■te 
 
 IIWDH
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 PONCE DE LEON 
 
 OR THE 
 
 RISE OF THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. 
 
 31 l0Utl 
 
 BY 
 
 AN ESTANCIERO. 
 
 LONDON: 
 CHAPMAN & HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. 
 
 1878. 
 
 lA/i Kis/its reserved.']
 
 LONDON : 
 n. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR, 
 liUEAD STREET HILL, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET.
 
 CHAP. 
 
 PR 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 THE BABYHOOD OF A GREAT NATION. 
 
 Prologue 
 
 PAGE 
 
 3 
 
 I. 
 
 Father mid So?i 
 
 5 
 
 II. 
 
 How Don Gregorio Lopez sought an Answer to the 
 
 
 
 Question of the Day 
 
 II 
 
 III. 
 
 Concerning the dafiger of Friendship with an Enemy ... 
 
 20 
 
 IV. 
 
 Showing how a Patriot may also be a Traitor 
 
 29 
 
 V. 
 
 Perdriel 
 
 36 
 
 VI. 
 
 In which it appears that a lesson may be zuell taught 
 
 
 
 and yet not learned ... 
 
 47 
 
 VII. 
 
 The 1 2th August, i8o6 
 
 53 
 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. 
 
 
 
 Prologue 
 
 61 
 
 I. 
 
 At the Quinta de Ponce 
 
 63 
 
 II. 
 
 The Yeomanry of Buenos Aires ... 
 
 71 
 
 III. 
 
 Ari7iing the Slaves 
 
 78 
 
 IV. 
 
 Standing alone 
 
 85 
 
 V. 
 
 An Evening in the month of yime 
 
 93 
 
 VI. 
 
 The Lafiding of the English 
 
 100 
 
 3021213
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 VII. The Baptism of Fire ... ... ... ...no 
 
 VIII. Los Corrales dc La Miserere ... ... ... 117 
 
 IX. The Niglit of Sorrow ... ... ... ... 121 
 
 X. The Coimcil of War ... ... ... ... 131 
 
 XI. The Pathways of Death ... ... ... 141 
 
 XII. The Afternoon of the ith July ... ... ... 152 
 
 XIII. The Capitulation of the dth July ... ... 158 
 
 Epilogue to Books L. 6^ //. .• The Monuments and the 
 
 Rewards of Victory ... ... ... 162 
 
 Appendix: The Court- Afar tia I ... ... ... 163 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 THE UNKNOWN FUTURE. 
 
 Prologue 
 I. At the Quinta de Don Alfonso 
 
 II. The Episode of the fair Mauricia 
 
 III. Watch and Wait 
 
 IV. The raising of the Veil ... 
 
 V. To our Friends the English ! 
 
 167 
 169 
 
 175 
 187 
 
 193 
 
 202 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 THE DAWN OF FREEDOM. 
 PART I.-THE BRIGHTENING OF THE EASTERN SKY. 
 
 Prologue 
 
 I. Alagdalen 
 
 II. LLo7v Don Gregorio Lopez a secofid time sought an Answer 
 
 to the Question of the Day 
 
 III . Several ways of looking at one Question 
 
 IV. LLow the Spaniards also proposed to themselves a Questioji, 
 
 and how Don Carlos Evafia prepa?-ed an Answer 
 
 213 
 215 
 
 223 
 
 227 
 
 234
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 V. 
 
 VI. 
 
 VII. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 IX. 
 
 X. 
 
 How the Viceroy took Coimsel with Don Roderigo 
 
 The Eve of a great Event 
 
 The ist 'ifa?mary, 1809 
 
 Evana's Dream 
 
 The Day after 
 
 America for the Afne?-icans 
 
 PAGE 
 
 242 
 
 249 
 
 258 
 
 267 
 
 273 
 279 
 
 BOOK V. 
 
 THE DAWN OF FREEDOM. 
 
 PART II.— THE MISTS OF THE EARLY MORN. 
 
 Prologue ... ... ... ... ... 287 
 
 I. The two Viceroys ... ... ... ... 289 
 
 II. The Tertulia at the House of my lady Josef na ... 298 
 
 III. La yiDita de los Comandantes ... ... ... 307 
 
 IV. How Don Carlos Evaiia attacked the Wild-duck, a?id 
 
 routed them with great slaughter ... ... 313 
 
 V. Ho7if the Viceroy placed a sword in the hands of the 
 
 enemies of Spain ... ... ... ... 323 
 
 VI. / Cadu^b la Espana I ... ... ... ... 331 
 
 I. 
 II. 
 
 III. 
 IV. 
 V. 
 VI. 
 
 BOOK VI. 
 
 LIBERTY. 
 
 Prologue 
 
 How the last Tie was broken 
 
 Hotu Don Gregorio Lopez for the third time sought an 
 Answer to the Question of the Day 
 
 The Opening of the 7nonth of May 
 Dias de la Patria 
 The 2Sth May, i^io ... 
 Lions in the Path 
 
 347 
 349 
 
 356 
 360 
 
 3^>7 
 375 
 383
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. 
 VII. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 IX. 
 
 X. 
 
 T/icJirst FigJit in ijie War of Independence 
 How General Liniers lost an important Ally 
 La Caheza del Tisire 
 
 Once more in the Porch together 
 
 PAGE 
 
 388 
 
 397 
 401 
 
 408 
 
 GENERAL EPILOGUE. 
 
 I. The Viceroy alty of Buenos Aires 
 
 II. The Year 1810 
 
 III. Paraguay 
 
 IV. The Ban da Oriental 
 
 V. The Army of Upper Peru 
 
 VI. The Sovereign People 
 VII. The Congress of Tuciiman 
 
 VIII. Independence ... 
 
 419 
 
 420 
 422 
 422 
 424 
 427 
 
 433 
 434
 
 %l irait JitcMa irpntiita i^iiluKf
 
 PROLOGUE. 
 
 The Argentine Republic drew her first faltering breath in a time of 
 universal tumult. Europe was in a blaze from the confines of Russia 
 to the Atlantic ; the air reeked with blood, the demon of war strode 
 rough-shod over a whole continent, at each step crushing some ancient 
 nation to the dust. The peoples of Europe, down-trodden for ages, 
 rose in their misery and barbarism against their oppressors and wrote 
 out their certificate of Freedom in characters of blood; they asserted 
 their right to be men not slaves, and their voice as that of a mighty 
 trumpet reverberated throughout the earth. In the hearts of the 
 Spanish Creoles of America that voice found an echo. 
 
 Spain arrogated to herself unlimited power over the nations she had 
 founded, witting not that they were nations. Though they were of 
 her own bone and her own blood, she knew them not as children, but 
 as bond-slaves, who existed to do her bidding. 
 
 The voice of France in the first throes of her great agony sounded 
 in the ears of these bond-slaves, and in secret conclave they whispered 
 one to another, asking one another wistfully, whether they were men 
 and not slaves. To this whispered question for long there was no 
 answer, for Spain was to them as their mother. 
 
 Can a mother sin in the eyes of her own child ?
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 FATHER AND SON. 
 
 "Thank God I am not a Spaniard." 
 
 " Marcelino ! my son ! what new heresy is this ? " ' 
 
 " It is no new heresy at all, my mother ; it is a fact. Thank God I 
 am not a Spaniard. I am an American, and the day will come when 
 we Americans will show the world that we are men and not slaves." 
 
 " Marcelino ! Be comforted, my son ; it is the fortune of war. 
 You at any rate did your duty, and did not fly till you were left alone. 
 I should have mourned for you if you had been killed. My heart 
 would have been desolate, my son, if I had lost you ; now I have you 
 yet, and I am proud of you." 
 
 As the stately lady spoke thus, she laid her hands upon her son's 
 shoulder, while he sat gloomily on a low chair; and bending over him, 
 kissed him fondly on the cheek; then, still leaning on him, she raised 
 one hand to his head, running her taper fingers through the tangled 
 locks of curly black hair which covered it. As she thus caressed him, 
 the look of sullen gloom gradually vanished from his face ; he looked 
 up at her with eyes the counterparts of her own in their lustrous 
 blackness, but diff'ering from hers as those of an eager, passionate man 
 differ from those of a compassionate, tender-hearted woman. 
 
 " Mother," he said, raising his hand to his head, and taking her 
 hand in his own, " sit down and let us talk, for I am going." 
 
 "Going! at such a time as this!" answered she, drawing a stool 
 towards her, and seating herself on it beside him, still resting with one 
 hand upon his shoulder, and leaning upon him. 
 
 " Yes, mother, going. There will be no more fighting here now, 
 our citizens do not like that work, they told us so to-day pretty plainly 
 when we tried to make them stop and meet the English in the 
 suburbs." 
 
 " Going ! but where will you go ? " 
 
 " Anywhere where I can be of more use than here. I cannot stop 
 to see tlie disgrace of my native city. To-morrow the English will 
 march in in triumph, with their flags flaunting in the air, and their 
 music playing before them. They will march through these streets of 
 ours I tell you, mother ; the JMiglish flag will fly from tlie flagstaff in 
 the fort to-morrow, and lUienos Aires will ])e an iMiglisli city. Our 
 Buenos Aires, my mother, will be an English city, an iMiglish 
 conquest." 
 
 "To what God sends there is nothing but resignation, Marcelino."
 
 6 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 " God has nothing to do with it, mother ; Spain lias decreed that 
 ■\ve are slaves and not men. Had we been men, do you think a hand- 
 fid of English could take a city like this ? " 
 
 " They took us by sur])rise, when we were not ready for them. 
 Wait till Sqbremonte has time to collect troops, he will soon drive 
 them back again to their ships." 
 
 " Sobremonte ! If you had seen him at the fort to-day, mother, you 
 would not have much hope from him. The most helpless old woman 
 would have been as much use as he was to-day. The only man to 
 whom we can look now is Liniers. Sobremonte and all the rest will 
 give up their swords and swear fidelity to Great Britain to-morrow." 
 
 " So your father told me just now, Alarcelino ; he says it is the only 
 thing they can do." 
 
 " He is a Spaniard, and thinks as a Spaniard ; of course he must go 
 with the rest. Thank God I am not a Spaniard." 
 
 "The Spaniards will soon drive the English out again. Huidobro will 
 send troops from Monte Video, or they will send an army from Spain." 
 
 " And why should we look to Spain ? Are there not plenty of us 
 to drive away not one thousand but ten thousand English ? But what 
 has Spain ever done for us that we should fight her battles for her ? 
 We have no quarrel with these English; for my part I should like to 
 be good friends with them ; but give ujd my country to them, and let 
 them rule over us — never ! " 
 
 " No, we will never do that, Marcelino ; but you spoke just now of 
 Liniers. What can he do ? " 
 
 " He is a brave man, and a soldier; with the few troops he had he 
 beat off the English when they tried to land at Ensenada ; so they 
 came nearer, and landed at Quilmes, and our army fled from them 
 like sheep. If Liniers will head us we will soon get enough paisanos 
 together to drive these English into the sea." 
 
 " Sobremonte will not permit him to do anything of the kind. 
 What can gauchos do with their lassoes and boleadores against troops?" 
 
 "Liniers is not a Spaniard, he is a Frenchman, and would care very 
 little for Sobremonte if he had men behind him ; and men he will 
 have for the asking, that I can promise him." 
 
 " All that is nonsense, Marcelino ; you must not go away, you 
 must stop here with me, you will ruin yourself with these strange 
 ideas. Do not leave me ; promise me that you will not go away." 
 
 So talked a mother and a son together in the city of Buenos Aires 
 on the evening of the 26th June, 1S06. An army of invaders had 
 landed on the coast, and was now encamped close to the city ; the 
 soldiers of Spain had fled before them. On the morrow these 
 invaders proposed to themselves to march into the city, and to take 
 possession of it in the name of the King of Great Britain. 
 
 Marcelino Ponce de Leon was the eldest son of one of the Spanish 
 grandees, who ruled over the Vice-royalty of Buenos Aires ; but his 
 mother was a Creole, the daughter of a Creole, and Buenos Aires was 
 his native city. 
 
 About the year 1780, Don Roderigo Ponce de Leon left Spain for 
 Buenos Aires in the employ of the Spanish government. Dun
 
 THE BABYHOOD OF A GREAT NATION. 7 
 
 Roderigo was a scion of the noble house of Ponce de Leon, whose 
 great ancestor, his namesake, the Marquis of Cadiz, is famed in song 
 and story as the chief of those mighty warriors whose valour crushed 
 for ever the power of the IMoors in Spain. He it was who captured 
 the fortress of Alhama, the first victory in that long series of victories 
 which left Ferdinand and Isabella joint sovereigns of the whole of 
 Spain. A victory chronicled in the Romance miii dolorosa del sitio 
 y toina de Alhama, in which the distress and consternation of the 
 Moors is vividly set forth : — 
 
 " Por las calles y ventanas, 
 Mucho Into parecia, 
 Llora el Rey como fembra, 
 Que es mucho lo que perdia, 
 
 i Ay de mi ! Alhama ! " * 
 
 Don Roderigo was proud of his ancestry, but in the diplomatic 
 service of Spain he had in his youth travelled in France and in Eng- 
 land. He had mingled with the young nobles of the Court of 
 Versailles, whose talk was of the rights of man, witting not that they 
 themselves stood in the way of these rights, and would presently be 
 overwhelmed in that mighty flood of revolution which reduced their 
 theorizing to practice ; who talked of liberty as of a glorious dream, 
 and later on stood aghast when their dream became a reality. In 
 London he had met men of sterner mould, who could even smile at 
 the defeat of the arms of their own country, and think it no misfor- 
 tune, since this defeat had given birth to a new nation, whose consti- 
 tution based itself upon the will of the people ; to a nation of freemen, 
 who made laws for themselves, who appointed themselves their 
 rulers, and obeyed them willingly. As he walked in the streets of 
 that great city, he found himself among a people who, in comparison 
 with his own people, were free ; among a people who thought for 
 themselves, and who spoke their thoughts openly, none daring to stay 
 their utterance. When he returned to Spain, he looked around him 
 upon the stalwart men and graceful women, whose nationality was the 
 same as his own, and he said within himself, Are not these equal to 
 those others ? cannot they think and act for themselves ? Yet he 
 saw that they were as children, following blindly the behests of such 
 as had authority over them ; then, in spite of the traditions of his 
 class, his heart was sore within him at the degradation of his own 
 country. Out of the fulness of his heart he spoke, and there were 
 many who listened to him, till the great lords, the elders of his family, 
 looking seriously into the matter, saw therein much danger to their 
 own order, and finding that opposition but strengthened those pesti- 
 lent errors which he had learned in his travels in other countries, they 
 washed their hands of him by procuring him an honourable post in 
 the colonies. 
 
