HISTORY OF THE SPANISH CONQUEST OF YUCATAN AND OF THE ITZAS

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Mirones Sends Ek after Delgado. Meanwhile Mirones had received no word
from the men he had sent as an escort to Padre Diego Delgado. He sent
two Spaniards from Zaclun with an Indian servant of his who was very
cunning and who was to act as an interpreter and guide. His name was
Bernardino Ek. These three were to go to Tipu and learn all that they
could of the whereabouts of the Padre and the soldiers. On their
arrival at that village they were told that Delgado and the rest had
gone to the Itzas. The three determined to follow; they did so, and
directly they had reached the lake, canoes came in response to a smoke
signal and bore them to the island, where they were all shut up in a
corral and kept under guard. They made an attempt to escape, Ek leading
the way. He succeeded in getting out on the lake in a very bad canoe
which he found on the beach, but the two Spaniards found themselves
greatly hampered by their bonds and were recaptured. Ek hid in the
woods from those who were pursuing him and eventually made his way to
Salamanca, where he told all that had happened. A report was sent to
Governor Don Diego de Cardenas in Merida, and Ek himself was sent to