CHAPTER XXXIX.

VARIOUS INCURSIONS OF THE MOCOBIOS AND TOBAS.

All places being full of peril and fear, and exposed to the machinations of the enemy, many of the Abipones, weary of a life embittered in so many ways, crossed the river with their families, and went to the estate of Fulgentio de Yegros, who received them with great pleasure, and usefully employed them in his service. The women were occupied in shearing sheep and spinning the wool; the men in guarding cattle, and other rural tasks; receiving, as the best recompense that could be given them, abundance of beef. Very few, meantime, remained with me in the colony. This was thought a good opportunity for an attack by the Mocobios and their allies, and indeed our destruction would have been inevitable, had I not providentially abstained from my usual custom of sleeping in the afternoon. The particulars of the affair deserve to be related:—I had gone on foot, and alone, to the bank of the river to try the new boats and rowers, and that I did not fall asleep on my return, after being fatigued with three hours' walking in the heat of the sun, can only be attributed to heavenly interposition. At two o'clock in the afternoon, a boy who was sitting on the steps of the observatory suddenly exclaimed, "The savages are coming!" As I was walking in the yard, I spied a troop of Mocobios, who presented themselves in the market-place, armed and painted, as for a battle, disposed in regular ranks, and unaccompanied with any women or children; all which betokened hostile intentions. The boy I mentioned, with six old women and a lame Abipon, were the only persons that remained with me in the town. Snatching up my arms, and guarding the door, I performed the part both of commander and garrison; and, little as I am, was more than sufficient to terrify so many horsemen. As soon as ever they saw me present the musket they turned their backs, and slowly receding through the market-place, sat down in a little wood near the tents of the Abipones. Aware that the Americans supply by craftiness any defect in courage, and that they often renew the attack when their adversaries imagine them completely intimidated, and on their return home, I remained armed in the same place, and kept an eye on their motions. When a quarter of an hour had elapsed in this manner, I approached the Mocobios on foot, and with no one but the boy for my companion, to ascertain whether they were to be considered as friends or foes. I accosted them unarmed, but received very laconic replies to the questions I put them; and their sullen and threatening-looks discovered that they were ill-disposed towards us. As we were conversing, a quantity of smoke rose up in that part of the shore where the Spaniards cross the Paraguay; being asked by the Mocobian Cacique whence or from whom I thought that fire proceeded; I replied from the Spaniards; and that I was in expectation of two hundred soldiers, whom the Governor had promised to send to build houses in the colony. Struck with this news, the savages were afraid to execute what they had planned to our destruction, fearing that any acts of hostility perpetrated by them would be avenged by the Spanish horsemen, whom they thought approaching. At this conjuncture a cloud of dust appeared in that direction by which the Mocobios had come, and by the shining of their spears, we knew the savage horsemen; perceiving which, the Mocobios instantly leapt on to their horses; an additional proof of their evil intentions. The boy pulled my gown, saying, "Let us go, Father, lest we be taken;" and indeed I began to entertain the same apprehension myself. Civilly taking leave of the Mocobios, I returned home with slow steps, to avoid betraying my suspicions, and resuming my weapons, posted myself at the door, and awaited the event.

Without delay a numerous company of Tobas, headed by Cacique Keebetavalkin, drew out in the market-place. All were laden with arms of every description, and painted with dark colours; but without saying a word about the occasion of their coming, they sent their horses to pasture, and sat down to pass the night with the troop of Mocobios. I approached, and accosted these new comers, unfurnished with weapons of any sort, bearing myself towards them altogether as towards friends, though they could not, in any light, be accounted other than enemies, certain to do us a mischief, unless we conducted ourselves towards them with great liberality and caution. I took care to have an ox immediately slain for their supper, from the same motive that one would stroke an unruly horse, or throw a piece of meat to a surly mastiff. Not to be quite unprepared for treachery on their part, we passed a sleepless night, keeping the strictest watch both with our eyes and ears, and holding our weapons in readiness to repel violence were it offered. I performed divine service early in the morning, without ringing of bells, and with the greatest quietness, lest the savages, discovering that I was engaged at the altar, and being thus delivered from their apprehension of the musket, should attempt hostilities against us with impunity. All my precautions, however, proved unavailing; for a crowd of savages surrounded me as I was pronouncing the formula of the divine consecration. A Mocobian juggler stole in first by a door adjoining the altar. After standing awhile behind me, he jumped back several times to his companions, who were near the door, making mimic gestures, and tossing about his arms in a ridiculous manner. They conversed together for some time by signs. Imagine what must have been the state of my mind in this interim—I expected death every moment.

Having accurately performed divine service to the end, I presented the savages, as if they had politely come to visit me, with any little gifts that were at hand, but failed to elicit from them what their intentions were, though I could not but suspect them to be of the very worst nature; for they examined every corner of my house, impudently attempted, in my presence, to pull up the stakes with which it was surrounded, and tried whether they could burst open the wooden door of the chapel with their shoulders. Meanwhile, I smilingly looked on, and took especial care to prevent the suspicions of my mind from appearing in my countenance; knowing that the greatest coward is inspired with courage if he perceives himself an object of terror. I boasted of our intrepidity and skill in archery, displayed a store of arms, and a variety of leaden bullets, and descanted upon the wonderful power of the musket, which reaches the most distant objects, and penetrates and demolishes the hardest substances. The Governor, on leaving the colony, had given me, for the defence of the inhabitants, one of those very small cannon which are fixed to the prows of ships; to load this, he had furnished me with eight charges of gunpowder, fifteen bullets, but only one iron ball, weighing scarce half a pound, which, to deprive them of all inclination to assault the colony, I gave to the savages to handle and look at. When they came to visit me in my apartment, "Oh, how heavy it is," they exclaimed: "what a hole it would make in a man's body!"

By these artifices, I induced the Mocobios and Tobas to give up their intention of destroying the colony, or rather, as the event discovered, to defer it till a better opportunity. During many days, which they passed in sight of us, in the same spot they had at first occupied, they daily explored the adjacent pastures, plains, and woods; not one of the few Abipones that remained at home presuming to offer the least opposition, though perfectly aware of their dangerous intentions. Meantime, though suspected of treachery, they revelled like Bacchanals at our expense; oxen being at my orders slain on purpose for them, lest, on failure of other food, ourselves should be devoured by these cannibals. A fortunate event at length delivered us from these hateful guests, and freed us from continual anxiety and suspicion. About sun-set, the whole plain resounded with a sudden tumult, no one doubted but that the enemies were approaching; and I myself believed we should be presently attacked by a vast company of Mocobios and Tobas, of which those that had stayed so long with us were only the spies and forerunners. But this was a false alarm; for when the dust, which had concealed them from us, dispersed itself, we discovered ten of our Abipones, who were bringing about two thousand horses which they had plundered from Ychoalay's estate, to revenge the death of one of their countrymen who had fallen by his hand in a recent skirmish. The Cacique of the Mocobios, seeing so large a booty, doubted not but that the owner was pursuing the plunderers, and fearful that by remaining he should be involved in the conflict with Ychoalay, and drawn into a participation of the danger, hastened home next morning as soon as it was light. The ill-will that he bore towards us was manifested by his parting speech to the Abiponian women: "If," said he, "you value your lives, your liberties, and your children, desert this colony forthwith. The land you occupy is not your own, nor will we suffer you to usurp it. It will be stained with your blood, unless you depart voluntarily." This first visit of the Mocobios and Tobas was a prelude and preparation to that grand expedition which these savages, in conjunction with the Oaekakalots, undertook, some months after, to the destruction of our colony. Of this subject we shall treat more fully after having made some premises.