University of Virginia Library

46. CHAPTER XLVI.

The soup of the Adelantado that day was cooled uneaten.
Scarcely had Juan Ortiz entered the dwelling which his master
occupied, and declared his tidings, when the war-whoop rang
throughout the village, echoed by five thousand vigorous voices.
The warriors poured forth from a thousand unsuspected vomitories.
They slaughtered the scattered Spaniards, as, heedless of their
leader's order, they lounged about street and square. The latter
fought, but vainly. They were driven from the town; numbers
of the cavaliers saw their horses slain, shot down before their
eyes; a loss which they held to be even more serious than of
the soldiery. To slay the horses was especially the labor of one
large portion of the savages. To this had they been counselled
by their chiefs, under instructions of Vasconselos. Unluckily for
themselves, this was almost the only part of his instructions which
they seem to have remembered. But, for a time, their successes
were too flattering to suffer them to pause. The vanguard of the
Spaniards expelled from their walls, several slain, many more
wounded, more than thirty horses killed outright, or maimed forever,
and the whole of the baggage of the invading army, with the
single exception of one knight's effects; these were successes calculated
to turn the heads of any savage people, ignorant of their
enemy, and incapable of any true estimate of the means by which
they had won success.

And such had been the advantages gained by the red men in
their first demonstration against the Spaniard, at Mauvila. They
had lost their general, the fierce brave who had so summarily
dismissed Juan Ortiz with defiance to his master, and who had
perished under the sudden sword-thrust of Balthazar de Gallegos.
His son, a noble young warrior, had perished also, in the effort to
avenge his death, but not before he had pummelled Gallegos
about the head and ears with his bow, until the Spaniard was
blinded with his blood, and stunned, almost to perishing, beneath
his blows. The gallant savage had in vain sent his arrows
at the mailed bosom of the Castilian knight. In slaying half a
score of Spaniards the red men had lost hundreds; but there was
no lack of numbers to take their places, and they scarcely felt

their losses. It was not so with the white warriors, who were too
few, not to feel severely the loss of such a large proportion of
their whole disposable force. The result, whatever the inequality
of loss, was a temporary triumph with the Mauvilians. They
had beaten the invader from their fastnesses, and they were in
possession of all the spoils of the field. They had also released
the captive Tamenes from the chains of their masters, had put
weapons into their hands, and thus more than made up for the
number which had been lost by the battle to their ranks. Exulting
in the successes which they had won, the red men closed their
gates, displayed their spolia opima from the walls, and running
to and fro along the parapets, brandished their arms with exultation,
while the welkin rang with their wild shouts of triumph and
defiance.

Goaded with fury by what they saw, the Spanish chivalry without
the walls, organizing themselves, rapidly dashed forward to
the gates with the view of assailing them, or, at least, for the purpose
of covering the foot soldiers, who advanced with their axes
for this purpose. But the brave Mauvilians—too valiant, eager
and exulting to observe a becoming prudence—never suffered
them to approach the gates, but leaping the walls in hundreds,
resolutely took the field, exposing their naked bosoms fearlessly
to the superior weapons of the Castilians. A desperate conflict ensued:
the numbers and reckless valor of the red men proving
quite a match for the superior civilization of their foes, while the
struggle was confined to those who fought entirely on foot. Fierce,
indeed, was the affray. Mercy was neither asked nor expected.
The shafts of the savages answered to the lances of the Spaniards;
the stone battle-axe and thundering macana did not recoil from
the sharp collision with the polished blade of the Toledan. It was
only when the cavaliers of Spain dashed in to the support of their
comrades that the Mauvilians gave ground, and retreated to the
cover of their fortress. Thither the mounted men pursued them,
but were driven back by showers of stones and arrows from the
walls and loop-holes of the town. As they wavered and recoiled,
the Mauvilians again sallied forth, closing with the cavaliers, seizing
on their very bridles, grasping their lances, tearing them
from their hands, and clinging to the retiring horses until dragged
away hundreds of paces from the walls. Such a conflict, valor so
inflexible, afforded but small encouragement to the hopes of the
invader, and De Soto groaned over the tardy progress of Moscoso,
and the absence of more than half his little army.

In this manner had they fought, without decisive results—unless
in favor of the Mauvilians—for three mortal hours, when Luis de

Moscoso made his appearance with the main body of the Spanish
forces, and at once engaged in the melée. But with his appearance
in the field, that of Philip de Vasconselos took place also.

