s story told by the naked, torn,
shaggy, wild man; but at last his coldness was thawed, and he gave a
certificate of the date and of the condition in which Vaca had come to
him, and then sent back for Dorantes and Castillo. Five days later these
arrived, accompanied by several hundred Indians.

Alcaraz and his partner in crime, Cebreros, wished to enslave these
aborigines; but Cabeza de Vaca, regardless of his own danger in taking
such a stand, indignantly opposed the infamous plan, and finally forced
the villains to abandon it. The Indians were saved; and in all their joy
at getting back to the world, the Spanish wanderers parted with sincere
regret from these simple-hearted friends. After a few days' hard travel
they reached the post of Culiacan about the first of May, 1536, where
they were warmly welcomed by the ill-fated hero Melchior Diaz. He led
one of the earliest expeditions (in 1539) to the unknown north; and in
1540, on a second expedition across part of Arizona and into California,
was accidentally killed.

After a short rest the wanderers left for Compostela, then the chief
town of the province of New Galicia,--itself a small journey of three
hundred miles through a land swarming with hostile savages. At last they
reached the City of Mexico in safety, and were received with great
honor. But it was long before they could accustom themselves to eating
the food and wearing the clothing of civilized people.

The negro remained in Mexico. On the 10th of April, 1537, Cabeza de
Vaca, Castillo, and Dorantes sailed for Spain, arriving in August. The
chief hero never came back to North America, but we hear of Dorantes as
being there in the following year. Their report of what they saw, and of
the stranger countries to the north of which they had heard, had already
set on foot the remarkable expeditions which resulted in the discovery
of Arizona, New Mexico, our Indian Territory, Kansas, and Colorado, and
brought about the building of the first European towns in the inland
area of the United States. Estevanico was engaged with Fray Marcos in
the discovery of New Mexico, and was slain by the Indians.

Cabeza de Vaca, as a reward for his then unparalleled walk of much more
than ten thousand miles in the unknown land, was made governor of
Paraguay in 1540. He was not qualified for the place, and returned to
Spain in disgrace. That he was not to blame, however, but was rather the
victim of circumstances, is indicated by