Page:Don Coronado through Kansas.djvu/51

49 A NEGRO MEDiaNB MAN, ■. _ good father was not with him, he got himself killed, but not before he had obeyed the commands of the reverend father who was following his steps, but »t a distance, while trying to teach the natives to follow "In His Steps." The account written contemporaneously with the event says: "The negro, Estevan, had been ordered by the viceroy to obey Friar Marcos in everything under pain 01 serious punishment. WhUe the friar was waiting at Vacapa he sent the negro towards the north instructing him to proceed fifty or sixty leagues (175 or 200 miles), and see if he could find anything that might help them in their search. If he found any signs of a rich and populous country, it was agreed that he was not to advance further but should return to meet the friar or else wait where he heard the good news, sending some Indian mes- sengers back to the friar with a white cross the size of the palm of the hand. If the news was very promising the cross Was to be twice the size, and if the country about which he heard promised to be larger and better than New Spain, a cross still larger than this was to be sent back. "The Negro met with such favorable accounts of the large cities that he sent back a cross as tall as a man and the Indian whom he entrusted to convey the code message was instructed to narrate to the holy father regarding the populous cities of Cibola. This Indian told Father Marcos that the houses were of 'stone and lime,' with 'flat' roofs; some 'four storiea high, all united under one Ijord': the people wore