Chapter Fourteen.
The campaign commenced—We join the Patriot army—Orders to hold the fort of Guamoco against all assailants—A thunderstorm—Survey of the fort from a height—The enemy in the distance—We take possession of the fort, and repair it—Spanish officers appear—Two of them shot by our men—The Spaniards attack us fiercely, but are driven back—They return, to meet with another repulse—The enemy at length retire—We expect another attack.
Important events had meanwhile been taking place. Bolivar had assembled a considerable army, of which upwards of two thousand foreign troops—mostly disbanded British soldiers—formed the most serviceable part. Whenever they met the enemy, the English exhibited the hardihood and courage which they had displayed on many hard-fought fields in the Peninsula, and lately at Waterloo. We heard, too, that they were led by several experienced officers who had taken part in those campaigns.
The fearful atrocities which had been committed by Murillo, Boves, Morales, indeed by almost all the Spanish generals, had aroused the spirit of the people throughout the country, and we looked forward to the time when we should free our beloved land from the presence of the hated tyrants.
At length being considered in an efficient state, with wild delight we received orders to join the Patriot forces. Before long we had several skirmishes with the enemy, and in a gallant charge—in which Mr Laffan distinguished himself—we put to flight a superior force of King Ferdinand’s hussars. These hussars were the scorn of our wild horsemen, and the contrast between the two was great indeed. The arms and appointments of the hussar were a sad encumbrance in this climate. He had his lance, sword, carbine, and a brace of pistols; and his clothing and trappings were those of a Hungarian trooper. He was obliged to have his horse’s tail cut short, for on several occasions a Llanero was known to have galloped up to the rear of a trooper, dismounted in an instant, and seizing the horse by its long tail, by a sudden jerk contrived to throw it on the ground, and then despatched the rider. Our fellows, when charging, used to lay their heads and bodies on the necks of their horses, carrying their lances horizontally in the right hand about the height of the knee, so that when the Spaniards fired they seldom managed to hit them.
I was seated with Juan in the hut which formed our headquarters. We had not troubled ourselves with tents, for our men slept on the ground during the dry season, except when we were quartered in a farmhouse or a village. We had been talking over the prospects of the campaign, when an orderly, riding up to the entrance of the hut, delivered a despatch to Juan. He read it eagerly.
“We are ordered to ride on to the Pass of Guamoco, as no infantry can reach it in time to prevent the Spaniards—who are marching towards it—obtaining possession,” he said. “Order the assembly to be sounded, Duncan.”
While I hastened to carry out his order, he hurriedly wrote a few lines on a rough piece of paper, which had not a very official appearance, and gave it to the orderly, directing him to deliver it to the general. In a wonderfully short time we were in the saddle, and moving towards our destination.
Juan then told me that he had been directed to take possession of a fort of some strength, which guarded the entrance of a pass through which Bolivar intended to make his way, but which, if occupied by the enemy, would be impracticable. It was thus of the greatest importance that we should take possession of it. “The general orders me to hold the fort until an infantry regiment arrives to garrison it,” added Juan.
“I hope they will put the best foot foremost, then, for I have no wish to be cooped up in a fort when we should be doing service in the open country,” said Mr Laffan.