s in Santo Domingo and San Juan, and had decided that the
most dangerous man among the invaders was Onate himself. If _he_ could
be slain, they thought the rest of the pale strangers might be easily
routed.

But Onate knew nothing of their intended treachery; and on the following
day he and his handful of men--leaving only a guard with the
horses--climbed one of the breathless stone "ladders," and stood in
Acoma. The officious Indians piloted them hither and yon, showing them
the strange terraced houses of many stories in height, the great
reservoirs in the eternal rock, and the dizzy brink which everywhere
surrounded the eyrie of a town. At last they brought the Spaniards to
where a huge ladder, projecting far aloft through a trapdoor in the roof
of a large house, indicated the _estufa_, or sacred council-chamber. The
visitors mounted to the roof by a smaller ladder, and the Indians tried
to have Onate descend through the trapdoor. But the Spanish governor,
noting that all was dark in the room below, and suddenly becoming
suspicious, declined to enter; and as his soldiers were all about, the
Indians did not insist. After a short visit in the pueblo the Spaniards
descended the rock to their camp, and thence marched away on their long
and dangerous journey to Moqui and Zuni. That swift flash of prudence in
Onate's mind saved the history of New Mexico; for in that dark _estufa_
was lying a band of armed warriors. Had he entered the room, he would
have been slain at once; and his death was to be the signal for a
general onslaught upon the Spaniards, all of whom must have perished in
the unequal fight.

Returning from his march of exploration through the trackless and deadly
plains, Juan de Zaldivar left San Gabriel on the 18th of November, to
follow his commander-in-chief. He had but thirty men. Reaching the foot
of the City in the Sky on the 4th of December, he was very kindly
received by the Acomas, who invited him up into their town. Juan was a
good soldier, as well as a gallant one, and well used to the tricks of
Indian warfare; but for the first time in his life--and the last--he now
let himself be deceived. Leaving half his little force at the foot of
the cliff to guard the camp and horses, he himself went up with sixteen
men. The town was so full of wonders, the people so cordial, that the
visitors soon forgot whatever suspicions they may have had; and by
degrees they scattered hither and yon to see the strange sig