Destn,ctio11 of tlie San Xavier 111/issions
of the occurrence and asked that a detachment of soldiers be sent after them. Rabago later claimed that he was sick in bed at the time, for which reason he ordered his lieutenant to undertake the pursuit. Whatever the circumstances. the lieutenant and his soldiers did not overexert themselves, for they soon returned and reported that they had been unable to find the fugitives. They declared, however, that at Las Animas ( Brushy Creek) near where Monte Grande began, they had found a trail of some two hundred or more Indians who appeared to have come to induce those in the mission to flee. In view of this circumstance, the scout felt it was useless to pursue the fugitives with such a small force. But Fray l\'Iariano later asserted that this was but a poor excuse to give up the chase. and that it was very strange that the detachment sent out could find no trace of the fugitives when they were traveling encumbered with excessive baggage, their women, and even their babies.S6 Murder of Fray Joseph Gam:abal and Juan Josepli Ceballos, Jlfay II, z752. It is hard to believe that Captain Rabago could have seen in the flight of the Cocos from Mission Candelaria an opportunity for the perpetration of a heinous crime that could be falsely imputed to the Indians without risk to himself. But the circumstance of the tragedy that followed the flight all seem to point to such a conclusion. It is strange, to say the least, that the flight of the Cocos from Candelaria was not reported until some time after the murder of Fray Ganzabal with which it was directly linked, although the latter incident occurred ten days later. Instead of reporting the flight, news was circulated that the Cocos of the neighborhood were on the warpath and Rabago actually made a feigned request for aid from San Antonio and La Bahia prior to May 11. Such were the conditions that prevailed in San Xavier at the close of that fateful day. Fathers Fray Miguel Pinilla and Fray Joseph Ganzabal were seated at a rustic table in Mission Candelaria with the unfortunate Juan Joseph Ceballos, who had come to live with the pabres. All three were partaking of a frugal meal. It was between eight and nine in the evening. The heat of early summer had caused them to leave open the door of the humble cell. Immediately opposite the portal and with his back towards it sat Ceballos, while the two friars were located diagonally at either end of the table. The summer stillness of the night was suddenly broken by S 6 The summary of this incident, about which Bolton seems a little confused (Texas 260-261) are taken from Rabago's report to the Viceroy of May 1 5, and Fra; Mariano's report of June I J, in Tesimonio de los Autos fhos. pp. 167-169, 199-:aos.
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