 He came to Buenos Aires, and was received with the distinction 
 
 1 " And from the windows, o'er the walls, 
 The sal)le web of mourning falls, 
 The Kinj; weeps as a woman o'er 
 His loss, for it is mucli and sore. 
 
 Woe is me! Alhama !" 
 Byron's translation — last verse.
 
 8 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 his own talents and great connexions ivarranted him to expect, but at 
 first no important trust was given into his hands, and he soon felt that 
 his mission to South America was nothing more than an honourable 
 but indefinite exile. 
 
 Before he had been two years in Buenos Aires he married Doha 
 Constancia Lopez y Viana, a daughter of Don Gregorio Lopez. This 
 gentleman was a wealthy Creole who had immense estates in various 
 parts of the province of Buenos Aires, where he reared vast herds of 
 cattle, w'hose hides and tallow yielded him a very sufficient revenue. 
 The manners and customs of the Argentines in those days were very 
 simple, the harsh restrictions on commerce and on intercourse with 
 the rest of the world preserved them from luxury. When living on 
 one of his estancias Don Gregorio was little better housed and fed 
 than his peons, but he ruled over them with an iron hand ; short of life 
 and death his power was absolute over most of them, for most of them 
 were slaves. His residence in the city was a large rambling mansion, 
 one story high, with fiat roofs and large patios. Here he spent most 
 of his time, surrounded by a crowd of dependents of all ages and 
 conditions ; to all he dispensed with a lavish hand, exacting only in 
 return imphcit obedience. 
 
 Don Gregorio had been twice married, his first wife had left him 
 one son who bore his own name ; the children of his second wife had 
 added their mother's surname to his, and were known as the Lopez y 
 Viana family ; among them Don Roderigo Ponce de Leon had found 
 his wife Constancia. They had lived happily together up to the year 
 iSo6, in which this story opens, having three sons, Marcelino, Juan 
 Carlos, and Evaristo, and one daughter, Dolores, who differed greatly 
 in appearance from all the rest of the family, having gray eyes shaded 
 with long dark lashes, and hair of a bright chestnut colour which 
 flowed over her shoulders in broad curls almost to her waist, surround- 
 ing her if she stood in the sunshine with a halo of glistening gold. 
 This peculiarity endeared her to her father, who saw reproduced in 
 her the traditional features of the ancient house of Ponce, features 
 which time and intermarriage had almost obliterated in their family. 
 
 Though Don Roderigo was an outcast from his own family, though 
 new interests and new ties bound him to America, yet he remained at 
 heart a Spaniard, he felt himself one of the dominant race, and could 
 not look upon a native American as his equal. His haughty manners 
 estranged him somewhat from his wife's family, but recommended 
 him to the then Viceroy, who soon forgot the unfavourable report he had 
 received of him, and advanced him from one post to another, till at 
 the close of the last century many thought that the highest post open 
 to any Spaniard in the colonies would at the next change be his. 
 
 About that time there arrived in Buenos Aires a naval officer, who 
 had distinguished himself in the service of Spain, and sought promo- 
 tion and further opportunity for distinguishing himself by service in 
 her colonies. This man was not a Spaniard by birth. Don Santiago 
 Liniers y Bremond was a Frenchman of noble origin, driven by the 
 misfortunes of his country and his class into foreign service. Of an 
 ardent and lively temperament, with distinguished manners, and a high 
 reputation for military skill, he had the art of gaining popularity wher-
 
 THE BABYHOOD OF A GREAT NATION. 9 
 
 ever he went, and soon became a great favourite with the warm-hearted 
 Creoles of Buenos Aires, and not less so with their Spanish rulers, who 
 entrusted him with some of the highest commands at their disposal. 
 
 Between Liniers (he dropped his second surname in America, and 
 is known to history as General Liniers) and Don Roderigoan intimacy 
 sprang up which quickly ripened into friendship. Long and earnest 
 were the conversations they held together concerning the events then 
 passing in Europe. As they talked together the warm aspn-ations of 
 his youth came back to Don Roderigo, visions passed before his eyes 
 of the glorious future that might yet await him, should Spain follow 
 the example of the other peoples and rise and emancipate herself. 
 That she might do so he believed possible, but he saw that it could 
 only be possible after a fierce struggle, in which he could and would 
 bear an honourable part. 
 
 Liniers listened willingly to the Avarm confidences of his friend, 
 though he was far from feeling sympathy with his ideas, but Don 
 Roderigo found others who did sympathize with him, more especially 
 among the better educated of the Creoles. Before many years passed 
 his opinions were known in Madrid, the favour which had been ex- 
 tended to him was withdrawn, and he found himself a marked man in 
 the country which he had hoped before long to rule. His friend 
 Liniers also fell into disfavour, and from being Commandant-General 
 of the Navies of Spain in La Plata he was relegated to the command 
 of a small garrison at Ensenada, which post he still held at the time 
 of the invasion of the English under Beresford. 
 
 Marcelino, the eldest son of Don Roderigo, inherited from his 
 mother much of her pliant Creole nature, and his amiable disposition 
 rendered him a favourite with all those with whom he came in con- 
 tact, but he had also inherited much of the courageous enterprising 
 spirit of his father, and his character had been further modified by his 
 friendship with a man some few years older than himself, who had 
 been sent to Europe to complete his education and had returned early 
 in the year 1805 deeply imbued with the revolutionary ideas then 
 prevalent in France, where he had spent the greater part of his time 
 during his absence from Buenos Aires. 
 
 This friend, Don Carlos Evaha by name, was the only son of a 
 wealthy Creole, who, falling under the displeasure of the Spanish 
 authorities, had died in a dungeon, leaving his then infant son to the 
 guardianship of Don Gregorio Lopez. 
 
 Marcelino Ponce de Leon had received what was in those days 
 considered a very superior education, had spent three years at the 
 University of Cordova, was well read in the Latin classics, could speak 
 French fiuently, and had some knowledge of English. He had 
 returned from Cordova without taking a degree, when his father had 
 wished him to visit Europe, but Marcelino listened to the earnest 
 entreaties of his mother and remained at home, safe, as she thought, 
 from the contagion of those new ideas which she had been taught to 
 look upon with dread. 
 
 Mother and son sat far into the night talking earnestly together, the 
 mother daring not to leave him lest he should go she knew not whither,
 
 10 rONCE DE LEON. 
 
 and finding her influence totally unavailing to turn him from what 
 she considered his mad purpose. So they sat on a cold June night in 
 an uncarpeted, fireless room, iii which the darkness was made visible 
 by the dull flame of a shaded lamp ; so they sat, wrestling together 
 for the mastery ; love and tenderness on the one side, love and 
 reverence on the other, equally fearful of giving pain, equally deter- 
 mined not to yield. As the clock in a distant chamber chimed the 
 midnight hour, the husband and the father stood before them. A 
 well-built man of medium stature, with dark-brown hair and eyes, and 
 with a clear, almost ruddy complexion. His son, as he stood up on 
 his entrance, seemed taller by the head, but was more slimly built. 
 
 " Marcelino is going," said Doha Constancia ; " he will not sub- 
 mit to these English." 
 
 " He may stay and yet not submit," answered Don Roderigo. 
 " Sobremonte has fled ; they cannot occupy the whole city, and cannot 
 know who are in it, save those who present themselves. I have 
 orders to present myself and shall do so," he said somewhat bitterly, 
 " but there is no reason why you should do so too, unless you wish it." 
 
 Marcelino Ponce de Leon remained that night in his father's house, 
 and the next day he heard the sound of the English trumpets and 
 drums from afar off, but he saw them not. 
 
 The next day, the 27th June, 1806, 1500 British troops under the 
 command of General Beresford marched into the city, a city of 70,000 
 inhabitants, with their drums beating and their colours flying, and took 
 peaceable possession thereof; General Beresford establishing his head- 
 quarters at the Fort and hoisting the English flag upon the flag-staff. 
 Most of the local authorities hastened to give in their submission, and 
 Buenos Aires became an English city.
 
 CHAPTER ir. 
 
 HOW DON GREGORIO LOPEZ SOUGHT AN ANSWER TO THE 
 QUESTION OF THE DAY. 
 
 Buenos Aires became an English city, and throughout the cit}^ 
 there was shame and despair ; men exchanged fierce looks one with 
 another, muttering low words in their anger, and women wept. And 
 presently a question went circling round from household to household, 
 at a safe distance from the British bayonets : — 
 
 " What shall we do ? " 
 
 To this question no man answered, but each one looked to some 
 other who should answer for him. 
 
 It was the evening of the third day since the triumphal entry of the 
 British, the badly-lighted and unpaved streets were almost deserted, 
 it was bitterly cold, and a thin drizzling rain was falling. Here and 
 there figures muftied in large cloaks wended their way about the streets ; 
 several such figures passed along the street in which stood the house 
 of Don Gregorio Lopez, and entered by the great double door which 
 stood half open. Beyond the door was a covered passage called a 
 " zaguan ; " from the centre of the roof of this zaguan there hung a 
 lamp, under which a tall negro paced up and down. Each man as 
 he passed the doorway and entered the zaguan paused and threw 
 back the fold of his cloak which covered his face, saying to the negro 
 in a low voice — 
 
 " Espaha." 
 
 " Pass forward to the second patio," answered the negro to each one. 
 
 Each man as he heard the answer replied by a slight inclination of 
 the head, and again muffling his face in his cloak, walked across the 
 brick-])aved patio to a second zaguan, where another lamp was swing- 
 ing. Here he was met by a vouth to whom he said one word : — 
 
 " Rey." 
 
 " Good-night and pass forward," answered the youth. 
 
 One after another they passed forward through this zaguan to a 
 second patio, where each man paused till he was accosted by another 
 youth, wIto led him to a door on the left hand, which he opened, 
 ushering him into a large well-lighted room, with a long massive table 
 running down th.e centre, and chairs ranged all along the walls. 
 
 In half an hour a numerous company were assembled in this room, 
 they had removed their hats, but most of them kept on their cloaks. 
 This room was the dining-room of Don (Jregorio Lopez, these men 
 there assembled were citizens of Buenos Aires, invited by him to con-
 
 12 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 fer together upon what answer should be given to the question which 
 occupied all minds — 
 
 " What shall we do ? " 
 
 Don Gregorio had taken sucli precautions as he thought necessary 
 to keep tlie meeting a secret from General licresford, and also from 
 such citizens as were not specially invited. Those whom he had in- 
 vited were not only citizens of Buenos Aires but were exclusively 
 men of American birth. They Avalked up and down the room in 
 couples, or stood in groups conversing together in low tones. 
 
 To each man as he entered the room Don Gregorio had extended 
 his hand in cordial welcome ; as the room filled he j^assed from group 
 to group saying a kw complimentary words, or asking an adroit ques- 
 tion on any subject upon which they might happen to be s])eaking, 
 but carefully avoiding the question which had called them together. 
 Don Gregorio was a stout-built man of medium stature, with short hair 
 which had once been black, but was now plentifully sprinkled with 
 gray, he had small dark eyes, heavy eyebrows, and bushy gray whiskers, 
 his lip and chin being clean shaven. He wore a coat of brown cloth 
 with brass buttons, the tails of which sloped away from his hips, till 
 they came almost to a point behind his knees, his waistcoat came down 
 over his hips, and was open in front, showing a large frill of the finest 
 cambric, on each side of which hung the ends of the white lace cravat 
 which enveloped his throat. Both waistcoat and small-clothes were 
 of black cloth, and he wore black silk stockings with massive gold 
 buckles in his shoes. He had a strong, deep voice, and looked about 
 him with the air of one having authority, but his manners were ex- 
 ceedingly affable. On the present occasion his face wore an air of 
 great satisfaction ; each question addressed to him he answered in care- 
 fully subdued tones, accompanying his words with frequent inclinations 
 of the head and with approving smiles. 
 
 Again the door opened, a youth stepping in announced — 
 
 " Don Manuel Belgrano," and a man of middle height, with a 
 high forehead and a thoughtful expression on his face, which gave him 
 the appearance of being older than he really was, entered the room. 
 
