houses, without opposition: the whole country was devastated. An immense number of horses and mules were taken by the savages. The church itself was forced, while affording shelter to those who survived the massacre, and had fled thither for refuge. They broke open the door with an axe, though it was secured with bolts and plates of iron. These sacrilegious thieves carried away the sacred silver utensils, the bells of the tower, and even the image of the holy mother, with that of St. Joseph; and when they had murdered all the inhabitants, and plundered all their possessions, they departed laden with spoils, and the heads of the slain. But it so fell out by divine dispensation, that Barreda was just then meditating an excursion against the savages, at no great distance, and upon receiving information of this outrage of the Abipones, immediately flew thither with his followers. After pursuing the fugitives for a long time, day and night, he learned that they had separated into two companies and gone different ways. The height of his wishes was to rescue out of the hands of the savages the image of the divine mother, and though he hesitated a little which way to take, yet, by God's grace, he finally chose that which led to the party in possession of the holy image. Proceeding for some time with all speed, he at last surprizes the Abipones, sitting unsuspiciously on the ground while their horses were feeding in the pastures. The approach of the St. Iagan soldiers being perceived, the infantry threw themselves into an adjacent wood. The Spaniards instantly flew to the baggage which the savages had relinquished, and joyfully discovered amongst the rest the image of the Virgin. The enemy's horses were collected and their saddles burnt. The wood was, for some time, surrounded on all sides by the soldiers; but at length, the Abipones showed such obstinacy in their lurking-holes, and the horses were so weakened by three days' hunger and fatigue, that Barreda began to think of retreating. Nothing was ever heard of the image of St. Joseph, but most likely it was thrown into some deep marsh. This hostile aggression upon Rio Seco induced the Cordobans to surround that church with high stone walls, strengthened with four towers, that it might no longer be exposed to the injuries of the savages, and that, like the other colonists, they might defend themselves in those fortlets, on any impending danger.