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Juan Ortiz and an Indian Princess
by William Van Fleet

The Indians, elated at their success, took their captives to their village Chief, who promptly condemned them to death. Two of the sailors were stripped and forced to run a gauntlet of warriors who shot them full of arrows. (Strange to say this same form of punishment was in vogue in Europe at this same time. A culprit or prisoner was often forced to run between two files of soldiers, who struck him as he passed. If the culprit recovered from the blows, he was allowed his freedom.) Two of the sailors were now dead, and Juan Ortiz' turn came next. He was reserved for a much crueler death. The Chief sentenced him to be roasted alive. A pit was dug, a fire started. Above it green poles were laid. Ortiz was stripped and bound on the poles over the fire. His agonized cries were heedless for the Indians danced gleefully around him. But there came in, tender hearted, the Chief's daughter. Now begins a phase of this story which for unrewarded kindness is without a parallel in American history. Moved by pity at the boy's suffering, the maiden threw herself at her father's feet and begged him to spare the boy's life. She said the smooth cheeked boy had done them no wrong and nothing would be gained by his death. The Chief, out of love for his daughter, relented. Ortiz was taken off of the fire and carried into the maiden's wigwam. Ortiz was badly burned but under the careful nursing of that maiden and her mother, he recovered. Ortiz was now made a slave and forced to work at the hardest tasks. He was then ordered to guard a cemetery at night with a penalty of death if he relaxed. The cemetery was located some distance from the village and it was the custom of the tribe to wrap the body in a kind of mat and place it on a scaffold above the ground. A watchman kept away wild animals. Ortiz was glad of this change, as it kept him away from the dreaded presence of the Chief. One night being very tired, Ortiz fell asleep. Being awakened by a sound of a crash, he discovered an animal had carried away the body of a child lately died. The father of the child was a sub chief of influence. Hearing a noise in the bushes nearby, Ortiz shot an arrow in it's direction and the sound ceased. Next morning Ortiz discovered his arrow killed a large panther which was eating the dead child. Replacing the child on its burial scaffold, Ortiz went into the village and reported the incident. His deed was praised by some of the older men, but not the Chief. His anger and hatred slowly smoldering, he again ordered Ortiz put to death for relaxation of duty. Here the Princess interceded and pled for his life and again out of love for his daughter, the Chief interceded and Ortiz was saved.

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