CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
THE CAMPAIGN COMMENCED--WE JOIN THE PATRIOT ARMY--ORDERS TO HOLD THEFORT OF GUAMOCO AGAINST ALL ASSAILANTS--A THUNDERSTORM--SURVEY OF THEFORT FROM A HEIGHT--THE ENEMY IN THE DISTANCE--WE TAKE POSSESSION OF THEFORT, AND REPAIR IT--SPANISH OFFICERS APPEAR--TWO OF THEM SHOT BY OURMEN--THE SPANIARDS ATTACK US FIERCELY, BUT ARE DRIVEN BACK--THEY RETURN,TO MEET WITH ANOTHER REPULSE--THE ENEMY AT LENGTH RETIRE--WE EXPECTANOTHER ATTACK.
Important events had meanwhile been taking place. Bolivar had assembleda considerable army, of which upwards of two thousand foreign troops--mostly disbanded British soldiers--formed the most serviceable part.Whenever they met the enemy, the English exhibited the hardihood andcourage which they had displayed on many hard-fought fields in thePeninsula, and lately at Waterloo. We heard, too, that they were led byseveral experienced officers who had taken part in those campaigns.
The fearful atrocities which had been committed by Murillo, Boves,Morales, indeed by almost all the Spanish generals, had aroused thespirit of the people throughout the country, and we looked forward tothe time when we should free our beloved land from the presence of thehated tyrants.
At length being considered in an efficient state, with wild delight wereceived orders to join the Patriot forces. Before long we had severalskirmishes with the enemy, and in a gallant charge--in which Mr Laffandistinguished himself--we put to flight a superior force of KingFerdinand's hussars. These hussars were the scorn of our wild horsemen,and the contrast between the two was great indeed. The arms andappointments of the hussar were a sad encumbrance in this climate. Hehad his lance, sword, carbine, and a brace of pistols; and his clothingand trappings were those of a Hungarian trooper. He was obliged to havehis horse's tail cut short, for on several occasions a Llanero was knownto have galloped up to the rear of a trooper, dismounted in an instant,and seizing the horse by its long tail, by a sudden jerk contrived tothrow it on the ground, and then despatched the rider. Our fellows,when charging, used to lay their heads and bodies on the necks of theirhorses, carrying their lances horizontally in the right hand about theheight of the knee, so that when the Spaniards fired they seldom managedto hit them.
I was seated with Juan in the hut which formed our headquarters. We hadnot troubled ourselves with tents, for our men slept on the groundduring the dry season, except when we were quartered in a farmhouse or avillage. We had been talking over the prospects of the campaign, whenan orderly, riding up to the entrance of the hut, delivered a despatchto Juan. He read it eagerly.
"We are ordered to ride on to the Pass of Guamoco, as no infantry canreach it in time to prevent the Spaniards--who are marching towards it--obtaining possession," he said. "Order the assembly to be sounded,Duncan."
While I hastened to carry out his order, he hurriedly wrote a few lineson a rough piece of paper, which had not a very official appearance, andgave it to the orderly, directing him to deliver it to the general. Ina wonderfully short time we were in the saddle, and moving towards ourdestination.
Juan then told me that he had been directed to take possession of a fortof some strength, which guarded the entrance of a pass through whichBolivar intended to make his way, but which, if occupied by the enemy,would be impracticable. It was thus of the greatest importance that weshould take possession of it. "The general orders me to hold the fortuntil an infantry regiment arrives to garrison it," added Juan.
"I hope they will put the best foot foremost, then, for I have no wishto be cooped up in a fort when we should be doing service in the opencountry," said Mr Laffan.
We pressed forward at a rate which none but light horsemen such as ourscould have kept up. Nothing stopped us: up hills and across valleys wescampered; pushed through forests, or waded over marshes; forded or swamrivers when they crossed our way, without a moment's hesitation. Weran, indeed, a regular steeplechase. We were obliged to camp at night,however, to rest and feed our horses; but during the day we halted not amoment longer than was absolutely necessary. Hardy as were our steeds,they at length began to show signs of fatigue, but Juan encouraged themen to proceed.
"They will have time enough to rest when they get to the fort," hesaid,--"provided the enemy are not there before us."
We had gone on all day, and were still about four leagues from ourdestination when night overtook us. The road ahead, our guide informedus, was worse than any we had yet passed over, and that had been badenough. It would be dangerous, he said, if not altogether impossible,to get our weary steeds over the ground in the dark. Still Juan,obedient to orders, would have continued the route, when a thunderstorm,which had been for some time gathering in the sky, burst over our heads.We were, fortunately, near a farm with a number of outbuildings andsheds about it, beneath which we took shelter. The rain fell literallyin sheets of water, which quickly flooded the road; the lightningflashed with a vividness I had seldom before seen; and the thunderrattled and crashed as if huge rocks, rather than impalpable clouds,were being hurled against each other.
