Page:A history of Chile.djvu/87

 THE COLONIAL PERIOD 75 which Antunecul could not intercept ; thus the siege failed and the Araucanian commander withdrew his troops. Antiguenu invaded Arauco, as we have seen, and the siege had been long protracted, when by strata- gem the Araucanian general led Lorenzo Bernal, the Spanish commander, to believe that his Indian auxili- aries were intriguing with the enemy, whereupon the auxiliaries were discharged and sent outside the walls. Antiguenu immediately fell upon them and put them to death b}' tortures in sight of the Spaniards. After this the Araucanian chieftain challenged Bernal to single combat to decide the fate of Arauco. The chal- lenge was accepted and the champions fought for more than two hours without serious results, neither of them receiving any wound or injury. Then they were separated by their respective troops, and the siege continued. Unable to secure provisions, as boats sent to their assistance had been repeatedly cut off by the besiegers, the Spanish commander at last withdrew his garrison ; the Indians, perhaps by agree- ment, allowed the troops to pass and then destroyed the town. The attempt to reduce Angol was not equally suc- cessful. The Araucanian division dispatched at first defeated a body of Spaniards, but was itself in turn defeated. Antiguenu himself proceeded there with 2,000 reinforcements, but was met at the confluence of the Biobio and Vergoso and defeated by the Spanish army under Lorenzo Bernal ; not, however, until after a contest in which the Spanish infantry, which had once been put to flight, had been checked and reformed by the cavalry. Carried along in the rout of his troops, Antiguenu fell over a high bank into the river and was drowned. It is not known whether he met