ministering to him as to a brother; and so touched was
the man that he begged Las Casas' forgiveness with all his heart, and
was from that day one of the clerico's warmest friends.

The Bishop's salary was now refused him, all alms withdrawn from the
Dominicans, and when Indians were sent out into the province to beg for
them, the Spaniards seized whatever was brought in, and gave the bearers
a sound beating into the bargain, so that it was impossible to obtain
food in this way.

It now became absolutely impossible for the monks to live any longer in
Ciudad Real, and it was decided to go to the Indian town of Chiapa and
build a convent there; but before leaving the Bishop preached a sermon
in which the people were told plainly that it was because of the
hardness of their hearts and their sin in persisting to keep the Indians
as slaves, after the Dominicans had shown them the evil of it, that the
friars were going away.

FOOTNOTE:

[2] Chiapa, the diocese of Las Casas, is now the Mexican State of
Chiapas, the southernmost State of Mexico, bordering on the present
Republic of Guatemala.

CHAPTER XI

REVOLT IN CHIAPA

The Bishop and the monks now departed from the Spanish town and took up
their residence in Chiapa. Some distance outside the town they found a
number of Indians waiting for them, gayly dressed, decorated with golden
chains and bracelets, and carrying crosses made of feathers and flowers.
As soon as Las Casas was conducted to the house made ready for him, the
Indians began to come in from all the country round, begging to be
taught the Christian religion. Joy filled the heart of the good Bishop.
Such a scene made up for all the torments and insults he had suffered at
the hands of his own countrymen.

Happy as he was, however, at this readiness on the natives' part to
accept the gospel message, the tales of suffering they poured into his
ears wrung his heart. All over the province women were stolen, property
taken away, and the helpless Indians bought and sold like
cattle,--overworked, beaten and starved, until they died and so, at
last, found peace.

The Bishop could not get the new laws enforced. No attention was paid
either to his entreaties or his threats, so at length,--in June,
1545,--he determined to go to Gracias a Dios, and present the matter to
the council governing the country, demanding that they compel obedience
to the royal mandate.

He took the road through Guatemala, in or