So he and his soldiers retreated in safety to Santiago.
But that city was doomed. The Spanish marched upon it and took it. All was terror. Many people fled from the city. Patriots who remained were seized by the Spanish, and imprisoned or murdered. A number of men, some quite old, were banished to the lonely island of Juan Fernandez—Robinson Crusoe’s desert island.
As for Bernardo O’Higgins, he barely escaped with his life. He led a party of miserable shivering refugees, men and women, across the Andes into Argentina. After terrible sufferings from cold in the high mountain passes, they reached Mendoza. There they were welcomed and sheltered by San Martin, the General whom God had called to carry Liberty into Chile.
COMPANIONS-IN-ARMS
Then Argentina and Chile joined forces against Spain. O’Higgins and San Martin became companions-in-arms.
About all that they accomplished, about the Hannibal of the Andes, Chacabuco, Maipu, and the strong fleet which O’Higgins assembled to carry San Martin and his Army to Peru, you may read in the story of San Martin on page [235]. There, also, it is told how O’Higgins became the Supreme Dictator of Chile, the land where his father the barefoot boy, had found a fortune.
THE PATRIOT RULER
So while San Martin with his army sailed away to liberate Peru, the unselfish Supreme Dictator stayed at home to care for his people.
Now that the Spanish were driven out, the Country was in a chaotic condition, its laws and Government in confusion. With wisdom, patience, and tact, O’Higgins began the work of reconstruction. And how well he succeeded Captain Basil Hall, an English naval officer, tells in his journal.
“We left Valparaiso harbour filled with shipping; its customhouse wharfs piled high with goods too numerous and bulky for the old warehouses. The road between the port and the capital was always crowded with convoys of mules loaded with every kind of foreign manufacture. While numerous ships were busy taking in cargoes of the wines, corn, and other articles, the growth of the country.