For a moment let us pause in this place, to say that none of the
relations of this great event, as given by the Spanish and Portuguese
narrators, are to be entirely relied on. The history which the
lion might give of his achievements has yet to be written. The
accounts of the white men are grievously confused and contradictory,
for the simple reason that they labored to obscure to modify,
and even to pervert the details whose results were so disastrous
to their progress, and, as they fancied, in their national pride
and vanity, so discreditable to their arms. Now, the reader will
please to understand that our version of the story is drawn chiefly
from the narratives of the Mauvilians themselves, as contained in
the celebrated MSS. of the Great Iawa, or High Priest of Chickasah,
Oolena Ithiopoholla, who wore the sacred symbols, somewhere
about the year 1619, only about 70 years after this event.
The narrative is written on the bark of trees, in the Choctaw character,
and, bating some few injuries from exposure and time (which do
not affect it in the portions relating to the battle of Mauvila), may
still be read in the keeping of my excellent red friend Mico Tuskina
Ithiopolla, a lineal descendant of the venerable Iawa, by
whose hands it was written. Our account of the affair, which we
modestly venture to assert is the only one deserving of perfect
confidence, is drawn almost entirely from this ancient and veracious
chronicle.

To resume from its pages:

“Now had the battle lasted three mortal hours, when another
and a larger army of the Spaniards, under one of their great generals,
by name Luis de Moscoso, made his appearance in the field.
He had been closely watched and followed during the march from
Tuscaloosa by the white chief, to whom had been given the name
of Istalana, and of whose cruel treatment by the Spaniards, and
happy escape, by the help of the great Princess Coçalla, of Cofachiqui,
we have already related the account. Istalana (or `the
chief that broods') led a force of three thousand brave warriors of
Tuscaloosa and Cofachiqui, full command over whom had been
given him by the Great King. Now, so soon as Istalana beheld
the warriors of Moscoso preparing to join with the troops under
Soto, the Castilian, and to advance against the walls of Mauvila,
he set upon him suddenly, with a terrible assault from behind. Mooscoso
was greatly astonied at this assault, for he knew not that he
was so closely watched and followed. But he turned upon Istalana
and his men and made good fight for the victory; and he was joined

by the men upon the horses of Soto, the Castilian, and great were
the deeds of arms that followed, and many were the blows given
and received, and glorious was the slaughter. The earth and sun
drank great streams of blood that day; and, for that the warriors
of Mauvila were too brave to need coverings for their
breasts against the darts of their enemies, the slaughter fell most
heavily upon them; while the Spaniards, being covered with
scales of hard metal, or wrapped in many folds of a thick garment,
which shook off the shafts of the Mauvila warriors when
delivered from a distance, they suffered less grievously, and
many were but hurt and wounded, when, but for reason of their
armor of metal, they would have died outright. But the Mauvilians
hurt and smote them sorely, and bruised them with many
blows, so that none of them utterly escaped, while many were
slain with shafts rightly delivered between the eyes, and, when
they chanced to turn their backs, with arrows that drove through
the body beneath the shoulders and rested against the metallic
plates in front. Hundreds carried with them grievous wounds
in the legs and thighs, which were less sheltered by armor; and
wherever the warriors of Castile and Mauvila strove together
hand to hand, the one with bright sword shining in the sun, the
other with the heavy macana, or the thundering stone hatchet,
then did the armor prove no help, but rather a hurt to the white
warriors, and they fell crushed beneath the blows of Mauvila, and
they fled before the might of her warriors. And great was the
destruction of the strange beast which they call the horse, of
whom the Spaniards took great account, and, for which reason,
the warriors of Mauvila smote and slew them without sparing.
Verily, they slew more than seventy of these giant beasts in the
course of the day's fighting, sending the arrows right through
their huge bodies, so that the feathers only lay hidden in the
bowels of the beast.

“And when the warriors within the walls of Mauvila, who
were commanded by the great king himself, beheld how that the
Spaniards were set upon by the troops of Istalana from behind,
then did he rise and cry aloud:

“`Now is the time for ye to go forth, ye warriors of Mauvila,
and all the followers of the great king! Now send ye up the
great shout of war which leads to victory, and get ye out from
the fortress to the fight, while your women, and the young
daughters of Mauvila gather upon the walls and cry to ye with
words of love and welcome, and sing the while sweet songs of
victory and vengeance! Now to your arms! and go forth and
fight against the Spaniards from the walls, while Istalana, the

white warrior, who is our general, deals death upon them from
behind!'

