" But Gasca was as
decided in his rejection of this present, as he had been of the
other. "He had come to the country," he remarked, "to serve the
king, and to secure the blessings of peace to the inhabitants;
and now that, by the favor of Heaven, he had been permitted to
accomplish this, he would not dishonor the cause by any act that
might throw suspicion on the purity of his motives."
Notwithstanding his refusal, the colonists contrived to secrete
the sum of twenty thousand castellanos on board of his vessel,
with the idea, that, once in his own country, with his mission
concluded, the president's scruples would be removed. Gasca did,
indeed, accept the donative; for he felt that it would be
ungracious to send it back; but it was only till he could
ascertain the relatives of the donors, when he distributed it
among the most needy. *35
[Footnote 35: Fernandez, Hist. del Peru, Parte 1, lib. 2, cap.
95.]
Having now settled all his affairs, the president committed
the government, until the arrival of a viceroy, to his faithful
partners of the Royal Audience, and in January, 1150, he embarked
with the royal treasure on board of a squadron for Panama. He
was accompanied to the shore by a numerous crowd of the
inhabitants, cavaliers and common people, persons of all ages and
conditions, who followed to take their last look of their
benefactor, and watch with straining eyes the vessel that bore
him away from their land.
His voyage was prosperous, and early in March the president
reached his destined port.
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