On the departure of Palomino, Verdugo levied about an hundred well armed men, with whom he resolved to give as much interruption as possible to the schemes of the insurgents in the Tierra Firma.  With this view he determined to make an attempt on Nombre de Dios, which he learnt was occupied only by a small detachment, which had no suspicion of being attacked.  For this purpose, he fitted out three or four small vessels, in which he embarked his troops on the lake of Nicaragua, whence he descended into the gulf of Mexico by the river Chagre, which discharges the waters of that lake into the Atlantic.  Finding some trading vessels at the mouth of that river, he received accurate information from their commanders of the state of affairs in Nombre de Dios, the number of the soldiers which occupied that place, and the different quarters in which they were lodged.  Taking some of these mariners along with him as guides, he contrived to arrive at Nombre de Dios undiscovered about midnight, and went immediately to the house of Juan de Zabala, in which the captains Pedro de Cabrera and Hernan Mexia were quartered with some soldiers; who, roused by the noise, put themselves in a state of defence.  Verdugo and his people set the house on fire, so that Mexia and his soldiers, who defended the staircase, were constrained to rush from the house to save themselves from the flames; and as the night was exceedingly dark, they escaped unseen, and saved themselves in the woods near Nombre de Dios, whence they escaped across the isthmus to Panama.

Hinojosa was much chagrined at this exploit, and determined on revenge; but as he wished to give his conduct on the occasion some appearance of justice, he directed some of the inhabitants of Nombre de Dios to enter a regular accusation before the Doctor Ribera, the governor of that place, giving an exaggerated account of the insolent invasion of his government by Verdugo, who without any just pretence, had levied contributions, imprisoned the magistrates, and invaded the town of Nombre de Dios on his own private authority.  They were likewise instructed to request Ribera to march in person to chastise the insolence of Verdugo, and Hinojosa offered to accompany him on this expedition with his troops.  Ribera, who appears to have been then resident in Panama, agreed to all that was desired, and, accepted the proffered military aid to drive Verdugo from his government; on which Hinojosa and his officers swore to obey his orders as their commander on this expedition, and the troops were put in motion to march across the isthmus.  On receiving notice of the approach of Hinojosa, Verdugo disposed his troops to defend the place, and caused the inhabitants of Nombre de Dios to take up arms, in addition to his own men.  But as it was obvious that the inhabitants shewed no inclination for fighting, Verdugo suspected they might abandon him while engaged, and came therefore to the resolution of abandoning the town, and took