would it have been for breaking terms with them, and renewing the war? It may be generally observed, that the savages, however friendly to the Spaniards, can never sojourn long in their towns without endangering this amicable disposition. They imagine injuries though they do not receive any, and are often offended at a shadow. Reflecting upon these things, I would not be persuaded by Barreda to accompany the Abipones who were going to Salta, representing that if the Governor reproached them with faults of which he might have been informed by Father Sanchez, they would suspect me of having been their accuser, and pronounce me deserving of the eternal hatred of the whole nation. Alaykin was sumptuously entertained, and clothed by the Governor at great expense, but with little profit; for on his return, when he displayed his splendid dress of valuable scarlet cloth, and boasted of all the honours heaped upon him by the Governor, "See!" said they, "how we are feared by the Spaniards!" Thus acts of liberality and kindness were foolishly construed into testimonies of fear. The lower orders of Spaniards, too, were angry at beholding Alaykin bedecked in a beautiful Spanish robe, "Look!" they exclaimed, "this is the reward which a fellow who has merited the gallows an hundred times over, obtains for plundering and burning our property." Alaykin himself, however, was so little taken with the splendor of this Spanish dress, that he let it lie and mildew in the chest, never appearing in the town with it but once, and then, without shirt, shoes, or breeches, he was rather an object of laughter than of admiration. It is worthy of remark, that at the very time when Alaykin was entertained in so friendly a manner by the Spaniards, some Abipones broke into the estates of the Cordobans to carry off horses, but were put to flight by a soldier. One of the fugitives, a hordesman of Alaykin, was taken, and detained in prison at Cordoba; but at the earnest request of Barreda and myself was suffered to return home, lest the savages should avenge his captivity by the blood of the Spaniards. About the same time it was announced that a company of Abipones had attacked the St. Iagans in the Silvas del Hierro, as I have related elsewhere. Although this incursion had been headed by Oaherkaikin, it was attributed to the fellow-soldiers of Alaykin by ill-natured people, who wished to get our colony and its founder Barreda into disrepute. But this fable was afterwards detected by means of the captives, who, when restored to liberty, declared that their comrades were slain, and themselves made prisoners by the hordesmen of Debayakaikin. CHAPTER XXVIII. MY DISASTROUS RETURN TO OUR COLONY.