| Show the vale of amadon sy by FRED mclaughlin author of the binds of Pl cardy copyright by bobb ifor co girvice lir vice loi CHAPTER X continued 15 1 I forgot it and the general hall know general bolivar shall hear how he received that injury I 1 stood aghast for pint in the presence of witnesses had bad given me his promise that nothing of that unfortunate affair of maracay karacay should reach the ears of at 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 drun Lenness henness that had cost us karacay maracay Mar acay I 1 did not think so for the liberator was too good a soldier to overlook so fin flagrant grant a blunder I 1 waited if there Is anything an thing said bolivar in a voice of cold menace which a have been told to me that either of you have refrained from ling tell him pint cried toll tell your general about your arm explain to him how you wore were wounded 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 am waiting malting said bolivar bolhar colonel pint shot mp me my general F francisco seated next net to me rasped a bitter curse and a sigh went around the table the liberator leaped to his fits feet colonel pint shot you sou you jest senor not at all was tills this at yes my general pint would doubtless hive have good reason for doing such a thing lie he turned a judicial eye upon the colonel may I 1 expect an explanation pint anil smiled led major garde im sure will make explanation 1 I attacked him my general mother of G dl bolivar gasped that li 1 I dissembled my attack attach upon him and his shooting of me came to near the same instant that it would be impossible to tell which was cause and which effect was this er unfortunate affair in any way related to the loss of mara cay 7 no general Rener nl colonel pint ailed it was purely personal we could not have held maracas maracay with the force at my command now Bo livars eyes questioned me it was not in me to explain to the liberator how colonel pint hid bad 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 lie he might have made the necessary preparations for successful defense of karacay claracay Mar Alar 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 ne ile must have known that in service to him lit and to venezuela I 1 had given my best he knew that the apure acure battalion of three hundred indians whom I 1 had commanded was tile the best of his native fighting force for I 1 had trained them with the greatest care wily why then garde lie he questioned lid did not colonel pint mike make report of this on his return to aquillo that my general gene ial Is a question for C colonel pint pint must mast have realized that tits his burst of anger had opened up a dangerous abyss for himself for he smiled and n I 1 a suming assuming a pose of charity said one must make allowance for a gallant soldier general our amerl cano line has been a bit impetuous and I 1 did not report that lin hapless pless circumstance because I 1 had no wish to injure him in your eyes our personal differences feren ces will doubtless be settled ns as time offers us opportunity drunk even the sophist was always a good liar general bolivar laughed relieving thereby an awkward tension 1 I cannot expect all my officers to love one another it Is not the way of soldiers tor for most of them are sudden and quick in quarrel neither can I 1 afford to lose one of them thus on the eve of our greatest struggle you will have to postpone the pleasure of this contest between yourself and colonel pint until after we have won the battle of carabobo Car abobo 11 aye my general so we drank again and Mo monahan nallan pinching my arm whispered any soldier who can dash a glass of wine into the face of his superior of officer fleer and get away w with till it must surely have the fairies working for him I 1 dawn came slowly as we rested on our arms aims in the early morning of the twenty fourth of june a day which might be termed the birthday of venezuela we occupied the timbered heights southwest of the field of cara bobo and waited to ring down the cartain on the last act of the great colombian tragedy we had waited thus six years 5 ears before I 1 remembered at chalmette almette Cli waited in just such a silent gloom brilliant victory had been ours and I 1 offered up a fervent hope that I 1 night might find myself again in a victorious army I 1 knew that upon the success or failure of republican arms rested my success or failure in winning the senorita Ln Lamart martIna lna if we won this impending battle then venezuela was open to me and I 1 could seek her out it if we lost I 1 knew that I 1 would BO 90 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 0 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 neros and of other native troops some were good and some I 1 knew from sad experience were poor the sun run glinted on the equipment of the spaniards who were ft ere spread out in battle array they were possibly eight thousand strong which gave them fin an advantage over us of two thousand men yet iet they were hireling fighters and our men were fighting for their homes for their families for the right to rule themselves general paez with fifteen of teen hundred men had been sent around to the right on a flanking movement oen brals bolivar bolhar cedeno and plaza flara with a regiment of english rifles under colonel mackintosh occupied the center while my mi command and a battalion bat battalion tAllon of Ila llaneros neros were expected to hold the right wing ft ing of the spanish army which looked to me to be composed of over a thousand men a task beyond us I 1 knew for we had scarce six hundred soldiers the approach to the 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 tile the enemy and we lost many men to their artillery tire fire before we reached tile the plain where the various units spread each to its task under desultory ire alre of the right wing of latorres 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 in a lid lit r they fought like fiends position which seemed to