VOYAGE OF STRANGERS (21 page)

“Hutia,” I said, as we drew near to where the Taino would leave us, “may I ask a question that you might not care to answer?”

He did not pretend to misunderstand me.

“You wish to know who killed those at the fort.”

“I will tell no one,” I said, “for I left it in your hands whether or not to reveal to your people that Cabrera raped and murdered your sister.”

“I did not,” he said. “I didn’t have to, for every one of them behaved almost as badly. As I told your sister, our girls marry as soon as they become women. Many of those the Spaniards took had babies at home. Some escaped and so slipped away. But if they were caught trying, the Spaniards beat them so badly that they could not run and took them by force. Their weapons were far superior to ours, so we could do nothing until Caonabo attacked
Guacanagarí’s village. Then we saw our opportunity and took it.”

“Did your people take the women back when the Spaniards were all dead?”

Hutia looked at me as if he didn’t understand the question.

“Of course. They are our wives, our sisters.”

“In Spain, a woman who has been raped is considered ruined. No man will have her as a wife, and she is shamed forever. What about the babies the Spaniards got on them? There must have been some, for it is a full eleven months since we left La Navidad.” I added, “More than two hands of moons,” to make my meaning clear.

“We don’t play against babies,” Hutia said.

I learned later that the Taino used the word "play" for "fight" as well as "sit in judgment," as we would say. Disputes between
caciques
and their tribes were often resolved on the
batey
court. There were raids, like that of Caonabo’s folk on Guacanagarí’s, but they had no word for war.

Before the fleet could depart, we had to wait for a favorable wind. This took several days, in which I met with Hutia daily. Rachel could not shirk her duties for the Admiral, but she managed to pay two more visits to the inland village. She even got a chance to play
batey
, when the women and girls formed sides. Not being hampered by clothing, they were as agile as the men, if not quite as strong. They looked like goddesses to me as they spun and twisted in the air, the
batu
shooting off a rounded hip or checked by a golden knee. The men commented freely on the women’s game, but their remarks were confined to the players’
batey
skills. I reflected that even the Taino’s rudeness was unimaginably polite and respectful compared to what Spaniards would say in a comparable situation, were it possible for such to arise.

When I told Hutia why our ships sat idle with sails drooping, he said, “Your priests must pray for wind.”

“They have,” I said, “but so far without result.”

“Perhaps the breath of their God does not reach so far.” He grinned broadly. “You must pray to Juracan, who is so powerful that when he wishes, he can send
bohios
and even trees flying through the air.”

That did not seem likely to me, but Hutia said, “If you remain in our land until his angry season, you will see.”

Although Rachel and I would be glad never to see La Navidad again, we were unhappy at the thought of leaving our new Taino friends. Hutia reassured me on this point.

“Your Admiral seeks a place to build his village along the shore, does he not?”

“I would suppose so,” I said, “for he doesn’t wish us to be cut off from our ships.”

“From the
yucayeque
, it is not much farther to one point along the shore than to another. I will find you.”

When God’s breath, as Hutia put it, finally blew upon us, it did so from the east. This was unfortunate, as the Admiral wished to sail in that direction, rather than continue westward, which he believed would take us farther from the region where we might find gold. So we had constantly to come about and beat against the wind in order to keep our sails filled. In twenty-five days, we made only thirty leagues, little progress despite great effort.

By then, the whole company was in great misery. Many were ill, and the cattle, which had not been let out to graze at La Navidad, were starting to die. The Admiral, pressed by all to go no further, chose a site with no harbor of its own, with a river a mile away providing water. These deficiencies he considered less important than the assurance of the local Taino that abundant gold could be found nearby, to which they would be glad to guide us.

When I disembarked, I found Hutia waiting for me. So many Indians flocked to the ships that no one took note of his comings and goings, which was as he wished it.

“You got here faster than we did!” I exclaimed.

“I walked,” he said.

Indeed, the Taino were well suited to their environment. They moved easily through the varied terrain of the island and throve on the fish,
yuca
, and sweet potato that wreaked havoc on the bellies of so many of our men, as did the local river water. The Spaniards were exhausted by the rigors of our difficult passage eastward. In addition, we had been plagued by a period of rain, which further weakened our men, although it had no effect on the Taino.

The Admiral waited no longer than three days after we came ashore to send a company with Taino guides inland to seek the gold we had heard of. A soldier, Alonso de Hojeda, was given the command of this force. The rest of us who remained able bodied were sent ashore to begin construction of the new settlement, which the Admiral named Isabela, for the Queen. Rachel soon joined us, happy to fetch and carry along with the gromets who were too small for heavier work. Hutia often chose to work beside me. No one thought to make any kind of roster or tally of the Indians. Indeed, many of the Spaniards could not tell them apart. Since it never occurred to them to offer the Taino payment for their labor, there was little reason to keep track of them, save to make sure enough hands and backs were available when wanted. I had only to act as if Hutia was under my orders, and he was able to come and go as he pleased.

“Why do you work for us at all?” I asked him one day as we rested on our hoes, for all were set to planting as well as building.

“You cannot come to me,” he said, grinning, “so I come to you.” Growing serious, he added, “We are brothers, as my father told you.” For I had repeated to him Cristobal’s dying words. “Beyond that, my people help yours for
matu’m
, not for reward.”

I had not heard the word before and asked him to explain it. It meant generosity, a virtue that the Taino valued highly. Knowing this allowed me to understand for the first time why the Taino had greeted us with gifts and served us willingly from the moment we had arrived on their shores in 1492.