“`And they went forth, even as he commanded, with a mighty
whoop of victory, which shook the earth and struck terror to the
hearts of the pale faces. And the Spaniards, who rode the mighty
horses, rushed together, like a great hurricane, between the warriors
of Mauvila, who came forth from the fortress, and the foot-soldiers
of the chief Moscoso. And they rushed over many of
our people, and they trampled them under the iron hoofs of the
mighty beasts; but the rest parted each way from before them,
then closed behind them as they sped, delivering swift arrows
that pierced the beasts to the bowels, and pierced the riders to
the brain, so that they rolled together in sore agony, and with
grevious cries upon the stricken earth. And even as the warriors
of Mauvila sank down beneath their beasts, other braves
darted hotly forth to take their places, and it gladdened the big
heart of the great king that day, to behold with what a joy his
braves died for his honor, and to save his country from the
Spaniards. Verily, it is too much to tell; for they alone who
saw could truly report what glorious deaths were that day given
and received, and how the blood gushed from the big heart, and
the brains of brave warriors were beaten out, and how the
bowels of the mighty beasts fell down at the sharp passage of the
lance and knife; for the cunning warriors of Mauvila, while they
lay wounded beneath the horses, smote them suddenly under their
great bellies. And then the beasts grew maddened, and they
fled swiftly as the arrow flies, with a horrid scream, and grievous
groans, the bowels trailing as they sped, until they could fly no
more, and rolled over their riders, the chiefs in armor, whom
they crushed beneath their own weight. And at every horse
thus slain the women and the maidens upon the walls of Mauvila
made a new song of rejoicing. And they sang—

“`Great is the Brave of the Mauvilian who hath slain the
mighty beast of the pale faces.

“`He shall be named the Slayer of the Beast forever, and there
shall be a totem for his bosom, with the picture of the beast.

“`And his name shall be sung forever by the maidens of Mauvila;
and the warriors shall go ever into battle with a cry
upon his name.

“`Verily, he shall pass the blue mountains upon the spirit of
the beast that he hath slain. He shall hunt in the Happy Vallies
on the body of the beast; and when he enters the lodge of
the Great Master of Souls, then shall a voice welcome him with
a cry, saying, make way there—give place all of ye, for hither

comes the warrior that hath slain the Great Beast of the Pale
Faces.'

“`Verily, as the Mauvilian hearkened to this song, great was
the desire of many to become the slayer of the beasts which the
Spanish warriors rode. Yet there were some who sought rather
to take them captive; for wherefore should the warriors of Mauvila
not bestride them, even as the Castilians? But the greater
number preferred to slay them, for they knew not by what
words to make the beasts know their masters, and they feared
the danger from their heels, and they wist not how to guide
them in their flight. So they slew them, whenever they could,
save in few cases, when, as was the counsel of the chief Istalana,
they caught them by their bridles after they had slain their
riders, and led them off into the thickets.

“Now, Istalana, the white warrior, himself had one of these
beasts, upon which he made to ride a strange boy who followed
him in silence—a creature black as the great bear of Nolichucky.
But, when the battle drew nigh, and when he was about to set
upon the troops of Moscoso, he bade this black boy take shelter
with the Princess Coçalla in the thicket, which was at hand, and
where many harbored close unseen. And Istalana raised himself
with a single bound upon the back of this beast; and he had
strong thongs of bear skin with which to guide him; and a great
chair of bear skin, with horns, but without feet, was beneath him,
and upon the back of the beast. And Istalana armed himself
with a long lance which he had made, thrice as great and heavy
as that borne by our people. And he carried besides a great
battle axe of metal which had been taken from the Spaniards.
And, thus armed and mounted, he prepared to ride into the battle
even as the Spaniards rode. But first, he put large bodies
of our warriors in ambush, close in the woods, but beside the
field of battle; and he bade them not show themselves until he
gave them command to do so. And he led but one third of the
Mauvilians into battle against Moscoso, being but a thousand
men. And to these he gave command that they should greatly
scatter themselves; that they should shelter themselves beneath
the trees, wherever these stood, and thus escape the wrath of the
mighty beasts, whom they were to transfix with their arrows. And
he taught them truly, moreover, to aim their darts only at the
faces and the thighs of the Spaniards, for `Verily,' said he,
`What matters if you slay them not outright. Wound them
only, so that they shall become disabled, and how easy then to
run in and brain them with the hatchet of stone.' And, of a
truth, had they followed this counsel of Istalana, then had not so

