rs were
seriously apprehensive lest he might execute his threat; they begged Las
Casas to leave and go to a place of safety. "Where," he asked in reply,
"would you, Fathers, have me go? Where shall I be safe as long as I act
in behalf of these poor creatures? Were the cause mine, I would drop it
with pleasure, but it is that of my flock, of these miserable Indians,
wearied and oppressed by unjust slavery and insupportable tributes, which
others of my flock have imposed upon them. Here I wish to remain; this
church is my spouse, it is not mine to abandon. This is the purpose of my
residence [here]. I wish to irrigate it with my blood, if they take my
life, so that zeal for God's service may be absorbed by the very ground I
hold, to make it fertile, to bring forth the fruit of desire--the end of
the injustice that stains and infects it. This is my wish, this is my
determined resolve, and I shall not be so fortunate that God will permit
the inhabitants of this city to fulfil it; other times have I found myself
in greater dangers and, because of my unworthiness, God has withheld from
me the crown of martyrdom. These disturbances, and the hatred of the
conquerors for me, are of ancient date; I no longer feel their insults nor
fear their threats, and in comparison with what has happened to me in
Spain and the Indies, those of the other day were very moderate."

Against such steadfast resolution, the colonists could not hope to
prevail, and one of the first results of the violent attack upon the
Bishop, was a certain reaction in public sentiment when calmer Judgment
reasserted itself. There was even some counter demonstration, and the
news was brought to Las Casas that the man who had threatened to kill him
had himself been badly mauled and beaten. The Bishop was the first and
most assiduous of the injured man's visitors, even preparing with his own
hands, bandages and ointments to dress his hurts. Such charity and
abnegation could not but touch even the rude object of these attentions,
and after repeatedly begging the Bishop's forgiveness for his recent
violence, the man attached himself to him from thenceforth, and became one
of his warmest defenders.

Nevertheless, the attacks on the Bishop and on the friars did not lessen
for long, nor was the resentment against them diminished amongst the
greater number of the colonists, who pushed their reprisals to such an
extent that, not only were the priests reduced to the