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After leaving the gate, San Piedro, I continued my walk along the
inside of the wall until I came to the nezt gate which I found guarded
in like manner with the first. In front of it was drawn up a squadron
of cavalry as if about to issue forth into the country, and also a battalion
of infantry. Several mounted officers were grouped near the gate
in conversation, and seemed much excited. Suspecting some interesting
movement was about to take place, I drew as near them as I could
without peril to myself, and watched the proceedings. Upon the wall
above the gate, I saw two officers standing with spy-glasses surveying
the country, and every moment or two reporting to the general, who sat
upon his horse below surrounded by his staff. In their rear was the
cavalry, about one hundred and fifty fierce looking fellows armed with
carbines, pistols in holders, and huge carbines slung across their backs.
Every man wore a mustache, which added to their ferocious aspect.—
They were dressed in blue jackets and gray trowsers. Silent and expectant
they sat immovable in their high pommeled saddles, each with
his sword drawn and in his hand and resting across the saddle-bow.—
Behind them the infantry, in scarlet coats and white trowsers with tall
caps crested with horse hair, were drawn up in a line. The little
wicket in the great gate was opened as I came up by the captain of
the guard, and a colonel alighting, took a peep through into the green
but treeless country.

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All at once the officers on the battlement above the gate shouted
some word of alarm, and instantly the colonel was in his saddle, the
wide leaved gates were thrown open, the draw-bridge lowered, and the
word `forward' being given, the cavalry wheeled rapidly into column
and advanced at a round trot through the gate and over the resounding
bridge spanning the moat. The infantry wheeled and followed at a
brisk march, but the cavalry without waiting for them pursued their
way headed by their colonel, (a gallant looking fellow to whom I had
sold many a glass of soda!) towards a cluster of little hills strewn with
ruins about a mile distant. I could follow their course with my eye,
as the gates remained open in order that the general, who remained
within the defences, might watch their progress. By stooping a little
I could see underneath his horse what was going on quite as well as he
did in his saddle. In five minutes after the cavalry quitted the drawbridge,
they disappeared about three quarters of a mile distant in a sort
of ravine. The infantry did not follow exactly in their course, but detoured
more to the left, yet moving forward at a steady trot.

`Have they yet reached the place?' called out the general to the officers
stationed over the gate-way.

`They are very near, senor,' one of them answered. `They will
not fail to cut off the party.'

`What party?' I asked of a Spaniard who stood near me, and whom
I had often seen in the shop, for he had a great fancy for brandied soda-water.

`They have discovered a detachment of about a hundred Patriot
cavalry hovering about the old convent Santa Maria,' he answered;
`and suspecting some mischief may grow out of it, they have sent out
a detachment to disperse them. General Torres fears that they intend
to mount a battery upon the walls of the convent, which would
annoy the city not a little. He therefore takes this prompt step to drive
them away.'

I thanked the Spanish gentleman for his information, kindly given
as it was, with a slow and distinct enunciation so that I could understand
each word; for he seemed to appreciate the difficulty of a foreigner's
unaccustomed ear in getting hold of the meaning of rapidly uttered
sentences, though each word in it, if distinctly pronounced would be
comprehended. I always desired those who replied to me to speak
slowly, which they always cheerfully did; and I found them invariably
happy to oblige me, and ready to take pains to make me understand
every word they uttered. In this manner, and by talking Spanish with
all and as often as possible, I rapidly acquired the language; so that I
opened conversations with confidence with the citizens. But to enable
me to do this I studied three or four hours daily. My grammar and
phrase book was almost always in my hand; and in the shop when I
was not drawing soda I was studying words and phrases. Every thing
I said in English to my comrades, I mentally put the same into Spanish.
In this way I learned rapidly, and became an interpreter oftentimes for
my less ambitious friends.

