men in ambush, with orders to slay any messenger who might approach. They
had not lain in wait long, before they beheld two men advancing through
the forest, one of whom was a captive Ciguayan, and the other an Indian
ally of the Spaniards. They were both instantly slain. The Adelantado was
following at no great distance, with only ten foot-soldiers and four
horsemen. When he found his messengers lying dead in the forest path,
transfixed with arrows, he was greatly exasperated, and resolved to deal
rigorously with this obstinate tribe. He advanced, therefore, with all his
force to Cabron, where Mayobanex and his army were quartered. At his
approach the inferior caciques and their adherents fled, overcome by
terror of the Spaniards. Finding himself thus deserted, Mayobanex took
refuge with his family in a secret part of the mountains. Several of the
Ciguayans sought for Guarionex, to kill him or deliver him up as a
propitiatory offering, but he fled to the heights, where he wandered about
alone, in the most savage and desolate places.

The density of the forests and the ruggedness of the mountains rendered
this expedition excessively painful and laborious, and protracted it far
beyond the time that the Adelantado had contemplated. His men suffered,
not merely from fatigue, but hunger. The natives had all fled to the
mountains; their villages remained empty and desolate; all the provisions
of the Spaniards consisted of cassava bread, and such roots and herbs as
their Indian allies could gather for them, with now and then a few utias
taken with the assistance of their dogs. They slept almost always on the
ground, in the open air, under the trees, exposed to the heavy dew which
falls in this climate. For three months they were thus ranging the
mountains, until almost worn out with toil and hard fare. Many of them had
farms in the neighborhood of Fort Conception, which required their
attention; they, therefore, entreated permission, since the Indians were
terrified and dispersed, to return to their abodes in the Vega.