every one obeying me at my first command, and never making it necessary for me to put them on hard duty, or to punish them.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE ESTANCIA DELLA BANA.

UPON the Camacua, where we had our little arsenal, and from which the republican flotilla had issued, dwelt, extending over an immense superficies, all the families of the brothers of Bento Gonzales, as well as his more distant relations; numberless flocks pastured in its magnificent plains, which war had respected, because it was out of the reach of its destructive hands. Agricultural produce was there amassed in an abundance of which Europeans can form no idea. I have already said that in no country on earth was a more frank and cordial hospitality to be met with; now, this hospitality we found in these dwellings, in which existed the most complete sympathy for us.

The estancias of which, on account of their proximity to the river, and thanks to the welcome we were sure to meet with there, we were most frequently the guests, were those of Donna Anna and Donna Antonia, sisters of the President. The first of these was situated on the shores of the Camacua, the other on those of the Anayo Grande. I do not know whether it was the effect of my imagination or simply one of the privileges of my twenty-six years, but everything was embellished in my eyes; and I can affirm that no period of my life is more present to my thoughts, and above all, is present with greater charms, than that period I am about to describe. The house of Donna Anna was individually for me a true paradise; although no longer young, this charming woman was of a most cheerful character. She had residing with her a whole family of emigrants from Pelotas, a provincial city, the chief of which was Doctor Paolo Ferrara; these young girls,

each more beautiful than the others, constituted the ornaments of this delightful abode. One of them, named Manoela, was the absolute mistress of my soul; although without hopes of ever possessing her, I could not help loving her. She was affianced to a son of Bento Gonzales.

An occasion, however, presented itself, in which, being in danger, I had reason to suspect that I was not indifferent to the lady of my heart; and this consciousness which I had of her sympathy sufficed to console me for the reflection that she could not be mine. In general, the women of Rio Grande are very handsome; our men had made themselves gallantly their slaves; but it must be confessed they did not entertain for their idols so divine and disinterested a worship as mine for Manoela. Every time, therefore, that a contrary wind, a sudden storm, or an expedition drove us towards l'Anayo-Grande or Camacua, it was a holiday for us. The little wood of Firiva, which indicated the entrance to the one, or the forest of orange-trees which masked the mouth of the other, were always saluted by a triple salvo of joyous hurrahs! which proclaimed our amorous enthusiasm.

Now it happened one day that after having drawn our boats on shore we were at the estancia of la Bana, belonging to Donna Anna, sister of the President, before an outhouse which was used for salting and cooking meat, and is thence called in that country galpon da chargueada, that we were informed that Colonel Pietro de Abreca, surnamed Moringue, that is to say, the polecat, on account of his cunning, had landed within two or three leagues of us with seventy horse and eighty foot. The thing was the more probable from our knowing that since the capture of the felucca which we had burnt and cleared of everything that was valuable in it, Moringue had sworn he would be avenged.

This news filled me with delight. The men commanded by Colonel Moringue were German and Austrian mercenaries, to whom I was not sorry to pay part of

the debt which every good Italian has contracted with their brethren in Europe. We were sixty men in all, but I knew my sixty men, and with them I believed myself able to maintain my ground, not only against a hundred and fifty, but three hundred Austrians.

I consequently sent out scouts in all directions, keeping fifty men with me. The ten or a dozen men I had sent out to reconnoitre, all came back with one uniform answer-"We have seen nothing."

There was a thick fog, and with the help of this fog, the enemy had escaped their researches. I resolved not to trust absolutely to the intelligence of man, but to interrogate the instinct of animals. Generally, when an expedition of this nature is accomplished, and the men of another country surround an estancia for the purpose of forming an ambuscade, the animals who smell the stranger betray signs of uneasiness in which those who interrogate them are never deceived. The cattle, driven by my men, spread themselves all round the estancia, without manifesting that anything extraordinary was going on in the neighbourhood.

