s,
after which he left for Peru early in 1532, accompanied by Fray Bernardino
de Minaya and Fray Pedro de Angulo. (44) As their port of embarkation was
Realejo in Nicaragua, they passed through Santiago de Guatemala where they
lodged in the abandoned convent of San Domingo. As soon as the news of
their arrival spread, the whole town came eagerly to see them; the
enthusiasm of the inhabitants was somewhat dampened when they learned that
Las Casas was one of the three, for he had earned a terrible fame amongst
slave-dealing Spaniards and whenever he appeared, was apt to produce royal
cedulas of embarrassing purport or, at least, to denounce and report to
Spain the violence and cruelties commonly practised on the Indians.

The friars' stay at Santiago was brief, in spite of the urgent entreaties
of the priest there, who begged them to remain and to reopen the deserted
monastery, as the field for spiritual labours was a broad and uncultivated
one. Fray Bartholomew was anxious, however, to reach his destination,
knowing from past experiences how much easier it is to forestall an evil
than to remedy a rooted abuse. He rightly judged that whatever good was to
be accomplished by virtue of the royal cedula he carried, must be achieved
before the conquerors of Peru had time to enslave the Indians and to
establish a system similar to those that had worked such damage in the
Islands and in Mexico. They were obliged to wait twenty-four days at
Realejo until a ship which was to carry reinforcements and stores to
Pizarro and Almagro was ready to sail; meanwhile the three monks, under
the exterior guise of the gentle dove, were obliged to use some of the
wisdom of the serpent and to carefully conceal the nature of their
mission, for otherwise the ship-owners, whose chief article of commerce
was slaves, would never have taken them on board.

Upon their arrival in Peru, Las Casas immediately communicated the purport
of the cedula to the Spanish commanders. Both Almagro and Pizarro
protested that they would obey the order to the letter, though it went
sorely against their interests. They ordered the royal command to be
solemnly published with the usual formalities and even added other
penalties to those prescribed, for any violation of its provisions.

This part of his mission accomplished, it remained for Fray Bartholomew
and his companions to take steps to found religious houses as their
superior had ordered, but after consultation