many great warriors of Mauvila fallen on that day. But it was
in the wildness of their valor, which suffered them to fear no
danger, that so many of them yielded their naked life to the death
shaft of the Spaniard.

“Now, it was even in the moment when the Spanish warriors
who rode were trampling down the braves of Mauvila, striving
to keep them back from the conflict which had begun between
the troops of Istalana and Moscoso, that the chief Istalana appeared
in front, mounted on one of the great beasts of the Spaniards.
Verily, the beast was of a beautiful strength and majesty,
and he had a name with his master, and he was called Bajardo.
And when the Spaniards beheld the beast—though they knew
nothing of the great chief Istalana, (for he was no longer of the
pale sickly color of the white men, but had been made comely
by the war paint of the Mauvilians, and he wore feathers of the
birds of Mauvila and Apalachia, and a robe off saffron-cotton of
our people, and upon his shoulders a rich robe of fur which the
Great King had given him when he made him a chief,)—when, I
say, the Spaniards beheld the beast, they said one to another,
`Is not that Bajardo, the horse which was ridden of old by the
Blackamoor Juan, the Page of the knight of Portugal?' And
they answered, `Verily, it doth seem so. Yet hath he long been
missing.'

“But they saw nothing of the Blackamoor, and they knew not
the knight of Portugal, in the costume and the war paint of the
Mauvilian. And the knight of Portugal, now the chief Istalana,
rode forth towards the warriors of Spain, even to where was
seen, making great show above the rest, the chief, Soto, of Castile,
their general and great warrior. And Soto and his warriors
marvelled much when they saw a red warrior of Mauvila
so gallantly riding towards them; and they wondered more
when they saw him shake out his lance in defiance, waving it
towards Soto himself, and, in the manner of the pale warriors,
thus seeming to bid him come to the conflict. And the captains
and chiefs around Soto were angry, and they said, `Let us go
and punish this insolent savage;' but Soto said—

“`Nay! It is for me to punish his insolence!' And he rode
forth alone, a little ahead of the rest; and, seeing this, Istalana
said to the Mauvilians—

“`Get ye back all, and leave Soto, of Castile, to me. Only see
that others come not between us. If I slay him, or ye see me
overthrown, then fall fiercely upon the chiefs that follow him;
and heed ever the things that I have told ye.'

“And the warriors of Mauvila fell back. And Istalana prepared

himself for Soto, though he carried no weapon but the
heavy lance, and the great axe of metal, such as the Spaniards
bore. And he had no armor upon his limbs, and he wore no
buckler upon his arm. And he went unafraid to the encounter
with Soto, of Castile. And Soto came on briskly, with his lance
couched for the encounter, and he little wist of the enemy who
stood before him; and knew not but that it was a brave native
warrior of Mauvila; for he saw that they were a people the most
daring of all the world, who were willing to fight with any foe, and
with any weapons, or according to any fashion. And knowing
this, Soto said within himself—

“`Now, verily, these warriors of Mauvila have a world of
impudence. Here is a savage that hath gotten him a beast
which he knows not how to manage, yet would he undertake
the warfare with me after my own fashion. Yet, in sooth, he
keeps his seat with a tolerable grace and steadiness, and with
proper teaching might be rendered a right comely and formidable
cavalier. Yet shall I have to punish him with a death thrust,
that I may rebuke the overweening presumption of his people.'

“And so thinking and speaking to himself, Soto, the Castilian,
spurred his beast forward to the meeting with Istalana, who,
nothing loth, or slow, made his beast go to meet him, with a
great rushing. And the two leveled their long lances, and
there was a great cloud that wrapt them; and lo, when the cloud
lifted, there could be seen Soto, the cavalier, falling upon the
ground, and Istalana wheeling his great beast backward, and
making towards Soto, with his lance ready to do him to death
with a thrust.”