was to be found in the province of Ba
Khalal, the adelantado determined to send the Captain Davila to found
in that province a town of Spaniards. Davila set out with fifty
foot-soldiers and sixteen horsemen, and from the time of this
separation difficulties and dangers accumulated upon both. All efforts
to communicate with each other proved abortive. After many battles,
perils, and sufferings, those in Chichen Itza saw themselves reduced to
the wretched alternative of dying by hunger or by the hands of the
Indians. An immense multitude of the latter having assembled for their
destruction, the Spaniards left their fortifications, and went out on
the plain to meet them. The most severe battle ever known in wars with
the Indians took place. Great slaughter was made among them, but a
hundred and fifty Spaniards were killed; nearly all the rest were
wounded, and, worn down with fatigue, the survivors retreated to the
fortifications. The Indians did not follow them, or, worn out as they
were, they would have perished miserably to a man. At night the
Spaniards escaped. From the meager and unsatisfactory notices of these
events that have come down to us, it is not known with accuracy by what
route they reached the coast; but the next that we hear of them is at
Campeachy.

The fortunes of Davila were no better. Arrived at the province of Ba
Khalal, he sent a message to the Lord of Chemecal to inquire about
gold, and requesting a supply of provisions; the fierce answer of the
cacique was, that he would send fowls on spears, and Indian corn on
arrows. With forty men and five horses left, Davila struggled back to
the coast, and, two years after their unfortunate separation, he joined
the adelantado in Campeachy.

Their courage was still unbroken. Roused by the arrival of Davila, the
adelantado determined to make another attempt to penetrate the country.
For this purpose he again sent off Davila with fifty men, himself
remaining in Campeachy with but forty soldiers and ten horsemen. As
soon as the Indians discovered his small force, an immense multitude
gathered round the camp. Hearing a tumult, the adelantado went out on
horseback, and, riding toward a group assembled on a little hill, cried
out, endeavouring to pacify them; but the Indians, turning in the
direction of the voice, and recognising the adelantado, surrounded him,
laid hands upon the reins of his horse, and tried to wrest from him his
lance. The adelantado spurred h