 Don Gregorio, who was at that moment standing in the centre of a 
 group of his guests conversing with them, swung round on his heel as 
 he heard tlie name, leaving the sentence which was on his lips incom- 
 plete, and walked towards the door with both hands stretched out to 
 welcome the new-comer. Conversation instantly ceased ; and as the 
 name Belgrano passed from mouth to mouth, the hands hidden away 
 under the cloaks issued forth and clapped themselves together, while 
 a low murmur of " Viva Belgrano ! " too low to be a cheer, went round 
 the room. 
 
 Manuel Belgrano was at this time a man of mature age. Born in 
 Buenos Aires in the year 1770, he had in his sixteenth year gone to 
 Spain, where he passed several years studying at the University of 
 Salamanca, and afterwards at Valladolid, but his studies embraced a 
 wider range of subjects than were taught at these seats of learning. Of 
 a generous and thoughtful temperament, he had eagerly imbibed the 
 ideas spread throughout Europe by the French Revolution, had 
 learned to look upon all men as equal, and to hate all manner of
 
 THE BABYHOOD OF A GREAT NATION. 1 3 
 
 tyranny and oppression. When he left Spain in the year 1794, he 
 thought only of how he might make his studies of service to his own 
 countrymen. He took with him his appointment as secretary to the 
 " Consulado " of Buenos Aires, a body entrusted with the official 
 supervision of the mercantile relations of the colony with the mother- 
 country, and in this post had distinguished himself by his efforts to 
 ameliorate the effect of the ruinous restrictions which were at that time 
 imposed upon all commercial intercourse. Not content with his 
 official duties, he had further exerted himself to establish a Nautical 
 School, and a School of Design, which under his able supervision 
 flourished rapidly, and promised great benefits to the colony. But his 
 efforts found little support among his own countrymen, encountered 
 great opposition from the jealousy of the Spanish authorities, and both 
 schools were eventually closed by a positive order from the Court 
 of Aranjuez, in which the Consulado was severely censured for having 
 permitted them to be established. 
 
 On the occupation of the city by the British army, Eelgrano had 
 been summoned by General Beresford to deliver up the archives of 
 his department, but had not only refused to do so but had also 
 refused to give in his own formal submission to the new authorities, 
 saying that he was responsible to the Viceroy, could only receive 
 orders from him, and would rejoin him so soon as he could discover 
 where he had gone. 
 
 " You come late, my friend," said Don Gregorio, " but I knew you 
 would not fail us, so I waited for you." 
 
 " I had much to do, I was busy with my preparations, for I have no 
 time to lose," answered Belgrano, shaking hands v/ith several friends 
 of his who pressed round him. 
 
 " What are you about to do ? " 
 
 " To fly. You do not know what happened me to-day, I will tell 
 you. When General Beresford first sent for me I obeyed him, and 
 when I refused to give up to him the official seal and the archives of 
 the Consulado, saying that I could only obey an order from the 
 Viceroy, he accepted my excuse and dismissed me with much polite- 
 ness and consideration. I believe he thought that Sobremonte would 
 present himself in a day or two. But Sobremonte has gone off no 
 one knows where, and many of us, as you know, have given in our 
 papers to the English general. This afternoon he sent to me an order 
 to present myself at once. To present myself is to submit. I will 
 not submit, therefore I must fly, and that at once. You, my friends, 
 will judge me. Do I not act rightly?" 
 
 " Perfectly ! perfectly ! " echoed from all sides ; and again a low 
 murmur of " Viva Belgrano " ran round the room. 
 
 " But before you go you will spare us an hour or two," said Don 
 Gregorio. " You have more experience than many of us who are 
 older than you, and your counsel may be of great service to us." 
 " Assuredly," replied Belgrano. " I do not sec what you can do 
 
 for the present but just (juietly sul)mit ; you have " 
 
 " Submit ! we submit ! " exckiimed Marcelino Ponce de Leon, who 
 was one of those present. " For each one man that they have we can 
 put ten, why then should we submit?"
 
 14 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 "They are trained soldiers, and are well armed. Do you know 
 what my men said to me when we got the order to retreat? They 
 said, ' It is well, for this sort of work is not for us.' " 
 
 " They said well," said another who stood by, Don Juan Martin 
 Puyrredon by name. " They know what they are worth, your city 
 militia, they do not like the cold steel, and it appears that these 
 English do not waste time shooting at a distance, they like the 
 bayonet better," he added with a scornful laugh. 
 
 " Give us time to arm a few hundred paisanos, and the militia may 
 remain in their houses," said ]\rarcelino. " We will drive the English 
 into the river without their help." 
 
 " The paisanos are brave men, but they cannot fight against trained 
 troops," answered Belgrano quietly. 
 
 " If our men v/ere trained they would stand their ground as well as 
 any men," said another, named Don Isidro Lorea, who was a captain 
 in the city militia. 
 
 " They had arms and had nothing to do but to stand still and use 
 them the other day," said Puyrredon, " but they did not even do tliat. 
 You set to work firing before the English came within range, and then 
 when they came nearer you ran. All the effective resistance that the 
 English met was at the Puente Galve's, where Don Marcelino stopped 
 them for an hour or two by burning the bridge." 
 
 " When the English charged them with the bayonet your partidarios 
 ran quick enough," replied Lorea in an angry tone. " And Don 
 Marcelino it appears may thank his horse that he got away at all." 
 
 " Don Marcelino bore himself like a brave man," said Don Gregorio, 
 laying his hand upon the shoulder of his grandson, and speaking in a 
 loud voice, which had the effect of putting a stop at once to the 
 dispute. " It matters not now what has been done. What we shall 
 do is what you have done me the honour to come here to discuss 
 quietly among ourselves. Do me the favour, my friends, to arrange 
 yourselves round the room ; and, Don Manuel, come with me to the 
 head of the table." 
 
 So saying, Don Gregorio walked to one end of the table, where he 
 seated himself in an arm-chair, with Don Manuel Belgrano at his 
 right hand and Marcelino Ponce de Leon at his left ; the latter having 
 some sheets of paper and pens and ink before him, while the rest seated 
 themselves on chairs round the room, with the exception of one group 
 who remained standing round Don Juan Martin Puyrredon at the 
 far end. 
 
 When all were settled in their places, Don Gregorio rose from his 
 seat, and with many signs of hesitation, for he had never before 
 attempted to make a speech, began : — - 
 
 " Seiiores, my friends, I have invited you to meet in my house with 
 one sole object ; our city is in the power of foreigners, our Viceroy 
 has fled, such troops as we had are dispersed. What shall we do ? 
 Shall Ave submit to these foreigners, to these heretics who are the 
 enemies of Spain, and of our Holy Church ? " 
 
 " No, no ! " arose in answer from all sides. 
 
 " You have all of you read the proclamation of this Beresford, in 
 which he offers us freedom in the exercise of our religion, freedom of
 
 THE BABYHOOD OF A GREAT NATION. 1 5 
 
 commerce, and reduction of taxation, styling himself governor of 
 this city of ours by the authority of His Majesty the King of Great 
 Britain. The advantages he offers us are great ; shall we not, then, 
 accept this Beresford as our governor ? " 
 " No, no ! " again rose in answer. 
 
 "Then if we will neither be bribed into treachery to our legitimate 
 king, nor tamely submit, we must fight and drive these English back 
 to their ships. But it was easier to keep them out than to drive them 
 out now they are in." 
 
 " It will be difficult, but we will do it," said Puyrredon. 
 " It will be done, I doubt not," continued Don Gregorio. "Let us 
 then consider carefully the means Ave should adopt. As yet the first 
 requisite is wanting to us — not one of us here present is a soldier who 
 has seen service. There is one whom I hoped to have seen here, 
 who has served in Europe, and only the other day showed us that he 
 has not forgotten what he learnt there. With a handful of men he 
 beat off all the English army, with their fleet to back them, at 
 Ensenada, and now he has retired without the loss of one man. You 
 know who I mean — Don Santiago Liniers. My son set off yesterday 
 to confer with him, and to bring him here to us to-night ; as yet he 
 does not appear, but even in his absence we may agree to appoint 
 him our chief, and when he comes he will tell us what to do." 
 
 At that moment there came a knock at the door, which had been 
 locked when Don Gregorio took his seat at the head of the table ; 
 one of those near at hand opened it, and gave entrance to the youth 
 who had acted as usher. He walked up to Don Gregorio, and spoke 
 to him in a low voice. 
 
 " Tell him to give his name," said Don Gregorio. 
 " He refuses, but says he must see you." 
 
 " Go you, Marcelino, and see if you know him. He may be some 
 messenger from Liniers." 
 
 Marcelino went out, but quickly returned, bringing witli him a tall 
 man of middle age, with strikingly handsome features. The stranger 
 entered first, and throwing aside his cloak and hat disclosed the 
 undress uniform of a field-officer. 
 
 " Don Gregorio, I kiss your feet," said he, bowing to that gentle- 
 man. " Senores todos, felices noches," he added, as he cast a 
 quick, searching glance round the room. 
 
 "No fear; all are friends," said Marcelino, as he closed the 
 door. 
 
 " Liniers ! Liniers ! " exclaimed many of those present, as they rose 
 from their seats to bid him welcome, and to congratulate him upon 
 his recent feat of arms, while Don Gregorio left his place at the table 
 and walked towards him with outstretched hand. 
 
 " My friend, I am glad to see you," said Don Gregorio. "A number 
 of my friends have come here together this evening to consult upon 
 what measures we shall adopt now that the authorities have either 
 submitted to the English or have fled. You are a soldier; this is not 
 the first time you have seen service ; we should be glad to hear your 
 opinion." 
 
 " And what do these gentlemen say ? " answered Liniers, walking
 
 1 6 rON'CE DE LEON. 
 
 up to the table, and leaning his hand upon it, while an expression of 
 anxious thought came over his handsome features. 
 
 " There are some who say that we ought to organize the militia of the 
 city and the partidarios into an army at some safe distance from the 
 city, and then attack the English, and crush them before any reinforce- 
 ment can reach them. There are not 2000 of them, but to form an 
 army we recjuire a chief." 
 
 "And something more too than a chief," replied Liniers, with a 
 complacent smile, "something more than a chief; time is wanting. 
 Do you think one could make soldiers of your militia in a week ? " 
 
 "What we want in discipline we will make up by numbers," said 
 Don Isidro Lorea. " The other day we had no leader, if we had had 
 one the affair would have been very different." 
 
 " We were mustered at the fort, and marched off anyhow," said 
 Belgrano ; "what more could we expect than what happened? I 
 agree with you, Don Santiago, time is wanting before we can hope to 
 do anvthing with the militia." 
 
 " Then there are others," continued Don Gregorio, " who say that 
 we should do nothing at all at present, but wait until our Viceroy can 
 collect troops sufficient. There is a strong force in Monte Video, and 
 small detachments are scattered about the provinces." 
 
 "And they are the most sensible men," said Liniers. 
 
 " I am going to rejoin the Viceroy if I can find him," said 
 Belgrano. " Come with me, Don Santiago, he will give you authority 
 to collect troops." 
 
 " Better go to Monte Video," said Marcelino Ponce de Leon ; 
 " Huidobro can give you both men and arms. You may be back by 
 the end of the month, and we will have an army ready for you by then." 
 
 During all this time there was one man there who had hardly 
 spoken to any. He sat on a chair beyond the end of the table, with 
 his cloak folded round him, his arms crossed over his chest, listening 
 quietly to all that was said, neither assenting to nor dissenting from 
 an3'thing that was proposed, his quick, dark eyes alone showing the 
 interest he took in the discussion. His high, square forehead be- 
 tokened him a man of powerful intellect, while his pale, olive com- 
 plexion, and the delicacy of his long, thin hands bespoke him a 
 student. As he sat he seemed to be only of medium stature, and 
 slightly built; now he rose and stood beside the table, stretching 
 himself to his full height, half a head taller than any other man there 
 present, and spoke as follows : — 
 
 " Sehores, I have listened quiedy to all that has been said. Were 
 you Spaniards I would applaud your patriotism, I would praise }'our 
 brave determination to risk your lives in an unequal conflict against 
 men trained to arms. Were I a Spaniard I would join you, and 
 would think my life well lost could I spend it in thrusting out from 
 my country an audacious invader. But this soil on which I stand is 
 not Spain, neither am I a Spaniard, nor are you, my countrymen, 
 Spaniards. You, I, all of us are Americans, the soil upon which we 
 stand is American soil, the air which we breathe is American air. 
 True we are of Spanish blood, our ancestors were Spaniards, they 
 crossed the ocean and spent their lives in conquering a new world.
 
 THE BABYHOOD OF A GREAT NATION. I/ 
 
 '\^'e are the sons of those gallant men who built up the seats of new 
 nations on a new continent ; day by day we spread ourselves further 
 over these wide plains, drawing riches from their luxuriant pastures ; 
 we explore the mighty rivers which bring down to us the wealth of 
 other provinces ; and for whom do we so labour and spend our lives ? 
 For Spain ! ^^'hat has Spain ever done for us that we should spend 
 our lives in her service ? Spain sends us rulers and tax-gatherers, who 
 live here in jDlenty and go back to Spain laden with riches for which 
 we have toiled. Spain forces upon us her merchandise when Ave 
 could buy better and cheaper elsewhere, and so robs us of the fruit of 
 our labours. Spain sends us priests to instruct our youth in know- 
 ledge which is of no avail, to prevent the spread of anything like real 
 education, and to keep our consciences in bondage to a slavish super- 
 stition. This is what Spain has done for us up to now, and will do for 
 us to the end. 
 
