Don Zeno, after having exchanged a few words in a low voice with the governor, instead of going up into the Cabildo, had started off rapidly, followed by Captain Quiroga.
But his absence was not long. Soon a gallop of horses was heard, and Don Zeno reappeared at the head of his Montonero, which immediately installed its bivouac on the Plaza Mayor.
The sight of the partisans, in whose courage the inhabitants of San Miguel had full confidence, began by degrees to reassure the population.
So much the more as the Montoneros, after having attached their horses to the pickets, and placed their sentinels, mingled with the crowd, and began gently—talking with one and the other, at first pretending to enter into the prevailing ideas—to re-establish the facts so strangely disfigured, by relating the affair just as it really was.
The influence of these recitals, carried from one to the other, and continually recommenced by the soldiers, was soon felt in the crowd; the reaction soon manifested itself, and the less cowardly felt their courage returning a little.
However, at last it was found that the danger, though less than it was supposed, nevertheless existed, and that the nearness of the royalist Montoneros could not but be very disquieting for the common safety. General Moratin skilfully took advantage of the excitement of the population, by taking the most efficacious measures he could think of to resist an attack till reinforcements arrived, in case the enemy might suddenly try and take the town by surprise—which was not without precedent in the history of the Buenos Airean revolution.
Devoted officers superintended the construction of the barricades; on the terraced roofs of the houses stones were carried to crush the assailants; depôts of arms and munitions were established in various places; and barriers were closed and defended by numerous soldiers.
Meanwhile, Don Zeno Cabral, at the head of forty resolute Montoneros, had set out on a journey of discovery, starting off madly into the open country.
All the deputies were assembled in the Cabildo, in the Hall of Assembly, and were declared en permanence.
The governor, wishing by his presence to assure the population, had mounted horse, and, followed by a numerous staff, had traversed the town in all directions, encouraging some, reprimanding others, and exciting the inhabitants to do their duty, and to fight the enemy bravely, if he dared to show himself.