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Our Catltolic Heritage in T cxas
the Indians and declared their intention of returning at some later date to establish missions among these natives. On December 5, 1691, the tired, cold, and disappointed little band began their return trip to the Tejas. The suffering and difficulties experienced on the road were more severe than those of the outward march. Practically all the horses died before they reached the missions, and many of the men had been obliged to walk back the entire distance. It was December 30, when they at last arrived in Santisimo Nombre de Maria. Teran had one satisfaction: he had complied with his duty. He was now ready and anxious to leave the scene of so many hardships. But he had no horses. After four days at Santisimo Nombre de Maria, he went on to San Francisco de los Tejas, where he asked Father Massanet to allow him to take some of the mission horses for the use of the soldiers on their return march to San Bernardo Bay. The misunderstanding that had become an open breach, when the ~xpedition was forced to continue their march on the Colorado, flared n again. Massanet refused to furnish either mounts or provisions, aiming that the horses were too poor to travel and that the provisions ~re not even sufficient for the maintenance of the missionaries. The wrangle developed into a bitter quarrel. On January 8, desperate because of the total exhaustion of his supplies, Teran ordered his soldiers to round up the mission horses and cattle and helped himself to what he needed. "It is to be understood," he says, "that I decided upon this measure .. . because it was then that I ran out of military supplies ... It was demanding too abject an obedience to expect us to risk such a long journey in the middle of the winter, naked and without food." 46 The missionaries themselves had become discouraged and had it not been for Father Massanet, they would, perhaps, have all abandoned the missions at this time. Six of them decided to return with Teran. Only Massanet and two companions chose to stay. Where in the previous entrada three soldiers had been considered sufficient, now a guard of nine was left to protect the missionaries. This fact is significant of the changed attitude of the Indians. On January 9, 1692, the dispirited and disillusioned captain of the expedition to the land of the Tejas, once famed as the Great Kingdom, started back to San Bernardo Bay, with Teran returns to Me:xico.
""The Return of Don Domingo Teran ..." in Preliminary Studies, Vol. 2, No. I, pp. 39-40.
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