XI 
SAN CARLOS 
351 
Ave Maria, when all were praying in the church, 
I betook myself to the place of rendezvous, where 
I found my companions already assembled with 
their families. Our dispositions were speedily 
completed, and we set ourselves to await the event, 
our arms being so placed as to be seized at a 
moment's warning. But though throughout the 
night parties of drunken Indians paraded the 
streets with tambourines and carizos, it passed 
over without our being attacked. You may 
imagine our state of anxiety, which must have 
been greater on the part of my comrades than on 
mine, surrounded as they were by their trembling 
families. Whenever a drunken party was heard 
approaching the house with shouts, beating of 
drums, and occasional firing of muskets, our con- 
versation was suspended, and with our hands on 
our weapons we awaited what for aught we knew 
might be the commencement of the attack. 
Towards 4 o'clock in the afternoon of the 
following day, though there still remained a con- 
siderable quantity of bureche, and indeed fresh 
supplies had come in, every one had left off drink- 
ing. At sunset not a person was to be seen in 
the streets and all was still as death. The Portu- 
guese, who had lived in San Carlos many years, 
and had never seen the night of St. John's Day 
passed otherwise than in drinking, dancing, and 
quarrelling, were filled with apprehension that this 
unwonted silence was the prelude to an attack, 
and that the Indians were merely keeping them- 
selves sober for the sake of making it with more 
effect. We have reasons to conclude that such 
was really their intention, one of the principal 
