Show le of y FRED CLAUGHLIN AI author ot of the blade ot of Pic ardyl b by werrill CO service I 1 CHAPTER X continued cot co t d 15 1 I li avent forgot it and the general shall know general bolivar hear bear how lie he received that injury I 1 stood aghast for pint in the presence of witnesses had given me his promise that nothing of that unfortunate affair of should reach the ears of the liberator was he mad could he hope to gain anything by thus breaking his word would bolivar forgive him for that vital hour of drunkenness that had cost us karacay maracay Marn Mar acay cay I 1 did not think so for the liberator was too good it soldier to overlook so BO flagrant a blunder I 1 waited it if there Is anything said bolivar in a voice of cold menace which should have been told to me that either 0 of you have refrained from telling tell him 1 pint cried tell your general about your arm explain to him how you were wounded 11 I 1 imagined tile the wily WHY colonel assumed that I 1 would never mention the senorita which indeed I 1 lind had no intention of doing 1 11 I am walting waiting said bolivar noll var colonel pint shot me my general francisco seated next to me rasped a bitter curse and a sigh went around the table the liberator leaped to his feet colonel pint shot you you jest senor not at all was this at yes yea my general pini would doubtless have good reason for dolci doing such it a thing lie he turned turm A a judicial eye upon the colonel may I 1 expect nn an explanation pint smiled major garde im sure will make explanation 1 I attacked him my general mother of G dl bolivar gasped that Is I 1 dissembled my attack upon him and his shooting of me came so near the same instant thatis would be impossible to tell which was cause and which effect was this er unfortunate affair in any way related to tho the loss of I 1 mara cay no general colonel pini lied it was purely personal we could not have held karacay maracay Iari icay with the force at my command now bolivard Bo livars eyes questioned me it t was not in me to explain to the liberator how colonel pint ind had wasted a precious hour in drunkenness and in an unsuccessful attempt to win the favor of the senorita lamartina Lamart lna an hour in which he be might have made the necessary preparations for successful defense of karacay maracay Mar TAlar acay colonel pint Is entirely right general that unfortunate affair was purely personal I 1 confess to having been insubordinate I 1 confess to having attacked the colonel my superior of officer fleer and I 1 do not care to offer any defense bolivard Bo livars face was a study he must have known that in service le to him and to venezuela I 1 had bad given my best he be knew that the apure acure battalion of three hundred indians whom I 1 had bad commanded was the best of his native fighting force for I 1 had trained them with the greatest care why then garde he questioned did not colonel pint make report of this on his return to that my general Is a question for colonel pint pint must have realized that his burst of anger had opened up upa a da dangerous n abyss for himself for he smiled and assuming a pose of charity said eaid one must make allowance for a gallant soldier general our amerl cano has been a bit impetuous and I 1 did not report that hapless circumstance san t ce because I 1 had no wish to injure him in your eyes our personal differences feren ces will doubtless be settled as time offers us opportunity drunk even the sophist was always a good liar har general bolivar laughed relieving thereby an awkward tension 1 I cannot expect all my officers to love one another it tt itla la Is not the way soldiers of for most of them are sudden and quick in quarrel neither can I 1 afford to lose one of thern them thus on the eve of our greatest struggle you will have to postpone the pleasure of this can contest between yourself and colonel until after we have won the battle of carabobo Cara Car bobp abobo aye my general so we drank again and monahan pinching my arm whispered any soldier who can dash a glass of wine into the face of his superior perlor eu of officer fleer and get away with it must surely have the fairies working for him I 1 dawn came slowly as we rested on our arms in the early morning of the twenty fourth of june a day which might be termed the birthday of venezuela i we occupied the timbered heights southwest of the field of cara bobo and waited to ring down the curtain on the last act of the great colombian tragedy we had waited thus 9 six ix years before I 1 remembered at chalmette waited in just such a silent gloom I 1 ballant Br llant victory had been ours oura and I 1 offered up a fervent hope that I 1 might find myself again in a victo victorious ilous army I 1 knew thiet upon the success or failure