All places being full of peril and fear, and exposed to the machinations of the enemy, many of the Abipones, weary of a life embittered in so many ways, crossed the river with their families, and went to the estate of Fulgentio de Yegros, who received them with great pleasure, and usefully employed them in his service. The women were occupied in shearing sheep and spinning the wool; the men in guarding cattle, and other rural tasks; receiving, as the best recompense that could be given them, abundance of beef. Very few, meantime, remained with me in the colony. This was thought a good opportunity for an attack by the Mocobios and their allies, and indeed our destruction would have been inevitable, had I not providentially abstained from my usual custom of sleeping in the afternoon. The particulars of the affair deserve to be related:—I had gone on foot, and alone, to the bank of the river to try the new boats and rowers, and that I did not fall asleep on my return, after being fatigued with three hours' walking in the heat of the sun, can only be attributed to heavenly interposition. At two o'clock in the afternoon, a boy who was sitting on the steps of the observatory suddenly exclaimed, "The savages are coming!" As I was walking in the yard, I spied a troop of Mocobios, who presented themselves in the market-place, armed and painted, as for a battle, disposed in regular ranks, and unaccompanied with any women or children; all which betokened hostile intentions. The boy I mentioned, with six old women and a lame Abipon, were the only persons that remained with me in the town. Snatching up my arms, and guarding the door, I performed the part both of commander and garrison; and, little as I am, was more than sufficient to terrify so many horsemen. As soon as ever they saw me present the musket they turned their backs, and slowly receding through the market-place, sat down in a little wood near the tents of the Abipones. Aware that the Americans supply by craftiness any defect in courage, and that they often renew the attack when their adversaries imagine them completely intimidated, and on their return home, I remained armed in the same place, and kept an eye on their motions. When a quarter of an hour had elapsed in this manner, I approached the Mocobios on foot, and with no one but the boy for my companion, to ascertain whether they were to be considered as friends or foes. I accosted them unarmed, but received very laconic replies to the questions I put them; and their sullen and threatening-looks discovered that they were ill-disposed towards us. As we were conversing, a quantity of smoke rose up in that part of the shore where the Spaniards cross the Paraguay; being asked by the Mocobian Cacique whence or from whom I thought that fire proceeded; I replied from the Spaniards; and that I was in expectation of two hundred soldiers, whom the Governor had promised to send to build houses in the colony.