Page:History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas.pdf/138

Rh and so that they should not hate the Christians for their deeds, etc.'

“And many other decrees were issued thereafter for the same purpose, the same thing being repeated and urged by an infinite number of decrees and ordinances of the Emperors, Charles V, Philip II and III and up to Philip IV....

Paredes Promises to Return the Plunder. “All these reasons which I gave to the said Captain, Alonso Garcia de Paredes, struck him favorably and he gave me his word to coöperate in my request, causing their clothes and the rest of the things which had been taken from them to be returned to the Indian prisoners, promising at the same time to punish the transgressors, as soon as he reached the said abandoned Tzucthok.

Paredes Fails to Keep his Word. “And when he reached there, I reminded him of the said promise, but as avarice drew him more than charity, he answered me with scorn, saying, 'God be with you, Padre, how can you expect me to know now who was the man who robbed the prisoners?' At this time there came one of the offending soldiers to speak to him. He was wearing loose breeches made of the clothing which they had stolen from the aforesaid Indians; and I, answering his rough suggestion, said to him:- 'See, Señor Captain, that there is standing near you one who knows of or is the doer of the theft, since the breeches of this soldier of yours show it.' He replied:- 'Padre, those are his perquisites, which I cannot take away.' And at the same time, turning his back to me, he said to him:- 'Take notice, man, that I hold you responsible for paying for all the wax which you and the rest of you hold.' So that the special result of this trip can well be understood to be quite contrary to the service of God and of the King, and very useful only to the special ends of the avarice of the soldiers.

“I, seeing this coldness, in the beginning, never supposed that the results would be happy, so that I felt sad enough; since it would have been better not to have started out on such an enterprise, if I was to see such inhumanities....

Tzucthok, once before Reduced, had Rebelled. “By our lengthened stay in this aforesaid abandoned town of Tzucthok,