In about ten minutes after the detachment was hidden by the bare
hillocks it re-appeared upon the ground in front of the convent. At the

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same instant I saw the Patriot cavalry issue at a gallop from the ruins,
which they had doubtless been inspecting for the purpose of mounting
cannon upon it; for Llavelleja (I afterwards learned) was at their head.
He dashed past the Brazilian horse discharging their carbines at them
in a volley as they rode by, and scoured away for their camp four miles
off. The Brazilians tumbled from their horses in great numbers, and
were for a moment thrown into great confusion. The General cursed
as he saw this, and seemed almost furious, while his officers and the
captain of the guard swore like demons incarnate. The cavalry, however,
soon rallied and spurred on after the Ranchero horse, filling the
air with their cries and the ringing of pistols and carbines. The infantry
pressed on to intercept the Patriot horse at a stone bridge which
they would have to cross by a road which led nearer to the walls of the
city than the convent was. The infantry reached it first and presented
a boid front. The Patriots as they came up did not draw rein, but
letting off their carbines in their faces, and then drew their sabres and
in an instant they cut their way through them, fairly riding them down.
The next instant they were lost to the eye in a hollow beyond a low
hill. The Brazilian cavalry came up in a few seconds afterwards, and
without waiting to help the wounded infantry soldiers, dashed across
the bridge in full pursuit.

`That pursuing detachment will hardly return again to the city,' said
the old Spaniard to me quietly as we stood watching the two clouds of
dust which indicated the position of the two parties. `The Patriots,
when they get so many Brazilians outside of the walls will not willingly
let them back again!'

`The Colonel will fall into an ambush,' said the General, speaking
with solicitude. `He is rash to pursue so far. Fire a gun for his
re-call.'

A cannon was discharged from the top of the wall. At the same
moment we saw the two clouds of dust unite. The report of fire-arms
reached us but faintly, as they were full two miles from the gate. The
General became excited. He gave a few orders with rapidity. His
aids galloped away with the speed of the wind. In ten minutes they
returned at the head of a regiment of cavalry mounted in hot haste,
half the men putting on their accoutrements and fastening them as
they rode. As they came up to the gate, the General, who was a grey-headed
warrior of sixty, placed himself at their head, and the whole
body of horse began to pour through the gate like a river of helmets
and banners. They numbered full five hundred men.

The gate was wide open! The country was all before me! Why
could I not manage to get out with the rest unperceived. In two hours
I could reach the patriot camp.

Such were my reflections as the long columns of horse was trotting
past me. A man in the rear platoon whom I had seen once at Sauls,
(who said he was the only honest soldier he had known) dropped his
helmet off. It fell at my feet. I picked it up and handed it to him.
As I did so, I asked upon the instant impulse, if he would let me mount
behind him!

`Spring!' he answered as readily.

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I obeyed, placing my foot upon his, and the next moment was galloping
over the draw-bridge in the rear platoon of the squadron! My
sensations I will not try to depict. My blood thrilled with excitement.
I caught the enthusiasm of the time and scene, and only wished I was
behind a Patriot instead of an Imperial soldier, or rather upon my
own horse riding in their columns against the Brazilian troops. We
moved forward at a rapid trot, sometimes at a gallop. The onward
motion of a large body of cavalry, the jingling of spurs and chains,
the clattering of sabre-sheaths, the tramp of two thousand hoofs,
the flaunting of banners, the glitter of arms, armour, for many of the
cavalry wore cuirasses and steel helmets, the warlike swell of bugles,
and the loud voices of command, all contributed to render it one of
the most striking scenes of my life.

The road along which we moved was an unfenced pathway, winding
about low hillocks of offal which surrounded the walls like huge ant
hills. Not a tree or shrub grew near it. We at length came to the
bridge where the infantry had been overthrown. We passed them
drawn up in column. The ground was strewn with the dead and
wounded. The General lingered a moment to order them to march
back to the city with their wounded after stopping and burying their
dead. We then swept past them across the bridge and over the bodies
and up-turned faces of men whom I had seen half an hour before leave
the gate full of life and warlike ambition. The vultures already scented
the blood from afar, and were gathering from all quarters of the
horizon to the banquet. I could see them approaching at first seemingly
no bigger than flies, then growing larger and larger to the eye
till they hovered above the bridge with their huge flapping wings circling
about and descending lower and lower at each revolution, ready
after we should pass to alight upon the carcases of the dead. My soul
sickened at the sight of them, and nearly cooled the warlike fire of my
blood. After crossing the bridge we galloped on at top speed for half
a mile over a barren field covered with briars and strewn with skeletons
of horses, cattle, dogs, and other glaring bones which once made
up a human frame. After crossing this heath we entered a pass between
two low ridges. I here looked back. The city with its high
wall and towers, and dome, and battle-mounted roofs rose with imposing
majesty from the heath-like suburbs which environed it. It looked
like some gigantic citadel, and to my eyes seemed impregnable.—
To the right the masts of the shipping in the harbor were visible, like
a leafless forest; and farther beyond towered the Mount with its castle
above which waved numerous flags. The sides of the pass soon shut
out this view, and I had time to reflect upon my novel situation and the
result likely to follow.

