Our friend Rangel suffered greatly from the wounds he had received on his head; besides which he was tormented by the moschitoes and a large species of bat which bite people and suck their blood, so that he could get no rest day or night; and as it rained without intermission, he, with several of the men who had recently arrived from Spain, grew heartily sick of this mode of warfare; these soldiers brought forcibly to his mind the bad state of his health, the little advantage we had gained by the three several battles we had fought with the enemy, and how we had lost eleven horses and two men, besides that numbers were wounded, and that it would be impossible to accomplish anything more in a country so full of swamps and morasses. All this Rangel listened to with secret delight, for to turn back was the very thing he so ardently desired himself; however, in order to save appearances, and that it might seem as if his determination of marching back to Guacasualco was upon the advice and at the request of the troops themselves, he called a council of war, for which he selected those only whom he well knew would be of the same opinion with himself. I, with twenty of the men, just at that moment returned from a short excursion to some cacao plantations in the neighbourhood to try if we could not capture a few of the natives, and we had the good luck to bring in three females and two men prisoners. When I arrived in Rangel's quarters, he took me aside; he spoke a good deal about the terrible wounds on his head, and assured me that the greater part of the troops had advised him to relinquish the expedition and return to Cortes in Mexico. I declared myself against this step without any hesitation; and, as we had known each other for four years, even before we left Cuba, I said boldly to him, "How, Señor; you have advanced up to Cimatan, and now wish to return? What will Cortes think of this, and what will your enemies say? How they will always throw in your teeth that you were neither able to gain any advantage over the Zapotecs nor to subdue the inhabitants of this province, although you had among your troops some of the most experienced of the Conquistadores, of those who settled in Guacasualco! Here not your honour alone is at stake but ours also; wherefore I, with a number of my companions, have determined further to explore these swamps and mountains, and to force our way into Cimatan, the principal township of the province. My horse you may give to some other soldier who is expert in handling the lance, it is of no use to me in this country, for, on account of the bad state of the ground, the cavalry are always obliged to remain behind the rest of the troops."