“The Christians could benefit greatly from such a virtue,” I said.

While we dug the foundations of permanent buildings for the new colony, we were allowed to throw up temporary huts or shelters so we could live ashore. Fernando shared mine, and the Admiral allowed Rachel to join us, discharging her from all duties to his person with praise and thanks for her service on the voyage. He did this loudly on the deck of Mariagalante, in front of many, putting “the lad” under my supervision. While our hut was under construction, he paid an equally public visit of inspection in the course of his rounds to oversee the general building. His nod of approval gave us tacit permission to keep our shelter small, so that we need have no other companions.

Rachel and I discussed the possibility that we might have to reveal her sex to Fernando. Not only might we have need of an ally, but Rachel was getting older, and we were lucky that it had not already become apparent she was a woman. The most obvious sign was a gentle swelling of her chest. She took to binding it with a cloth under her shirt, which she took care never to remove in company. As well, she told me that her courses had begun, as we had both known that they must. It seemed this monthly burden required additional cloths and running water. Luckily, Hutia was able to show us a spring hidden in the forest, far closer than the river where many went for water. Since Rachel no longer had access to the Admiral’s chamber pot, we dug a trench behind the hut, which backed up to an impenetrable thicket at the edge of the settlement. This gave Rachel the privacy she needed to attend to her needs.

I vouched for Fernando’s loyalty and discretion. Our friendship dated from the voyage on the Santa Maria, when he had hidden my
tallit
and
t’fillin
from Cabrera so that I would not be exposed as a Jew. I suggested we tell him as soon as Rachel took up residence with us, so that she might relax her guard in his presence. Rachel begged me to wait until some situation arose that made it necessary for him to know.

“He is a pleasant young man,” she said, “but he is not like us, Diego. Have you noticed that when Hutia is with us, he never speaks to him directly?”

“He doesn’t have our gift for languages,” I said. “After all this time, he knows only a few words of Taino, which he pronounces badly.”

“Hutia’s Castilian is excellent,” Rachel said indignantly, for she had made it her mission to teach him. “He understands everything that is said, even when it is not addressed to him. And his vocabulary increases every day.”

“Fernando tended Cristobal when he was ill.”

“Because it was his duty,” Rachel said. “If we told him we loved Cristobal, he would be bewildered. Don’t make excuses for him, Diego.”

I had been about to mention that Fernando came from Granada, which had been governed by the Moors until early in 1492, and therefore might be expected to have a more liberal attitude. But I held my peace. She would likely say that he might just as well perceive the Moors as enemies, who had fought against the King and Queen’s Christian armies in the streets of his native city.

“Very well,” I said. “I am only saying that you must not fear to trust him.”

“I will take your word for it,” she said, “but let us not put it to the test until we must.”

This occurred sooner than she had hoped. Fernando returned to the hut before me one night to find Rachel unwinding the bandage from around her breast and singing, which she no longer did in company since the gromets’ voices had started changing. She had no lantern, undressing in the dark for greater privacy, but he carried one with him. I was not there, for we had taken our evening meal with the company around the campfires, and I had lingered. I didn’t want a reputation for associating only with a Taino and a young boy, for that might draw precisely the attention that none of us wished for. I came in to find them confronting one another, Rachel clutching a hastily gathered up cloak against her chest and Fernando red-faced and stammering.

Fernando jumped when I clapped a hand upon his shoulder. It would be better to assume his allegiance than to beseech it.

“I see you have found us out,” I said in a comradely tone. “If my sister has not yet told you, Admiral Columbus is a party to our little deception. He agreed I had good reason not to leave her behind when we quitted Spain. She had no other guardian, and as you can see, she is little more than a child.”

Fernando’s embarrassment suggested that he saw no such thing. But Rachel, quick to take my lead, managed to throw her shirt over her head and thrust her arms into the sleeves without dropping the cloak until it was possible to do so modestly. She thrust her hair, which had grown long enough to braid again, into a cap.

“This will make no difference,” she said, making her voice gruff so that he might still perceive her as the lad Rafael whom he knew and liked, “if you will continue to stand our friend.”

Fernando was recovering from being so greatly startled. The color in his flushed cheeks started to subside, and the hand that had flown to the hilt of his dagger fell to his side.

“What must I do?” he asked me rather than Rachel.

I grinned, keeping all hint of entreaty out of my eyes.

“Continue to order young Rafael about,” I said, “and cuff his ear if he fails to hop to it quickly.”

Though I owed Fernando my life, never had the words “Jew” or “Inquisition” passed between us. Nor did they now. He stood in thought for some time while Rachel and I watched him, scarcely breathing.

“Very well,” he said at last. “I came back to our hut seeking a gourd of spirits made of
yuca.
The Indian I had it from swore it would make me forget my name, as well as all that I had done for the past two hours, did I but drain it without stopping. I will take it back to the fire, where I plan to get drunk. This means I will fall silent. Next, my head will start to whirl. Then I will vomit upon the ground, fall into a stupor, and lie where I drop till morning.”

When he had gone, Rachel pulled off her cap and shook out her hair with a sigh of relief.

“How can we be sure he will fall silent, once he is drunk?” she asked.

“That is his nature,” I said. “I have seen him under the influence of strong drink before.”

“And in the morning?” she asked. “Will he not curse the world and all in it? A man with a splitting head doesn’t feel kindly toward anyone.”

“You have been too long among men,” I said. “You should not know such things.”

“Perhaps I should try it myself,” she said, “and see whether it has the same effect on women.”