Our Catl,olic Heritage in T cxas
the Sonora River. But the nimble Moor kept a few days ahead of his master, bent, it seems, on reaching Cibola first. All along the road Fray Marcos gathered fresh details of the goal he pursued. While in the Sonora valley he met a former native of Cibola, who was rather old but appeared to be much more intelligent than the other natives which the Padre had seen. He confirmed all that had been told the friar and described the adjoining kingdoms. After a few days more of travel, Fray Marcos reached the region of the present White Mountain Apache Reservation in Arizona, where he arrived on May 9, but Estevanico had moved on. Twelve days later, when the friar was but two or three days journey from Cibola, he was met by a young Indian, one of those who had gone with the negro, the son of one of the chiefs who accompanied the missionary. "He came in great fright, having his face and body all covered with sweat, and showing exceeding sadness in his countenance." He told the astonished friar and his companions how Estevanico had reached Cibola, later Hawiku, where he had been seized, deprived of all his possessions and thrown into prison with all his followers, and how, when he attempted to escape, he and all the others had been killed. He sent his magic gourd ahead, but the chief of Cibola had angrily dashed it to the ground when he noticed the rattles. 23 The effect of the news on the company of Fray Marcos was almost fatal. The cross had always been considered by the Indians among whom he traveled as a symbol of the evening star. The natives who had seen the friar carrying this symbol and communicating with the negro by this means, had conceived the idea that no harm could happen to either these strange medicine men or to them while in their company. But now the spell was broken. "They burst into tears, and for a while Fray Marcos was in fear of his life. Withdrawing from the Indians for a while, he commended himself to God, beseeching Him for guidance and enlighten- ment in his difficult position." 24 He then returned to his companions and distributed freely many gifts among them from his baggage. He thus persuaded them to continue on the way to Cibola, which he was deter- llFor a discussion of the death of Estevanico and the legends and traditions con- cerning it, see Bandelier, o-j. ,;e., 153-157; Lowery, Spanisli Settlements, 278-282. The most amusing tradition is one that tells how " there came to Zuni a man called 'Nu-e,' accompanied by two dogs. He rendered himself very obnoxious to the people, particularly through bis greed. So the wise men of the high order called 'Ka-Ka,' took him out of the pueblo during the night, and gave him a powerful kick that sped him through the air, back to the south, whence he had come." 2'Lowery, op. cit., 274.
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