Chronicle of the Narvaez Expedition

Narváez and his men explore the area. In a bay, they capture four Indigenous men, who take them to their village, where the Europeans discover four crates of corpses and items from Castile and New Spain. After the captured Indigenous people tell them about Apalachee, where “[they] would find everything [they] held to be of value” (11), Narváez holds a council with his officers about moving further inland. Cabeza de Vaca thinks this is a terrible idea:

it seemed to me in no way advisable to leave the ships until they were in a safe, occupied port. I told them to consider that the pilots were at a loss, disagreeing among themselves and undivided as to what course to pursue (11).

Ultimately, Narváez decides to follow the coast and have the ships meet them later. He wants Cabeza de Vaca to take command of the ships and establish a settlement at the port where they are to meet. Cabeza de Vaca declines because he fears people will call him a coward for remaining with the ships: “Under these circumstances, I would much rather risk my life than my good name” (13).