Page:Don Coronado through Kansas.djvu/76

65 INDIANS EXPERT BOWMEN. 05

Gbiametla there was another delay. Ilere the army oaxaped at ihe remains of a village which Nuno de €^Bzmaa had established. The settlers had been driyen away by a pestilence caught from the Indians and hy the fierce onslaught of the natives, who came down upon them from the surrounding mountains." The food supply of Coronado's force was begin- ning to fail, and as the tribes about here were stUl in rebellion, it became necessary to send a force into the mountains to obtain provisions; the army master, Samaniego, who had been warden of one of the royal fortresses, commanding the foraging party. The men found themselves buried in the thick under- brush as soon as they passed beyond the Umits of the clearing. One of the soldiers, inadvertently, but none the less in disregard of strict orders, became separated from the main party, and the Indians, who were nowhere to be seen, at once attacked him. In reply to his cries the watchful commander hastened to his assistance. The Indians who had tried to seize him suddenly disappeared. Wlien everything seemed to be safe, Samaniego taisod his visor, and as he did so, an arrow from among the bushes pierced his eye, passing through the skull. The death of Samauiego was a severe loss to the expedition. Brave and slriU-. ful, he was beloved by all who vrcre v/ith hici or under him." It must be remembered that the Sierra l.Iount- ains were on the east, thus necessitating the party trareling east until a pass was found, which was near the source of the rirer Sonora or near Tuscan in Ari- which now the railroads use in crossing the