When Bobadilla C€une before the fortress, he found the gates
closed, and the alcayde Miguel Diaz upon the battlements. He or-
dered his letters patent to be read with a loud voice, the signatures
and seals to be held up to view, and then demanded the surrender of
the prisoners. Diaz requested a copy of the letters; but this Boba*
dilla refused, alleging that there was no time for delay, the prisoners
being under sentence of death, and liable at any moment to be exe-
cuted. He threatened, at the same time, that if they were not given
up, he would proceed to extremities, and Diaz should be answerable
for the consequences. The wary alcayde again required time to re-
ply, and a copy of the letters ; saying that he held the fortress for
the king by the command of the admiral, his lord, who had gained
these tenitories and islands, and that when the latter arrived he
should obey his orders.*

The whole spirit of Bobadilla was roused within him at the refu-
sal of the alcayde. Assembling all the people he had brought from
Spain, together with the sailors of the ships, and the rabble of tht
place, he exhorted them to aid him in getting possession of the
prisoners, but to harm no one unless in case of resistance. The mob
shouted assent, for Bobadilla was already the idol of the multitude.
