| Show va d of amadon by FREI FRED mclaughlin A author of 0 the blade of CoDi right by bt BobbU mer erm in co servi serviced cei CHAPTER X Cn continued tind 15 1 dpn ai forgot lt it aard the kra gene ral shall know general bolivar si shall 1 al hear how he received that injury 11 1 I stood aghast for pint in the pres e sa ce of witnesses had d given me his promise that nothing of that anfor dunate affair of maracas maracay should reach the ears cars of the liberator was he mad could he llope hope to gain eala anything by thus thu breaking his word would bolivar forgive him for that vital hour or of drunkenness that had cost us maracay karacay Mar acay I 1 did not think so for the liberator was too good a soldier to overlook so flagrant a blunder I 1 waited rf it there Is anything said bolivar in a voice of cold menace which should have been told to me that either of you have refrained from telling tell hirn him pint cried tell your general about your arm explain to him how you were wounded 1 I I 1 imagined the wily colonel assumed that I 1 would never mention the senorita which indeed I 1 had no intention of doing 1 I RM am waiting said bald bolivar 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 big hl feet colonel pint shot you you jest senor not at all was this at karacay maracay Mar acay yes my general pint would doubtless have good reason for doing such a thing ile he turned a judicial eye upon the colonel may I 1 expect an explanation pint smiled major garde im sure will make explanation 1 I attacked him my general mother of G d dl I 1 bolivar gasped that Is I 1 dissembled my attack upon him and his shooting of me came so BO near the same instant that it would he be impossible to tell which was cause and which effect was wai this or er unfortunate affair in any way related to the loss of mara cay no N 0 general colonel pint lied it was purely personal we could not have held Alar maracas maracay acay with the force at tny my command now bolivard Bo livars eyes questioned me it was not in me to explain to the liberator how colonel pint had wasted a n precious hour in drunkenness and in n an unsuccessful attempt to win the favor of the senorita lamartina Lamart lna an hour in which he might have made and a the necessary preparations for ou successful es ful defense of maracay karacay Mar acay colonel pint la 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 enre care to offer any defense 11 bolivard Bo livars face was a study ile he must have known that in service to him and to venezuela I 1 had given my best he knew that the apure acure battalion of three hundred indians whom 1 I 1 had commanded was the best of his hla 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 ills bis return to Tin aguillo that my general Is a question for colonel pint pint must have realized that his burst of anger had opened up a dangerous abyss for himself for he be smiled and assuming a pose of charity said one must make allowance for IL a gallant soldier general our amerl cano has been a bit impetuous and I 1 did not report that hapless circumstance 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 8 nophlet was always a good liar general gener it bolivar laughed relieving thereby an awkward tension 1 I cannot expect all my officers to love one another r it I 1 t Is not the way of soldiers fa for r most of them are sudden and quick in quarrel neither ne fiber can I 1 afford to lose one of them thus on the eve of our greatest struggle you will have of this contest the pleasure to postpone pot pone between yourself and colonel pint until after we have won the battle of carabobo Car abobo avo mv ce so we drank again and monahan pinching my arm whispered any zol sol dier who can dash a glass of wine into the face of his superior officer and get away with it must surely have the fairies working for him I 1 dawn came as we rested on early morning of the our arms in the twenty fourth of june a day which might be termed the birthday of venezuela we occupied the tImbe timbered ref hel heights ilits southwest of th the e field of cara bo boand waited to ring down the curtain on the last act of the great colombian tragedy we had waited thus sli six years before I 1 remembered at chalmette such a ellent client gloom waited in just brilliant victory had been OU ours rs and fervent hope that I 1 I 1 offered up a might find myself again ina victorious cht the success I 1 knew army 6 arms rested or failure of republican republic the in winning failure or my success it if we won this senorita Senor tta lamartina Lamart lna battle batt lethea then venezuela w was as impending imp alg 1 open to m me and f I 1 could st sc ek h her ej out 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 stan d and fight until the last roan man could stand no longer of my little command and of the british I 1 had no doubts but we were only a thousand the bulk of Bo livars forces was composed of Ila llaneros llan cros neros and of other native troops some were good and some I 1 know knew from sad experience were poor the sun glinted on the equipment of the spaniards who were spread out in battle army they were possibly eight thousand strong which pave gave them an advantage over us of two thousand men yet they were hireling lighters and our men were fighting for their homes for their families for the right to rule themselves general paez with fifteen hundred men had been sent around to the right on a flanking movement generals bolivar cedeno and plaza with a regiment of english rifles under colonel mackintosh occupied the center while my command and a battalion of Ila llaneros neros were expected to hold the right wing of the spanish army which looked to roe me to be composed of over a thou thousand men a task beyond us I 1 knew for we had bad scarce six hundred soldiers the approach to the field was waa a row 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 jn ln full view of the enemy and we lost many men to their artillery ire fire before we reached the plain where the various units spread each to its task under desultory gre fire of the right wing of la torres latorres forces wo nye advanced slowly and took our station upon a low ridge that commanded the plain where according to my orders I 1 placed my throe three hundred men la in a n el 1 I 1 they fought like fiends position which seemed to me best to hold bold the ridge when a general advance of the spanish army might be made the TI and vargas bat battalions and a brigade of la guardia had gone through ahn center to attack with the british legion under colonel mackintosh following up the crash of contact filled