Page:Don Coronado through Kansas.djvu/39

28 28 DE VACA THE INDEi'ATlGABI-E. and their superstitions were so worked upon that they submitted to the yoke, "There was very little property which was worth our carrying back home, but we helped ourselves to beautifully tanned robes, food, corn, dogs and har- ness; also we selected about 300 of the youngest and most desirable females as well as 200 of the youngest men, and insisted that the vanquished see to carrying our baggage and trophies of the contest towards home. "It was but a short time that every man of the 100 had selected a wife, we did not lose a single man in the fight, and before we reached home our Indian wives discovered that we were superior men to their own, for we treated them not Uke slaves, but as though we appreciated them; so before arriving home they were well satisfied with their masters. "You may be sure that on our arrival we were feasted and lauded to such a degree that it turned our heads, but we had lost our principal instruments of power: there were the fifty harquebuses but no am- munition, hence they were useless. We used to com- mune with one another and declare that if we had plenty of powder and lead, we would do as Cor- tes, subdue them and set ourselves up as rulers. "From this on we were treated as though we were native born, but many is the time that De Vaca wonld speak to me about escaping. He was always at work endeavoring to acquire not only the language of onr tribe but of any others that he came In contact with. "I must tell you one thing sure, so a proper