 " There are men among you who have travelled in other lands as I 
 have done, who have seen the great uprising of the people which now 
 shakes the earth. Returning to their own land, they have sought to 
 do something to enlighten the ignorance of their own countrymen, they 
 have sought to raise them from the barbarism in which they live. How 
 have their efforts prospered ? They have been reviled as infidels, they 
 have been stigmatized as rebels, and have been fortunate when they 
 have escaped fines and imprisonment as dangerous to the State. "Why 
 then should we risk our lives for Spain ? This land which our fathers 
 conquered and we possess is our land, it is nothing but a worn-out 
 tradition which holds us in bondage to Spain. Give ear to me, my 
 countrymen, and know that this disaster which has fallen upon our 
 city is no disaster, but is the first step towards our deliverance. There 
 are many among you would think it sacrilege to stretch out your hand 
 and tear down the flag under which you were born, under which you 
 have lived, but if a foreigner tear it down for you and cast it forth from 
 our country he in no wise injures you, he does but free us from a 
 tyranny under which we have groaned for centuries. 
 
 "We cannot look upon these English as friends, for they come to take 
 our country into their possession, but neither need we fear them as 
 enemies. They could not hold their own colonies in subjection 
 when they rose against them, although half the colonists were their 
 friends, as many of you to-day are the friends of Spain. How then 
 shall they bring us into subjection among whom they have not one 
 friend to aid them? I'his enterprise of these English is rash folly 
 which will recoil upon their own heads, but they may do us good 
 service in driving out from among us these Spanish rulers who have 
 too long tyrannized over us. 
 
 "Why should we fear these Englisli? Far distant from their own 
 country, they can but obtain a teni])orary footing on our soil. Ect 
 these dogs of war, the paid agents of tyranny and misrule, rend each 
 other in their struggle for a dominion which is not theirs. Let the 
 Sjjaniards and the English fight out their quarrel by themselves, 
 while we steadfastly prepare to assert against either or i)oth our own 
 dominion on our own soil, the inalienable right of all free-born men 
 to make their own laws and govern themselves. 1 have spoken ! " 
 
 C
 
 iS PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 As the speaker ceased he struck the tabic witli liis hand, and looked 
 round him proudly, as tlu)ui;h he would defy any one to dissent from 
 any word he had spoken, and a deep silence fell upon all. 
 
 To most tliere present these words and ideas were entirely new. 
 They had listened in wonder, now they looked one at another in doubt 
 and dismay ; Avhat had been said was nothing less than treason, and 
 they knew not but that in listening, merely, they were themselves traitors. 
 
 But there were others there to whom these ideas were far from 
 new, they were ideas which they themselves had cherished, but liad 
 hidden in their hearts, saying to themselves that the time had not yet 
 come. Don Manuel Belgrano sat with his elbows on the table, cover- 
 ing his face with his hands. Marcelino Ponce de Leon made strokes 
 on the paper which lay before him with a pen which had no ink in it, 
 ever and anon glancing up at the speaker, and as quickly again drop- 
 ping his eyes to the paper, while his thoughts wandered to a time not 
 long past when Don Carlos Evaiia had told him how he had met in 
 London an exile from Venezuela, who had spoken to him just such 
 words as these. 
 
 And there was one there present upon whom these words had a 
 different effect to what they had on any other. This was not the first 
 time that Don Santiago Liniers had heard such words as these ; they 
 carried him back in memory into the far-off past, when he had learned 
 to look upon men holding such opinions as impious in the sight of 
 God, outcasts among men, and had hated them with a bitter hatred, 
 envenomed since then by the losses he had suftered at their hands. 
 In silence he listened, leaning upon the back of a chair ; there was to 
 him a fascination in the sound of that deep sonorous voice which 
 spoke treason in accents of firm conviction. His heart sank within 
 him, and as that voice ceased, a cold shiver, for which he could not 
 account, ran through his frame. He looked up at the speaker, and 
 met the glance of a pair of dark eyes fixed sternly upon him ; again 
 the cold shiver ran through him, he turned away his gaze and looked 
 anxiously around him, eager to note the eftect of these words on others. 
 
 Then rose Don Gregorio Lopez from his seat, and leaning with 
 both hands upon the table before him, said in a low voice, and speak- 
 ing with great deliberation — 
 
 " My friends, each man has a right to entertain such- ideas as he 
 please, but we are not met together this evening to discuss ideas. 
 I am sorry to see that there is much division of opinion amongst us ; 
 it is thus impossible that we unite cordially together in any one plan 
 of action. The object for which I invited you to meet me this even- 
 ing has thus failed. For my part I say, ' Out with these P^nglish ! ' 
 Those who think as I do will each act as he thinks best, in his own 
 way, to bring about this result. 
 
 " Afuera Los Ligleses ! Fueran ! ! " was the answer from all sides. 
 After which the meeting resolved itself into groups, in which men 
 talked eagerly together for some minutes, discussing together their 
 several plans, and announcing their intentions. Then the door being 
 thrown open they gradually dispersed to their several homes. 
 
 Don Carlos' Evaha was one of the last to leave. As he shook 
 hands with Don Gregorio, the latter said to him —
 
 THE BABYHOOD OF A GREAT NATION. 19 
 
 ■ " Ah, Carlos ! 5'ou boys learn many ideas in your travels, but, be- 
 lieve me, it is at times dangerous to expose them so publicly." 
 
 "And believe me," answered Don Carlos, " that the day is not for 
 off when these ideas of mine will be the law of a new nation m 
 America." 
 
 As he went out he was joined by Marcelino. 
 
 " Will you take no part with any of us ?" asked Marcelino. 
 
 " To raise again that emblem of tyranny which has been torn down? 
 Not I. Have you so soon forgotten the lessons we have learned 
 together ? " 
 
 " I have not forgotten them, Carlos ; but how shall I think of them 
 when a foreigner rules in my native country ? " 
 
 " All tyrants are foreigners, Marcelino. When once we are fairly 
 rid of our tyrants then it will be time enough to tui-n out these Eng- 
 lish. If it were to gain our country for ourselves none would be more 
 forward than Carlos Evaha." 
 
 " Let us turn out the English, and then we will work together." 
 
 "You do not know it, but these English are our best friends, 
 Marcelino." 
 
 " Such friends are better at a distance/' replied Marcelino.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CONCERNING THE DANGER OF FRIENDSHIP WITH 
 
 AN ENEMY. 
 
 The fort, where General Beresford had taken up his quarters, was 
 an edifice of imposing appearance but of no great strength, situate in 
 the centre of the river-face of the city. Its eastern front, which over- 
 looked the river, was a semi-circular pile of brickwork, rising from the 
 water's edge some sixty feet above the average level of the river, and 
 was pierced with embrasures from which the black mouths of cannon 
 protruded. It was built in the massive style adopted by the Spaniards, 
 but its chief strength consisted in the shallowness of the river, which 
 prevented the near approach of any hostile squadron. In the rear of 
 this semi-circular casemate stood some brick buildings in Avhich the 
 Viceroy and his principal officers had apartments. Beyond these 
 buildings was a flat, open space, which served as a parade-ground, in 
 the centre of which rose the flagstaff, on which the standard of Great 
 Britain had now replaced the gaudy flag of Spain. The Avhole of 
 these buildings and the parade-ground were surrounded by a low 
 brick wall, which was again surrounded by a wide, dry ditch, crossed 
 in the centre of the western front of the fort by a drawbridge which 
 through a wide gateway gave entrance to the stronghold from the 
 Plaza de Los Perdices. 
 
 This Plaza was a wide, open space, about 150 yards across, where 
 the country people daily brought their game, fruit, and vegetables for 
 sale to the citizens ; it was thus the market-place of the city. This 
 wide, open space still exists, and is now known as the Plaza Veinte y 
 Cinco cle Mayo, but it is no longer used as a market. To the west of 
 the Plaza de Los Perdices, facing the fort, stood two rows of shops, the 
 flat roofs of which were prolonged over the causeAvays both in front 
 and rear, and resting upon square brick pillars at the edge of the 
 causeways, formed arcades, cut off from the buildings at the north and 
 south the Plaza by roadways, which were the continuations of the two 
 central streets of the city. 
 
 Between the two arcades there was an open space crossed by a 
 towering arch of brickwork, having the appearance of a gigantic gate- 
 way, which gave passage from the Plaza de Los Perdices to the Plaza 
 Mayor, which lay beyond. These two arcades with the archway were 
 known as the " Recoba Vieja." 
 
 The Plaza Mayor was equal in size to the other, and was surrounded 
 by buildings j half the western face being occupied by the " Cabildo "
 
 THE BABYHOOD OF A GREAT NATION. 21 
 
 or Government House, a lofty building two storeys high, with balconies 
 projecting in front of the windows of the upper storey, which storey 
 also projected over the causeway in front of the Cabildo, resting upon 
 massive brick pillars, and so forming another arcade, which occupied 
 one half only of this side the Plaza. Half the northern side the Plaza 
 was occupied by the cathedral ; the rest of the buildings around 
 were ordinary houses mostly one storey high, those on the south 
 side being also fronted by an arcade which covered the cause- 
 way, and gave the name of the " Recoba Nueva" to that side the 
 Plaza. 
 
 The centre of the Plaza was unoccupied and unpaved, but carriages 
 and horsemen being restricted to the sides, it was maintained in toler- 
 ably level condition, affording a pleasant promenade for the citizens 
 in fine weather. All the buildings in both Plazas were of brick, 
 plastered and whitewashed, the cathedral being surmounted by a 
 mighty dome. The houses had large doorways and windows, but the 
 latter were protected by iron railings. 
 
 General Beresford took up his quarters in the fort, where he occupied 
 the apartments of the fugitive Viceroy; British soldiers occupied the 
 casemates and the barracks of the troops, their scarlet uniforms were 
 continually to be seen crossing the parade ground, and were by day 
 plentifully sprinkled about the adjacent Plazas. Most of his troops 
 Beresford cantoned in the houses about the Plaza Mayor ; one strong 
 detachment occupied the Cabildo. His enterprise so flir had been 
 attended with great success, but he did not disguise from himself that 
 his situation was extremely critical, his force was too small to do more 
 than overawe the city. AH that he could do was to strengthen his 
 position as much as possible and wait for reinforcements. 
 
 In furtherance of this plan he constructed temporary platforms and 
 planted thirty guns on the parade-ground at the fort, whose fire swept 
 the Plaza de Los Perdices and commanded all its approaches ; he 
 drew breastworks across the entrances to the Plaza Mayor, and 
 established a line of outposts, one strong detachment being stationed 
 at the Retire to the extreme nortli of the city, where on the high 
 ground fronting the river stood a large edifice which had been built 
 about a century previously by some English slave-merchants, and used 
 by them as a storehouse for their human merchandise. This store- 
 house had been more recently used as a barrack by the Spanish 
 garrison of Buenos Aires. In front of it there was a large space of 
 open ground some sf^uares in extent ; to the north of this open space 
 stood a bull-ring, a large circular edifice very strongly built round an 
 open arena. From this bull-ring the open space in front of the 
 barracks was sometimes named the Plaza Toros, but its more usual 
 name was the Plaza del Retire. 
 
 Further, General Beresford sought in every way to conciliate the 
 good-will of the inliabitants, preserving the strictest discipline among his 
 soldiery, and paying liberally for all su[)plies. And the inhabitants of 
 Buenos Aires apparently bore him no ill-will, treating him rather as a 
 guest than as a conciueror, inviting him and his officers to tertulias at 
 their houses, and accepting such hospitality as he could offer them in 
 exchange. Conspicuous among the householders for their friendly
 
 22 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 treatment of the English were Don Gregorio Lopez and his son-in-law 
 Don Roderigo Ponce de Leon. 
 
 The JMarcjuis of Sobremonte, Viceroy of Buenos Aires, in his hurried 
 flight from the city had an excuse in his anxiety to save the public 
 treasure, which amounted to nearly a million and a half sterling in 
 bullion and specie. At the Villa Lujan, a country town some fourteen 
 leagues west of Buenos Aires, he was overtaken by a detachment sent 
 by Bcresford in pursuit, and fled without any attempt at resistance, 
 abandoning the greater part of the treasure. The British detachment 
 met with no opposition from the country-people either in its march 
 upon Lujan or on its return to the capital, and Beresford, after reserv- 
 ing sufficient specie for the pay and support of his troops for several 
 months, embarked one million sterling on board the frigate " Narcissus," 
 which sailed at once for England. 
 
 The ground plan of the city of Buenos Aires resembles a chess- 
 board, all the streets running either perpendicular to the course of the 
 river, that is, due east and west, or parallel with it, that is, due north 
 and south, crossing each other at right angles at distances of 150 
 varas. The city is thus cut up into square blocks of houses, each 
 block being styled a manzana. Between the two streets which run out 
 westwards from the Plaza Mayor, the two central streets of the city, 
 and ten squares distant from this Plaza, one entire block was left 
 vacant of buildings, and was in those days a mere open space of 
 waste ground. 
 
 At the northern corner of the eastern side of this vacant space 
 stood the house of Don Isidro Lorea. Don Isidro was a captain 
 in the city militia. On the morning of the 26th June, when the 
 English were advancing upon the city, he had mustered his men, 
 had marched them to the fort, and had placed himself and them 
 at the orders of the Marquis of Sobremonte. Later on he had 
 marched them into the suburbs, and upon the near approach of the 
 invaders had fled with them in confusion and dismay back to his own 
 home. Don Isidro's ideas on military matters were vague in the ex- 
 treme ; previous to that day he had never seen a gun rired in anger ; 
 but he was no coward, and when the first eftects of his terror had 
 passed over he bitterly upbraided himself for his pusillanimity. Tears 
 had stood in the eyes of his wife, Doha Dalmacia, as she had watched 
 him march away, and she had spent the time during his absence on 
 her knees in a neighbouring church, praying earnestly for his safety ; 
 but when he returned to her safe, sound, and vanquished, then those 
 same eyes looked upon him in utter scorn and contempt, and his heart 
 quailed within him even more than it had quailed at the sight of the 
 British bayonets. 
 
