268 INDIANS. 



place in all the length and breadth of this immense new 

 State was safe from the incursions of this tribe of daring 

 warriors. Whites were killed and scalped on the very 

 outskirts of San Antonio, then the most populous town in 

 the State ; and a very considerable village, New Braunfels, 

 was sacked, the men massacred, and the women and 

 children carried into captivity. 



The scanty force of regular troops, though well-nigh 

 ubiquitous (as it is always expected to be), failed 

 necessarily to protect so immense an extent of 

 territory from the inroads of the most dashing and 

 venturesome of all Indian raiders. At this juncture a 

 successful effort was made to bring San-ta-na into council 

 with the whites. He was loaded with presents, and 

 induced to make a visit to Washington city. The effect 

 of such a journey on this utterly ' untutored savage ' may 

 be imagined. The immense distances traversed, through 

 country entirely occupied by white men, the numbers of 

 people, the great cities, the quantities of arms and warlike 

 appliances of all kinds, convinced him of the utter futility 

 and certainly disastrous consequences of further warfare 

 with the whites. 



On his return to his tribe he explained, as far as he 

 was able, what he had seen, and attempted to impress on 

 his people the necessity of keeping the peace. They at 

 once attributed his change of mind to bribery, and his 

 account of his journeyiugs and the wonders of the white 

 man's country were set down as fabulous tales ' got up ' 

 for a purpose. He was looked upon with suspicion, as a 

 traitor to the interests of his people, and regarded as a 

 remorseless and criminal liar. His influence declined, his 

 people fell away from him, and ambitious sub-chiefs 

 seized the opportunity of increasing their own power and 

 influence. A few years and this once-powerful leader, 

 heart-broken, deserted by all except two faithful wives, 

 paid the last debt to nature. In a little canon, near the 

 Bandera Pass, was, twenty years ago, a small mound of 