the surrounding hills with thunder for paez and cedeno struck right and center at once my men lay their slim brown bodies close against the ground and waited I 1 heard murmured prayers and oaths and saw nervous movements so while the air was full of the potent whine of bullets I 1 got to my feet and walked slowly back and forth in front of the men venezuela my bravos 11 1 said will i be hatchl watching ng you today when themen the men of spain shall charge upon us we will hold I 1 saw Boll vara vars unit reach the plain and close to in behind the british legion which had already made formation in the famous hollow square As our center under C cedeno broke ib before the superior marksmanship and the greater numbers of the spanish soldiers as paez faltered and failed I 1 talked to my men urging coaxing it Is only the beginning ray my bravos of apure acure we fight today for liberty to run la is defeat and si slavery PL very 4 to stand Is vie vic tory and freedom they will be coming now do not shoot wildly walt wait hold bold your flie fire until you can pick a silver button on a spanish jacket and do bof not mlis miss for every stiver silver button you make your target a san spanish soldier will offer up his life with the aid of a glass iaal our right wing with reinforcements from the rear forming to offer battle to regain the ground they had lost I 1 saw fearful native soldiers of the center retreating through the ranks of the british legion which I 1 w 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 cure the center of the approaching spanish line would be strong indeed it if it broke through again the enemy met paez while cedeno reformed in the rear and the main body of tle the spanish forces fell spon 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 site silent nt indians indiana from the apure acure river they held their fire until the attackers vore less than a hundred feet way I 1 recognized adolfo and waved my sword and called to him to come on and my voice was drowned in a roar of musketry then th the e bray bragos 0 s lea leaped ped to their feet and yelling wildly charged with the bayonet they fought like fiends th thrusting rust ing driving hacking shrilling weird war cries and moving over ever forward until the enemy broke and led fled before us we tools took on an advanced position upon another lateral ridge and prepared for the tha next attack behind us the field was waa covered with dead but for every prostrate bravo there were two of 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 ninny many spaniards they lind had killed then in one concerted movement the spaniards attacked all along the line but paez held and the british legion though called upon to withstand tho the shock of the bulk of soldiery gave no ground and the center of tho the enemy line rolled back even as the right wing struck us ua again the apure acure bravos tired fired almost into the faces facea of the soldiers sold lera 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 Inan maniacal lacal lust for killing that must have terrified the uniformed soldiers who outnumbered us two or three to one for they broke in dismay leaving us ua again in possession of the tiny sector that we had been directed to hold at any cost and the cost indeed had find been a grievous thing for less titan 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 bablo to where colonel pint pini with more than six hundred mounted men waited for us to fall and hatred for the man filled my soul A body of soldiers disengaged itself from the british legion and under command of a captain whose head was swathed in it a crimson bandage came toward us on a run Alo I 1 cried all lionor honor to the british legion I 1 ile he grinned the way wo we did the french at waterloo son iiley they charged and broke against our squares and charged and broke again and old bonya heart broke with them its easy when you know how lie ile considered pints force a scant half mile behind us and swore softly the colonel waiting for garde for the break my friend then ho he will gallop forward and win a glorious victory these hundred men are sent to me sure ii 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 native troops and have died 1 I said sadly holding so colonel mackintosh offers hla his compliments and this hundred men and he directs me to tell you that you have put the white mans dogged heroism into the red mans heart this from mackintosh grizzled warrior of many battles was sweet music to my ears eara the veterans of the british legion had already been distributed among my bravos so BO renewed in strength and spirit we waited for the next attack it came too slowly to suit us so we went out to meet it went blithely wildly white man and brown with eager cries upon our lips and thi the consciousness of imminent victory in our hearts after the first volley we met them standing up op arm to arm eye to eye and the clatter of conflict filled our little world with noise that mixed command of mine fought its way through the first spanish line then we drove ahead to meet the next one paying no heed to anything behind hindus us on our right the british legion having abandoned its if defensive tactics moved slowly against the center evidently it ii too had iohd broken through ough the first line from the east easi came wild cheering from the soldiers of paez we win I 1 think said monahan we could not lose my friend yet yei they move back slowly in good order what we should have Is a rout an overa overwhelming helming victory vic tort in that case said the irish soldier we need the mounted lia llaneros neros abi that at must also have been Bo bolivard Boll 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 llaneros Ila neros of colonel pinio command roared by us and we waved our arms and cheered them on there he be goes cried monahan with a short chort laugh on to victory vict oryl 1 the right wing of the spanish army crumpled under the charge of pints horsemen crumpled and fled in wild confusion the desperate battle of carabobo Car abobo which removed for ever the rule of spain from venezuela had become a rout the wings of Boll vara army racing across the plain closed in to complete the work of Aest destruction ruction for nothing less than complete destruction for the spanish would appease the liberator he must hove have seen at last the golden opportunity for a tree free venezuela and he took no chance on losing few spaniards escaped few wore taken the rout had bad become a slaughter wherein the indians lust just for blood was waa fully appeased yet spain had taught them TO BB CONTINUED |
