Our Catleolic Heritage in Texas
all the horses they were driving and their personal baggage. Two of the men were wounded, and had it not been for the cuera (rawhide shield) carried by the Brother, he also might have been hurt, an arrow having spent itself on the cuera. The baggage, however, Father Mezquia says, was not particularly valuable.'" He declared that it was because of the dangers to which the mission- aries were exposed on such occasions when it became necessary to journey to and from the Rio Grande to bring supplies for the newly established missions, that an adequate guard should be provided. He assured the viceroy that these trips were not undertaken except when it was abso- lutely imperative. He suggested that a competent escort of eight men and a corporal should be furnished them when they had to go after pro- visions and supplies, both to safeguard their persons and the goods con- voyed for the benefit of the neophytes. Father Mezquia pointed out that he had written concerning this urgent need on several occasions with- out receiving an answer. "In order that my words may not be doubted," he said, "I assure Your Exc~llency in verbo sacerdotis all these things are true .. . but I say them with considerable hesitation, having grounds to suspect that full credit is not given to what missionaries, who serve only God and the king, have declared, although it is evident and pal- pable that they desire nothing but the conversion of souls. Malice, moved by interest and selfish gain, has tried to discredit so clear and manifest a truth." ' 5 Before the urgent request just cited reached the viceroy, the matter had already been referred to Rivera for his consideration and opinion. In a long report, written on May 26, 1731, he explained that the various hostilities engaged in by the Apaches near the Medina River and their depredations in the vicinity of the new missions on the San Antonio described by the Padres, were true, but he pointed out, with his accus- tomed meticulous mania for details, the circumstances were not given with accuracy. In order to prove his statement, he recounted the first attack suffered by the missionaries while on the way to the Rio Grande, saying that the escort furnished at that time had not been larger because the Padres themselves had agreed that it was sufficient for their safeguard. This could be proved by the statement made by Miguel Nunez Morillo, one of the soldiers of the escort. He failed to say, however, that he had been the one who ran away. Taking up the complaint that the captain
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"Father Mezquia to the Viceroy, August 8, 1731, in Ibid. 45 /bill.
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