lution of going directly to Spain. As it was, he wrote an
extensive account to the Emperor of all that had occurred and the causes
that had brought on the calamity at Cumana.

To the monks of the Dominican order, Las Casas had years since been united
by the strong bonds of devotion to a common cause, which was the dominant
influence, as it was the sole object, of his life. As they had accompanied
and sustained him throughout his long struggle, so it was to them that he
naturally turned for sympathy in the extremity of his disappointment,
exiled, as he was, amidst the hostile colonists of Hispaniola. These were
the saddest days of his tempestuous life, during which doubts began to
penetrate his very soul--doubts of his own worthiness to carry on the
mission to which he had believed himself called, doubts even as to whether
it might not be ordained by the inscrutable wisdom of Divine Providence
that the Indians should perish before the advance of the Spaniards. If
this were true, then his life had been wasted in a vain conflict with the
occult forces that govern the destiny of races.

While waiting for answers to the letters he had written to Spain, he found
his only consolation in his intercourse with the Dominican friars, with
whom in fact he had been for years closely united in spirit. Fray Domingo
de Betanzos exercised a great influence upon him at this time, and to him
is due the decision of Las Casas to enter the Dominican Order.

The discussions between the two must have been frequent and prolonged for,
weary and disappointed as he was, Las Casas seems not to have yearned for
the seclusion of the cloister. To his objection that he must await the
King's reply to his letter before taking a decision, Betanzos answered,
"Decide now father, for if you were to die meanwhile, who will receive the
King's letters and orders?" These words sunk deep into his soul and from
thence-forward he pondered seriously upon his vocation. Finally his mind
was made up and he decided to imagine himself dead when the King's letter
should arrive and so beyond the reach of royal commands. In 1522, he
asked for the habit of the Order. (39) The news of his solemn profession,
which took place in 1523, was received with great joy by the people
outside the convent, though for very different reasons, for they assisted
at his exit from the world and his entrance into the cloister with the
same satisfaction with which they would have attended