Still at modern Baracoa, Columbus, a Guanahanían captive, and armed sailors row up a river in the Santa María’s launch and disembark to explore. When they return to the launch, Cuban villagers surrounded them, waving spears and shouting. The Guanahanían captive sees the villagers intend to slaughter Columbus and his men and intervenes to protect them. Encounters Unforeseen explores the captive’s predicament and bitter decision to do so, rather than standing by to watch his captors killed.
Columbus was dismissive of the danger posed. That night, he recorded in the Journal that the Indians were so timid that ten crewmen could cause ten thousand Indians to flee. His perspective was to observe that his captive Guanahanían had trembled like a coward when surrounded.