where the Turk led us astray from the route we should have followed. Thus, leaving the rest aside, we reached Tiguex, where we found the rest of the army, and here the general fell while running his horse, by which he received a wound on his head which gave symptoms of turning out badly, and he conceived the idea of returning, which ten or twelve of us were unable to prevent by dissuading him from it. When this return had been ordered, the Franciscan friars who were with us — one of them a regular and the other a lay brother — who were called, the regular one Friar Juan de Padilla and the lay one Friar Luis de Escalona, were told to get ready, although they had permission from their provincial so that they could remain. Friar Luis wished to remain in these flat-roof houses, saying that he would raise erosses for those villagers with a chisel and adze they left him, and would baptize several poor creatures who could be led, on the point of death, so as to send them to heaven, for which he did not desire any other company than a little slave of mine who was called Christopher, to be his consolation, and who he said would learn the language there quickly so as to help him; and he brought up so many things in favor of this that he could not be denied, and so nothing more has been heard from him. The knowledge that this friar would remain there was the reasou that many Indians from hereabouts stayed there, and also two negroes, one of them mine, who was called Sebastian, and the other one of Melchor Perez, the son of the licentiate La Torre. This negro was married and had his wife and children. I also recall that several Indians remained behind in the Quivira region, besides a Tarascan belonging to my company, who was named Andrew. Friar Juan de Padilla preferred to return to Quivira, and persuaded, them to give him those Indians whom I said we had brought as guides. They gave him these, and he also took a Portuguese and a free Spanish-speaking Indian, who was the interpreter, and who passed as a Franciscan friar, and a half-blood and two Indians from Capottan (or Capotean) or thereabouts, I believe. He had brought these up and took them in the habits of friars, and he took some sheep and mules and a horse and ornaments and other trifles. I do not know whether it was for the sake of these or for what reason, but it seems that they killed him, and those who did it were the lay servants, or these same Indians whom he took back from Tiguex, in return for the good deeds which he had done. When he was dead, the Portuguese whom I mentioned fled, and also one of the Indians that I said he took in the habits of friars, or both of them, I believe. I mention this because they came back to this country of New Spain by another way and a shorter route than the one of which I have told, and they came out in the valley of Panico.[1] I have given Gonzalo Solis de Meras and Isidoro de Solis an account of this, because it seemed to me important, according to what I say I have understood, that
- ↑ This is the spelling of Panuco in both texts.
