Although Herrera and his partisans now held almost undisputed control at Trujillo, they were far from being satisfied with the situation. They well knew that their old enemy, Diego Mendez, was awaiting revenge; while Cereceda, though quietly watching the course of events, was ready for action when the proper moment should arrive. Their greed for wealth and lust of power had brought them into disrepute among all the colonists, except those of their own faction, and even certain members of the cabildo were numbered among their enemies. Fearing that the settlers would break out into open revolt, Herrera proposed to abandon Trujillo and establish elsewhere in the province a new and independent colony. Cereceda, knowing that such a measure would be fatal to the prosperity of the settlement, strove to prevent it by encouraging intermarriage between the families of the rival cliques and dividing among them a portion of the slaves which had fallen to his share at the division of Salcedo's property.[IX‑9] A revolt which occurred about a year afterward, among the tribe of the cacique Peyzacura, afforded Herrera an opportunity to carry out his intention. The Indians of this district were employed in working certain mines not far distant from Trujillo, and had long endured their bondage without murmur, but the rigor of their taskmasters, who, "with one foot in the stirrup," as Oviedo tells us, "ready to abandon the province," cared only to enrich themselves as speedily as possible, at length drove them to rebellion. Several Spaniards were murdered, and as the insurrection soon spread through the adjoining territory, it became necessary to despatch a strong armed force to restore order. An expedition was prepared of which Herrera insisted on taking charge, inviting his associates, and all others who were inclined to join him, to enroll themselves under his command. A feeling of discontent and unrest pervaded the community, and many of the leading colonists gathering together their effects cast in their lot with the governor. But instead of marching against the hostile natives he led his followers to the territory of a friendly chieftain, and there for several months they wasted their time and substance in revelry and ostentatious display, leaving Trujillo unprotected and the rebels unpunished.