of republican arms a rented my success or fallore failure in winning the senorita La Lamart martitia lna if we won this impending battle then venezuela was open to me and I 1 could seek her nu out t if we lost I 1 knew that I 1 would go down fighting among those apure acure bravos of mine for I 1 had taught them to stand and fight until the last man could stand no longer of my little comm command indo and of tho the british I 1 had no doubts but wo wa were only a thousand the bulk of bolivard Bo livars forces was composed of lia llaneros neros and of other native troops some were good and some I 1 knew from sad exper experience lence were poor the sun glinted on the equipment of the spaniards who bete were spread out in battle array they were possibly eight thousand strong which gave them an advantage over us ua of two thousand men yet they were hireling lighters and our men were lighting fighting for their homes for their families for the right to rule themselves general anez with fifteen hundred men had been sent around to the right on a flanking movement gen brals bolivar cedeno and plaza with a regiment of english rifles rides under colonel Une mackintosh kintosh occupied the center while my mv command and alid a battalion of llaneros Ila neros were expected to hold the right wing of the spanish army which looked to me to be composed of over a thousand mon men a beyond us T knew for or we had scarce six hundred soldiers the approach to the held field was a narrow way hardly wide enough to admit a file of men the spaniards opened the battle the approach of the main body of our forces was in full view of the enemy and we lost many men to their artillery fire before we reached the plain where the various units spread each to its task tasir under desultory ire fire of tile the right wing of la torres forces we advanced slowly and took our station upon a low ridge that commanded the plain where according to my orders I 1 placed my three hundred men tn in a IA C lit 0 they fought like fiends position which seemed to me best to hold the ridge when a general advance of the spanish army inight be made tile the Tl Ti and vargas battalions and a brigade ofila guardia had gone through the center to attack with the british legion under colonel mackintosh following up the crash of contact filled the surrounding bills with thu thunder rider for paez and cedeno struck r right ight and center at once my men lay their slim brown bodies close against the ground I 1 heard murmured prayers and oaths and saw sav nervous movements so while the air was full of the potent whine of bul bullets leis I 1 got to my feet and walked slowly back and forth in front of 0 the men venezuela my bravos braves I 1 said will be watching you today when the men of spain shall charge upon us we will hold I 1 saw bolivard Bo livars unit reach the plain and close in behind tile the british legion which had already made formation in the famous hollow square As our center under cedeno broke before the superior marksmanship and the great er numbers of the spanish soldiers as aa paez faltered and failed I 1 talked to my men urging coaxing it la if only the beginning my bravos of apure acure we light today for liberty to run to Is defeat and slavery to stand Is victory and freedom they will be coming now do not shoot wildly walt hold your fire until you can pick a silver button on a spanish jacket and do not miss for ayery silver button you make your target a spanish soldier will offer up his life with the aid of a glass I 1 saw our right wing with reinforcements from the rear forming to offer battle to regain the ground they had lost I 1 saw fearful native dativa soldiery soldiers of the center retreating through the ranks of the british legion which I 1 knew would stand as britons have always stood I 1 recalled that half of the eight hundred men in the legion were veterans of Waterloo and I 1 was sure the center of the approaching spanish line would be strong indeed through again the enemy met paez while cedeno reformed in the rear and the main body of the spanish forces fell rell apon ampon the british legion broke like waves against a reef and came on again while the right wing engaged us it was beautiful to watch the grim silent indians from the apure acure river they held their fire until the attackers were less than a h undred hundred feet way I 1 reco adolfo and wave waved d my sword and called to him to come ou on and my voice was drowned ir owned in a roar of musketry then the bravos leaped j to 0 their feet find and yelling wildly charged with tile bavo bayonet net th they ey fought like lends thrusting driving hacking shrilling weird war var crlos erles atad and moving ever forward until tho the enemy ny broke anti and tied hod before us ua we took an