`Here I am,' thought I, `astride a Brazilian horse, behind a Brazilian
trooper riding for life and death to deliver a party of the Emperor's
troops from a Patriot force. In the first place I had no business
to leave the city without my three companions. I have gone beyond
my instructions; for I have been especially instructed to take a survey
of the walls but not to go beyond them. My absence, too, cannot be
explained to them, if I escape from this troop and go to the Patriot

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camp, as there is no communication with the city. It may also place
them under suspicion, and prevent them from leaving the city when
they wish.'

These and other reflections led me to resolve to go back with the
troop and not attempt to quit it, as I was planning to do. Much as I
wished to join the Patriots, I felt that I had no right to do so, under
the circumstances, without my friends. It would be an ungenerous
and selfish desertion of them and their fortunes; and I therefore resolved
to stick to the trooper's saddle, and return with him if he went
back alive; but avail myself of the opportunity of getting all the
knowledge I could. I also thought that when I returned that we might
manage to slip out of the gate, one at the time, and so effect our purpose.

My cogitations, which my trooper had not disturbed by any notice
of me, were now interrupted by the report of carbines at the head of
the column, and loud orders from the General to push forward.

`Now,' thought I,' `here's fighting, and I am in for a bullet or two,
or a sabre-cut!' I however, stuck close to my man, feeling sure that
a bullet would hit him before it would hit me, as he was tolerably portly
and looked likely to keep all the lead that went into his body. I felt
however, helpless, without any weapon—though I did not like using
one against the Patriot's whom I supposed were ahead—and took out
my pistol. It was a small affair, and not having much faith in it, I
asked the soldier if he would let me have one of his.

`Ah, you there, mi amigo!' he said looking over his shoulder and
laughing. `Have you not had ride enough yet?'

`I mean to go with you to the end, but lend me a pistol,' I said
very seriously, for we were each instant approaching the uproar of a
conflict.

`Take it, my man,' he said; `but I'll try and protect you. You had
best not come I think.'

`I am here, and must make the best of it,' I answered, feeling that
I would give every cent of my little stock of money, to be safely behind
old Bedrick's counter drawing soda-water. But I had little time
for regrets. He handed me the heavy pistol and I half cocked it and
set my teeth for desperate adventure.

By leaning over to the right side I got a glimpse ahead and saw that
we had emerged from the pass into a green, pleasant region of fields,
woodland, gardens and villas, scenery that I had often viewed from the
coof of our house. The whole vicinity of the city would have been
of similar beauty but for the policy of its defenders, who laid waste
and destroyed for a mile around it, whatever would afford ambush for
a foe.

At the extremity of an open field just before us, which skirted the
road, I saw a party of Patriots retiring up the slope firing at our van
as they retreated, and driving before them full a hundred cavalry prisoners.
The ground before us were heaped with the slain—horses and
men, and temporarily obstructed our advance. The brave Patriots, it
seems, had halted in ambush, at this place, and fallen suddenly upon
the two hundred and fifty pursuing Brazilian horse, had literally

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hewed them to pieces, taking one third prisoners. When we came up we
found but about thirty remaining, who had just galloped on to meet
the reinforcement we brought. The hundred Patriots did not seem to
fear us, but trotted at an easy pace, loading, and turning and firing in
their saddles as they went. Our General called a halt to remove the
dead bodies of horse and rider that barricaded the narrow path, and
then ordered half the cavalry to wheel from column to the left and fall
upon the Patriot horse.