me best to hold the ridge when a general advance of the spanish army might be made the Tl Ti and vargas battalions and a brigade of la guardia had gone through the center to attack with tile 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 tile the ground and waited I 1 heird 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 ot of the men venezuela my bravos I 1 said will be watching you ou today when the men of spain shall charge upon us we will hold I 1 saw bolivard Bo livars unit roach reach the plain find and close in behind the british legion which had already made fyr fur matlon in the famous hollow square As our center under cedeno broke 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 my bravos brakes of apure acure we fight today for liberty to run Is defeat and slavery to stand Is victory and freedom they will be coming now do not shoot wildly walt wait hold your fire until you iou can p pick I 1 c a silver button on a spanish jacket and do not miss for every cery 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 soldiers of the center retreating through throng ai the ranks of tile the british le lesion ion 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 tho tha center of the approaching spanish line would be strong indeed if it broke through again the enemy met pae while cedeno reformed in the rear antl and the main body of the spanish forces tell fell I 1 upon tho the british legion broke like waves against a reef and came cama on oil again while the right wing engaged us it was beautiful to watch the grim gilm silent In indians dialls from the apure acure river they held their ire fire until the attackers were 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 the bravos leaped to their feet and yelling wildly c charged with the bayonet they fought like fiends thrusting driving hacking backing shrilling weird war cries and moving ever forward until the enemy broke and fled before us we took an advanced position upon another lateral ridge and prepared for the next attack behind us the field was 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 many spaniards they had killed then in one concerted movement mo ement the spaniards attacked fill all along the line but paez held and the british legion though called upon to withstand the shock of the bulk of soldiery gave no ground and the center of the enemy line rolled back even as the right wing struck us again the apure acure bravos fired almost into the faces of the soldiers after which they leaped to their feet to meet tile the spaniards P in liand hand to olia hand fighting there w was a s a frantic heroism about their ardor a wild enthusiasm a in maniacal 11 lit a cal lust for killing that must have terrified the uniformed soldiers who ft ho outnumbered us two or three to ono one for they broke in dismay leaving us again in possession of tile the tiny sector that we had been directed to hold at any cost and tile the cost indeed had been a grievous thing for less than half of my bravos remained I 1 knew that tile the next charge of our enemies would find us too weak to hold I 1 looked back to where colonel pint with more moie than six sir hundred mounted men waited malted for us to fall and hatred for the man filled my soul A body of soldiers dise disengaged ngn ed itself from the british legion and under command of a captain whose head wa was s swathed in a crimson bandage came toward us on a run Momi monahan linn I 1 cried all honor to the british legion I 1 ile he grinned tile the way we did the french at waterloo son they charged and broke hi oke against our squares and charged and broke again and old banys heart broke with them its easy when you iou know how flow ile he considered pints force a scant half mile behind us and swore softly hats the colonel waiting for garde tor 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 right wing we could not have hae held the center those bravos of yours have am e stood like a rock an unusual thing for nithe native troops and have died r said sadly holding so colonel mackintosh offers his hla compliments and this hundred men and lie 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 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 net attack it came too slowly to suit us so we went out to meet I 1 it t went vent blithely wildly white man and brown with eager cries upon our lips and the consciousness of imminent victory in our hearts after the first volley we met the them in standing up arm to arm eye eve to eye and the clatter of conflict filled cited our little world with noise that mixed mixed command of mine f ought fought its way through the first spanish line then we drove ahead to meet the next nett one paying no heed to an tiling behind us on our right the british legion having abandoned its defensive tactics moved slowly against 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 saad Mo 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 irish soldier we need the mounted Ila llaneros neros that must also have been Boll bolivard Bo livars vars 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 tile the six sir hundred bundled mounted ilan llaneros ros of colonel pints com command m and roared by us and we waved our arms and cheered clie ered them on there he goes died cried monahan with a short shori laugh on to vict victory oryl 1 the right wing of the spanish army crumpled under the charge of pints horsemen crumpled anil and fled in wild contusion 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 bolivard Bo livars army racing across the plain closed in to complete the work of destruction for nothing less than complete destruction for tile the spanish would appease the liberator lie ile must have seen at last the golden opportunity for a free venezuela and lie he took no chance on losing few spaniards escaped few prisoners prisoner were taken the rout had become a slaughter wherein the indians lust for blood blod was fully appeased yet spain had taught them TO DE CONTINUED |