advanced position upon another lateral ridge and prepare prepared for the next attack behind us tho the field was covered with dead but for every prostrate bravo there were two of tho the uniformed men of spain scarce two hundred of our men survived yet resting on their arms they laughed and jested among themselves and told one another how many spaniards they hold had killed then in one concerted movement the spaniards attacked all along tile the line but baez held and the british legion though called upon to withstand the shock of the bulk of soldiery gave no ground and tile the center of tile the enemy line rolled back even as tho the right wing struck us again tho the apure acure bravos fired almost almos t into the faces facca of the soldiers after which they leaped to their feet to meet the spaniards in hand to hand fighting there was a frantic heroism about their ardor a wild enthusiasm a maniacal lust for killing that must have terril terrified led the uniformed soldiers who outnumbered us ua two or three to one for they broke in dismay leaving us again in ili possession of the tiny sector that we had been directed to hold at any cost coat and tile the cost indeed had been a grievous thing for less than half of my bravos remained I 1 knew that tho the next charge of our enemies would find us too weak to hold I 1 looked back to where colonel with more than six hundred mounted men waited for us to fall and hatred for the man filled my soul rout A body of sold soldiers lers disengaged itself from the british legion and under command of a captain whose head was swathed in a crimson bandage camo came toward us on it run manaban Mon aban I 1 cried all honor to the british legion I 1 lie eie the french nt at waterloo son they charged charge and broke against our squares and charged and broke again and old banys heart broke with them its easy when you know how lie ile considered pints force a scant half balf mile behind us ua and swore softly the colonel waiting for garde for the break my friend then he will gallop forward and win a glorious victory these hundred men are sent to me sure if you held their right wing we could not have held the center those bravos of yours have stood like a rock an unusual thing for na tive troops and have idled I 1 said sadly holding so colonel mackintosh offers his compliments and this hundred men and ana he directs me to tell that you have put the white mans dogged heroism into the red roans mans heart this from mackintosh grizzled warrior of many battles was sweet music to my ears the vit veterans erans of the british legion had already been distributed among my bravos so renewed in strength and spirit we waited for the next attack it came top slowly to suit us so we yent out to meet it went blithely wildly white man and brown with eager cries upon our lips and the consciousness of imminent victory in our hearts after the q first volley we met them standing up arm to arm eye to eye and the clatter of conflict filled our little world with noise that mixed command of mine fought its ita way through the first spanish line then we drovie ahead to meet the next one paying no heed to anything behind us on our right the british legion haying having abandoned its defensive tactics moved slowly against thoben the center evidently it too had broken through the first line from the east came wild cheering from the soldiers of paez we win I 1 think said monahan we could not lose my friend yet they move back slowly in good order what we should have Is a rout an overwhelming victory in that case said the tilsit irish sa soldier I 1 we need the mounted llaneros llacer og that must also have been bolivard Boll Bo livars vara thought for a body of horsemen moving swiftly through the center passed the british legion and hurled itself upon the enemy throwing the line into confusion the six hundred mounted Ila llaneros neros of colonel pints command roared by us and we waved our arms and cheered them on there he goes cried monahan with a short laugh on to victory I 1 the right wing of the spanish army crumpled under the charge of pints horsemen crumpled crumpl sd pd and fled la in wild confusion the desperate battle of carabobo Car abobo which removed forever for ever the rule of spain from venezuela had become a rout root the wings of bolivard Bo livars army racing across the plain closed in to complete the work of destruction for nothing less thin than complete destruction for the spanish would appease the liberator he must have seen at last the golden opportunity for a free venezuela zuela and he took no chance on losing few spaniards escaped few prisoners were taken the rout had become a slaughter wherein the indians lust just for blood blod was fully appeased yet spain had taught them TO DB BE CONTINUED |