By the fall of 1725 the Carolinians had provided the Cavetas, Apalachicolas, Casistas, Uchizes, Talapuses, and other Lower Creek tribes with enough supplies to make war on the Yamasee villages new Apalache. Somehow, however, word of the impending attack reached Spanish authorities at Fort San Marcos, who acted quickly to protect their Yamasee allies by organizing special patrols and putting the garrison on the alert. One such patrol under Lieutenant Juan Fernandez encountered the Lower Creeks as they moved into Apalache. The Indians greeted Fernandez warmly and explained that their only quarrel was with their mortal enemies the Yamasees, not with the Spaniards, whom the Lower Creeks regarded as friends. Unable to dissuade the Indians from making their attack and unwilling to engage them, Fernandez rushed back to Apalache to empty the Yamasee villages and to bring the Indians together in Fort San Marcos. The Lower Creeks advanced only to find, to their surprise, the Yamasee villages deserted. Rather than continue to the fort where they would have to face the Spanish cannon the Talapuses, Uchizes, and their allies returned to the villages on the Chattahoochee. [Note 38: gov to king 11/20/1725] (Tepaske GSF)