On the approach of night, our heroes returned, and slept themselves sober in their own tents. As they did not place any great reliance on the promises of the enemy, horsemen were sent to watch throughout the whole plain, who by the uninterrupted sound of horns and trumpets testified their vigilance, and if they observed any thing hostile, announced it to the rest. The warlike sounds of the savages were accompanied by an incessant noise in the heavens: for the weather, during the whole of the night, was extremely tempestuous, with loud thunder, stormy wind, lightning, and heavy rain. The women and children passed the night in the open air, in our court-yard, which was exposed to the wet on every side; so that in the light dispensed by the flashes of lightning, they appeared to me like so many frogs swimming in a pond. In my hut they deposited their pots, gourds, pitchers, and other moveables, to save them from the depredations of the enemy. Inexpressible was my horror at beholding amongst the baggage of the old women, some skulls of Spaniards, formerly slain by the Abipones, preserved as trophies. I do not remember ever having passed a more tumultuous night, during my whole residence in America. I accused the sun of returning too slowly. About day-break, when the tempest was abated, though the lightning had not yet ceased, I ran to the market-place, where I saw a number of Abipones, assembling at the end of the town, which they considered a fit place for the ensuing combat. The army was arranged by Ychamenraikin in such a manner, that the spearmen occupied each side, the archers the centre; and all were on foot. A troop of horse commanded by Ychohake, Ychoalay's brother, had it in charge, to learn and instantly report the motions of the enemy, the ways they took, and every thing else concerning them. They stood in battle-array till noon, when the emissaries, returning from the country, announced that nothing but the footsteps of the enemy were to be seen. All hope, or rather fear of an engagement being at an end, they returned home, and the army was dissolved without the loss of a drop of blood. The enemy being gone, the dead body of the Spaniard which had been wounded in such a manner, that the bowels fell out, was brought from the estate, and conveyed to the grave with the Christian forms of burial. CHAPTER XVII. CONCERNING REPEATED EXPEDITIONS UNDERTAKEN BY YCHOALAY AGAINST OAHERKAIKIN, AND THE OTHER ABIPONES NAKAIKETERGEHES.