Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1905-10-14

lat the missionary's door. The latte
was ready.
The Missionary Leaves the cochltis
The stout Indian put him on hi
shoulders and carried him tcs thu
banks of the Rio del Norte. Th,
stream was swollen and 1t wa no
without great danger that they reach
ed the opposite side. There the
shrewd guide pointed out to the padn
the trail to take and advised him Il
travel at a swift gait, and at; sunriss
TO hide In the brush, SO as to evad
his pursuing enemies, who would nj
be slow in starting after him who
aware Of his escape
The holy missionary started on his
adventurous journey After having
passed the Pueblo of Santo Domingo
two leagues distant from Cochiti, he
left the trail and took the main road.
At sunrise he had reached Angostura,
a mesa or narrow table land overlook
ing the Rio Grande and three miles
below San Felipe on the left bank of
the river.
6efrended and Protected BY the San
FeIipes..
The Pueblo of San Felipe was then
built on the plateau or stone mesa
overhanging the present site, and was
situated on the right bank of the riv-
er. Exhausted by the fatiguing march
of five hours through the night, the
weary traveller hid himself in a thick
grove by the river. 1t happened that
on that day the San Felipe Indians
were having rabbit hunt, as they fire.
quently have in the spring of yhe
year. The spot selected for the kint-
ing expedition was the "chical" grove
on the Angostura mesa. In that very
grove the franciscan Friar had made
his hiding place. According to their
rules the Indians placed several SEN
tinels on the hills and on the sur
rounding buttes in order to watch and
I give the alarm in case of danger or
of sudden attack by the enemy. One
of the sentinels who bad taken his
post on a low hill facing the Angos-
tura Mesa saw the padre come out of
the grove and go to the river for
water Order was given by the cap
tain to surround the grove. The In
dians formed an immense circle which
they gradually tightened, until they
came to the place where the friar lay
in concealment. They questioned him
and upons finding out who he was and
how he had escaped death at the
hands of the Cochitis, they invited
him to their pueblo and offered to
keep him as their pastor. The Fran
ciscan Friar accepted their kind re-
quest and was escorted to the hos
pitable pueblo. On the way they met
a party of Cochiti Indians looking for
their fugitive friar, but they failed
to recognize him. Further on they
ran into numerous body Of Cochiti
and Santo Domingo Indians who In.
quired whether anything had been
seen of the Franciscan monk who had
left Cochiti the previous night. The
San Felipe hunters refused to make
any answer, but the padre was recog'
nized by the sexton who had been
constrained under penalty Of death
to join the pursuers. The new Judas
betrayed the missionary and pointed
him out to his enemies. The protec
tors Of the man Of God were sum
moned to surrender and deliver their
guest into the hands Of the Cochitis
Upon their refusal to do so, bloody
encounter ensued in which several o1
the Cochitis and Santo DomiNgos were
killed. AS an evident protection of Di
vine Providence, none of the mission
ary's friends was even wounded, and
they reached San Felipe without being
further molested by the combined
forces Of the two rebellious pueblos
The vindictive aborigines did not give
up their prey, and two days later
they came back In great numbers and
began regular siege of the pueblo Of
San Felipe. Four hundred warriors
kept a close watch on the only trai
leading from the village to the rivel
determined upon compelling the be
( sieged to surrender the Franciscan
Friar or perish on their barren rocl
FOR lack Of wafer. There was indeed
but scant supply Of water in Sal
Felipe, and unless some heavy rail-
struck the pueblo, It's inhabitant
would have to surrender within thre'
days. The situation was very critica
for the latter as they we'll knew tina
! their opponents were numerically 81
perior to them and that they ha