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of their position, and the peculiar nature of the ground. The victors, after ascertaining that they had left no living enemy on the field of battle, fastened the riderless horses behind the carts; and urging on the mules with whip and voice, the convoy soon emerged from the defile, preceded by the Impecinado and half-a-dozen of his companions, mounted on the pick of the captured troopers. They kept along the camino real for about a mile, until they arrived at a cross road, into which they struck, and after an hour's march, found themselves on the borders of a large and dreary moor, intersected by the continuation of the track they had been following, but which they now deserted, and, proceeding a short distance to the left, soon arrived at a small cluster of houses. These habitations, although spacious, and, like most of the dwellings in the mountainous districts of Spain, constructed of solid blocks of stone, had an appearance of extreme poverty, which harmonized well with the wretched and half-famished looks of some women and children who were sitting about the doors, and who rose in consternation at the approach of the cavalcade. Their alarm, however, was converted into rejoicing when they saw their own countrymen instead of the dreaded and detested Frenchmen; (Franceses.)

The party halted in front of the houses, and the Impecinado, alighting from his horse, opened one of the baggage-carts, and lifted out the first thing which came to his hand. It was a wooden box, which, although not large, was so weighty that it required a considerable exertion of strength to raise it, and with an oath he dashed it on the rocky soil. The fastenings of the chest broke with the violence of the fall, and a vast quantity of gold coin rolled in all directions. The ground was strewed with single and double louis-d'ors and napoleons, and the fortunate possessors of all this wealth lifted up their hands and eyes, in astonishment of the sight of riches, greater than their wildest dreams could ever have pictured to them. A general investigation ensued, and the carts were found to be in great part laden with specie intended for the use of the French armies, but which was now likely to receive a very different destination. There were also numerous trunks

and packages addressed to officers of rank, and containing uniforms, epaulettes, and other articles of equipment. These were passed in review by the guerillas, who appeared to experience at the sight of all this military finery, the sort of half contemptuous admiration natural to men to whom luxury was unknown, and who had been accustomed to satisfy their wants by the simplest and most primitive means. An observer would have been diverted at seeing these hardy mountaineers putting on embroidered pouch-belts over their coarse brown jackets, and momentarily replacing their greasy sombreros and coloured woollen caps by the cocked hats and plumes which had been forwarded from Paris for the use of the French generals and their aides-de-camp.

Whilst his men were thus occupied, the Impecinado consulted with two or three of those in whose judgment he had the most confidence, as to the course to be adopted to secure the booty; for the French at that period we are speaking of, overran Castile in every direction; and as soon as the daring exploit of the guerillas became known, strong detachments would inevitably be sent in their pursuit, and measures taken to hem them in on all sides, and prevent their ultimate escape, or their junction with any large body of Spanish troops. The most feasible plan appeared to be to strike across the moor, and by means of by-roads well known to the Impecinado, to gain one of the sierras, or mountain ridges, which abound in Old Castile. There they would find caves and hiding-places in which the treasure could be placed, until an increase of force might enable their chief to brave the French more openly than he could pretend to do with the handful of men he now commanded, and which was merely intended to serve as a nucleus for the organization of a large and effective guerilla corps.

The horses and mules, however, had been marching since morning, and appeared too much fatigued for it to be prudent to commence the projected march immediately. After traversing the moor, the roads were bad, especially for the carts, and it would have been highly imprudent to risk an accident in those narrow and difficult mountain passes, where the fal

ling of a mule, or the overturning of one of the waggons, might compromise the safety of the whole party by the delay it would occasion. Besides this, there appeared no necessity for such immediate hurry. The nearest garrison was at three leagues distance from the scene of the skirmish, and it was highly improbable that the news of the surprise of the convoy would reach it before the next morning; so that it would be mid-day before the French troops could discover the track of the guerillas. Under these circumstances, it was resolved to remain where they were, a part of the night, and to resume their march at two or three in the morning. Orders were given to unharness, and the mules and horses were placed in the stables and out-houses of the hamlet, and amply provided with straw and barley. The Impecinado superintended these arrangements, caused the broken money-chest to be fastened up again, and placed in the cart, and had a guard mounted over the waggons to protect them from pillage. He deemed it unnecessary to post advanced sentries, considering it impossible that any pursuit should be directed against him before the following day.

