Among the nations of Central America the name of the supreme being was represented by a word that signifies 'deceiver,' or in the Cakchiquel language 'demon.'[IV‑22] In time of need or peril this personage appeared to them, as Oviedo and Vazquez would have us believe, and until the Christian Spaniard made firm his footing in the land was consulted and obeyed in all important matters. "Why wait you?" he exclaimed, as he now bid his votaries strike once more for freedom. "Tonatiuh has gone to Castile, and the strangers are few. What fear you? I am the thunderbolt and will make them dust and ashes. Both them and you will I destroy if you prove cowards. Live not as slaves, nor abandon the laws of your forefathers; convoke the nation and terminate your woes." The appeal was not in vain. From Chaparristic to Olintepec, a distance of one hundred and thirty-nine leagues, the Indians rose in revolt.[IV‑23] An army of thirty thousand warriors was quickly and secretly raised, and the Spaniards now scattered among the different settlements were taken completely by surprise. The confederated tribes divided their forces into two divisions, one of which occupied the mountain passes near Petapa for the purpose of holding Alvarado's band in check, while the other fell on the unsuspecting colonists, slaughtering the greater portion of them together with a number of their Indian allies. Those who escaped fled to Quezaltenango and Olintepec.[IV‑24] [Illustration: Alvarado's March.] The Indians were now in possession of the country from its southern boundary to the district of Quezaltenango, but a swift and terrible vengeance was about to overtake them. Alvarado was already within their borders. Having crushed the rebellion in Cuzcatlan he swept northward with the fury of a tempest. Scattering like sheep the bands that first offered him resistance, he met with no serious opposition till he arrived at the peñol of Xalpatlahua, situated about three leagues from the present village of Jalpatagua. [Sidenote: SUCCESS OF THE SPANIARDS.]