 During those days of shame and despair which followed, Don Isidro 
 nourished within his breast wild schemes of revenge and retaliation, 
 and he eagerly associated himself with those who planned together 
 the destruction of the small British force which held their city in 
 thrall. 
 
 Yet weeks passed and nothing was attempted. As Don Gregorio 
 Lopez had told them, their first necessity Avas a leader, and he to 
 whom they all looked as a leader had gone from them. Liniers had
 
 THE BABYHOOD OF A GREAT NATION. 23 
 
 gone to Alonte Video to seek the aid of Huidobro, who commanded 
 in that city, telling them to make what preparations they could in the 
 mean time, and that he would look to them for help on his return. 
 
 It was now the last week in July, a cold, clear, starlight night. In 
 defiance of the orders of General Beresford, and in despite of British 
 patrols, there was much going to and fro in the streets of the city 
 that night ; a rumour had gone forth that Huidobro, a man of very 
 different stamp to Sobremonte, had received Liniers with open arms 
 and had at once placed all his disposable military force under his 
 command, and that Liniers was coming back with what speed he 
 could. This news created a great ferment throughout the city, each 
 man wishing to know the certainty of what he had only vaguely 
 heard, and seeking information from others who were no better in- 
 formed than himself. 
 
 The house of Don Isidro Lorea was divided into two distinct parts, 
 the part occupying the corner of the block being used as the almacen (a 
 general store), of which the main entrance looked upon the open ground, 
 while several windows opened upon the adjacent street. The other 
 half was the dwelling house, and had a separate entrance, a massive 
 doorway opening on the waste ground, which gave entrance through 
 a zaguan to a large, brick-paved patio, surrounded by the principal 
 rooms of the household. Three windows to the left of the doorway 
 gave light to the principal room of all, the sala, at one end of which 
 there was a smaller room known as the ante-sala, which was frequently 
 used by Don Isidro as his private office. All the exterior windows of 
 both house and almacen were guarded bymassive iron "rejas," bars set 
 m thebrickwork, which prevented all clandestine entrance into the house. 
 
 On this night the door of the dwelling-house was fast closed, but 
 any one rapping with his knuckles at the door of the almacen would 
 have found it open to him forthwith. Many did so knock on that night, 
 and passing in, went out again by a side door into the patio of the 
 dwelling-house, and thence to the sala, or to the ante-sala, as seemed 
 to them good. The folding doors between the two rooms were 
 thrown wide open, so that the two rooms w^ere as one, and there was 
 much passing to and fro between them. The sala was a large, richly- 
 furnished apartment, with spindle-shanked chairs and tables, and 
 much gaudy frippery in the way of ornament. Here Doha Dalmacia 
 sat in state, with a heavy velvet mantle thrown over her shoulders. 
 She was a stout, handsome woman, something over thirty years of 
 age, but was of that class of woman who preserves her good looks till 
 long past maturity, her complexion being of that clear olive which 
 looks perfectly white by candle-light, while the beauty of her chiselled 
 features and dark flashing eyes age might impair, but would not 
 destroy. Here she sat in state, talking eagerly and proudly with the 
 men who thronged around her — chiefly young men, who had but one 
 thought in their hearts, but one subject upon wliich they could con- 
 verse, — the ex]julsion of the English. 
 
 " Ah, Don Marcelino," she said in clear ringing tones, as Marcelino 
 Ponce de Leon entered the room, " I have not seen you for weeks, 
 but I know you have not been idle ; tell me what have you done ? 
 The day is very near now."
 
 24 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 " I kiss your feet, Misia Dalmacia," answered Marcelino, as he 
 bowed low before her. "We have not lost our time ; we have col- 
 lected and armed nearly looo men, anil they are near at hand 
 when they are wanted. I have come in to hear wliat is doing, and to 
 you I come first." 
 
 " You have done well, for I can tell you something which will 
 rejoice you. Isidro has a note from Liniers dated a week back, he 
 was then leaving Monte Video with looo troops, all fully equipped, 
 and has probably by this reached Colonia. Vessels will meet hiui 
 there to bring him to Las Conchas, so he may be here any day 
 now." 
 
 "Viva, Liniers!" said Marcelino; "he will find us ready, and 
 
 then " His flashing eyes and clenched hands supplied the hiatus 
 
 in his words. 
 
 " But, Don Marcelino, be cautious yet," said Dona Dalmacia. 
 "We have done what we can to amuse these English, but this 
 Beresford is a crafty fox, and has his suspicions." 
 
 " And there are traitors among us who sell news to him for gold," 
 said a short, stout man, who stood near by, Don Felipe Navarro by 
 name, a brother of Dona Dalmacia. 
 
 " Yes, you must not let any one know where your men are," added 
 Doha Dalmacia ; " only be ready. If Beresford hears of your prepar- 
 ations he will attack you before Liniers can land." 
 
 " Let him," said Marcelino disdainfully. " We will be ready for 
 him if he ventures outside the city. We have formed an encampment 
 at the Quinta de Perdriel, if he comes there we will know how to send 
 him back again." 
 
 " That is very near," said Doha Dalmacia. 
 
 " The less distance we have to march when the day comes the 
 better," answered Marcelino. " But you city people, what have you 
 done?" added he, turning to Don Felipe Navarro. 
 
 " Every house will send out a soldier, and every azotea will be a 
 battery when the fire commences," replied Don Felipe. 
 
 " We have two cannon hid in the almacen, and plenty of ammuni- 
 tion," said Doha Dalmacia. " Lsidro has all his arrangements com- 
 plete. This house is the headquarters for all the neighbourhood, and 
 when he fires ofi" two rockets, at any hour of the day or night, 200 men 
 will meet here." 
 
 A mulatta girl entered the room bearing a silver salver with cups of 
 chocolate, which she handed round to the guests, and as they sipped 
 the chocolate Marcelino hstened to many a strange tale about the 
 English. Don Isidro Lorea was very anxious to get rid of the 
 English, but while they were there his tradesman's instincts prompted 
 him to cultivate friendly relations with them. He had never before 
 found such good customers, and in the day-time Doha Dalmacia had 
 frequently parties of officers in her sala, with whom she conversed in 
 very roundabout fashion, finding much amusement in teaching them 
 to suck mate, and gleaning what information she could from them 
 concerning the dispositions and intentions of their chief Many 
 shrewd remarks she made, and heartily she laughed as she told of the 
 ludicrous mistakes they made in attempting polite speeches to her.
 
 THE BABYHOOD OF A GREAT NATION. 2$ 
 
 " Bat withal," she said, " they are not bad sort of people ; it gives 
 sorrow to me to think that they are enemies and — heretics." 
 
 " Little it matters to me that they are heretics," said Marcelino. 
 " For my part I believe there is more than one way to heaven." 
 
 "Your friend Don Carlos Evaha appears very intimate with them," 
 said Don Isidro, who had come from the outer room as they were 
 speaking. 
 
 Don Isidro Avas of short stature and of light, active build, with very 
 clear complexion, aquiline nose, and jet-black hair and beard, the 
 latter falling in glossy waves down on to his chest. His manners were 
 very polished and he had a great habit of gesticulating with his hands 
 as he talked. 
 
 " Ah ! Don Isidro, buenas noches," said Marcelino, as he turned 
 quickly and gave him his hand ; " I thought you were not at home. 
 Yes, I should think it probable that Don Carlos would be intimate 
 with them, but what of that ? " 
 
 " It is not well that a man should be intimate with the enemies of 
 his country." 
 
 " Don Carlos has told us that in this affair he will take no part. 
 He has lived in England and speaks their language well. Dona 
 Dalmacia tells me that you are all doing what you can to amuse them ; 
 he is better able to amuse them than any of you." 
 
 " We amuse the officers, but the general seems to care little for 
 amusement, he is doing all he can to strengthen his position, and 
 seems to know exactly where to meet us. I tell you, Don Marcelino, 
 there are traitors amongst us." 
 
 As Don Isidro said this he stretched out both his hands with the 
 palms upwards and stamped his foot on the ground, looking somewhat 
 defiantly at Don Marcelino. The latter flushed to the roots of his 
 hair, but smiling to conceal his annoyance, he answered in a light 
 tone — • 
 
 " It may be so, of that kind of people there are always too many. 
 Find them out and shut their mouths for them, that is all the advice I 
 can give you." 
 
 " If you and the others would have taken my advice, the Sehor 
 Evaha would have been forced to leave the city, and there would be 
 one traitor the less walking amongst us to-day. What does he here, 
 aiding us in nothing, and holding conferences every day with the 
 English general ?" 
 
 " How !" said Marcelino, now really angry. " Have you yet that 
 absurd idea in your head ? I tell you again, Don Isidro, that as I know 
 my own honour so I know that of my friend Carlos Evaha. To walk 
 among you and to tell of your preparations to the English is to be a 
 spy, and if you apply that word to my friend you will answer to me." 
 
 " I know you, Don Marcelino, and I know that there is not one man 
 amongst us of a sounder heart than you, but every man is liable to be 
 deceived, and your friendship blinds you to -" 
 
 " Isidro ! " said Doha Dalmacia interrupting her husband. " IJasta ! 
 in these circumstances it is not meet that those who are working in 
 the good cause should quarrel." 
 
 " The intimate friend of General Beresford "
 
 26 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 " Isidro ! " exclaimed Dona Dalmacia, again interrupting her hus- 
 band. 
 
 " Thou also ! " said Don Isidro ; then shrugging his shoulders, and 
 clajjping his hands on his hips, he made a low inclination with his 
 head to Don Marcelino and returned to the ante-sala. 
 
 Marcelino returned his salutation with rigid formality ; then taking 
 Don Felipe Navarro by the arm he led him to a retired corner of the 
 sala, where he questioned him earnestly concerning the treachery thus 
 plainly imputed to his friend. 
 
 " One thing is certain," said Don Felipe, " Don Carlos is very in- 
 timate with General Beresford, hardly a day passes but he spends 
 some hours with him, and they have often long private conversations 
 together. We have our spies, and know everything that the English 
 do, but we do not know Avhat the general and Don Carlos fmd to 
 talk about." 
 
 " I will ask him, and you may be sure he will tell me. But from 
 what you say Don Carlos makes no effort to hide his friendship for 
 the English general." 
 
 " Not the slightest." 
 
 " Then that is proof at once. Spies walk in darkness, and do not 
 go to visit their employers in broad daylight." 
 
 p" " But Don Carlos makes no secret of his opinions. He counsels 
 us to make friends of the English, and openly speaks of freeing 
 us with their help from Spain. That is treason against our lord 
 the king." 
 
 " Against the king I say nothing ; but Spain is our tyrant, and 
 Spaniards come here only to plunder us. Don Carlos shows his 
 patriotism by his enmity to Spain, and his patriotism is guarantee that 
 he will never prove false to us who are his countrymen." 
 
 " But further, he is an enemy to the holy mother Church, he never 
 goes to Mass, and scoffs at the priests ; he is an infidel, a heretic 
 — from a man like that one may suspect anything." 
 
 " One should suspect no man without proofs," said Marcelino, 
 turning away. Then after taking leave with great cordiality of Doha 
 Dalmacia and of those about her he went on to the ante-sala. 
 
 " Don Isidro," said he, " I am going to see my friend Don Carlos 
 Evana. I shall tell him plainly that he is suspected, and advise him 
 to avoid the society of these English for the present." 
 
 " You will not find him," said Don Isidro ; " Beresford gives a 
 dinner to-day at the fort to the authorities, and to some of our prin- 
 cipal men ; naturally his great friend will be there." 
 
 " I doubt it," said one of the visitors, who had been talking to Don 
 Isidro ; " Don Carlos never goes anywhere where he is likely to meet 
 Spaniards." 
 
 " My father will be at the fort," said Marcelino. 
 
 " I know he is, and the two Don Gregorios also," said another ; " I 
 saw them go together." 
 
 " Then I will go and see my mother. I have avoided our house 
 whenever I have been in the city, for I feared to compromise my father." 
 
 " You have done well," said Don Isidro. , " More than once I have 
 been asked by English officers whether I knew anything of the eldest
 
 THE BABYHOOD OF A GREAT NATION. 2/ 
 
 son of Don Roderigo Ponce de Leon. If you go to-night you \vill see 
 some of them there, there are ahvays EngUsh ofticers there in the 
 evenings, tertuhas are things of every day. As your father will not fight 
 them, Doha Constancia does her part in amusing them." 
 
 " Hum ! " said Marcelino. " I do not wish to meet any of them 
 until we meet sword in hand." 
 
 " No fear," said another ; " the officers will be all on duty to-night." 
 
 " I will go at any rate," said Marcelino. " I may meet Carlos there, 
 so good-night to you all until the day." 
 
 But Don Isidro would not let him depart thus coldly, he sprang 
 to his feet, and grasping him warmly by the hand said — 
 
 " Before many days we will meet again ; meantime, warn your friend 
 that he keep within his own house and I guarantee you that no harm 
 shall come to him." 
 
