more of the enemy, set
fire to every place, and brought in great numbers of prisoners.

The road to Santisteban was now open, and when Sandoval arrived there he
found the garrison in a most deplorable condition: greater part of the
troops were either sick or wounded, but what was worse, they had neither
food for themselves nor their horses.

The reader may easily imagine how welcome Sandoval's arrival was, and he
soon learnt how Garay's troops had behaved, and how the garrison would
probably have been cut to pieces if it had not been for the assistance
of seven or eight veteran Conquistadores, who each day marched to the
field of battle, kept Garay's troops outside the city, and so occupied
the enemy's attention in another quarter that they did not even allow
them time to think of storming the town. Sandoval then embraced these
brave men, and gave to each of the Conquistadores, who were all his old
companions in arms, a separate command, and desired them to divide all
the foot and cavalry into two bodies, and so sally out of the town,
forage the country round, damage the enemy's property as much as
possible, and bring in as many prisoners as they could take,
particularly of the chiefs. He himself, to his great sorrow, was obliged
to remain behind, as he was severely wounded in the leg, and had been
struck in the face by a stone.

The two detachments obeyed his commands in every respect; they soon
brought in a quantity of maise and other provisions, with several women,
a number of poor people, and five chiefs who had fought in the recent
battles. Sandoval ordered all these prisoners to be released, with the
exception of the five last mentioned, and ordered his troops not to
bring in any other prisoners excepting those who had had a hand in the
murder of the Spaniards. The rest of the inhabitants they were to
encourage to approach the town peaceably, and to live on terms of
friendship with the Spaniards.

Several officers of distinction belonging to Garay's troops, who had
done their worst to create the insurrection in this province, had
remained behind in the town on this last occasion. These gentlemen,
whose names I have mentioned above, considered themselves grossly
insulted when they found that Sandoval had not intrusted them with any
command, but had selected the veteran Conquistadores. They therefore
began to murmur and to inveigh bitterly against the dispositions which
Sandoval had made, and even spoke to Garay