The Organization of J11ission Life, r;22-I728
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along only two pack loads of flour and relying on game for the supply of meat on the road, the party set out the following day. It took five days to reach Lomeria Alta, a high range of hills to the north of San Antonio. But as the enemy was nowhere in sight, the march was con- tinued for almost a month, over a country which Flores declares was the most beautiful he had ever seen. Finally on September 24, the ranclierza of one of the Apache bands, which had divided after the raid, was sighted at about eight o'clock in the morning. The Indians prepared for the attack with alacrity and for six hours the battle raged. Then the Apaches broke and fled down a ravine to a large river which they crossed to avoid pursuit. Upon the field they left thirty-four dead, their chief among them, and the Spaniards recovered not only the eighty horses originally stolen, but about one hundred and twenty others, including some mules. In the abandoned camp they found a large amount of plunder which had been left behind. There were many saddles painted blue, red, green, and white, hats, knives, bridles, iron stirrups, spearheads, ribbons, sugar, corn, ,Pinole, salt, buffalo and dee: skins, and beads of all colors. Twenty prisoners were captured, all womer and children. The total damages suffered by the Spaniards were three soldiers and one Indian slightly wounded in the fight. Mateo Rodriguez received a cut on the thigh; Xavier Munos from La Bahia was bruised in the hand; and Captain Flores lost a tooth which was knocked out by an Apache dart. In a letter to Aguayo he remarked that it hurt him more to see his good horse injured than to have lost a tooth. The loca- tion where the battle probably took place has been tentatively id~ntified with the present site of Brownwood. 35 Efforts to make ,peace witlz the Apaches. On the return march, Cap- tain Flores interrogated one of the prisoners, a squaw about forty years of age, who readily answered the questions put to her through an inter- preter. Asked why the Apaches attacked the Spaniards and stole their horses, she replied that her people carried on trade with "other Span- iards" who lived far to the north. It was to these that they sold the horses and captives taken on the raids. She added that the "other Span- iards" came often to see them in their ranclzer1as. When asked how far from the haunts of the Apaches these visitors lived, she declared that it was about twelve days' journey from where the battle took place. It was 3SF}ores to Aguayo, October 21, 1723, A. G. N., Provi11cias lniernas, Vol. 181; Father Gonzalez to the Viceroy, January 10, 1724, Archivo San Francisco 4 J Grande, Vol. IO; Dunn, op. cit., Quarterly, XIV, 208.
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