 JNIarcelino found no difficulty in reaching his father's house, his name 
 was his passport. He walked boldly along the streets, met several 
 patrols of British soldiery, was questioned by them, but was immedi- 
 ately permitted to pass on, as he gave his name, speaking in English, 
 and told them w-here he was going. As he drew near he heard 
 sounds of music ; in the first patio he found several English soldiers 
 muffled in their gray great-coats, unarmed, walking up and down and 
 joking in a rough, good-humoured way with the mulatta girls and 
 negresses, the servants of his father's household. 
 
 " AVhat are you women doing here ? " asked Marcelino sternly. 
 
 " The night is fine, and the Senora permits us to watch the dancing," 
 answered one. 
 
 "It is Don Marcelino," whispered another. "AVhat joy for the 
 Senora ; I wdll run and tell her." 
 
 " Stay where you are ; I want to see who are here first." So saying 
 Marcelino went up to one of the sala doors, and opening it softly 
 looked in. 
 
 His mother was seated on a sofa at the far end, conversing gaily 
 with an English officer, whose massive epaulets showed him to be one 
 wOio held a high command. Other ladies sat about the sides of the 
 room, most of whom had one or two cavaliers in attendance, while 
 the centre of the room was filled with a crowd of dancers, of whom 
 some half-dozen wore the scarlet uniforms of Great Britain. The dance 
 was one of those formal square dances then much in vogue, and a 
 flush of pleasure spread over Marcelino's face as he looked upon the 
 graceful forms flitting to and fro. As he looked there came a pause 
 in the dance, and the smile that was on his face vanished in a frown. 
 At the head of the room, standing conspicuously side by side under 
 the full glare of a chandelier of wax lights, were two upon whom his 
 gaze was rivetted at once. One was a British officer, in the scarlet 
 jacket and tartan trews of a Highland regiment. He had the yellow 
 hair, clear skin, blue eyes, and reddish whiskers of a Lowland Scot. 
 The other was his own sister Dolores. 
 
 One looking casually upon these two might have taken them for 
 brother and sister, there was so much likeness between them, but a 
 second look woukl have shown an essential difference. Dolores Ponce 
 de Leon was remarkable for the small size of her hands and feet, and
 
 28 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 for the delicate moulding of her features. The hands and feet of her 
 partner, though well-formed, were large, and his features were some- 
 what coarse — there was more of strength than of elegance in his 
 appearance. No one after a careful scrutiny could have taken them 
 for brother and sister, they were types of two branches of one great 
 race, the Anglo-Saxons of Great Britain, the Gotlis of Spain. 
 
 Again closing the door, Marcelino walked away to his own room in 
 an inner part of the house, saying to the same girl to whom he had 
 before spoken — 
 
 "When these go, tell my mother that I have returned." 
 
 When he reached his own room he clapped his hands, at which 
 summons an aged negro presented himself 
 
 " Ah ! Patroncito Marcelino," said the old negro as he saw him ; 
 " so much as the Sehora has hoped for you, and no one could tell 
 where you were. The Patron said you would be back in a few days, 
 but now it is weeks. In what can I be of service to your Sehoria?" 
 
 " Have you seen Don Carlos Evana to-day ? " 
 
 " I saw the Sehor Evaha not half an hour ago, when I went in 
 with a tray of dulces." 
 
 " Go and tell him that I am come, but do not let any one else hear 
 what you say.'"'
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 SHOWING HOW A PATRIOT MAY ALSO BE A TRAITOR. 
 
 The meeting between Marcelino Ponce de Leon and his friend 
 Don Carlos Evana was very cordial ; they embraced like brothers. 
 Then Don Carlos proceeded to question Marcelino concerning all that 
 he had done during the past three weeks. To every question Marce- 
 lino answered unreservedly. Evaha listening to him with a tender 
 light playing in his usually stern eyes, and an approving smile upon 
 his lips. 
 
 " How I envy you," he said, as the other paused, his face glowing 
 with enthusiasm. 
 
 " Why do you not join us ? You are more clever and braver than 
 I am. Ah ! how willingly I would serve under you. The chiefs we 
 have are zealous enough but very few of them have any brains. I 
 have no experience, but I can see the follies they do ; one man like 
 you were worth more than all the rest put together." 
 
 " Of all those you have named to me, Don Juan Martin and your- 
 self seem the only ones at all fitted to command," replied Evaha. 
 " Why are you only a subordinate ? " 
 
 "There is so much jealousy among them, all want to command, so 
 I thought I should set a good example by showing how to obey." 
 
 '• Would there were more like you," said Evaha, with a sigh. 
 
 " There would be one more and one better than me, if you would 
 only join us," replied Marcelino. 
 
 " It may not be, I have vowed my life to one work, the Independ- 
 ence of my native country. So long as Spain claims doliiinion over 
 these provinces I have only one aim in life, and there is only one 
 enemy against whom I will raise my hand." 
 
 " Yet, cannot you see, Carlos, that in this struggle with the English 
 we shall train our men and make soldiers of them, and so prepare 
 them for a fiercer struggle which must come later on ? " 
 
 " What you have told me teaches me, even if I did not know it 
 before, that the worst misfortune which can happen to us is to triumph 
 over these English." 
 
 " How so ? We shall at any rate gain experience and confidence 
 in our own strength." 
 
 " And ignorance of our own weakness ; tliat is tlie danger I fore- 
 see," said Evaha. " It will be painful to me to see my own country- 
 men defeated by a foreigner, but believe me, Marcelino, it will be the
 
 30 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 greatest good that can-happen to our country, if it teach us that suc- 
 cess can only be gained by self-abnegation." 
 
 " Let the Spaniards then be our teachers, not these English, who are 
 strangers to us." 
 
 " 1 have talked much with their General Beresford during the last 
 month," said Evaiia. 
 
 " So I have been told," said Marcelino abruptly. 
 
 " You have been told ? My wise countrymen with their childish 
 plots, and their schemes which any one can see through, object to my 
 intimacy with the English general. Is it not so ? " 
 
 "It is, Carlos. Is it well that you should be a friend to the enemy 
 of your country ? " 
 
 "I seek to destroy that enemy by making him our friend." 
 
 " The English have taken our city by force, so long as they behave 
 themselves as conquerors we must look upon them as enemies." 
 
 " You will find them stern enemies to grapple with. Your prepara- 
 tions only make my work more difficult. Beresford may Hsten to 
 reason, but he will meet force with force, and he is well-informed of 
 all your movements." 
 
 " Yes, Carlos, there are traitors amongst us, and it was about that 
 I wished to talk with you. Do not go any more to visit General 
 Beresford ; shut yourself in your own house, or leave the city, there 
 are many suspect you." 
 
 " Suspect me ! And of what ? " 
 
 " Of being a spy of the English." 
 
 "A spy ! Me a spy of the EngHsh ! Can you sit there quietly, 
 Marcelino, and say that to me ? " exclaimed Evana, springing to his 
 feet. 
 
 " I know you, Carlos, therefore I can sit here quietly and tell you 
 of it, for I know that it is false. I did not sit quietly when they told 
 me." 
 
 " Who are they ? " 
 
 " Nay, that I will not tell you, this is no time for quarrels among 
 ourselves. But I have told them that whoever applies that word to 
 you shall answer to me for the slander. Yet I ask you for your own 
 sake to hold no more conversations with the English general. You 
 only expose yourself to calumny, and your efforts will be all in vain. 
 We cannot look upon these English as friends so long as they hold 
 our city." 
 
 " Then you will turn them out if you can, and will make enemies of 
 them, for they will not forgive a defeat. You will give yourselves 
 back bound hand and foot to the Spaniards." 
 
 " Carlos, my friend, believe me, it is too late to reason now, 
 Liniers is near at hand, and the whole city and province is ready for 
 a rising. If Beresford had come here offering us friendship and 
 alliance against Spain we might have joined him, or at least remained 
 neutral, now it is too late." 
 
 " Too late ! no, it is not too late yet. I will see Beresford again 
 for the last time. He knows of all your preparations, for he has his 
 spies, though I am not one of them, but he makes light of what you 
 can do, the man he fears is Liniers, and it is against him that he is on
 
 THE BABYHOOD OF A GREAT NATION. 3 1 
 
 the watch. I will show him that your aid to either side will turn the 
 scale, then perhaps he may decide at once for an alliance with us." 
 
 The two friends talked little more together that night, the room 
 door was opened by an eager hand, Doiia Constancia and Dolores 
 came in, and in the joy of meeting them again Marcelino thought 
 no more of the projects of his friend Evana, but spoke only of the 
 speedy expulsion of the English from their city. 
 
 The next day, in the forenoon, Don Carlos Evana left his house 
 and walked through the city to the Plaza Mayor, and thence to the 
 fort, where he enquired for General Beresford. On his way he had 
 met and passed many of his countrymen ; sometimes they stood in 
 groups at street corners, or at the doors of almacenes talking together, 
 sometimes they were walking hurriedly along ; on all their faces there 
 was only one expression, an expression of suppressed excitement and 
 anticipation. With some of them he exchanged salutations, some of 
 them looked another way, affecting not to see him, none of them 
 accosted him ; he felt himself thrust out from among them, he knew 
 that he had no share in the one thought which occupied all hearts, 
 and his heart grew bitter within him. 
 
 " A spy ! " he muttered to himself, as he folded his cloak more 
 closely round him ; " when I do but seek to prevent them forging 
 fresh fetters for themselves. The fools ! " 
 
 " There goes Evana to visit the friend," said one, as he turned into 
 a street leading to the Plaza Mayor ; and they to whom this man spoke 
 gave him no salutation, and looked after him, as he passed on, scowlingly. 
 
 General Beresford was writing, but was not particularly occupied for 
 the moment, and rose smilingly to meet Evana as he entered his 
 apartment, stretching out his hand to him in welcome. Evana took 
 his hand somewhat coldly, and laying his hat on a table seated himself. 
 
 " You do well to keep your cloak on," said Beresford, walking up 
 and down, and stamping his feet upon the tiled floor. " There is one 
 thing of which you Portehos have no notion, and that is how to make 
 yourselves comfortable in cold weather. Look here at this large, half- 
 empty room without a fire-place, how can you expect a Christian to 
 live in such a room in such weather as this ? Why in England the 
 horses are better lodged than you are here. There is not a window 
 that fits tight, and as for the doors, they seem made on purpose to let 
 the wind m instead of keeping it out. It comes in from both doors 
 and windows in little gusts which would give a horse his death of cold, 
 to say nothing of a man." 
 
 " Yet we don't die quicker than other people, that I can see," 
 rei;lied Evana ; " our city is noted for its healthiness." 
 
 " That you owe to the Pampero, as you call this south-west wind, 
 which clears the air for you about once a month, and a very good 
 wind it is in its way, but of the best things it is possible to have too 
 much. It was awfiilly cold when 1 inspected the troojjs this morning; 
 some of the men looked blue with the cold and could hardly hokl 
 their muskets, this wind goes through you like a knife. I don't object 
 to it on the parade-ground once in a way, but I do object to it most 
 decidedly in my own room. I must have something done to these 
 windows, hear how they rattle."
 
 32 rONCE DE LEON. 
 
 " Unless you make up your mind quickly to some decisive action 
 they will not annoy you much longer," replied Evana. 
 
 " Ha, ha, my friend ! " said Beresford ; " that is your little game, 
 is it? 1 thought you looked unusually solemn this morning. That 
 Frenchman of yours, Liniers, is coming with a pack of Spanish curs 
 behind him to pitchfork me into the sea. When may we expect his 
 Excellency ? " 
 
 '' I think you know when to expect him better than I can tell you." 
 
 " Well, perhaps I do, but you see 1 am not trembling in my 
 shoes yet." 
 
 " You are not afraid of Liniers, and you have no cause to fear ///w." 
 
 " Then who is this dreadful enemy who is more to be feared than 
 the mighty Liniers ? " 
 
 " The people of Buenos Aires." 
 
 General Beresford paused in his walk up and down the room and 
 looked earnestly at Evaha, and a grave look came over his face as he 
 slowly answered — 
 
 " You mean what you say? " 
 
 Evaha merely bowed his head in reply, and Beresford renewed his 
 pacing up and down, evidently in deep thought. Then pausing again 
 he resumed — 
 
 " I know it. This apathy, of which you have spoken to me so 
 much, is a mask. I have sources of information of which you know 
 nothing. I know that these shop-keepers have their deposits of arms, 
 and that hordes of gauchos are assembling outside. It will be neces- 
 sary to give them a lesson, and yet you would fliin have persuaded 
 me that they were my friends." 
 
 " They might have been." 
 
 "And my allies, too? I want no such allies. Liniers would send 
 them flying with one volley of musketry, as I did a month ago." 
 
 " That they fled from you then was because they had no heart in 
 the cause. Why should they fight for Spain ? I tell you that if you 
 fight them again you will find them a much more stubborn foe. Sho])- 
 keepers you call them and gauchos !" said Evana, rising to his feet ; 
 " you will find that whatever be their occupation they are men. "I'he 
 next time you set your bull-dogs on them they will not turn like 
 frightened sheep, but will meet you foot to foot and hand to hand. 
 Do I not know them ? They are my countrymen ! What have you 
 done since you have been here but insult them? Even your civility 
 and the strict discipline you keep among your men is an insult to 
 them. One does not waste polite speeches on a friend, nor are 
 soldiers kept to their quarters when they are living in a friendly city. 
 You have your outposts keeping watch upon all their movements ; 
 you have your patrols, who prevent free transit about the streets at 
 night. Every means you take to show them that they are conquered; 
 but they know that they are not conquered — they know that they 
 have never measured their strength with you yet. You despise them, 
 but I tell you that if you persist in making them your enemies you 
 will find them more dangerous than Liniers and his Spaniards. They 
 will not drive you into the sea, but they will tear you to pieces where 
 you stand."
 
