“They are already written. Here they are!” he said, putting them into my hand.
I took them, and placed them in a leathern case slung over my back.
“I will lose no time in starting,” I remarked, as I left him.
On the way to my quarters I met the doctor, and told him where I was going.
“I wish I could accompany you,” he said; “for I have little or nothing to do among your fellows. They are so hardy that not one is sick in a month; and even the wounds they receive heal without my aid.”
“I should like your company, my dear doctor,” I replied; “but I doubt if your horse would carry you as fast as I must make mine go. And I would rather you remained behind, that you may inform my family as to what you suppose has become of me, should I not return.”
“Don’t talk of that, Harry,” he exclaimed. “You must take care not to be captured by those bloodthirsty Spaniards; for if you are, they will certainly put you to death.”
“You may depend on my doing my best to escape them,” I said, laughing—not that I had any fears on the subject.
I was quickly ready, and off I set, making my horse move over the ground as llañeros are wont to do when work is before them. I had not gone far, however, before I learned from the peasantry that there were numerous parties of Spaniards stationed in all directions, to cut off the supplies of the patriot army; and that the undertaking in which I was engaged was likely to prove far more dangerous than I had expected. Accordingly, I had to use the greatest caution—galloping on only at night, and concealing myself and my horse during the day in any clump of trees I could find, or in some recess of the mountains, except when the country appeared sufficiently open to enable me to put forth the powers of my steed, and trust to his speed for escape.
I had gone on for several leagues, and, believing that I had passed the last party of Spaniards, I was proceeding rather more leisurely than at first, along a zigzag path cut in the side of a mountain, with a steep precipice below me, when I saw a strong body of men posted on a height at some distance above me. To turn back was as full of risk as to push forward. I determined on the latter course, therefore; and digging the spurs into my horse’s flanks, I dashed at headlong speed along the road. I had already placed the Spaniards behind me, when they, suspecting that I was an enemy, opened fire, and their shot whizzed thickly about my ears. On I dashed; but a false step might have sent me and my horse into the abyss below, down which the stones clattered. Suddenly I heard a thud, such as a bullet produces when striking a substance; and feeling my gallant steed give a convulsive spring, I knew he was wounded. Still, he went on for nearly a hundred yards; then he began to stagger; and I had just time to clear my feet of the stirrups, and throw myself off his back, ere he rolled over into the rocky ravine. I did not stop a moment to see what became of him, but ran forward as fast as my legs could carry me; unslinging my despatch-case as I did so, and taking out the despatches, which I hid beneath my shirt. I then gave the case a whirl in the air, so that my pursuers might see it, and swung it from me into the ravine.