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reached Hidalgo's mission of San Juan, forty miles below Eagle Pass. Hidalgo had gone to Querétaro, but the other missionaries and Captain Ramón at the post received St. Denis hospitably, and Ramón wrote to Hidalgo that, in view of the French danger, "it looks to me as though God would be pleased that your Reverence would succeed in your desires." This letter reveals Father Hidalgo's finesse. While Ramón entertained St. Denis and dispatched messengers to the authorities in Mexico City asking what he should do with him, St. Denis improved his time by winning the heart of Ramón's granddaughter, Manuela Sánchez, who later went with him to Natchitoches and there reigned for years as the Grand Dame of the post, becoming godmother, as the baptismal records show, of most of the children of the place.

A new French menace had arisen. The Viceroy of Mexico hastily decided to found new missions in Texas and to protect them this time by strong garrisons. St. Denis, having by his marriage and his cleverness ingratiated himself with the Spaniards, was engaged at five hundred dollars to guide the Texas expedition, which was commanded by Captain Domingo Ramón, his wife's cousin. It looks more like a family affair than an international

row. Meanwhile Hidalgo had given the Viceroy a satisfactory explanation of his random missives and had received permission to go to Texas with the expedition. The colony crossed the Río Grande in April, 1716. It consisted of sixty-five persons, including soldiers, nine friars, and six women, a thousand head of cattle, sheep, and goats, and the equipment for missions, farms, and garrison. At the head of the missionaries went two of Spain's most distinguished men in America, Father Espinosa, the well-known historian, and Father Margil, whose great services in the American wilds will probably result in his canonization by the Papal Court. The Asinais welcomed the Spaniards and helped them to erect four missions and a garrison near the Neches and Angelina rivers. Shortly afterward a mission was built at Los Adaes (now Robeline) Louisiana, within fifteen miles of St. Denis's post of Natchitoches. The success of the French traders with the powerful tribes, the coming of John Law's colonists to Louisiana, and the need of a halfway base, inspired the Spanish authorities to send out another colony, to occupy a site at the beautiful San Pedro Springs, on the San Antonio River, which lay on the direct route between the Neches River and the

settlement at San Juan, near Eagle Pass. Early in 1718 the new colony, numbering some sixty whites, with friars and Indian neophytes, founded San Antonio a few months before New Orleans was born. And Father Olivares began the San Antonio, or Alamo, Mission, which was later to become famous as the shrine of Texas liberty.

Spain had at last occupied eastern Texas, but her hold was not long undisturbed. In the following year France and Spain went to war over European questions, and the conflict was echoed in the American wilderness, all the way from Pensacola to Platte River. Pensacola was captured by the French, recaptured by the Spaniards, and taken again by Bienville. The French at Natchitoches descended upon Texas and the garrison retreated to San Antonio without striking a blow. A plan for conquering Coahuila and New Mexico was drawn up on paper in Louisiana, perhaps by St. Denis. Eight hundred Frenchmen and a large body of Indian allies were to march overland from Natchitoches, while a flotilla sailed along the Texas coast and ascended the Río Grande. It was La Salle's old plan in a new guise. St. Denis was made "commander of the River of Canes" (the Colorado), and two expeditions were sent in 1720 and

1721 to take possession of Matagorda Bay. Both of them failed.

In New Mexico the Governor had heard, before the war broke out, that the French were settling on Platte River and, on his recommendation, the Viceroy ordered that alliances be made with the tribes to the northeast, a colony planted at El Cuartelejo in Colorado, and a presidio established on the North Platte - that is, at some point in the present Nebraska or Wyoming. In August, 1720, an expedition from New Mexico penetrated to the North Platte but, not finding any signs of a French colony, turned back. On the South Platte, in Colorado, it was almost totally annihilated by Indians armed with French weapons. Apparently tribes from as far north as Wisconsin took part in this fray, a fact which indicates the scope and power of the early French trader's influence. The end of the war in Europe caused the Viceroy to abandon his plans for colonizing to the north of New Mexico. The treaty of peace restored Pensacola to Spain.

Meanwhile affairs had moved apace on the Texas border. The Marquis of Aguayo, then Governor of Coahuila, undertook the reconquest, mainly at his own expense. Before the end of 1720 he had raised eight companies of cavalry, comprising over

five hundred men and five thousand horses. It was the largest military expedition to enter the northern interior since the days of De Soto. Leaving Monclova in November, Aguayo strengthened San Antonio, and sent a garrison to occupy Matagorda Bay. Peace had now been declared, and at the Neches River Aguayo was met by St. Denis, who, swimming his horse across the stream for a parley, informed Aguayo that the war was over and agreed to permit an unrestricted occupation of the abandoned posts. Proceeding east, Aguayo reëstablished the six abandoned missions and the presidio of Dolores, and added a presidio at Los Adaes, facing Natchitoches. The expedition had been a success, but the poor horses paid a terrible price for the bloodless victory. The return journey to San Antonio, through a storm of sleet, was so severe that of his five thousand beasts only fifty were left alive when he arrived in January, 1722.

Aguayo had fixed the hold of Spain on Texas. It was he who clinched the nails driven by León, Massanet, Hidalgo, and Ramón. There were now in Texas ten missions, four presidios, and four centers of settlement - Los Adaes, Nacogdoches, San Antonio, and La Bahía (Matagorda Bay). A governor was appointed and the capital of the province