he Cacique bestrode him his feet almost touched the ground.
De Soto had made him a present of a dress and mantle of rich scarlet
cloth Thus habited and mounted, with his towering plumes, he
attracted all eyes. The two chieftains rode side by side. Their route
led through the counties of Montgomery, Lowndes, and the southeastern
part of Dallas, until they came to a large town called Piache, upon
the Alabama river. This stream they passed on rafts of log and cane,
probably in the upper part of the county of Wilcox. The expedition
then turned in a southerly direction, following down the western bank
of the Alabama through Wilcox county.

The Indian chief continued proud and distant; was observed to be
frequently consulting with his principal men, and often dispatching
runners in different directions. De Soto was led to suspect that some
treachery was meditated. Two of the Spaniards, who had wandered a
little distance in the woods, disappeared, and were never heard of
again. It was suspected that they had been killed by the natives. The
Cacique being questioned upon the subject, angrily and contemptuously
replied:

"Why do you ask me about your people? Am I their keeper?"

These suspicions led De Soto to keep a close watch upon the chief.
This was done secretly, while still friendly relations were maintained
between them. It was more than probable that the chief was himself a
spy in the Spanish camp, and that he was treacherously gathering his
powerful armies at some favorable point where he could effectually
annihilate the Spaniards, and enrich himself with all their
possessions of armor and horses. It was therefore a matter of
prudence, almost a vital necessity, for De Soto to throw an invisible
guard around the chieftain, that all his movements might be narrowly
observed, and that he might not take to sudden flight. With him in
their hands as a hostage, the hostility of his warriors might,
perhaps, be effectually arrested.

They were now approaching the town of Mobila, which was the capital of
the Tuscaloosa kingdom. This town was probably situated at a place now
called Choctaw Bluff, on the north or western side of the Alabama
river, in the county of Clarke. At that point the Spaniards were at a
distance of about twenty-five miles above the confluence of the
Alabama and the Tombigbee, and about eighty-five miles from the bay of
Pensacola. The town was beautifully situated upon a spacious plain,
and consisted of eig