Meanwhile Pedro de los Rios, the royal treasurer,[X‑28] and son-in-law of Contreras, has usurped the reins of government, and commenced to persecute all whom he knows to be hostile to his own party. Mendavia, knowing that he may be the one to suffer most at the hands of Rios, determines to anticipate his measures, and proceeding to Granada, where he obtains the support of the cabildo, imprisons Rios in the convent.[X‑29] But the following morning the cabildo intimidated by the threats of Doña María, the governor's wife, repent of their conduct and are prevailed upon to issue an edict calling upon all the settlers, under penalty of death and confiscation, to rise in arms and demand the liberation of Rios, or, in case of refusal, to tear down the convent. The warlike dean is not prepared for this sudden change, but nevertheless determines to resist, assuring his adherents that all who may suffer death in this most Christian cause will surely be admitted into heaven. The people throng the convent, and the friars are soon engaged in deadly strife, during which two of them, together with four laymen, are mortally wounded. Unable to withstand the attack, Mendavia at last relents and sues for peace. A compromise is effected, by which Rios binds himself not to injure the dean or any of his party, either then or at any future time, whereupon the treasurer is released. No sooner is he outside the convent walls, however, than he forgets his promise, and arrests, hangs, quarters, and exiles indiscriminately. The dean himself is put in irons and sent to Spain, where for several years he is kept a prisoner without trial.[X‑30] When the news of these proceedings reached the audiencia of Panamá, Diego de Pineda was despatched to Nicaragua as juez de comision, and with such tact did he reconcile the disputes between the two parties that order was quickly restored, and the quarrel between Rios and Mendavia was soon forgotten. A few months later Contreras arrived in the province,[X‑31] but his secret enemies were still at work, and one of the first acts of the newly established audiencia de los Confines was to commission the oidor Herrera to take his residencia, and also that of the treasurer Rios. Although the licentiate was ever an implacable foe to the governor and a stanch supporter of the clerical faction, he appears to have discovered nothing on which to base any serious charges against either of those officials, and soon abandoned his investigation.[X‑32] * * * * * [Sidenote: ECCLESIASTICAL AND CIVIL FEUD.]