Page:Don Coronado through Kansas.djvu/111

100 100 HEROISM OF ALONSO. spicuous that Coronado commended him in private. Not only was he brave but cautious. Frequently by his foresight did he save the life of some individual officer or soldier. These natives were not cowards by any means,. but when it is taken into consideration that they had never heard a gun fired, is there any won- der that they did not withstand the onslaught? Can you draw upon your imagination and picture a line of men in armor; riding animals which you have never seen before in your Ufe rushing toward you, crying out in a strange language, and before reaching you throwing something from an instrument which came so swiftly toward you that the little missile would strike you or your friend so hard as to go through your flesh, tear and gash, so it caused you or them to fall, killed or badly hurt? What could such an un- known force be compared with? The Indians to a man were justified in the thought that the Spaniards were aided by the God of thunder and Ughtning, for would not the flash of the musket be the hghtning and the report be the thunder?. So at the very first volley, the poor dwellers of Cibola became panic stricken and rushed peU-mell into the narrow en- trance; the foot-soldiers not encumbered vrtth armor, attacking them whUe retreating, the heavily equipped horsemen following in the wake; and because of Alonso's light equipment and Babieca's careful grooming, Alonso was the first to reach the hand to hand melee. He sprang off his horse, and drawing his sword, assisted his comrades who had gotten mixed up in the throng of natives. Although retreat- ing they were using their heavy clubs on their assail-