first village in the long-sought-for province of
Cofachiqui.

It will be remembered that Patofa, the commander-in-chief of the
native army, had, with a large number of his warriors, accompanied
Anasco. He had pledged his word to his chief that he would do
everything in his power to harass, pillage and destroy their ancestral
foes. Anasco encamped his band a little outside the village. At
midnight Patofa and his warriors crept stealthily from the encampment,
pillaged the temple which contained many treasures prized by the
Indians, and killed and scalped every native whom they met, man, woman
or child. When Anasco awoke in the morning and found what they had
done, he was terrified. The outrage had been committed by troops under
his own command. He was apprehensive that every man in the village,
aided by such warriors as could be gathered from around, would rush
upon him in revenge, and that he and his enfeebled followers would be
destroyed. Immediately he commenced a retreat to meet De Soto, who he
doubted not would be promptly on the move to join him.

The four couriers reached the camp in one day, though in their slow
exploring tour it had required three days to accomplish the forty
miles which they had traversed. The troops were overjoyed at the glad
tidings, and immediately prepared to resume their march. Several of
their detachments had not yet returned. In order to give them
information of the direction which the army had taken, De Soto wrote a
letter, placed it in a box, and buried it at the foot of a tree. Upon
the bark of the tree, he had these words conspicuously cut: "Dig at
the root of this pine, and you will find a letter."

The half famished troops, inspired with new energies, reached the
village in a day and a half, where their hunger was appeased. The
scattered detachments arrived a few days after. The force of De Soto
was too strong for the natives to attack him, notwithstanding the
provocation they had received. He found, however, much to his chagrin,
that he was utterly unable to restrain the savage propensities of his
allies. For seven days the Spaniards sojourned in this frontier
village of Cofachiqui. Warlike bands were continually stealing out,
penetrating the region around, killing and scalping men, women and
children, and committing every conceivable outrage of barbaric
warfare.

De Soto could endure this no longer. He called Patofa before him, and
told him in very emphatic terms that he must