Revolt of the Indians. After they had been ordered to go to Zaclun, they proffered various excuses, and the matter was ended at last by one Padre Fray Juan Enriquez, who offered to go thither himself. He was well received by Mirones; at about that time Bernardino Ek arrived with the news of the death of Delgado and his companions. Mirones would not believe him. He soon had ample cause to do so. On the Day of Purification, 1624, when all the Spaniards of Zaclun were at Mass, the Indians rose in revolt and put most of them to death. Some time later Padre Fray Juan Fernandez and Captain Juan Bernardo came to Zaclun by way of Mani. The latter joined him at Mani, and as both were made suspicious by some Indians leading a mule of which they could not give a satisfactory account, Fernandez and Bernardo determined to go to Zaclun. When they reached that place they found the bodies of their compatriots, who had died "by the very arms with which they had thought to go against the Itzaex, in opposition to the orders and will of the King." (Villagutierre, p. 144.) A Christian burial was given to the dead, after which Fernandez and Bernardo returned to Merida to report on what they had found. Eventually an Indian captain named Don Fernando Camal captured many of the aggressors, the chief of whom, Ahkimpol, with several others, was beheaded in Merida. An Epidemic of Apostasy; the Third Phase of the Conquest of the Itzas Begins. A direct result of this insurrection was a general epidemic of apostasy which especially affected such villages as Tipu. There, a few years later, a general exodus of the Indians into the mountains and woods took place, and a widespread relapse into idolatry occurred. By a cedula of March 29, 1639, the King (Philip III) reiterated his desire that henceforth all efforts to reduce provinces should be carried on by means of spiritual methods only. These were not enough. A series of misfortunes and mutinies occurred at Bolonchen, Zahcabchen, Petenecte, and elsewhere. (Villagutierre, p. 147.)[6.1] We have now, with the year 1624, reached the close of the second phase of the Spanish conquest of the Maya-Itza stock. The first phase, an exploratory one, began with Cortes in 1524 and ended with Montejo in 1545 or thereabouts. The second phase, a proselytizing one, began with the year 1614, when the feigned submission of the Itzas took place, giving rise to the entrada of Fuensalida and Orbita. It came to a dose about 1624 as a result of the mournful events following upon the entrada of Delgado and the mercenary meddling of Mirones. The third and last phase, a commercial and military one, we shall consider in Chapter VIII. It had its inception about 1692. CHAPTER VII THE EARLY HISTORY OF GUATEMALA AND THE ENTRADA FROM THAT COUNTRY, 1694-1695