Juan now saw that it would be impracticable to advance until daylight;but he also knew that the enemy would not venture to march, so that,even if they were at an equal distance from the fort, we should getthere first. He accordingly announced that he should remain during thenight; so the men employed themselves in cooking their supper, rubbingdown their horses, and in other ways, until they lay down to sleep inthe driest spot they could find. The officers occupied one of the roomsof the house.
It was somewhere about two or three o'clock in the morning when Juanroused me up.
"I intend to ride on ahead of the party, in order to reach an elevatedspot by daybreak, from whence I can take a survey of the fort and thesurrounding country, and therefore learn the ground on which we maypossibly have to operate," said he. "You will come with me, Duncan?"
I sprang to my feet. "I am ready to set out immediately," I answered,giving myself a shake.
Juan's servant brought us some cups of coffee, which we drank while ourhorses were being got ready, and in less than five minutes we hadmounted. The storm had passed away, and innumerable stars shone out inthe blue sky with wonderful brilliancy. We were obliged, however, towalk our horses, as it was with difficulty we could in many places seethe road. Our last day's journey had been over ground of a considerableelevation, and we were still ascending.
Daylight broke while we were still on the road, and pushing on ourhorses, we reached the spot for which we were aiming. It was a loftybluff with precipitous cliffs below us, beneath which there were severallesser elevations, and beyond, a wide valley opening into a vast plain.We here found ourselves far above the clouds, which spread like a canopyover the scene at our feet--a few tree-tops, the tower of a villagechurch, and here and there, perched on heights, the roofs of somefarmhouses. Immediately below us was the fort we were to occupy. Itseemed as if we could almost leap down into it; though it was in realitytoo far off to be commanded from the height on which we stood, even hadthe enemy dragged up guns; but the path by which we had come wasaltogether impracticable for artillery, so we had no fear on that score.A short distance beyond the fort ran a rapid stream, which, descendingfrom the mountains on our left, passed through the valley, andcontributed materially to the strength of the position, as troopsmarching to the attack would have to ford it in face of the fire fromthe garrison. As far as we could see, the fort was still unoccupied;but the mist prevented us ascertaining positively if this was the case.
"I would that the clouds were away," said Juan, "to learn whether theyare now concealing our approaching foes!"
Here and there the mist appeared to be breaking or rising, and wewatched eagerly for the moment when the whole face of the country wouldbe exposed to view.
"Our men ought by this time to have got nearly round to the fort,"observed Juan, looking at his watch; "and once inside, I hope that weshall be able to defend it against the Spaniards, though they may comeonly a few minutes after we have taken possession."
The
sun now rose over the mountain-tops, his beams gradually dispellingthe mists which had obscured the view. Still they hung over the valley,and we remained uncertain as to whether the enemy had had time to reachthe fort below us. While we were thus eagerly watching, we caught sightof the head of our column rounding the foot of the mountain; but thoughvisible to us, it could not as yet be seen by any one in the fort, andwe were thus still in doubt as to the important fact we wished toascertain.
"I gave directions to Captain Laffan to send forward and find outwhether the fort was occupied, before exposing the troop to view," saidJuan.
As he spoke we saw two of the horsemen ride forward, and Juan resolvedto remain until the result was known. We now took a careful survey ofthe country before us.
"I can nowhere see a body moving which has the appearance of troops,"observed Juan. "But there are so many woods and inequalities in theground by which they might be concealed, that we must not trust to that.If, however, they have not already got possession of the fort, we shallhave ample time to make such preparations as may be required for ourdefence. Duncan, take you the glass and see if you can discoveranything which may have escaped my eye."
I did as he requested, and swept the surrounding country again andagain. At last I saw what I thought looked like a dark shadow creepingslowly along over the brow of a hill from the westward, and descendingtowards us. Here and there was a slight glitter, as if the sun's rayswere playing on polished steel.
I handed the glass to Juan, who was soon satisfied that what we saw wasa body of troops. As, however, they were still some leagues away, andas they had a river to cross and some heights to climb, it would beseveral hours before they could reach the fort. We now felt sure thatit, at all events, was not yet occupied. Dismounting, therefore, we ledour horses down a steep path, by which we were at length able to rejoinour regiment. About the same time the scouts came back with theinformation that the fort was unoccupied. We accordingly rode forwardand took possession.
It consisted of a strong stockade composed of whole logs of wood, with adeep trench in front of it. The huts were in a very dilapidatedcondition, but they would still afford some shelter to the garrison;while a stone tower in the centre, also surrounded by a trench, formed asort of citadel as well as a storehouse. It comprised a ground floor,with a vault beneath, which served as a magazine, and two stories abovewithout any divisions. In one of these were a few rough articles offurniture, which had been intended for the use of officers; and in theupper story, which had been used as an hospital, were a number ofbedsteads covered with hides; while above the roof was a loopholed wallrunning all round, for musketry. Behind the fort was a wide spacecompletely protected by impracticable heights and the fort in front, onwhich our horses could be turned out to graze. The Spaniards had mostunaccountably left behind three guns, which, though spiked, wereserviceable in other respects; and in the storeroom we found shot forthem.
