The Boy Soldier; Or, Garibaldi's Young Captain — page 350: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

\ I TT 344 marching down to take us by surprise, if they could, and capture the city. ooo ‘They had to cross the San Juan river 1n order to get at us—a stream not very far from the city , and, as the bed of the stream was often perfectly dry, they anticipated very little tronble in getting at us. “ But the San Juan is one of the most unreliabl streams in all the world. BL “In twenty hours it will rise twenty feet high, from immense floods which flow occasionally from the mountains inland. “Ag it happened, the bed of the river was per- | feetly dry when Mejia was only~a few leagues. distant, and, to prevent him’ from: crossing it, ou venerals thought it wise to keep ‘their troops con- tinually moving to and from, in order to prevent “As might be supposed, then, Jaarez, gave us very little rest, and marched us abont both night and day. 1" APES 9? a, “ While we were away from Matamoras, however, dodging the enemy, the San Juan suddenly rose to 4 great height, and prevented Mejia from advancing tt eaerey 7 further, at least, for some time.’ ~ 77» ra “But while we were/away, however, several spies | ~All was deci ' {ily informed | people remarkably so, left the city, swam the San Juan, and fully informed” Mejia of our doings, whereabouts, and’ ‘total / numbers. | ees SL ‘So well had they managed matters im our” absence, that several French engineer officers crossed the San Juan and mapped out.all the country round. about the city. SSS “The good .people of ve dreamed of what our real intentions were, ~—— —__- > “Our company of Boy Soldiers weré- ordered back to the city, and encamped not far from the walls, outside in the fields. Ti apa “This, our sudden return, took many of. the citizens by surprise, nor could they makeatout.why so few of us should now ‘appear to dispute the advance of the French, who, all very well knew, were not far off. . - « We did not satisfy their curiosity, however, by giving any explanations, but kept our mouths closed. “Judge of the surprise ofall, however, when at sunset the next (Saturday) evening, our, whole force marched back unexpectedly, and camped on the same ‘ground »which they: had done a month before. | ‘‘T felt very glad to see:the return of all ourfoxce, for Lnow was sure that much ofvhe fatiguing, guard, and other duties would bée:taken off our hands. “ But I was doomed to disappointment once more, and so were all our gallant: boys. ‘ About three a.m. on the next (Sunday) morning while I and the boys were doing camp guard, one of our generals rode into our camp very hastily. ‘Not a drum was beaten, nota bugle sounded, yet in ten minutes all the tents disappeated, and the army waggons moved off on the roxd to Monterey, “The troops were drawn wp Teady to move‘at.a moment’s notice, and what all this sudden change might mean none of us could tell without it was that we were ordered to retréat oncé more, ‘The doubt, however, was 800n cleared up, ‘¢ Juarez and his staff of yenerals Were soon heard approaching, ‘‘ All our men being formed, one of the generals rode up and said : “* Mexican patriots, the enemy are approaching ; they have, or will, perhaps, soon cross the San Juan, ““* Ags you know, they greatly outnumber us,.but = as —— THE BOY SOLDIER; OR, GARIBALDI’S YOUNG CAPTAIN. we must fight, yes, and fight hard, for there is not a single road by which we can retreat with safety, and we need not expect reinforcements, for there are none nearer to us than ten leagues. The enemy, I understand, muster fourteen or fifteen thousand men in two bodies, and are well off for artillery. “‘« Ag T said before, there is no hope for us except in fighting in a determined manner, and Mexico expects that in the approaching combat every man will‘do his duty, and let your cry be for “ victory or death,’ 7) | \ These few words, hurriedly spoken, gave great courage to our men, and if they had been allowed, they would have made the welkin ring again with their shouts. “At the word of command we marched after our generals and were on foot many hours. “We ascértained from scouts and spies that the — enemy had crossed the river much higher up than we expected,;-and were-committing all manner of depredations on all those who in any way counte- naneed the Republican eause. *¥akingoup the line of march, we passed north- wards through the most picturesque and delightful farming country the eye, perhaps, ever beheld. | +€AIW was decidedly pleasant in aspect, and the / f “The lads were highly cultivated, the eattle fat ; and of stiperior stock 5 farm-houses, out-houses, and servants’ quarters/were all regularly, substantially, alid\neatly built, scrupulously clean, and possessing an air’ of Comfort and contentment superior to any- SSS ephing I had ever seen on the continent. Matamoras, however, little |) + Mountains and valleys, hills and dales, fine _ “springs and-majestic woods came into view at every “turn -of-the road, while overloaded barns and corn- cribs, neat school-houses and rustic churches by the wayside, cosy villages, and strong, masculine, rosy- cheeked inbabitants, contrasted favourably with the tumble-down appearance, sallow, fever-and-agueish aspect of the immensely wealthy, but careless and fast-living cities by the sea. ‘The habits, dress, look, language, and all things reminded me much of Spain ; but nothing more so than the buxom, rosy-faced, and white-aproned mothers and daughters who lined the wayside, and brought out all their stock and store to entertain our merry, dusty, and weary soldiery toiling up the hills of. this beautiful region. — “Our reception by the inhabitants was enthu- siastic and; cheering. It was. rumoured that the country was nought else but a den of traitors, but, certainly, their cordial behaviour fully contradicted the whisper. . * As this country was in the north-eastern corner of the state, it was mountainous and rolling. The river ran on two sides, north and east, while in the north-west, we could. see the mountains which separated us from the road to Monterey. sss ‘The ferry lay under the northern extremity of the heights, the San Juan washed its foot, while on the opposite bank towered perpendicularly the heights of Monterey. | F en ‘The distance, by the river (unnayigable here) teem Matamoras: to the» Ferry was. about forty mies, - 85 “The land route was about thirty-five miles, with two or three very small towns in the valleys. Pontsville being but four miles from the Ferry, and on the south bank, a body of the enemy were re- ported in possession of this last-mentioned place, and to. questions our general grinned good- humouredly, and promised to ‘shake them out one of these fine mornings |’ Yee GEomichsoo (E@)