Boye felt that he had turned into a heavy lead.His boots, socks, and even his sleeves were all soaked with water. The waves lapped at him, then rolled him up, churning him back and forth like mud. The blade of the long sword slapped his cheek with the waves, he was top-heavy, surrounded by endless sea water, the sound of the waves whispered the call of death in his ears, and his limbs seemed to have lost consciousness. Afterwards, he bumped his head on the beach under the sea, choked on a mouthful of salty sea water, and felt a tingling pain of suffocation in his chest.In an instant, he suddenly felt that it was ironic that he was about to reach the threshold of the new world, but at this time he met the fate of being drowned. Next, his feet hit the hard ground, and with all his might, he rolled over and jumped out of the water.Although he was smothered by the seawater in his mouth, he managed to keep up with the balsa raft.In fact the Indians on board could kick him back into the sea with a random kick, or beat him to death with a mace as they had killed poor Bauganag.But they seemed petrified by the image of him rising like a ghost from the bottom of the water. "Cheer up, Mr. Jia Boye!" Sai Batian yelled in his ear. The black Sai Batian swam up to him, and when the three Indians saw the two of them together, they jumped into the water and tried to swim for their lives.Jia Boye, who was almost out of breath, only had the strength to climb onto the light raft.And Sebatian jumped into the water to grab the Indian who was behind, threw him into the raft like a package, and then climbed into the boat while panting and spitting water. "If you dare to run away," Sai Batian said, grabbing the Indian by the neck, "I will eat you." The Indian young man was underage, trembling with fright.Sai Batian and Jia Boye managed to regain their composure. "What should we do with him, Mr. Jia Boye?" "If you want to eat him, please do so." "To tell you the truth, the plan I have in mind is to ask him to take us to Tumbes. Of course, if you have no objection." "Sabatian?" "Mr. Jia Boye?" "I thought you couldn't swim." "Hey, I have to confess to you that I really can't swim, unless you think that in that dangerous moment, I kicked the water randomly in order to escape." He said, pointing to the large dark ocean. . The wind and waves calmed down a little.Sai Batian gestured to hand over the rudder he was holding to the young Indian, who hesitated for a while before taking it.Under the shining sky full of stars, Jia Boye enjoys the joy of rebirth to the fullest. "Sabatian." "Mr. Jia Boye?" "I owe you my life. But seriously, I want to ask you one more favor—could you please just call me Jia Boye?" Sebastian didn't answer.He seemed to be fascinated by the sea.After that, he turned to face Jia Boye and held his hand.Jia Boye pulled him towards him, and the two embraced like brothers.

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