od
for blood. Otermin talked about "pardon for treason," when he should
have struck the impudent fellow to earth, as De Vargas, or old
Frontenac, would have done in like case.

When Juan went back across the Plaza, the Indians howled with joy,
danced dervish time all night, rang the bells of San Miguel, set fire to
the church and houses, and cut the water supply off from the yard of the
Palace. The valor of the Spaniards could not have been very great from
August 14th to 20th, for only five of the 100 bearing arms were killed.
At a council of war on the night of August 19th, it was decided to
attempt to rush the foe, trampling them with horses, and to beat a way
open for retreat. Otermin says 300 Indians were killed in this rally;
but it is a question. The Governor himself came back with an arrow wound
in his forehead and a flesh wound near his heart. Within twenty-four
hours, he decided--whichever way you like to put it--"to go to the
relief of Isleta," where he thought his lieutenant was; or "to retreat"
south of the Rio Grande. The Indians watched the retreat in grim
silence. The Spanish considered their escape "a miracle." It was a
pitiful wresting of comfort from desperation.

But at Isleta, the Governor found that his lieutenant had already
retreated taking 1,500 refugees in safety with him. It was the end of
September when Otermin himself crossed the Rio Grande, at a point not
far from modern El Paso. At Isleta, the people will tell you to this day
legends of the friar's martyrdom. Every Mexican believes that the holy
_padre_ buried in a log hollowed out for coffin beneath the chapel rises
every ten years and walks through the streets of Isleta to see how his
people are doing. Once every ten years or so, the Rio Grande floods
badly; and the year of the flood, the ghost of the friar rises to warn
his people. Be that as it may, a few years ago, a deputation of
investigators took up the body to examine the truth of the legend. It
lies in a state of perfect preservation in its log coffin.

The pueblos had driven the Spanish south of the Rio Grande and
practically kept them south of the Rio Grande for ten years. Churches
were burned. Images were profaned. Priestly vestments decked wild Indian
lads. Converts were washed in Santa Fe River to cleanse them of baptism.
All the records in the Governor's Palace were destroyed, and the Palace
itself given over to wild orgies among the victorious Indians; but the
victory br