Page:Don Coronado through Kansas.djvu/54

HOW NEWS FLEW. 43 ■ItiMUghthey were sun worshippers, their conceptioB of the Great Spirit was ennoblirxj:?, perhaps more sc thaii such a creature as this slave was the preceptoi of the Christian Religion. When the news reached the good father that his guide was no more, he realized the uselessness. of his attempting to proceed farther, although he himself had been treated by the Indians with the greatest ol consideration and he had procured as presents many valuable articles. Among the number were beautiful robes tanned so perfectly that the curriers of France could not excel the natives in the art. These robes were principally made from the skins of the buffalo, and the friar learned that they come from a far east- ern country where the people painted themselves. It seemed the farther east he got, the more corroborat- ing cumulative evidence did he procure as to the truth of the existence of the seven cities of Cibola; therefore he felt justified in returning and reporting to Mendoza that there was a country worthy of conquest, so to the capital city of Mexico he returned bhat he might deliver his report in person to the Viceroy. Is it to be wondered how the news fiev/, not only through New Spain but across the Atlantic to the Old Country? For here was a man whose sacred office would not premit him to tell a falsehood, substantiat- hig the remarkab]'3 experiences of DeVaca and his three companions. In fact, an account of the wander- ings of the four had been recited to the King of Gpain In person by DeVaca who got back to Spain about 1538; and in all probability. Maldonado and Dorantes