Handicaps to Mission Development, 1731-1750
43
feasted for three days, they departed, promising to return within two moons. 1 s But the protestations of concord proved false. For a short time the Apaches traded amicably with the settlers of San Antonio and entered the settlement freely. It was customary to escort the Indians who came to trade for a short distance on their departure. On March 27, a squaw and three Indians left the presidio, accompanied by Alferez Xavier Maldonado, Joseph Carbajal, and another soldier. Noticing a herd of buffalo in the vicinity, the soldier returned to the presidio to secure help to hunt them, while the others continued on their way as far as a small hill overlooking the city about a league and a half distant, called "El Divisadero." Trusting in the treaty which had just been made, the soldiers were somewhat careless. When a group of twenty-four warriors appeared beyond the hill and made its way towards them, they waited without suspicion. But when they noticed the Indians advancing in two wings, they suddenly became aware of their hostile attitude. It was too late. The Apaches fell upon the amazed soldiers, knocked them off their horses, and literally made mincemeat out of them. A lieutenant observed the whole scene from the presidio. When the bodies were recovered later by a rescue party, it was found that the Indians had stripped the bones of their victims and carried the flesh with them to "satisfy their vengeful appetite," declared Father Vergara. 16 Treac/1cry of tlze A pac/1es. Contintted outrages and measures adopted to cl,eck them. This outrage, committed in full view of the settlement, was an open challenge and a taunt to the Spaniards. The raids on the stock and horses were renewed with greater fury, until it was not safe for men or beasts outside of the walls of the presidio or the missions. Panic seems to have seized the little colony. In their frenzied imaginations they saw hordes of Indians gathering on the Guadalupe and on the Rio Grande road in preparation for a final attack on the settlement. "With difficulty could the priests restrain the Indians from deserting the missions and fleeing to the forests," and, said Father Vergara, "no one could blame them, for it was only natural that they should desire to preserve their lives. The neophytes, fearing the same cruelties that had been practiced on lSBustillo to the Viceroy, Pacificacion de Apaches, cited by Dunn, o;. cit., Quar- terl,y, XIV, 235-236. 16 /bid., 237.
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