He would, perhaps, have felt less confident of his safety, had he been aware of a circumstance which had escaped his notice, and that of every individual of his band.

At the commencement of the attack on the convoy, the horse mounted by the French commissary had been startled by the fall of the mass of rock which crushed the officer of gendarmes, and being a somewhat spirited animal, commen-ced a series of capers productive of excessive discomfort to his rider, a little fat man, possessed of a most rotund and commissary-like paunch, and of a pair of short bulbous-looking legs, which experienced no small difficulty in adhering to the sides of the restive bucephalus. The curvets and prancing of the horse probably saved the life of the horseman, by causing him to present an unsteady mark to the wellaimed bullets of the guerillas. At length, divided between the fear of being shot, and that of being thrown, the unfortunate little gentleman gave up the contest with his steed, who took the bit between his teeth and set off at full speed,

VOL. I.

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which he did not slacken until he had accomplished nearly half the distance from the defile to Aranda. The remainder of the journey the rider prevailed on him to perform at a more deliberate pace; and on his arrival, hastened to report to the general commanding, the attack on the convoy, and the perils to which he had been exposed. His fears and his imagination, however, caused him to convert the little band of guerillas, whom he had not even seen, into a formidable and numerous body of Spanish troops; and the French general, although he had no previous intimation of the possible vicinity of such an army, deemed it only prudent to proceed himself with a large force to reconnoitre the enemy, and if possible, to recapture the large sum of which there could be no doubt that the latter had obtained possession. He set out, therefore, with half a dozen squadrons of light cavalry, leaving the infantry to follow, and taking with him, as a guide, the unfortunate commissary, in spite of the extraordinary repugnance manifested by that gentleman to the pleasures of a night march.

The Impecinado, having completed all his arrangements, entered one of the houses, and threw himself on a bed, in an upper room, in order to take a little repose before starting on his early march. He was soon buried in a deep sleep, from which he was awakened an hour or two later by the report of fire-arms outside the house. Springing from the coarse mattress, stuffed with dried maize-leaves, which forms the bed of most Spanish peasants, he rushed to the window, and looking out, beheld a sight calculated to unnerve and reduce to despair any man of less courage than Juan Martin Diez. Two squadrons of French hussars were hastily surrounding the house, whilst, from the direction of the lane which led from the moor to the high-road, and which the Impecinado and his band had followed after the capture of the convoy, a long line of cavalry were advancing at a hand-gallop, and as they arrived were drawn up by their officers at about a hundred yards in front of the hamlet. The waggons were already in possession of the French, who had cut down the men appointed to guard them. Not anticipating any great

ter danger than some petty attempt at pilfering by the inhabitants of the houses, they had kept too negligent a watch, and had barely had time to fire the shots which warned the Impecinado of his danger, before they were sabred by the hostile cavalry.

In front of the compact column of troops, which was rapidly forming, and mounted on a richly caparisoned charger, appeared the French general surrounded by his staff. He was a young man, whose dark countenance, if not regularly handsome, had a frank and pleasing expression, and whose wellturned limbs and soldierly bearing, showed off to advantage a splendid hussar's uniform covered with lace and embroidery. A profusion of long curling hair escaped from under his shako; a curved Damascus scimitar, with a jewelled hilt, hung by his side; and in his hand he carried a small goldmounted riding-whip, with which he impatiently tapped his morocco boot, whilst giving some directions to one of his aides-de-camp. In this elegant militaire, the Impecinado, who had once before had an opportunity of seeing him, immediately recognized Murat, the hussar par excellence, the greatest dandy and most dashing cavalry-officer of Bonaparte's armies.

It required but a single glance of the guerilla's quick eye to take in all these details. The moon, which was nearly at the full, threw a strong light over the moor, and over the military array just described. By the order of Murat, a party of cavalry dismounted, and commenced the search of the houses. Already the Impecinado heard their foot-steps on the staircase leading to his room. It was no time for hesitation or wavering; he opened the window and stepped out upon the rudely-constructed balcony, which was thrown into deep shade by the wall of a house and the projecting roof above. Underneath the window, several hussars were walking their horses up and down, to prevent the escape of the enemy whom their comrades had gone in quest of. The balcony was about twenty feet from the ground. The Impecinado suspended himself for an instant by his hands to the wooden balustrade, and then letting go his hold, dropped on his feet on the nea

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