On the same day which was rendered so memorable by the assault of the Tobas, when we thought ourselves out of danger, ten savage horsemen, issuing from a neighbouring wood about sun-set, presented themselves to our sight, but quickly disappeared. The general opinion was that they were spies, and this gave us occasion to suspect that the enemies were lurking disguised in ambush, in the intent of returning at night to surprize us. The unusual and universal barking of the dogs, during the whole night, confirmed our fears. To ascertain whether any of the enemy were lying in wait, I armed myself at ten o'clock at night, and traversed the whole neighbourhood, the plain, the wood, and the shores of the adjacent lake, followed by the four Spaniards. Having examined every place in the vicinity, I became more tranquil, and wrote an account to the Governor at Asumpcion of the state of our affairs. With my letter I sent, wrapped up in my bloody shirt sleeve, the arrow which had wounded me; a trophy of the religious obedience which had fixed me to this perilous colony. The arrow and the sleeve stained with my blood attracted all eyes in the metropolis, and were honourably preserved as monuments. The Spaniards judged of the wound, and of my danger, partly from the accounts of the Abiponian messengers, partly from the size of the barbed arrow; and, as report usually swells in its progress, my acquaintance mourned me as dead, and offered the sacrifice of the host for my atonement. Others, knowing me to be still alive, honoured me with the title of Confessor of the Lord; as my administering baptism to the Cacique of the Tobas was the occasion of my receiving the wound. The report of the assault and defence of the colony was spread in the metropolis with great augmentations, when those four soldiers, who had partaken of the danger, and been spectators of the whole conflict, arrived. They declared upon their honour that we were attacked by eight hundred savages, more terrible to behold than hobgoblins; they extolled to the skies the bravery of the Abiponian defendants, who were so few in comparison with the enemy; and they openly declared that their own safety and that of the rest was principally owing to me, who had dared to approach within ten steps of the savages, and to contend with them so long in the open plain. But I always gratefully acknowledged, that, being destitute of all human aid in repulsing the savages, we were preserved in our extreme danger by divine assistance.