The troops were still out, following the Indians, and great anxiety was expressed in the yard that they might overtake and capture them. The general opinion seemed to be that the Indians, seeing the weakened and disorderly state of the colony, had formed a plan to make a sudden attack upon them, and massacre them all, for the sake of the booty which they would secure. From what I gathered, I concluded that a party of Indians had come down the pass on their way to visit the barracks, when, finding the dead bodies of the boys on their road, they had sent the woman on as a spy. Why they had commenced slaughtering and driving off the cattle, without waiting for her return, I could not tell, unless the herdsmen were so few and so easily to be overpowered that the temptation was too great for them. At about one in the afternoon, I succeeded in persuading Tapia and his men to put off again for the barque, and happy indeed was I to find myself again on board of her. I determined not to go ashore again unless I was compelled to, and to keep as much out of Cambiaso’s way as possible. Fifty plans of escape had crossed my mind. Sometimes to leave the vessel, and strike across the country among the Indians--but from that, the fear of starvation deterred me; sometimes to get enough of my crew and of the prisoners friendly to me on board the vessel to navigate her, and make our escape in that way; but the Florida lay right under the guns of the fort, and the impossibility of getting her under weigh was too evident. Besides, I felt a great reluctance to any plan of escape which would leave my fellow sufferers, Mr. Dunn, captain Avalos, and so forth, still in the hands of the pirates. There seemed to be nothing but to wait the course of events, and avail myself of any favorable circumstance that might occur. On the morning of the 26th, several men from the barracks came on board to visit us, as they sometimes did, and from them we learned that the soldiers sent after the Indians had returned without being able to overtake them, after following them for twelve hours; and that there was a good deal of anxiety on shore, lest the Indians should come up in force and attack them in the night.