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Show 442 Tll'" LILY AND Tfi'" TOTE/If. It wn.~ late in tho Jay when the littlo band set fortll, nnd eYe· ning began to approach ns they dJ·cw within sight of the fortre~3. Tho Don in command at La Caroline WM Yigi!ant cnougJ,, and soon espied the adwmcing columns. Hiseannon and his culvPrins, commanding tho riYcr thoroughly, began to play with great spirit upon our Frenchmen, who were compelled to co,·cr themselves in the woods, taking shelter behind a slight eminence within sight of the fortress. This wood afforded them sufficient cover for their approaches almost to the foot of the fortress--the precautions of the Spaniard not having extended to the remoYal of the forest growth by which the place was surrounded, and by help of which the designs of an enemy could be so much facili· tatcd. It was under the shclt8r of this Ycry wood, and by this very route-so Goul'gucs learned from his prisoners-that the Spaniards had successfully surprised and assrmlted the fortress two years before. Here, then, our chevalier determined to He prrdu until the next morning, the hour being too late and the enemy too watchful, at that moment, to attempt anything. Besides, Gourgues desired a little time to see bow the land lay, o.nd how his approaches should be made. On that side of the fortress which fronted the hill, behind which our F1·cnchmen harbored, he discovered that the trench seemed to be insufficiently flnuked for the defence of the curtains. While meditating in what wn.y to take advantage of this weakness, he was agreeably surprised by the commission of an error, on the part of the garrison, wl1ich materially abridged his difficulties. The Spanish governor, either with a nervous anxiety to anticipate events, or with a fool-hardiness which fancied that they might be controlled by a wholesome audacity, ordered a aorti6 i DOMI'\:lQliE Ul: OOITI!Oli£S. 443 and Gourgues with delight beheld a detachment of threescore soldiers, deliberately passing the trenches and marching steadily into the very jaws of ruin. Hohta Cara, as if aware by instinct, was at once at the side of our chevalier, with his spear pointing to the fated detachment. In a moment, the warrior sped with the commnnds of Gourgues, to his lieutenant, Cazenove, who, with twenty arquebusiers, covered by the wood, contrived to tlu·ow l1imsclf between the fortress Lnd the nd\'nneing party, cuttinr; off all their chances of escape. Then it was tlmt, with wild cries of "F'rnnce! France!" the chevalier rose from J,is Jllncc of hiding, with all his band, and rushed out upon l1is prey, reserving hi10 fire until sufficiently near to render every shot certain. The Spaniards recoiled fmm the assault ; but, ns they ll.':!d, were encountered in the rear by the squad under Cazenove. 'l'he bnttlo cry of tho French, resounding at once in front and rear, completed their panic, and they offered but a feeble resistance to cnr:mie.s who neither asked nor offered quarter. It was a massacre rather than n. fi~~'ht · and still, as the French paused in the work of death, a slu·7ll d1cathcry in their midst nrou.~rd them nncw, and they could behold tho lithe fonu of the red chief, Hobt-a Cara, speeding from foe to foe, with his maoana. only, slllitiug with fearful edge-a single stroke at each several victim, followed ever by tho agonizing yell of death! Not a Spaniard cscnpcd of all tlmt passed through the trenches on that miserable sortie ! Terrified by this disaster, so sudden and so complete, the garrison wero no longe1· capable of defence. They no longer hearkened to the commands or the encouragements of their governor · They left, or leaped, the walls ; they threw wide the ~ates, and rushed wildly into the nr>ighhorinl!' thicket<~, in tbe |
