maimed and wounded, he had but 120 men at his disposal, he prepared at
once to take the offensive.

Sending a messenger to la Española with the news of the insurrection
and a demand for reenforcements, which, seeing his strained relations
with the Admiral, there was small chance of his obtaining, he
proceeded to divide his force in four companies of 30 men to each, and
gave command to Miguel del Toro, the future founder of San German, to
Louis de Añasco, who later gave his name to a province, to Louis
Almanza and to Diego Salazar, whose company was made up exclusively of
the maimed and wounded, and therefore called in good-humored jest the
company of cripples.

Having learned from his scouts that Guaybána was camped with 5,000 to
6,000 men near the mouth of the river Coayúco in the territory between
the Yauco and Jacágua rivers, somewhere in the neighborhood of the
city which now bears the conqueror's name, he marched with great
precaution through forest and jungle till he reached the river. He
crossed it during the night and fell upon the Indians with such
impetus that they believed their slain enemies to have come to life.
They fled in confusion, leaving 200 dead upon the field.

The force under Ponce's command was too small to follow up his victory
by the persecution of the terror-stricken natives; nor would the
exhausted condition of the men have permitted it, so he wisely
determined to return to Capárra, cure his wounded soldiers, and await
the result of his message to la Española.

Oviedo and Navarro, whose narratives of these events are repeated by
Abbad, state that the Boriquén Indians, despairing of being able to