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Our Catholic Heritage in Texas
followers were ready to obey orders. Ruiz called a council of war. It was decided to make one more peaceful attempt and if it failed, to set the presidio on fire. It was now October IO. A new letter was sent with a flag of truce, but Martinez Pacheco arrogantly refused even to open it. The besiegers hesitated. The day passed without a formal attack. But on the morning of the 11th Ruiz and his men, aided by Indian allies. advanced determined to take the captain prisoner, dead or alive. Once more they asked him to surrender. A cannon shot was the defiant reply. Rushing from all sides, the soldiers set fire to the captain's quarters. Pacheco and his men fired upon the attackers. Joaquin del Rio fell dead. two soldiers were wounded, and the rest retreated to the presidia! chapel and the nearby store to protect themselves from the flying bullets. Desperately Brioso fired upon the besiegers as he attempted to smother the flames with a wet blanket. Andres Zambrano, another of the defenders, was wounded. The flames mounted higher. Ruiz and his men watched from their safe position for Pacheco to flee from the burning ruins. Soon the brave little band was forced to give up. Leandro, the brother of the commander, was carried from the enveloping fire by the defenders. All the men were accounted for, except Martinez Pacheco and the courageous Ambrosio Brioso. The besiegers had watched closely, but they had not seen them leave. The soldiers now busied themselves in putting out the fire. Only the captain's quarters and a few empty barracks adjoining it had been burned. Ruiz was certain Pacheco and Brioso had perished in the flames. But they searched for the charred remains in vain. Turning to the survivors, who had surrendered, he inquired what had become of them. The prisoners explained that the commander and his loyal friend Brioso had escaped through a secret door in the chimney. 72 A thorough search was immediately instituted by the baffled Ruiz, but no trace of the fugitives was found. Not until the 13th was news of their where- abouts learned in Orcoquisac from two teamsters who arrived on that day from San Antonio, where they had gone to secure corn. They reported that they saw the two fugitives at Caramanchel the night before, about twelve leagues (some thirty miles) away. The two were on foot and carried their guns on their shoulders. They were going on to La Bahia. Brioso and Pacheco were given refuge by Captain Ramirez de la Piscina 72 Governor Martos y Navarrete to the King, May 17, 1776, A. G. I., Audiencia de Guadalajara, 103-6-27 (Dunn Transcripts, 1767) , pp. 59-68; Testimonio de autos !hos. por el Thente. D Marcos Ruiz contra el Capitan D. Raphael Martinez Pacheco, Bexar Arcllives; Brown, History of the Spanish Settlement at Orcoquisac, Master's thesis, 1909, University of Texas.
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