For a guide the Padre Vicente had a slave of that land, a man of Te-hua baptized José, for five years the padre had studied the words and the plans. The man would gladly go to his own land,––he and his wife. All that was required was a general with wealth for the conquest. There were pagan souls to be saved, and there was wealth for the more worldly minds. The padre asked only a tenth for godly reasons.
Thus between church and state was the expedition of his Excellency Don Ruy Sandoval ignored except as a hunting journey to the North coast of the Cortez Sea––if he ranged farther afield, his own be the peril, for no troops of state were sent as companions. The good father had selected the men––most of them he had confessed at odd times and knew their metal. All engaged as under special duty to the 73 cross:––it was to be akin to a holy pilgrimage, and absolution for strange things was granted to the men who would bear arms and hold the quest as secret.
Most of them thought the patron was to be Mother Church, and regarded it as a certain entrance to Paradise. Don Ruy himself meekly accepted a role of the least significance:––a mere seeker of pleasure adventures in the provinces! It would not be well that word of risk or danger be sent across seas––and the Viceroy could of course only say “god speed you” to a gentleman going for a ride with his servants and his major domo.
And thus:––between a hair brained adventurer and a most extolled priest, began the third attempt to reach the people called by New Spain, the Pueblos:––the strangely learned barbarians who dwelt in walled towns––cultivating field by irrigation, and worshipping their gods of the sun, or the moon, or the stars through rituals strange as those of Pagan Egypt.
Word had reached Mexico of the martyrdom of Fray Juan Padilla at Ci-bo-la, but in the far valley of the Rio Grande del Norte––called by the tribes the river P[=o]-s[=o]n-gé,––Fray Luis de Escalona might be yet alive carrying on the work of salvation of souls.
The young Spanish adventurer listened with special interest as the devotion and sacrifices of Fray Luis were extolled in the recitals.
“If he lives we will find that man,” he determined. “He was nobly born, and of the province of my mother. I’ve heard the romance for which he cloaked himself in the gray robe. He should be a prince of the church instead of a wandering lay brother––we will have a human thing to search for in the world beyond the desert––ours will be a crusade to rescue him from the infidel lands.”