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On the same day, an officer named Cadeguala, who had obtained great reputation in the Arancanian army for his courage and military skill, was proclaimed toqui by the officers. About this time, while the Araucanians were valiantly endeavouring to oppose the Spanish arms, the English also planned an expedition against them in that remote quarter of the world.
As these terms were rejected, Cadeguala determined to endeavour to shorten the siege in a different manner. He presented himself one day before the walls mounted on a fine horse which he had taken from the governor, and boldly defied Garcia Ramon the commander of the garrison to single combat at the end of three days.
The two champions, having taken their distance set spurs to their horses and ran their course with such fury that Cadeguala fell at the first rencounter, pierced through the body by the lance of his adversary. He refused however to acknowledge himself vanquished, and even endeavoured to remount his horse to renew the combat, but died in the attempt.
Cadeguala, the new toqui, signalized the commencement of his administration by several successful inroads into the Spanish possessions, the particulars of which are not recorded. Having notice of the alarm in Spanish Chili occasioned by the English squadron, he resolved to avail himself of that diversion of the Spanish forces to make an effort against the city of Angol by surprise.
On receiving notice of the investiture of Puren, the governor hastened to its relief with a strong reinforcement, but was opposed on his march by Cadeguala at the head of an hundred and fifty Araucanian horse armed with lances, and compelled to retreat after a long and obstinate combat, in which several fell on both sides.
Originally it consisted entirely of foot; but in their first battles with the Spaniards, perceiving the vast advantage derived by their enemies from the employment of cavalry, they soon applied themselves to procure a good breed of horses; insomuch that in 1568, only seventeen years after their first encountering the Spaniards, they had several squadrons of cavalry; and by the year 1585, the Araucanian cavalry was regularly organized by the toqui Cadeguala.
It would appear that the Araucanians had now become less scrupulous than formerly in their mode of making war; for Cadeguala was not abandoned by any of his officers on this occasion, as Caupolican had formerly been in his attempt to surprise Canete by similar means.
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