171
Exploration of tlie Big Bend and Pecos Country
been exiled and Antonio had been ordered to pay a heavy fine. It was not an infrequent practice for persons under these circumstances to take refuge in the frontier establishments until an opportunity was offered for them to vindicate themselves of their guilt. Since he would have to remain in his voluntary exile "at least until he could present a satis- factory account of services rendered to the crown, as a pretext for petitioning the royal clemency-he· welcomed the opportunity to join the expedition to New Mexico." 29 He offered to organize the expedition at his own expense and to furnish the missionary whatever he needed "both for his protection and defense and for that of the religious whom he was going to succor and bring back." 30 Active preparations were immediately begun and in spite of official opposition, Espejo succeeded in enlisting fourteen men, primarily as a rescue party, to accompany Fray Bernardino Beltran. Just by whose authority the expedition was organized is not clear. Espejo claimed that Captain Juan de Ontiveras, Alcalde Mayor of Cuatro Cienegas author- ized his actions; Lux.in declares that it was Juan de Ibarra, Lieutenant Governor of Nueva Vizcaya, who gave the required permission to Fray Pedro de Heredia; but Luis de Carvajal, Governor of Nuevo Leon, later claimed that it was he who had given Espejo a commission for the conquest of New Mexico. 31 Be that as it may, by the first week in Novem- ber, 1582, all was in readiness for the start, long before the viceroy and his officials had been able to determine what to do in view of the reports of Gallegos and his companions. Espejo's ro1'te to tlze Rio Grande. Fourteen soldiers under the nominal command of Antonio de Espejo, fully equipped with arms, munitions, and supplies assembled at San Bartolome, a mining outpost, nine leagues north of Santa Barbara, on the San Gregorio River, one of the upper branches of the Conchos. With them were Fray Bernardino Beltran, the original organizer, and Fray Pedro de Heredia. The latter was tech- nically in command but for some unexplainable reason, he failed to get the required permission from his superior. Taking one hundred and fifteen horses and mules loaded with supplies, the little party set out on 29 Mecham, "Antonio de Espejo and his journey to New Mexico," in the Quar- terly, XXX, 114-118. In this study the facts summarized above were presented for the first time from original sources found in Spain. 3 D" Account of Espejo," in Bolton, op. cit., 169. 31 Cf. Mecham, "Antonio de Espejo," Quarterly, XXX, 119; Hammond, Expedi- tion into New Mexico, Quivira Society, I , 46.
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