At five o'clock in the morning I told two men to investigate the exposed fire. As soon as they got close they encountered the heathen Indians, who were already coming to attack the camp, and fired on the first of them. As soon as we heard the uproar which resulted I came up with the troops to oppose them. Having formed a line of battle, I told the interpreter to ask them what they wanted and they answered, to fight. Even after we had said to them that the officer in charge did not wish to do them any harm, they gave no heed, but began to fight. Seeing this I ordered them to be fired upon. They then retreated to the interior of the underbrush. The troops dismounted at my command and fell upon them, killing three and capturing one alive. Of the dead, one was found to be a Christian of Mission San Juan and a leader in stealing horses. Of those who escaped some were seen to be wounded, and, according to the quantity of blood visible along the river, I consider that most of them must have died. The action having ceased, I ordered Corporal Juarez with ten men to make a reconnaissance of the rancheria, which was called Copicha, to see if there were any horses. They brought out one, together with two Indians. The latter were among those who had been in the battle and, along with the other [captured as described above], confessed that they had followed us to this place with the purpose of killing us, the dead Christian being the one most determined to do this. During the night they [the Indians] shot a few arrows but did us no damage. During the engagement the only casualty was Soldier Juan Espinoza who received a dart between his coat and his skin, but it did not hurt him. At eleven o'clock in the morning we set out in a direction south and a little east and at a distance of eight leagues we came upon eleven animals belonging to the village of Tape, which was in a wood along the same river bottom. These we gathered up, leaving the village for the return trip because it was already afternoon. At about four leagues we reached the junction of the San Joaquin and the San José rivers where we camped. We left behind one horse, exhausted and unable to travel. Here we spent the night without incident. _11th day._ At five o'clock in the morning we continued in the same direction as on the previous day, going along the River San José. At about 4 leagues we crossed it and traveled to the east in order to avoid bad traveling. After a league we resumed the former direction and at a distance of nine leagues we camped for the night on the bank of the same [river]. There had fallen by the wayside one exhausted and useless horse and one more of those which we had recovered from the Indians. Here we passed the night without incident.