History of Washington By Holice, Pam, and Deb Extra special
thanks to Holice B. Young for transcribing this series of books!
THE OPENING OF THE SECOND BOOK, BEING THE DISCOVERY OF "He was
the first who ever burst Vasco Nunez De Balboa, the discoverer
of the Pacific, was no ordinary man. He was gifted with great
personal magnetism, courage, and perseverance of a high order,
and a nobility of spirit which preferred fame to gold. He rises
far above the ordinary Spanish mercenaries who sought the New
World only to satisfy their greed. Like others of his race,
Balboa was a strange mixture of good and evil, passing
triumphantly through many a wild and bloody scene to die at last
upon the scaffold, through the indirect influence of the native
mistress whom he had seemed to have loved, and for a crime of
which he was certainly innocent; for when the crier who preceded
him to the block proclaimed him a traitor, Balboa indignantly
repudiated the charge, saying: "It is false! Never did such a
crime enter into my mind. I