 THE BABYHOOD OF A GREAT NATION. 33 
 
 "Sit down, sit down, do not get excited," said Beresford quietly. 
 " I am not afraid of the raw levies they can bring against me, but I 
 have no wish to try their strength. What I have done in the way of 
 out]iosts and patrols is a necessity." 
 
 " You are a soldier, and act on military rules," said Evana, resum- 
 ing his seat. " If you wish success to your enterprise, you must learn 
 to be a diplomatist as well as a soldier." 
 
 "And with whom shall I treat? To whom can I address my- 
 self? " 
 
 " To the people, in a public declaration that you make war only on 
 the Spaniards." 
 
 " Even if I could make such a declaration — for which allow me to 
 remind you that, as I have told you before, I have no authority — my 
 words would be but as words spoken to the wind. Who is there that 
 can give me any answer, or can come forward to treat with me?" 
 
 " No one," answered Evana, with a sigh ; " but your words would 
 not be spoken to the Avind, they would speak to the hearts of men, 
 and would disarm those who are now arming against you." 
 
 " Look you, Seiior Evana, the Home Government knows nothing 
 of this expedition ; it is an affair entirely arranged by Sir Home 
 Popham and myself. We have taken your city from the Spaniards, 
 and intend to hold it until we get instructions from England. Our 
 Government has no wish to take possession of this country, but they 
 wish to open these rivers to our commerce. Go you and two more of 
 your principal men to England, and arrange an alliance for your- 
 selves with Great Britain. You will be well received by Mr. Eox ; 
 he is an enthusiast about liberty of the people, and so forth. With 
 Pitt you would have had no chance, but there is no telling, these 
 Whigs might like the idea of a liberal crusade in South America, and 
 of serving the Spaniards as the French served us. I do not see why 
 you should not be independent of Spain ; you are quite strong enough 
 to stand by yourselves, if you only knew it." 
 
 " I do know it, and I know that without our aid you cannot hold 
 our city against Liniers and his Spaniards, therefore I come to show 
 you how you may make an alliance with us." 
 
 " You know it yourself, but your countrymen do not know it ; they 
 have grown up from chiklhood with a blind re\erence for Spain. 
 Nine-tenths of them would think it treason to enter into any alliance 
 with me, therefore 1 will not ask it of them ; all 1 ask of them is that 
 they keep neutral." 
 
 " To remain neutral would be to forfeit our rights as men. My 
 countrymen will nut tamely look on while you and the Spaniards 
 arrange between you who is to rule over us. We claim the casting 
 vote in the dispute. Offer us your aid to achieve our independence, 
 \ve will treat with you, and you shall be our guest ; if you refuse it, 
 you are but a foreigner and an enemy, and we will thrust you forth." 
 
 'MVith whom shall I treat? With you? You have no inilu- 
 ence with them ; first, because you are little known, and secondly, 
 because you are my friend. With the municipality ? Its powers are 
 ill-defined; I could but treat with its members as with private indi- 
 viduals, besides which they are Spaniards. AVith Don Gregorio 
 
 D
 
 34 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 Lopez, or witli any other of tlic wealthy Creoles ? What I might 
 arrange with them might be all cancelled by the first popular govern- 
 ment you might appoint. No, Senor Evaha, you are a man who has 
 studied much in books, but you have not studied men as I have. I 
 can make no treaty, except with some recognized authority, and no 
 such authority exists among you. A declaration from me as general 
 of the British army it is beyond the scope of my commission to give ; 
 but you know my opinion concerning the feasibility of achieving your 
 independence, and I have told you that the Government of Great 
 Britain would be likely to look upon the project with favour, if it were 
 properly represented to them. Now is the time for you to strike a 
 blow for your independence yourselves ; turn your armed levies 
 against Liniers when he arrives with his Spaniards, then you will 
 make yourselves my allies, though there can as yet be no treaty 
 between us. You shake your head, you cannot do it ! Then allow 
 me to tell 5'OU, my friend, that you were born too soon. Men who 
 will not fight for their own freedom are not yet ripe for independence." 
 
 To this Evana answered nothing for a space, but rising from his 
 chair, commenced to walk with hasty strides about the room, while 
 Beresford, seating himself at his desk, took up his pen and went on 
 calmly with some writing on which he had been engaged when Evaha 
 entered. Ten minutes so elapsed, then Evaha stopped in front of 
 Beresford, and laying one hand on the table, said :^ 
 
 " Can I, then, promise that you will aid us ? " 
 
 " I can promise nothing officially, personally, there is nothing I 
 should like better." 
 
 " Too late ! too late ! " said Evana, in a bitter tone. " Our men 
 are eager for the struggle, nothing but an open declaration from you 
 will now give me any influence with them." 
 
 " Yea, there is something else may bring them to their senses," 
 said Beresford, laying down his pen, " They were panic-struck 
 when they first saw me, now they have got used to the sight of red 
 coats, and they have got back some stomach for fighting, they want a 
 lesson to cure them of their new mania for playing at soldiers. They 
 have had the folly to collect a strong force of their levies not far from 
 here, right under my nose, as it were, but where they are I do not 
 exactly know. Where are they ? " 
 
 " Nay, do not ask me," replied Evaha. 
 
 " Though you will not tell me I shall easily find it out, and you 
 may tell them, if you like, that I am going to beat up their (quarters ; 
 but I would advise you to do nothing of the kind, unless you think 
 they would wait for me." 
 
 " So that you may massacre them with your disciplined troops." 
 
 " There shall be no unnecessary bloodshed, I shall merely disperse 
 them and send them off to their homes, where they will be much more 
 safe than in trying to help Liniers to hoist the Spanish flag on that 
 staff outside there. Plenty of them will die if they try to do that." 
 
 " If I can bring six or eight of our principal men here, will you tell 
 them that you will do your best to aid us in freeing ourselves from 
 Spain ? " 
 
 " I will tell them what I have told you, that I myself would gladly
 
 THE BABYHOOD OF A GREAT NATION. 35 
 
 join }'ou if I had a commission to that effect, and that I believe the 
 British Government would receive the idea very favourably. But I 
 tell you now, that you will not get six or eight men to listen to me, 
 ■whom I would care to speak to." 
 
 " Not now perhaps, but they may," replied Evana, with some hesi- 
 tation. 
 
 " Yes, when they have had a lesson to show them their weakness." 
 
 " You will give them that lesson, you say ? " 
 
 " Yes, but Liniers should be at Colonia by now, if my advices are 
 correct. There is no time to lose if we are to come to any under- 
 standing together. Once Liniers joins them, to me all are alike 
 Spaniards." 
 
 " ^^'ill you promise me that your troops shall not fire upon them? " 
 
 " I do not think I shall go myself, I shall probably send Colonel 
 Pack, his orders will be to disperse them. If he finds it necessary he 
 will fire, not otherwise." 
 
 Evana turned from him and walked to the far end of the room, 
 where he stood for some moments at a window, gazing with dreamy 
 e)'es out upon the parade-ground, where British sentries in long gray 
 coats paced between the Spanish guns which had so recently changed 
 owners ; upon the Plaza de Los Perdices, where the market-people 
 moved to and fro among their stalls ; and further yet upon the 
 towers and domes of the churches of his native city. 
 
 " The day is close at hand," said he to himself. " This man does 
 not see his danger, though I tell him of it. He will fight like a lion 
 at bay, but that flag with the red and blue crosses will come down, 
 and that hated flag, the flag of tyranny, will go up there again. If there 
 were division among them he might have some chance, and as he 
 says there is no time to lose, even to-morrow Liniers may land and it 
 will be too late, to-day is already the last day in July. Besides, I shall 
 not save them any way, he has spies." 
 
 As he said this, his whole frame trembled with suppressed passion. 
 
 " Yes, they want a lesson, the fools," he muttered through his teeth. 
 Then turning back to Beresford, he looked him sternly in the face. 
 
 " The Quinta de Perdriel, do you know where that is ? " 
 
 " Yes," answered Beresford. 
 
 "There it is that your i)ui)ils await you." 
 
 A smile flitted over the face of the English general as he bowed in 
 reply. Evana without another word left the room and walked with 
 hasty strides away to his own home.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 PERDRIEL. 
 
 Don Carlos Evan a spent the aftetnoon, evening, and night of the 
 31st Jt^ily i^hut in his own apartments, seeing no one, studying not at 
 all, reading by fits and starts, and knowing nothing of what he read, 
 thinking always. He could not sleep ; before dawn he mounted to his 
 azotea, hoping by exercise to weary himself to sleep. 
 
 His house stood in the same block as that of Don Gregorio Lopez. 
 As he looked round him he saw a stout figure wrapped up in a tliick 
 woollen poncho, standing on the azotea of Don Gregorio's house, he 
 crossed two other houses and went up to him, it was Don Gregorio 
 himself. 
 
 " Buenos dias, Carlos," said Don Gregorio ; " you are early abroad 
 in spite of the cold." 
 
 " Milagro ! " replied Evaha ; " it is a frequent custom of mine to 
 pass the night in study, and then to breathe the morning air before I 
 go to bed." 
 
 " A most abominable custom, my friend," said Don Gregorio. 
 " The night is made dark on purpose that men may sleep, when the 
 sun shines then is the time for all work." 
 
 " I find the quiet of night very favourable to study, one is not 
 liable to interrujition when all others are asleep." 
 
 " That is one of the ideas you have brought with }'ou from the Old 
 World. Like many of your ideas it is out of place in the New." 
 
 " My ideas are out of place solely because they are new," replied 
 Evaha ; " but the new will be old when their time comes." 
 
 " True. Some day you will be as old as I am, Carlos ; perhaps, I 
 should say, for if you pass your nights without sleep continuously you 
 will never reach my age. If you ever do, you will know by then that 
 all rapid and violent changes are out of place, not only in the Old 
 World but in the New also." 
 
 " Violent changes are at times necessary, Don Gregorio. Without 
 violence change is frequently impossible, and change is one of the 
 conditions of our existence." 
 
 " Change is one of the laws of Nature," replied Don Gregorio ; 
 "but the changes of Nature proceed gradually. AVatch them in the 
 trees ; from bud to leaf, from leaf to flower, from flower to fruit, then 
 fall the leaves and the tree rests for the winter. When spring comes 
 again another series of change commences, and from year to year the 
 tree increases in size and beauty."
 
 THE BALYHOOD OF A GREAT NATION. 37 
 
 " Till the day comes," said Evana, as Don Gregorio paused, " when 
 a storm tears up the old tree by the roots, and it gives place to 
 younger trees. Your simile does not hold good, Don Gregorio ; even 
 Nature finds violence a necessity at times to remove some obstruction 
 to her invariable law of progress. These fierce storms which at times 
 sweep over our city cause great damage and suffering while they last, 
 but without them neither trees nor men would flourish." 
 
 " True, but Nature does not work blindly, she knows what will be 
 the result of the storms she sends upon us. Do you know, Carlos, 
 what will be the result of the storm you would fain raise amongst us ? " 
 
 " I do. The result will be the birth of a great nation." 
 
 " If the nation is to be, it is born already, but it is not yet strong 
 enough to walk alone." 
 
 " And therefore requires assistance," said Evana. 
 
 " We shall know before long what sort of assistance we may expect 
 from your friends the English. I was awakened an hour ago by their 
 trampling along the street ; they do not treat us very much like friends." 
 
 " Some patrol, I suppose." 
 
 " No patrol at all, but an expedition." 
 
 " A reconnaissance, probably, into the suburbs." 
 
 " A reconnoitring party would not take guns with them." 
 
 " Guns ! " said Evana, with an involuntary shudder of apprehension ; 
 "what direction did they take?" 
 
 " Westward. I have no doubt that they have gone to wake up our 
 friends at Perdriel. Marcelino is there, so, as you may imagine, I am 
 very anxious. It is that has brought me so early to the azotea." 
 
 Evana turned away sick at heart. Marcelino was in danger, the 
 English must anticipate resistance, or they Avould not take guns with 
 them. Evana knew the daring spirit of his friend ; with raw levies of 
 men, the whole brunt of the fighting, if there were any, would be 
 borne by such as he. He had brought this danger upon him, he had 
 not even attempted to warn him of it. Marcelino had reposed such 
 confidence in him that he had told him of all their plans, and had con- 
 fided in him as though he were one of themselves, though he had 
 openly refused to join them. He had stood forth alone to defend him 
 when treachery was imputed to him ; he had. taken as an insult to 
 himself a calumny which was a calumny no longer. Evana shivered, 
 but it was not with cold, as he folded his cloak more closely round 
 him. Two or three turns he took on the azotea, then going back to 
 Don Gregorio, the two paced up and down for some time in silence, 
 side by side. In thoughts and ideas tliey were wide apart, but one 
 great anxiety was common to both, and though they spoke no more 
 they were well content t(j be together, the presence of each was to the 
 other as a mute sympathy. 
 
 Presently, as the dawning day broke over the city which lay around 
 them, there came to them from afar off the crackling sound of an 
 irregular fire of musketry, which lasted about ten minutes, when there 
 came the louder report of a cannon, then all was still. As minute 
 after minute passed and there was no further sound of fighting, Evana 
 breathed more freely. 
 
 "It is all over now," said he to Don Gregorio.
 
