South American Fights and Fighters, and Other Tales of Adventure

PART I. South American Fights and Fighters

SOUTH AMERICAN FIGHTS AND FIGHTERS

PAGE

PANAMA AND THE KNIGHTS-ERRANT OF COLONIZATION

I. THE SPANISH MAIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 II. THE DON QUIXOTE OF DISCOVERERS AND HIS RIVAL . . . . 5 III. THE ADVENTURES OF OJEDA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 IV. ENTER ONE VASCO NUNEZ DE BALBOA . . . . . . . . . . . 17 V. THE DESPERATE STRAITS OF NICUESA . . . . . . . . . . 20

PANAMA, BALBOA AND A FORGOTTEN ROMANCE

I. THE COMING OF THE DEVASTATOR . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 II. THE GREATEST EXPLOIT SINCE COLUMBUS'S VOYAGE . . . . 34 III. "FUROR DOMINI" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 IV. THE END OF BALBOA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

PERU AND THE PIZARROS

I. THE CHIEF SCION OF A FAMOUS FAMILY . . . . . . . . . 53 II. THE TERRIBLE PERSISTENCE OF PIZARRO . . . . . . . . . 57 III. "A COMMUNISTIC DESPOTISM" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 IV. THE TREACHEROUS AND BLOODY MASSACRE OF CAXAMARCA . . 73 V. THE RANSOM AND MURDER OF THE INCA . . . . . . . . . . 85 VI. THE INCA AND THE PERUVIANS STRIKE VAINLY FOR FREEDOM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 VII. "THE MEN OF CHILI" AND THE CIVIL WARS . . . . . . . 102 VIII. THE MEAN END OF THE GREAT CONQUISTADOR . . . . . . 105 IX. THE LAST OF THE BRETHREN . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

THE GREATEST ADVENTURE IN HISTORY

I. THE CHIEF OF ALL THE SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE . . . . . 115 II. THE EXPEDITION TO MEXICO . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 III. THE RELIGION OF THE AZTECS . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 IV. THE MARCH TO TENOCHTITLAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 V. THE REPUBLIC OF TLASCALA . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 VI. CORTES'S DESCRIPTION OF MEXICO . . . . . . . . . . 147 VII. THE MEETING WITH MONTEZUMA . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 VIII. THE SEIZURE OF THE EMPEROR . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 IX. THE REVOLT OF THE CAPITAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 X. IN GOD'S WAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 XI. THE MELANCHOLY NIGHT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 XII. THE SIEGE AND DESTRUCTION OF MEXICO . . . . . . . . 194 XIII. A DAY OF DESPERATE FIGHTING . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 XIV. THE LAST MEXICAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 XV. THE END OF CORTES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

PART II. Other Tales of Adventure

OTHER TALES OF ADVENTURE

THE YARN OF THE "ESSEX," WHALER . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

SOME FAMOUS AMERICAN DUELS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

I. A TRAGEDY OF OLD NEW YORK . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 II. ANDREW JACKSON AS A DUELLIST . . . . . . . . . . . 248 III. THE KILLING OF STEPHEN DECATUR . . . . . . . . . . 251 IV. AN EPISODE IN THE LIFE OF JAMES BOWIE . . . . . . . 252 V. A FAMOUS CONGRESSIONAL DUEL . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 VI. THE LAST NOTABLE DUEL IN AMERICA . . . . . . . . . 256

THE CRUISE OF THE "TONQUIN" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

JOHN PAUL JONES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

I. THE BIRTH OF THE AMERICAN NAVY . . . . . . . . . . 283 II. JONES FIRST HOISTS THE STARS AND STRIPES . . . . . 284 III. THE BATTLE WITH THE "SERAPIS" . . . . . . . . . . . 285 IV. A HERO'S FAMOUS SAYINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287 V. WHAT JONES DID FOR HIS COUNTRY . . . . . . . . . . 288 VI. WHY DID HE TAKE THE NAME OF JONES . . . . . . . . . 289 VII. A SEARCH FOR HISTORICAL EVIDENCE . . . . . . . . . 292 VIII. THE JONESES OF NORTH CAROLINA . . . . . . . . . . . 296 IX. PAUL JONES NEVER A MAN OF WEALTH . . . . . . . . . 297

IN THE CAVERNS OF THE PITT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

BEING A BOY OUT WEST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

"THE POOR LITTLE GOVERNOR . . . DISTANCED HIS FIERCE PURSUERS AT LAST" . . . . . . . . . . Frontispiece Drawing by Seymour M. Stone

FACING PAGE

"OJEDA GALLOPED OFF WITH HIS . . . CAPTIVE" . . . . . . . . 6 Drawing by Seymour M. Stone

"THE INDIANS POURED A RAIN OF POISONED ARROWS" . . . . . . . 7 Drawing by Seymour M. Stone

"BALBOA . . . ENGAGED IN SUPERINTENDING THE ROOFING OF A HOUSE" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Drawing by George Gibbs

"THE EXPEDITION HAD TO FIGHT ITS WAY THROUGH TRIBES OF WARLIKE AND FEROCIOUS MOUNTAINEERS" . . . . . . 35 Drawing by George Gibbs

"HE TOOK POSSESSION OF THE SEA IN THE NAME OF CASTILE AND LEON" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Drawing by George Gibbs

"HE THREW THE SACRED VOLUME TO THE GROUND IN A VIOLENT RAGE" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Drawing by George Gibbs

"THEY BURST UPON THE RANKS OF THE UNARMED INDIANS" . . . . . 86 Drawing by George Gibbs

"THE THREE PIZARROS . . . SALLIED OUT TO MEET THEM" . . . . 87 Drawing by George Gibbs

"HE THREW HIS SOLE REMAINING WEAPON IN THE FACES OF THE ESCALADERS" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Drawing by George Gibbs

FERNANDO CORTES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 From a picture in the Florence Gallery

THE DEATH OF MONTEZUMA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 From an old engraving

"HE DEFENDED HIMSELF WITH HIS TERRIBLE SPEAR" . . . . . . . 179 Drawing by George Gibbs

"THE SHIP CAME TO A DEAD STOP" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234 Drawing by W. J. Aylward

THE KILLING OF ALEXANDER HAMILTON BY AARON BURR . . . . . . 233 Drawing by J. N. Marchand

The publishers wish to acknowledge their indebtedness to The Cosmopolitan Magazine and Munsey's Magazine for permission to use several of the illustrations in this volume.

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