"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 llaneros 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.
Having still some hopes of escaping, as it was possible my pursuers
might attempt to secure the leathern case, and allow me time to distance
them before they could discover that it was empty, I dashed on,--not
even looking back to ascertain if they were following. At length I
stopped; but what was my dismay, on taking a glance over my shoulder, to
see that half-a-dozen of the most active of the party were pressing hard
after me! Had the path continued down-hill, I should have succeeded in
escaping; but, unhappily, I found that the only way I could follow led
directly up the steep side of a mountain, where I must be exposed to the
view of my pursuers. Could I, however, reach the top, so that I might
once more have only to run down-hill, I might be safe; and I knew that I
could climb up-hill faster than they could. I held on, therefore.
Their object had probably been to take me alive, that they might obtain
information from me as to the movements of the combatants; but seeing
that I might escape them, they halted, and brought their muskets to
their shoulders.
As I turned my head for an instant, I saw what they were about. Yet
even then I did not despair, and on I bounded up the hill. The next
moment I heard the bullets strike the ground round me, and at the same
time felt a peculiar sensation in my leg, as if the cold end of a lance
had entered it. I knew that I was hit, but that no bone or muscle worth
speaking of had been injured. Though wounded, I felt capable of
considerable exertion; and so, casting another look behind me, to
ascertain what my enemies were about,--not dreaming of giving in,--I saw
that they were reloading. Still, I might gain the top of the hill.
Once more the rattle of musketry sounded in my ears; and a very
unpleasant sound it is, for the person at whom the balls are aimed. "A
miss, however, is as good as a mile;" and though two or three bullets
whistled close to my ears, and another went through the sleeve of my
jacket, I was sure that I had escaped this second salvo.
The top of the hill appeared just above me, when I felt myself seized
with faintness, against which I struggled in vain. I staggered for a
few yards farther, and then sank on the ground. I must have lost
consciousness; for the next moment, as it seemed to me, when I opened my
eyes I saw my enemies standing round me.
"He is an Englishman," I heard one of them say.
"We must not kill him now; he has made a brave attempt to escape,"
remarked another.
"Young as he looks, he will probably know some thing our general would
like to hear," observed a third. "We must carry him with us." And
another, still more considerate, advised that my wound should be bound
up, or I might bleed to death.
Thanking them for their good intentions, I produced a handkerchief, with
which, the last speaker assisting me, I bound up my leg. Happily, the
wound was not so serious as it might have been; for the bullet had
passed through the flesh without cutting any considerable artery or
blood-vessel, and gone out again--carrying with it the piece of cloth it
had cut from my trousers.
The men, with more consideration than I should have expected from them,
then lifted me up on their shoulders and conveyed me to the hut which
had served as their guard-house. After I had been there some time an
officer appeared, who asked if I was ready to give any information about
the movements of the patriots; but I replied that I was merely the
bearer of despatches--with the contents of which I was unacquainted--and
that I had, as in duty bound, thrown away my despatch-case. I guessed,
from various questions put to me, that it had not been discovered; which
was, at all events, satisfactory, as they were less likely to suppose
that I had the letters concealed about me. The officer then told me
that, as I was strong enough to sit a mule, he would send me to General
Morillo, who might possibly find means of eliciting information. I
begged that I might remain a few days in quiet, to give my wound an
opportunity of healing. He answered that I must consider myself
fortunate in not being immediately put to death, as would have been the
fate of most people; but that, as I had shown courage, and was an
Englishman, he would give me a chance of saving my life and regaining my
liberty: though he warned me that, should I refuse to give all the
information I might possess, the general would shoot or hang me without
scruple.
Of course I thanked the officer for his courtesy, and expressed my
readiness to set out, and sit my mule as long as I could; not that I had
the slightest intention of giving General Morillo any information, but I
hoped, during the journey, to find some opportunity of escaping.
As Caracas was still held by the Republicans, I was to be taken, I
found, to La Guayra, on the coast, and from thence sent to wherever the
general happened to be. It occurred to me that by the time I could
reach him, even should I tell him everything I knew it would be of
little use, as the patriot leaders might by that time have completely
changed their plans.
From an unusual oversight on their part, my captors had not thought of
searching me, as they supposed all the letters I was carrying had been
thrown away in the case. I determined, however, to destroy the
despatches on the first opportunity.
I cannot attempt to describe my journey, for my wound pained me so much
that I could think of little else. I was constantly on the watch for an
opportunity of destroying the papers hidden in my bosom, and was now
sorry that I had taken them out of the despatch-case. We sometimes
slept in the open air; and my wound, as I lay on the hard ground, caused
me so much pain that I could scarcely sleep. At other times we stopped
at guard-houses, where I was devoured by fleas and other insects; for
the men who escorted me were afraid of entering the villages, the
inhabitants being generally favourable to the patriot cause. We of
course kept at a distance from Caracas, but I heard from my guards that
General Morales was marching from Valencia with a powerful force for the
purpose of recapturing it; and on the very day that we reached La
Guayra, I was further informed that he had entered the city and put the
whole of the patriot garrison to the sword. "Such will be the fate,"
added my informant in a triumphant tone, "of all who oppose our rightful
sovereign, the King of Spain." I thought it wise to make no reply to
this remark.
Shortly afterwards we reached a strong castle, close to the sea,--to the
governor of which I was delivered up. Though a Spaniard, he cast, I
thought, a glance of commiseration at me; and he whispered to an officer
in attendance--"Poor youth! he looks ill and weak. He has but a few
days to live, I suspect."
I had, indeed, suffered much from the pain of my wound and the fatigue
of the journey; the food, also, with which I had been furnished, was
insufficient and coarse. I was nevertheless placed in a dungeon, but I
was supplied with a bed and bedding, and a chair and table, by the
compassionate governor. There was also a small window, strongly barred,
through which the fresh sea-breeze blew into my cell, so that I was
better off than I had expected.
All this time I had never been searched, and had still the despatches
about me. Better food than I had hitherto been able to obtain was
brought to me; and had I not known that the fate of most prisoners
captured as I had been was to be put to death, I should have been
tolerably contented, in the hope of recovering, and of some day or other
regaining my liberty.