How the governor and his people crossed the river, and how two Christians were drowned.
THAT same Friday the brigantines arrived for the passage of the river, and the Indians brought a number of their canoes. Being now fully informed as to what should be done, and having taken counsel with his captains, the governor arranged that the army should cross the following morning, Saturday, and proceed in quest of the Guaycurús. He ordered rafts to be made of the canoes, to convey the horses over, and as soon as it was daylight the embarkation began in good order, the soldiers in the brigantines, and the Indians in their canoes. The zeal displayed by the Spaniards, and the loud cries of the Indians, were remarkable. From six in the morning to two o’clock in the afternoon the crossing went on, though there were two hundred canoes engaged in the passage.
A sad accident happened at this juncture. As the Spaniards vied with one another who should be first, one of the vessels was overloaded and capsized, the keel floating above water with all her living freight clinging to it. They would certainly all have been drowned, had not a number of Indians who saw the occurrence from the bank jumped at once into the water and righted the vessel. But the current was so strong at this place that two of the Spaniards were swept down the river, whom it was impossible to rescue, their bodies being recovered lower down; and their names were Diego de Ysla, a citizen of Malaga, and Juan de Valdez, a citizen of Palencia.
When all the people and the horses had crossed to the other side, the principal Indians came to the governor, and told him that it was their invariable custom, whenever they were about to make war, to give their captain a present, accordingly they begged him to accept it. The governor, wishing to humour them consented. Then all the chiefs, one after the other, brought him a prettily painted bow and arrow; and all the Indians, one by one, presented a painted arrow adorned with parrots’ feathers; and the remainder of that day was taken up by the presentation of these offerings, so that it was necessary to pass the night on the bank of the river, stationing sentries to keep watch.
[CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SECOND.]
How the spies, by order of the governor, went in search of the Guaycurús.
ON Saturday, the governor, with the advice of his captains and monks, arranged that before beginning the march, scouts should be sent in advance to reconnoitre the movements of the Guaycurús, in order that dispositions might be made to attack and drive them from the lands of the Guaranís. So the Indian spies and Christians set forth, and returned at four o’clock in the morning, with the report that the Indians had been hunting the whole day, and that their wives and children were in front of them, and that they did not appear to have any fixed idea of settling anywhere. Upon this being known, it was decided to march at once, as secretly as possible, in pursuit of the enemy, observing the precaution of not lighting fires, and not breaking the ranks for the purpose of hunting or any other motive, in order not to give the enemy an inkling of their whereabouts. These dispositions having been taken, they started in good order, on Sunday morning, and marched at the foot of the forested slopes of the mountains, so as to conceal their movements. The Indian scouts, all picked men and swift of foot, led the advance, returning every now and again to report what they could discover of the enemy.