We had brought, I should have said, nearly two dozen horse-loads ofammunition--including powder for the guns which we had hoped to find--aswell as the same number of animals laden with provisions. But, ofcourse, as they had to travel as fast as our horses, they could carrybut a very limited load.
Not a moment was lost in setting to work to repair the fort. Juan toldthe men how we had seen the enemy approaching, and consequently theylaboured away with might and main. Trees were cut down from thehill-side above the fort, and dragged in to repair the stockade. Thetrench was cleared out; and shelter erected for the horses, which itwould be absolutely necessary to retain inside in case of requiring themon an emergency. The men, accustomed from their earliest days to hardlabour, toiled away without cessation. By night we had repaired thefort, and were ready for our enemies should they appear; but as yet wehad not got a sight of them, and I began to fancy that Juan and I hadbeen mistaken. Under Mr Laffan's directions, our farriers hadcontrived to extract the nails with which the guns were spiked, and allthree were mounted and got into position during the night. A vigilantwatch was kept, for should the enemy really have been approaching, theywould very probably attack us before daylight.
Morning, however, came, and no sign of the foe being in sight. Thoughwe had a flag with us, and a flagstaff stood in the fort, Juan would nothave it hoisted; while the men were directed to keep as much under coveras possible, so that the Spaniards might not discover we had possessionof the fort.
All the work outside had been finished, but we continued strengtheningit, and making such, improvements as were necessary in the inside.
It was about noon when one of the sentries gave notice that he saw somepeople on the opposite side of the river. We watched them. Evidentlythey were Spanish officers reconnoitring the fort, and from theirmovements they seemed to doubt whether it was already occupied. Atlast, apparently satisfied that they were in time to take possession,two of them began to ford the stream. Before they had got half-wayover, however, several of our men, without orders, fired, and they bothfell, being carried down by the current. Juan rebuked his followers forthis wanton act--at which the men seemed very much astonished. Severalothers who were following, and of whom we caught a glimpse, immediatelyretreated.
We now expected every moment to see the main body approaching to theassault, as it was not likely they would allow us to retain peaceablepossession of so important a post, if they fancied they could captureit. Mr Laffan had charge of the guns, with the few men among us whohad ever had any practice with artillery. There were, however, no morethan two to each gun who had loaded and fired one before. Mr Laffanhad to keep running backwards and forwards, to see that they put in thepowder first and the shot afterwards, and rammed it home. In a shorttime the Spaniards advanced under cover, showed themselves on the bankof the stream, where they extended their line, and commenced a hot fireat the fort. We, keeping under shelter, did not reply to it until theycommenced crossing the stream, when we opened on them with our guns.They evidently had not supposed that we possessed artillery; for theywere at once thrown into confusion, and began to retreat, when numberswere brought down by our musketry, while our guns, being reloaded, againsent their shot among them.
We now ran up the Republican flag and shouted "Victory;" but we weremistaken in supposing that the enemy were put to flight. In the courseof a short time a far larger body appeared, led by other officers, whobehaved with great courage. At once they dashed across the stream,--wereceiving them with a hot fire, our men loading and discharging theirpieces as fast as they could, while our guns, considering theinexperience of the gunners, were well served. I could scarcely helpsmiling as I saw my old dominie spring from gun to gun, and point it atthe thickest of the foe. One of the officers who appeared in commandmust have fallen, and although the others behaved with considerablegallantry, they failed to induce the men to come up to the stockades.Once more they retired across the stream, and many lost their lives.
After this they contented themselves with getting behind such cover asthey could find, and firing at the fort. Had they possessed guns, thetables would, I suspect, soon have been turned, as our comparativelylight defence must quickly have been knocked to pieces. The thicknessof the stockades, however, prevented their bullets from entering, and afew only of our men who exposed themselves were hit,--two being killed,and three wounded. Out of our small garrison, however, that number wasof consequence.
We continued firing away with the guns and musketry at the points wherethe Spaniards were concealed, but what damage we produced among them wecould not tell. This style of fighting lasted several hours, while weevery moment expected to be again attacked. Not a Spaniard who hadfallen wounded was allowed to live, for our bullets quickly put them outof their pain.
At length the firing ceased, and we saw the enemy retiring--a round shotor two sent after them by Mr Laffan expediting their movements. Thevictory was decidedly on our side; but we knew full well that we mightagain be attacked by a superior force, and perhaps that very night.Therefore, as before,
a vigilant watch was kept, so that, should theyattempt a surprise, we might be ready to receive them.