Plot Summary
Chapters 1-4The book starts with introducing Mendoza and Estaban, which are some of the most important characters in the book. Estaban is correcting a map while Mendoza offers him an irresistible deal. Mendoza says he will mutiny the admiral and sail to land, where he would meet General Coronado. Together they would march to the land of Cibola and there they could plunder gold. He also mentions that Estaban could map places that have never been mapped before. Therefore he could become famous. The Admiral of the ship however outsmarts Mendoza and sends him on an “expedition” to land on a small boat. Estaban decides to go with Mendoza.
Chapters 5-8Mendoza and his supporters get still stuck in the sea of Cortez. They have to go through many trials and challenges. Lunes, one of the men in Mendoza’s party goes crazy and jumps out of their little boat attempting to swim ashore. A little later Roe makes a life saving discovery. They found the fresh water areas of the River of Good Guidance and stay there a bit recovering their energy. They then stumble upon a village called Avipia. There they meet Torres (Mendoza’s horse keeper) and Coronado’s army. You are also introduced to two other characters, Father Francisco and Zia.
Chapters 9-15Mendoza’s party joins Coronado’s army and begins their march towards the land of Cibola, the land of gold. They stumble upon a ruined city called Red House. There they meet two old Indians that tell them of a great city of gold called Hawikuh, which was not too far away, so Coronado and his army begin their march again. They reach the city of Hawikuh and attack the city. The Spanish win the battle and capture the city. To everyone’s disappointment there is no gold. Estaban gets injured but, was healed after a couple of weeks. When Estaban is healed, Mendoza and his men separate from the main army to explore the land of Cibola more. Sure enough they discover a city in a canyon called Texpan. They chief there offers them all the gold in his river that they can dig. Father Francisco also tries to convert Texpan to Christianity.
Chapters 16-19Everyone is doing their separate thing in Texpan. Mendoza, Roe, and Zuniga dig for gold in the river. Zia and Father Francisco are telling the Indians about the Christian religion, while Estaban looks for some gold but mostly works on his map. Mendoza and the gold diggers confront the Chief saying they want some fleece to get the gold dust from the river. The Chief replies no and explains to them they only kill sheep on certain occasions. As, you may guess that night Mendoza and some others kill six sheep and put the sheep’s fleeces in the river. The next day was a big day for Father Francisco. He was ready to baptize the Indians because they had accepted the new religion but the Indian Sheppard comes and announces the sad news. Mendoza and his party try to escape quickly, though there was no need and Mendoza starts a fire in their fields. In their escape Zuniga dies in the fire because of his greed. He tries to grab a heavy fleece and couldn’t escape the flames.
Chapters 20-24Mendoza and his party are trapped in a cave during the winter a powerful winter storm. At the end of the storm an unexpected thing happens. Torres takes Mendoza’s best horse and most of the gold they had gathered in Texpan. There was nothing they could do so they begin to journey to another city called Tawhi. After a bit they find the city and are welcomed in it. Mendoza talks to their Chief that he is searching for gold. The Chief starts trading gold with Mendoza. After a bit they end their trading and go to bed in the Indian settlement. In the morning they go secretly exploring in Tawhi and find lots of gold in the bottom of a lake. Mendoza makes a plan and carries it out. They will leave the city and say they would come back with more trading materials. Really, Mendoza and Roe make bags for the gold and Estaban waits for the signal.
Chapters 25-31Mendoza’s plan works perfectly and they are able to steal lots of gold from the people of Tawhi. A couple of Tawhi Indians try to steal back the gold but are both killed by Mendoza’s dog Tigre. Mendoza and party start traveling back to the city of Hawikuh. On the journey Mendoza sends Roe ahead to get some more mules and muleteers. Some nights later Mendoza gets mad at Tigre to being a little too playful. The dog retaliates and kills Mendoza. Estaban now takes control of the party and is starting to become like Mendoza. (Greedy, self centered, gold is the only thing that matters, etc). Zia doesn’t like it so she leaves the party and joins an Indian group they meet on their journey. Estaban and Father Francisco are the only ones left in the party (besides Roe) and continue their journey. They end up traveling through a desert (Estaban calls it the Inferno) and Father Francisco suggests to bury the gold, so they could get out of the desert faster. Estaban says no and continues on. A little while later Father Francisco dies. Estaban then snaps back to his normal self and disposes the gold in a crater with tar stuff. Roe and ten other Spanish soldiers try to take more gold from Tawhi but they are killed in the process. Estaban ends up in Vera Cruz and because he didn’t give the king his fifth of the gold, Estaban is sentenced to 3 years in jail.