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Show ( 58 ) i~al Teresa re-chargecJ severa! gnns and pistols, exchanging them witb hun for those he ~1ad fired; ~v!11lc Yonka vied with him, always shooting the _foremost of t be assailing Crtrnaucbes. More "than one hundred Camanches were l<illed and it \\"<lS evident that as many ~till Pcmained, .shooting and roaruing' a bout. They had undoubtedly t:IIb r bteu more thew one hunJred in numb 'I' \Vheu l\!Iflteo_ commc111ded them, or increast:·d since his arriYal at Valerio's habita. tJO~J; , fu~thennor~, it ~as probable, t~at a. ba11d of ~1<Hauding Cama? chts had gone In search of Mateo with lus companwns, and found their corpses on the way to the fort? whither they were also driven by hope of plunder ?r by vengeance, 111 consequence of which those in the fort must be In a very dangerous situation. It uecame therefore a mo~t urgent necessit,Y, to ~nish as soon as possible the st/ugale wit I: ~he Cam.anches a bout V aleno's, and then to return in a body to 1 he fort, wlnch was to be preserYed by all means as the last and only retreat of the company When Carrel, '~ith his eighteen mounted companions, and the three other.; on foot, a_rnved at Valerio's, forty or fifty Camancbes made a new and most v1gorous charge on them, to prevent their ~mion which l~owerer was soon complet~d, i:ll though unhappily not without a eon~ lderable loss on the part of the Phalangarians, of whom the followmg were m?~~ or I.ess severely wounded: Downing, Johns. Clarke, Donaldson, ~Jvocnt1, Maxle, Hoger, Pally and Waanataa; but in reve~ lge th~y ktlled se \~entcen, and v.:oundecl about a score of Camanches, .the remamJer of whom were dnven out of sight in 1 'S th· hour. e~ an one , l~ov,,~ve~·, ~otwithstanding this decided victory, the situation of all \\ ~s dreadful In ~he extreme, on aecount of the wound eel \1\' } 0 If neither _have thetr wounds well dre~&~d for want of lint,' nor 1 be c~:~l<l tended and made eomfortable, purtJcularly because the weather had suddenly turned Yery cold a1Hi snow fiell · I· · · f ' ' m arge quantity on the eve-nmg o the battle d,ty, and 1)rovisions for 111en "'n 1 · 1 th , h"l · · n c amrna s were ra-er scanty, w 11e 1t was tffi{)OSsible to re·tch tt1e c. ·t b c th · 1 · · · c 1 101 e1ore two or Iee cays, even It all had been able to start for I.t o th j · T l · · 1 · . n e next c ay . . le~ e were now In a l thtrty-etght persons living at Valerio's hab' t· - hon. twenty-two men and Yonka of the Phalanx. V I . T l a and Alejico; Munoz and eleven of his m c • • ' a erw, eresa thirty-lkeight persons seventeen were wounr~e~e~~;::~~~ o~mlcong tbebsl~ to wa throuah the de 1 . .ss unn f 0 T' I h ep snow, a c tstance of fifty miles to the fc)rf n nesc av the 30th of· J . . h · · I · , h . "·' · anuaty, t e company startecl fro V _ enos abttatiOn, seventeen mules bein<Y m a men, whose condition all<rwerl I , . b mo.unted by the '~·ounrled the natural im ediment of . on y a slow J?OtiOn, made so already uy thirty-six hou~, so that th: r~\~~u~~i~w, 7h~ch fell ~tearlily for !he last to the fort were numerous and greRt. s o t e company on the ,lOurney Among the wounded th b · S mo t from the cold. ' ose orn m outhern countries suffered the ~e\'cr?l of our companions in misfortune spatr, willing to throw thems 1 . • h gave way already to de-ho wever, pro, veJ now that he ed ves . 111• o t c sno l I' C I 1· . w a~r < te. arre , eset vel to be the chief of the com~ • ( ( 59 ) pany. Out-roaring the storm, he commanued with all the pow of his voice, " Halt!" aml continued: "My friends, let us never lose our ~rust in ~od. He ~s the mast r of the elements and our fate. He will not forsake us tf we do not give ourselves up to despair. Washington, the greatest h~ro of li berty and his heroical baud, had once more and ~orse hardshtps to overco~ e · 2000 men without sufficient food and clothing, bare-headed and b~re-footed, they marched through _ice anJ sno~v, leaving bloody footsteps on their way to immortal victory «wd llberty. Let their glorious example refres h our trust m. G O(l '•• '' • • During the night the weather grew a httle milder, ~nd smce the violent " pouderie" which caused the company to stop, It had ceaseJ snowing and storming. . With sun-rise they rose from their rather uncomfortable couch, the lower part of which was immediately eaten up by the hungry mule~, while the half-starved travellers consumed the last remnauts of thetr eold rice, to keep up their fainting strength for ~he day, on which they must either reach the fort, or lay down agam u_ron the frozen ground, without any thing to eat, most probably to nse no more,_ as then they must die with cold, and for want of food. What a hornble prospect! The sun had shone brightly for th.e whole day and was already se!- ting, while the exhausted Ph_alanganans began. t? tell e~ch other t~:-tr doubts, whether they and the1r ammals had suff1c1ent ~ttength remiimina to reach the fort, when they were suddenly and JOyfully startled byb the report of a rifle in the east. . . . Carrel Adam and Hector fired their nfles as fast as posstble, where-upon a d~adly silence preva~led for a few minutes among _the ~~mpany, when their anxiety was rcheved ?Y three double-shots m qmck succession ancl of equal loudness, whiCh proved that they were fired near each other. . , Scarcely had 'Califo_rnia' been. answered_ w1th 'Phnl~n~, when Gaston and ArlanJ arnved, gallopmg on the1r mules. A JO) ful confusion prevailed for some minutes- · questions and n~swers could scarcel_y be discerned, when Carrel told the new-eomers Ill a few ~·ords ~he last events; whereupon Gaston acquainted the company with wllat follows : · 1 · 1 Ned reached the fort with Matador, and the other arnm~ s m r_ ue time followed on the next day by the six mules and two porta's, whiCh had 'been taken by Mateo and the other six marauders at . Vale no s habitation. Some straggling Cat~anches had soon made the1r ap~carance aroblnd the fort, but fmding It well guarded, t_hey durst not ?ttack it, ~md were 'probably driven away by the fa1lmg show and In-creasing cold. Not a quarter of an hour had elapsed, when ~he company were ~heercd by the arrival of Ned, with mules and pom : As a car~ful hostler, Ned brought a quantit_y of water-pla~ts, whJCh he had JH.st finished packing upon his animals for transportmg- to the fort .. Matadur, the fRithful messenger, was caresse_c1 by all who owed thetr rescue to his useful services. Night was settmg 111, wl1en the whole party |