From that I concluded I had no surprise to fear; I ordered my men to place their guns, loaded as they were, together with their ammunition, in racks which I had had made in the galpon, and I set them the example of feeling safe by commencing my breakfast, advising them to do the same. This was a recommendation they were accustomed to adopt without much entreaty. Thank Heaven! provisions were not wanting. Breakfast over, I left every one to do as he liked.

My men worked as they ate-that is to say, with all their hearts. They did not require twice telling: some went to the lancions, which were drawn up upon the beach to be repaired-others, to the forge-these, to the woods to cut firing-those, fishing. I remained alone with the master cook, who had established his kitchen in the open air before the door of the galpon, and was watching the cauldron or skimming the saucepan. As for me, I was voluptuously sipping my maté, a sort of tea from Paraguay, which is taken in a gourd

by means of a glass or wooden pipe. I did not in the least suspect that Colonel the Polecat, who was of the country, had by some manœuvre escaped the watchfulness of my men, given confidence to the animals, and, with his hundred and fifty Austrians, was couched upon the ground in a wood within five hundred paces of us.

All at once, to my great astonishment, I heard the charge sounded behind me. I turned sharply round. Infantry and cavalry were charging at full gallop, every horseman having a man behind him; they for whom there were no horses, were running on foot, holding by the horses' manes.

I

I made but one bound from my bench into the galpon, the cook following me; but the enemy were so close to us, that at the moment I passed through the doorway my puncho was pierced by a lance thrust. have said the guns were placed loaded in a rack. There were sixty of them. I seized one and discharged it; then a second, then a third, and this so rapidly, that it was not possible they should believe I was alone; and with such good fortune, that three men fell. A fourth, a fifth, a sixth shot succeeded to the three first; as I fired into the mass, every shot told. If that mass had formed the idea of penetrating into the galpon, there would have been an end of the corsair and his course at once; but the cook having joined me, and fired from his side, Colonel Polecat, cunning as he was, was deceived, and thought we were all in the galpon.

Consequently, he and his men placed themselves at about a hundred paces from the shed, and kept up a steady fire. It was this that saved me.

As the cook was not an expert shot, and as in our situation every ball that missed was a loss, I ordered him to content himself with reloading the discharged guns and passing them to me. I was certain of one thing, and that was that my men, having already a suspicion that the enemy had landed, on hearing the firing would comprehend all, and would hasten to my assistance. I was not deceived. My brave Louis

Carniglia appeared first in the cloud of smoke which extended from the galpon to the enemy, who on their side kept up an infernal fire. Immediately after him appeared the brave Biscayan, Ignace Bilboa, and a not less brave Italian, named Lorenzo. In a moment they were by my side, and began imitating me with a hearty good-will. Then Edouard Mutru, Nacemonto Raphael, and Procope-the last two, one a mulatto, the other a black-Francesco da Sylva. I wish that instead of writing them here on paper, I could engrave in brass the names of all those valiant Spaniards who, to the number of thirteen, joined me, and fought for five hours against a hundred and fifty enemies.

These enemies had taken possession of all the outhouses and buildings that surrounded us, and from thence poured a terrible fire upon us. Others hoisted

themselves up upon the roof, tore off the covering, fired at us and threw in burning fascines through the holes. But whilst some of us extinguished the fascines, others replied to the firing, and two or three of the enemy fell in dead among us through the holes themselves had made.

On our side we had formed loopholes in the walls of the galpon with our bayonets, by which we were enabled to fire almost under cover. At the end of about three hours, the negro Procope made a lucky shot; he broke the arm of Colonel Moringue; upon which the Colonel immediately sounded a retreat, carrying away his wounded, but leaving fifteen dead behind him. On our side, out of thirty men, I had five killed and five wounded. Three subsequently died of their wounds, so that I lost eight men by this affair, one of the hottest in which I ever took part.

These combats were the more murderous to us from our having neither physician nor surgeon. Slight wounds are healed with fresh water, renewed as often as possible. But with serious wounds it was quite another thing. In general, the wounded man was sensible of his own condition; if he was hopeless of recovery,

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