Page:Narrative of the Proceedings of Pedrarias Davila (Haklyut, 34).djvu/85

Rh, and having abandoned their horses because they could not pass that way, they arrived barefooted. They had passed the villages of the Indians at night, and taken provisions from them. Thus they had reached the province of Chiriqui, which is between Burica and Nisca, where there was a settlement which had been made by Captain Benito Hurtado, by order of Pedrarias, called the city of Fonseca. Here they were refreshed and this captain gave them a canoe, in which they came as far as Nata. Having reported what had taken place to Pedrarias, he assembled ships and men to go to Nicaragua, captured Francisco Hernandez, and cut off his head.

After these ten Spaniards had passed through this city of Fonseca, the captain, with some followers, set out in the direction of Nicaragua, whence the others had come. Thus the settlement was abandoned; for those who remained, seeing that their comrades did not return, went after them to the gulf of San Lucar.

At this time the Marquis del Valle passed near Nicaragua, when he went to Honduras; and Francisco Hernandez, desiring to revolt from Pedrarias, sent to invite the Marquis to come and receive the province from him. Gil Gonzalez, who set out from San Domingo in search of Nicaragua by way of Honduras, encountered, in a province called Manalca, the captain Soto, whom Francisco Hernandez had sent to that part. Soto resisted the passage of Gil Gonzalez through the district, and Gil Gonzalez stopped, and cunningly treated for peace. Soto, finding himself more powerful in numbers than his opponent, did not fear him; and though the one force was very close to the other, he did not set a guard on his camp. So, one night, Gil Gonzalez took him unawares, made him prisoner, and secured his arms. Of the troops who came out to resist, two men were killed with two arquebuses.