When the lieutenant came to the house, Quibio sent another message to desire that he might not come in, for though wounded by an arrow, he would come out to receive him, and he acted in this manner to prevent his women from being seen, these Indians being exceedingly jealous on that score. He came out accordingly and sat down at the door, requesting that the lieutenant alone might approach; who did so, ordering the rest to fall on whenever they saw him seize hold of the cacique by the arm. He asked Quibio some questions concerning his wound, and the affairs of the country, by means of the before-mentioned interpreter, who was exceedingly fearful, as he knew the intentions of the cacique to destroy the Christians, which he thought might easily be done by the great numbers of people in that province, as he had as yet no experience of the strength of our people or the power of their weapons. Pretending to look where the cacique had been wounded; the lieutenant took hold of his arm, and kept so firm a grasp, though Quibio was a strong man, that he held him fast till the other five Christians came up to his assistance, one of whom fired off his musket, upon which all the rest ran out from their ambush and surrounded the house, in which there were thirty people old and young; most of whom were taken, and none wounded, for on seeing their king a prisoner they made no resistance. Among the prisoners there were some wives and children of the cacique, and some inferior chiefs, who said they had a great treasure concealed in the adjoining wood, and offered to give the whole of it for the ransom of their cacique and themselves. But the lieutenant would not listen to their proposals, and ordered Quibio, with his wives and children, and the principal people who had been made prisoners, to be immediately carried on board, before the country took the alarm, and remained with most of his men to go after the kindred and subjects of the captured cacique, many of whom had fled. John Sanchez of Cadiz, one of our pilots, and a man of good reputation, was appointed to take charge of the prisoners, and more especially of Quibio, who was bound hand and foot, and on being charged to take particular care that he might not escape, he said he would give them leave to pull his beard off if he got away. Sanchez and his prisoners embarked with an escort in the boats to go down the river of Veragua to the ships; and when within half a league of its mouth, Quibio complained that his hands were bound too tight, on which Sanchez compassionately loosened him from the seat of the boat to which he was tied, and held the rope in his hand. A little after this, observing that he was not very narrowly watched, Quibio sprung into the water, and Sanchez let go the rope that he might not be dragged in after him. Night was coming on, and the people in the boat were in such confusion that they could not see or hear where he got on shore, for they heard no more of him than if a stone had fallen into the water and disappeared. That the rest of the prisoners might not likewise escape, they held on their way to the ships much ashamed of their carelessness.

Next day, perceiving that the country was very mountainous and woody, and that there were no regular towns, the houses being scattered about at irregular distances, and consequently that it would be very difficult to pursue the Indians from place to place, the lieutenant returned to the ships. He presented to the admiral the plunder of Quibios house, worth about 300 ducats in gold plates, little eagles, small quills which they string and wear about their arms and legs, and gold twists which they wear about their heads in the nature of a coronet. After deducting the fifth part for their Catholic majesties, he divided all the rest among the people who had been employed in the expedition, giving one of those crowns or coronets to the lieutenant in token of victory.

All things being provided for the maintenance of the colony, and the rules and regulations by which it was to be governed being settled, it pleased GOD to send so much rain that the river swelled and opened the mouth sufficiently to float the ships over the bar. Wherefore the admiral resolved to depart for Hispaniola without delay, that he might forward supplies for this place. Taking advantage of a calm that the sea might not beat upon the month of the river, we went out with three of the ships, the boats towing a-head. Yet though they were lightened as much as possible, every one of the keels rubbed on the sand which was fortunately loose and moving; and we then took in with all expedition every thing that was unloaded for making the ships draw less water. While we lay upon the open coast, about a league from the mouth of the river, it pleased GOD miraculously to induce the admiral to send his boat on shore for water, which proved the cause of preventing the loss of our people who had been left at Belem. For when Quibio saw that the ships had withdrawn, and could therefore give no aid to the people who were left, he assaulted the Christian colony at the very time when our boat went ashore. The approach of the Indians was not perceived, on account of the thickness of the wood, and when they came within ten paces of the houses they set up a great shout, and fell upon our people suddenly and violently, throwing their javelins at all whom they espied, and even at the houses, which being only covered with palm-tree leaves, were easily stuck through, and several of our men were wounded within them. In the first surprize, four or five of our people were wounded before they could put themselves into a posture of defence; but the lieutenant being a man of great resolution; went out against the Indians with a spear, with seven or eight followers, and attacked the Indians so violently, that he soon made them retire to the adjoining wood. Thence they returned skirmishing with our people, advancing to throw their javelins and then retiring, as the Spaniards do in the sport called juego de cannas; but after having experienced the sharp edges of our swords, and being furiously assailed by a dog belonging to the Christians, they at length fled, having killed one Christian, and wounded seven, among whom was the lieutenant, who was wounded in the breast.

From the foregoing danger two Christians took care to preserve themselves; which I shall relate, to show the comicalness of the one who was an Italian of Lombardy, and the gravity of the other who was a Spaniard. When the Lombard was running away to hide himself, James Mendez called him to turn back; let me alone you devil, said Sebastian, for I am going to secure my person. The Spaniard was Captain James Tristan, whom the admiral had sent in the boat, who never went out of it with his men though the affray was close beside the river; and being blamed for not assisting the Christians, he excused himself by saying that those on shore might run to the boat for shelter, and so all might perish, for if the boat were lost the admiral would be in danger at sea, and he would therefore do no more than he had been commanded, which was to take in water, and to see if those on shore needed any assistance. He resolved therefore to take in water immediately, that he might carry an account to the admiral of what had happened, and went up the river with that view, to where the salt water did not mix with the fresh, though some advised him not to go for fear of being attacked by the Indians in their canoes; but he answered that he feared no danger since he was sent for that purpose by the admiral. He accordingly went up the river which is very deep within the land, and so closely beset on both sides with thick trees, that there is scarcely any possibility to go on shore, except at some fishermens paths where they hide their canoes. When the Indians perceived that he had got about a league above the colony, they rushed from the thickets on both sides of the river in their canoes, and assaulted him boldly on all sides, making hideous shouts and blowing their horns. They had great odds against our people, being in great numbers, and their canoes very swift and manageable, especially the small ones belonging to the fishermen, which hold three or four men in each, one of whom paddles and can easily turn it about as he pleases, while the others threw their javelins at our boat. I call them javelins because of their bigness, though they have no iron heads, but are only pointed with fish bones. In our boat there were seven or eight men to row, and three or four more with the captain to fight; and as the rowers could not defend themselves from the javelins, they were forced to quit the oars to handle their targets. But the Indians poured upon them in such multitudes from all sides, advancing and retiring in good order as they thought fit, that they wounded most of the Christians, especially Captain Tristan who was hurt in many places; and though he stood unmoved, encouraging his men, his bravery availed him nothing, for he was beset on all sides and could not stir or make use of his musket, and at length he was pierced by a javelin in the eye and fell down dead. All the rest shared his fate except one man named John da Noia a native of Cadiz; he by good fortune fell into the water in the height of the combat, and gaining the shore by diving made his way through the thickest of the woods to the colony, where he brought the melancholy news of the destruction of all his companions.