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Show IQ2 PERSONAL ADVENTURES laughing, and talking, and singing, ~nd whist~ 11. ng -ay , and dancing ' or capenng abo. ut, less in joy than in excitement_; and p_ack~ng, and unpacking, and re-packing ; stitching, and darning, and cobbling; a running from hous~ to house of officers and men, all intertnrngling and jostling, and a p:ying into ev:ry corner, crook, cranny, and crevice; rumn1agmg of cupboards and chests of drawers; upsetting of trunks and boxes; peeping under bedsteads and into beds ; poking into dusty lumberclosets, and exploring of the most singular places; all this to hunt up necessaries to which ,ve had not the s1nallest right, and which the natives most unwillingly surrendered to us, in spite of written engagements on our part. to return the same-uJ!ten we came back-or g1ve an equivalent in money. But, notwithstanding our exertions, we came off most miserably, though we ransacked every ranclte througlwut the neiO'hbourhood. We were obliged to make 0 the best of what we had, and prepared our· selves for the start accordingly, being the most poorly equipped detachtnent that had IN CALIFORNIA. 123 for many years set out on any military expedition. We learned that the enemy were quartered in great numbers at Todos Santos, preparing for a descent upon J_Aa Paz and San Jose, a project which our Colonel resolved to frustrate by anticipating their attack and scattering their forces. About eleven on the night of the third day after our arrival, our company received orders to march, and proceeded to the parade-ground of the fort, where we were joined by about a hundred and twenty more men from t'vo other companies, the remainder being left to guard the to,vn against surprise. We soon formed into n1arching order, those in front being mounted on horses or mules, and those in the rear follo,ving on foot. I pitied them much as we pr_oceeded. It was a glorious moonlight night, and the men's weapons glittered like streaks of silver flashing through the deep foliage of the tangled brushwood through which we had to force our way. At first we got on tolerably ·well, in spite of the hillocks of sand, over which 've either G2 |
