Then a deputation of citizens waited upon San Martin to invite him to enter Lima and proclaim her Independence.
Captain Basil Hall (Retold)
SAN MARTIN THE CONQUEROR
A Retreat
The people watched eagerly to see San Martin enter in state as a conquering general should. The day passed, and he did not come. When it began to grow dark, he rode in through the gate attended by a single aide-de-camp.
And he would not have come then, if he could have helped it. It was his plan to slip unobserved into the city early in the morning before people were up.
But the reason why he had to enter at evening, was this:—
He was tired, and he had just settled down for the night in the corner of a little cottage outside the walls. He was blessing his stars that he was well out of the reach of business, when in came two Friars, who had discovered his hiding place.
Each one made him a long tedious speech; one likened him to Cæsar and the other to Lucullus.