Return of Rabago and the Founding of Caiio11 ,1lissio11s
183
two bulwarks crowned by two swivel guns. Only one gate gave admittance to the enclosure. The enemy soon came in sight. About three hundred men, most of them mounted and armed with guns, lances, and the dreaded Indian hatchets, approached the mission. The men on foot were equipped with bows and arrows. They dashed forward firing a shower of arrows and bullets, spurring their advance with a deafening din of blood-curdling yells. So sudden was the attack that the first drive reached almost to the walls of the mission. The soldiers within the enclosure returned the fire and used the two swivel guns to advantage. The Comanches gave way opposite the bulwarks, and the soldiers, elated by the initial success, removed one of the cannons from its parapet to use it on another side where the Indians were more concentrated. But without the protection of the bulwark, the men were unable to serve the gun under the withering fire of the Comanches. The attackers withdrew to a safe distance, dis- mounted, and returned the fire upon the defenders of the mission from behind rocks. trees, and the banks of the small stream that ran nearby. The soldiers returned the fire, but with little effect, being afraid to show themselves. Consequently their shots went wild. The fight continued until noon, when a heavy shower of rain seems to have cooled the martial spirit of the enemy, who retired unmolested, carrying away a herd of mares. Fortunately they did not discover the pasture where the horses of the garrison were kept. During the battle the two missionaries labored incessantly. one of them ministering to the wounded and encouraging the soldiers. the other praying fervently in the chapel and exhorting the women to keep up their courage and beg God's mercy to save them from falling into the hands of the barbarous enemy. The lieutenant in command was wounded by a shot that shattered his right hand; one of the soldiers was severely o-razed in the head; and several others received minor injuries. The 0 • Comanches lost several men in the first advance, but they took their dead and wounded back with them when they retreated, as was their custom, and their total loss could not be estimated.' 7 But the Comanches were not discouraged by the repulse of the attack on San Lorenzo. Rather it seems they considered their venture a success, for the following month, November, 1766, they again attempted to surprise the mission and to destroy it. They lay in ambush awaiting the appearance of the soldiers so that the warriors might surprise them, and then fall upon the defenceless mission. A guard discovered them and
4 7Arricivita, Cron;ca, 391-392.
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