Ursua sent them home with much good
feeling. An escort headed by Captain Francisco de Hariza or Ariza of
Bacalar set forth for the Itzas. Ursua sent word of all these
developments to Paredes, ordering him, as well as Hariza, to do all
that was necessary for the winning or conquering of Canek and his
vassals.

Meanwhile the new President of Guatemala, Escals, was taking all
possible precautions for the furtherance of the design. His division of
the expedition, of which Fray Agustin Cano was a part, left Guatemala
in January, 1696. There is no need to tell again what happened, as Cano
has already told us all up to a certain point.

Zuviaur Goes to the Lake. The early weeks of 1696, then, were spent by
Avendano and the men of Yucatan in Peten and in the wilderness between
it and Tipu, to which the Padres were enabled to flee by Canek, who
knew well the plots that were being hatched against them by Covoh and
by Canek's wife.

Shortly after Avendano reached Merida and made his report, Ursua
dispatched Captain Don Pedro de Zuviaur with seventy men, enough
Indians, and Padre Juan San Buenaventura to the lake by way of the
route so lately followed by Avendano. The Itzas received them armed for
war. Padre San Buenaventura, however, partly calmed them by smooth
words; fighting did not, however, entirely cease, and before long
Zuviaur returned to the royal camp. At about the same time an Indian
messenger arrived from Hariza, who was in the neighborhood of Tipu,
with the information that the Franciscans who were administering the
villages along the road were meeting with a fair measure of success,
and that the Itzas were the only remaining obstacle to the completion
of the undertaking. Hourly they became more threatening and more
dangerous. Several skirmishes took place between them and the men of
Paredes. Finally, forced by lack of supplies, Paredes withdrew with all
his men into the province.

Ursua Determines to Take Vigorous Measures. Clearly enough, in Ursua's
opinion, things were far from being in a satisfactory condition. He
made up his mind that a stop must be put to the menace of the Itzas at
all costs, and he determined to go in person upon this definitive
expedition. He made especially elaborate and adequate preparations,
doing things which should have been done long before. He assembled a
sufficient number of carpenters to build brigantines and _pyraguas_ on
the shore of the lake, and he got together ample stor