The Dallas express. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1893-1970, 1922-02-04
tOMANCES OF NEGRO HISTORY.
Copyrighted by the Paramount
Syndicate Company,
ESTEVANICO.

syndicate Company,
ESTEVANICO.
This is the first of series of
Romantic Stories based upon the
History of the Negro.
BY Alice Dunbar-Nelson.
1t was in June, 1927. Pamfilo de
Navaez, with his magnificent eX-
petition, set sail from Spain. He
meant TO recoup his fortunes and
show TO all the world that his fiasco
in attempting to ruin Cortez in
Bera Cruz had not runined him.
Florida, with fabulous wealth and
mighty cities, would be his. Five
ships bellied their sails in the soft
summer air.. Six hundred sailors
and soldiers in glistening armor,
women followers, bare-footed friars,
and white-teethed black slaves, from
the Moorish provinces of Spain
crowded the decks. 1t was a brave
company, and none so light-hearted,
nor so sure of the final conquest.
as the keen-eyed Cabeca de Vaca,
the treasurer. as well as the his
torian, OF the expedition, Horses
champed their bits. Soldiers tilted
IN mimic warfare lutes sighed in
the summer air. De Narvaez in his
cabin, with the map of the mighty
POSSESSIONS granted him by the in
dulgent Charles Fifth spread out
before him, gloated though even
he could scarcely tip of Nova SEQ
tia to the Rio Grande.
On the deck, two boon compani-
ons the soldiers, Alonzo del Cas-
tillo Mcdonald and Audres Do
rantes, de Carranza lightly played
games and speculated on the great
treasures soon to be their. Lovely
Indian Maidens and gold without
stint. Here under the summer
stars, they were often joined by
Estevan, Estevanico or Estevanillo,
as they sometimes playfully called
him in derision, Little Stephen"
because of his mighty stature.
Though he was Moroccan and the
slave of Dorantes there was a dig
nifty about his manner that bespoke
royalty, and the fact that he was
a recent convert to their faith, made
him seem more their companion.
The light-hearted soldiers noticed
that his great black eyes were Of
times fixed on the heavens as ii
striving to find there the answer
to the doubts that surged in his
mind.
i'll luck. however, seemed to fol-
low the brilliant expedition. Strong
westerly winds urove the vessels
from their track Scurvey broke
out among the sailors, who had
not provisioned properly for voy-
age longer than they had expected.
They finally landed on the island
of Cuba, where the rest from the
nard voyage, and the easy life of
the tropical land charmed the foot
soldier, and caused detection in
their ranks. 1t was ten months
after the brave start from Spain,
before the expedition SCI sail from
Cuba, in April, 1928.
Out of the beaten path of vessels,
into the stormy waterG of the Gulf
of Mexico they sailed, tossed by
hostile winds, followed by muttered
imprecations, from the lips of those
VINO cursed their luck that they
had ever Joined this ill-omened ex-
pition. The Gulf of Mexico is
great sea, and the swift tropical
storms that sweep its sullen waters
are cruel in the toll they take of
human life. The proud Spanish gal
Icons rocked on the CHASTITY waves,
and the men who were faithful to
their trust chung closer together in
their common misery.
The cry of land that came from
the lookout, was greeted with vary