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Our Catlzolic Heritage in T ezas
44
he was informed that all mounts there which had been seized by the savages had been recaptured by three men sent in pursuit. After making some inquiries about the route followed by the hostile Indians, the Captain returned to the encampment and resumed his march. Fathers Fray Fran- cisco Hidalgo, Fray Benito Sanchez, Fray Gabriel Vergara, and Fray Manuel Castellanos left the expedition the next day at the Real del Chocolate, and went to the Mission of La Punta to spend Holy Week. Two religious stayed to hear confessions and the entire party availed .themselves of the opportunity to approach the sacraments during the next two days they were in camp here. On April 5, the expedition reached the Conchos River, "so called," says Ramon, "because there are so many shells found in it. 1120 Here the travelers halted for five days during Holy Week. A number of wild horses were caught while searching for some of the mules that had been lost. On the 11th, he crossed the Sabinas at El Paso de los Reineros and there waited for the missionaries who had gone to the Mission of La Punta to spend Holy Week. On the 16th, he crossed Los Juanes Creek, the next day he crossed Amole Creek, and on April 18 he was met, two leagues from the Presidio of San Juan Bautista, by its captain, officers, and men, who lined up on either side of the road and fired a salute when the expedition came in sight. Domingo Ramon ordered his men to do likewise. Father Fray Isidro Felix Espinosa, President of the missions on the Rio Grande, came out also, accompanied by three religious, to welcome the party. The men marched past the presidio and pitched camp near one of the missions, where there was plenty of forage for the horses and cattle. The next day, while Ramon busied himself in assembling provisions and supplies and in making preparations to cross the Rio Grande, word came that Father Fray Antonio Margil de Jesus was seriously ill at the Juanes Creek, nine leagues distant. Father Espinosa, accompanied by two friars and two soldiers, set out that night at eight o'clock to bring him to the presidio. The next day the whole party, with the exception of some of the mis- sionaries, moved the short distance of two leagues to the crossing known as El Paso de Francia, and finding the river unusually low, wasted no time in getting all the equipment and supplies across. More than a thousand 20This is not the real Conchos. It is a small stream variously known by three names: Sacramento, Nadadores, and Conchos. It flows into the present dam of Doil Martin.
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