tell them how I was left to die in the
forest. Scarcely had they heard this, when without any delay, they
started out to come and get me, and the distance which it took my two
Indians to go in an hour and a half, the said carriers had to take a
day and a half in finding me, without their losing their road, by which
the miracle can easily be understood. Secondly, that my Indians, coming
to Chuntuci, and meeting these carriers loading, was all one (i.e.,
simultaneous), so that if they had stopped even a little, they would
not have met them, and consequently would not have found supplies to
bring to me, and even less should I have been able to start out for a
settlement. Therefore the hurry which I showed in sending them away was
by divine direction. They took me in the said hammock, and though it
was a convenience on account of the rest that it gave, it was also some
affliction to me, since, although they wrapped me up very well in their
cloaks, every little while it gave me cramps in all my body, I being
stiff and cold from head to foot. At which they warmed the cloaks
again, and rubbing my hands and feet with them all warm, the muscles
again were stretched, although it lasted but a short time. At last I
reached the town of Chuntuci, on the Sunday of Septuagesima, which
was on the 19th of February, in this year of sixteen hundred and
ninety-six, about three o'clock in the afternoon,--a result surely very
different from what I thought,--that I should ever be in the said town
again, after the extremity to which I had come. All that afternoon I
stayed looking at this town, and I did not believe yet that I was
really there. Blessed be the mercy of God, who showed it thus in my
case. For his divine Majesty alone, of his own accord, could show such
compassion on this miserable sinner. Infinite thanks be given for so
great blessings as he gave me, and may his divine Majesty so will, that
it redound to his honor and glory through infinite centuries of
centuries. Amen. The Indian carriers continued in their pious work of
conveying me and of caring for my Indian singers, so that both in them
and in me, a great change of condition resulted from the fresh food,
which put us on the road to life."

Avendano set out shortly afterwards for Merida.

The Messenger from Tayasal. When he and his companions reached Merida
they were told of the arrival of a messenger from Canek of Tayasal.
This messenger had reached Merida considerably bef