 38 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 " So it appears," replied the elder gentleman. " Thank God, there 
 has not been much of it." 
 
 " I will go and see what has happened," said Evana. 
 
 " Do, Carlos, and bring me word as soon as you return." 
 
 Evaha descended at once to his own liouse, and going to an inner 
 patio where his horse was tied under a shed, he saddled him himself, 
 led him out into the street, mounted, and rode off. As he passed along 
 he saw many men looking out from the doors of their houses, stopping 
 the market-people or the milkmen as they trotted in on their mules 
 and raw-boned horses, and questioning them. He drew rein once or 
 twice and listened to what was said, but the information he thus gleaned 
 amounted to nothing at all, so pressing his horse to a sharp canter he 
 went on more rapidly, had passed the suburbs and was among the 
 quintas, when again he heard the sound of musketry. This time it 
 was no longer the irregular dropping fire of skirmishers, it was the 
 regular file firing of trained infontry hotly engaged, and presently 
 mingled with it came the thunder of artillery. 
 
 Evana drove his spurs into his horse's flanks and galloped on at full 
 speed, but ere he reached the scene of action the firing had ceased, 
 and light clouds of gray smoke drifting away were all that he could 
 see of the recent conflict. Passing a hollow without slacking speed, 
 he was soon on the open ground, and Perdriel lay before him. 
 
 Pickets of gray-coated infantry were marching away from him, while 
 beyond the plain was dotted with flying horsemen. Now and then 
 one of these pickets would halt, there was a shimmer of glistening steel 
 as their muskets fell to the " present," there was a flash of fire and a 
 light cloud of smoke, then on marched the infantry as before. Further 
 and further away galloped the horsemen, and Evaha saw that the rout 
 of his own countrymen was complete. 
 
 He knew that it would be so, he had said that their victory would 
 be a misfortune, but the sight was not pleasant to him. He felt that 
 he would rather himself have been one of those panic-stricken horse- 
 men, flying for their lives after hazarding them for their country, than 
 be as he now was, a passive spectator of the scene. 
 
 He galloped on till he reached the spot where he saw for the first 
 time the immediate result of the " pastime of kings." Around him 
 on the frosted grass lay some threescore of his own countrymen, dead 
 or dying. Some lay peacefully stretche-d out on their backs or faces 
 as though they were asleep ; some with their limbs doubled up beneath 
 them, and their bodies twisted into strange contortions ; some lay 
 crushed under their dead horses. Some few there Avere who were 
 sitting up, striving in a helpless manner to staunch the blood from some 
 deep wound which was draining their life away. Forcing his frightened 
 horse to carry him into the midst of this scene of horror, Evana, his 
 heart wildly beating with a terror hitherto unknown to him, gazed 
 eagerly around looking for something which he felt he could willingly 
 give up his own life not to find, the body of his friend Marcelino. His 
 search was unsuccessful, the bodies lying round him were all those of 
 swarthy, long-haired, coarsely-dressed paisanos. Turning rein, and 
 heeding nothing the cries of the wounded who called wildly upon him 
 for assistance and for water, he again drove his spurs into his horse's
 
 THE BABYHOOD OF A GREAT NATION. 39 
 
 flank and galloped to the quinta, which he saw was occupied by British 
 troops. 
 
 Two hours before dawn that morning there was a mustering of men 
 in the Plaza Mayor, no drums beat to arms, no trumi)ets sounded; 
 silently the men took their places in the ranks, each man with his 
 firelock on his shoulder, and his cartridge-box strapped on outside his 
 gray overcoat, but without knapsack. They were in light marching 
 order, and had been told oft" the night before for some special service 
 which required secresy and speed. There were about 500 of them, 
 and they had two guns with them. 
 
 \\lien all was ready the ofiicer in command, Avho was mounted on 
 a small horse, gave the word to march, and away they went at a quick 
 step along the quiet, darksome streets out westward. Light sleepers 
 Avere awakened from their dreams by the heavy tramp of armed men, 
 and the rumbling of the wheels of cannon. Windows were opened, 
 and men half asleep gazed forth from between the " rejas " on the 
 long lines of gray-coated figures, who went swiftly by in the darkness, 
 their eyes dwelling more especially with a sort of dreamy fascination 
 upon the sloped barrels of the muskets, and on the polished bayonets 
 which glinted in the clear rays of the stars. 
 
 After marching about a mile and a half the detachment emerged 
 from the main city into the suburbs, where the streets were no longer 
 continuous lines of houses, but were bordered by gardens and orchards, 
 then the street itself merged into a broad track, along which here and 
 there, on either hand, stood detached buildings, some of them large, 
 scjuare, solidly-built houses, with flat, battlemented roofs, and with 
 reja-protected windows ; but more of them were mere huts of mud and 
 wattle, with thatched roofs and no windows, save perhaps a square 
 hole in the wall closed at night-time by a wooden shutter. When 
 there were no houses there the road was bordered by a shallow ditch, 
 on the inside of which, on the top of the mound formed by the earth 
 which had been thrown out of the ditch, was planted an irregular 
 fence of aloes, whose broad, sharp-pointed leaA-es presented a formid- 
 able obstacle in the way of any intruder. These fences enclosed the 
 gardens of the men who furnished the Plaza de Los Perdices with its 
 daily supply of fruit and vegetables, these thatched houses were their 
 dwellings. Some of them were already stirring as the troops passed, 
 and were busy fixing panniers of raw hide upon the backs of long-eared 
 mules, or filling these panniers with such produce as their gardens 
 could produce at that season. The unwonted apj^earance of troops 
 marching on the road caused them no surprise ; tliey were men who 
 were not in the habit of being astonished at anything. They paused 
 for a moment in their work to look after the troops, observing one 
 to another — 
 
 " The English ! What do they, that they get up so early? " 
 
 Then straightway resuming their occupations they thought no more 
 of them. 
 
 About a mile the gray-coated soldiers marched through these fenced 
 gardens, which joined on to one another, or were separated only by an 
 occasional roadway, till they came to a new region of " quintas,"
 
 40 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 which were only gardens such as those they had passed, but on a 
 larger scale, divided one from another by wide open spaces of pasture- 
 land. Here they frequently saw horses picketed, or cows lay chewing 
 the cud, and gazing upon them with soft, sleepy eyes. The road was 
 nothing but a broad, beaten track running between these quintas, cut 
 up with deep ruts made by the wheels of heavy carts, but firm under 
 foot, hardened to the hardness of stone by the frosts of winter. At 
 some of these cjuintas boys were already driving up cows from the 
 pasture towards rows of white posts standing outside the quinta fences, 
 where other cows were tied, and women were busy milking. 
 
 In a hollow the troops were halted. At the head of the column 
 had marched the light company of the 71st Highlanders, under the 
 command of its captain, who had two lieutenants with him. As they 
 halted, the commanding officer rode up to the head of the column. 
 
 " Gordon," said he, to one of the lieutenants, "you have been here 
 before, and know something of the ground. We are close to Perdriel 
 now, I believe." 
 
 "Yes, sir. It is just over the rise lying a little to the left of the 
 road." 
 
 " Take twenty men with you and go forward, and see what you can 
 make out." 
 
 The young officer touched his Highland bonnet, and then with 
 twenty men, who carried their arms at the trail, marched swiftly away up 
 the slope and disappeared. In about half an hour he returned alone. 
 
 " I have left my men hidden under the fence of a small quinta," he 
 said. "The enemy are encamped just beyond in the open, to the 
 left of the Quinta de Perdriel." 
 
 " Do they cover much ground ? " 
 
 " They seem to have a great many horses picketed all about, they 
 stretch as far as I could see, but they have not many bivouac fires, 
 and those are close up to the quinta." 
 
 " Is the ground all open between here and there ? " 
 
 "This small quinta where I have left the men is all that is in the 
 way, and it will hide our approach. On both sides of it the ground 
 is quite open." 
 
 " Have they no outposts or videttes?" 
 
 " None that I could see." 
 
 " Then the sooner we are on to them the better. Lead on straight 
 for this small quinta you tell me of." 
 
 In low, grutf tones the word " march " passed from front to rear, 
 and again the small column was m motion, winding along like a gray 
 serpent up the slope, over the crisp, frozen grass, where each foot- 
 print left a black mark on the glistening surface, bringing on with it 
 in the rear of the column the two guns, like a serpent which carries a 
 double sting in its tail. 
 
 The stars had faded away out of the heavens, the eastern sky was 
 tinged with ruddy gold, birds hopped about in the short grass, or 
 flew hither and thither chirping a welcome to the new-born day, for 
 the birds do not sing in Buenos Aires, as this column of armed men, 
 strong in their discipline, blindly obedient to the command of an 
 experienced leader, marched swiftly and stealthily towards their prey.
 
 THE BABYHOOD OF A GREAT NATION. 4 1 
 
 And what Avas their prey ? A body of men nearly twice their own 
 number, as strong of arm and as stout in heart as they, but men who 
 knew no disciphne, and were strangers to the use of arms ; men who 
 knew just as much of war as did their leaders, that is to say, just 
 nothing at all, and thus had no confidence or trust in them, but would 
 perchance follow where they led, if they saw no faltering in them, and 
 had no personal antipathy to them. 
 
 As the composition of these two bodies of men was distinct, so 
 also were the objects which had brought them together. The British 
 soldier did his duty, and asked no questions ; he was ready to shoot, 
 stab, or knock on the head any one he was told ; his life was just as 
 precious to him as that of any other man was to that other, but he 
 had sold his services, and his life, if need be, to his native country 
 for a small modicum of pay and a pension, if he lived long enough to 
 earn it. He had nothing to think of but to do his duty blindly, and 
 it was his habit so to do it ; he fought the battles of his native country 
 wherever she liked to send him, and obeyed her implicitly, she being 
 represented to him by whatever officer happened for the moment to 
 be in command of him. To these men who formed this column of 
 500 soldiers. General Beresford represented the might and majesty of 
 Great Britain ; he had told them to go forth and scatter his enemies 
 with fire and steel, and they intended to do it ; why these other men 
 were the enemies of Great Britain they never troubled themselves to 
 enquire, they did their duty as they were accustomed to. 
 
 The men who were now encamped in and about the Quinta de 
 Perdriel were no trained soldiers gathered together to fight the battles 
 of their country, they were hardy yeomen, men whose lives were 
 mostly spent on horseback and in the open air. A cry had gone forth 
 among them that a band of foreigners had invaded their native 
 country, had taken their chief city, and had chased away their Spanish 
 rulers ; men whom they knew had called upon them to assemble and 
 take up arms to drive out these invaders. Such a call had never 
 before been made upon them, but they obeyed it cheerfully, and had 
 come together as though to some festive gathering, their hearts swell- 
 ing with a strange, unwonted pride. That they had a country which 
 was theirs, and from which it was their duty to drive any foreign 
 invader, was an idea which was quite new to them, their hearts for 
 the first time beat with patriotism. 
 
 Their leaders were mostly young men, to whom patriotism was not 
 altogether a novelty, they were eager and enthusiastic, and waited 
 longingly for the day when they might display their devotion to their 
 country by feats of arms, and might seal it, if necessary, with their 
 blood. 
 
 Neither of these two opposing forces represented a perfect army; 
 the distinguishmg qualities of both in combination have characterized 
 all the armies of all nations, who have at any time in the history of 
 the world earned for themselves immortal fame by their prowess both 
 in victory and defeat. 
 
 As the column emerged from the hollow upon the level plain they 
 heard a confused murmur of voices which came to them from a dis- 
 tance through the clear morning air, the patriot levies were already
 
 42 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 astir. As they drew near the quinta, under whose fence Lieutenant 
 Gordon had left his men, they lieard a shout and saw some of 
 the Highlanders rush out from their concealment. The ai)proach of 
 the column had been i)erccived by a small party which had passed 
 the night at this quinta, the horses of which were picketed inside the 
 fence. Several men had mounted hurriedly and were now trying to 
 make their escape. The Highlanders ran to the tranquera on the 
 south side the quinta, and stopped their exit by that passage, making 
 prisoners of two who tried to burst through ; but there was another 
 exit in the western fence where the hedge had been broken down by 
 stray cattle, by which others made good their escape, and galloped 
 off to the main camp. 
 
 The column immediately deployed and advanced in line, with one 
 company and the two guns in reserve. The Highland light company 
 on the right, had orders to advance upon and occupy the further 
 quinta itself, the main body keeping more to the left, where the blue 
 smoke curling up in long spirals from the watch-fires gave token of 
 an encampment. 
 
 The Quinta de Perdriel was a large enclosure, one half of which 
 was planted with trees. The buildings consisted of a large, flat-roofed 
 house, stretching round two sides of a patio. Another side of this 
 patio was shut in by a low wall with an iron gateway m the centre, 
 which ran in a line with the fence, and the remaining side was 
 occupied by a confused grou]:) of ranchos which stretched back some 
 fifty yards into the quinta. The shape of the enclosure was an oblong, 
 the fence was the usual shallow ditch backed by an aloe hedge, along 
 which arose here and there the tall stems on which it is said that the 
 aloe carries a flower once only in every hundred years. The hedge 
 was in many places eight feet high and quite impenetrable, but there 
 were numerous gaps through which a man might easily force his way 
 if he could scramble up the bank and did not mind a few scratches. 
 The quinta house and out-buildings stood on the southern face of the 
 enclosure ; the attacking column approached it from the south-east, 
 and the encampment lay beyond, outside the western fence. 
 
 A horseman rode at full gallop into the patio of the quinta, other 
 horsemen rushed madly about the encampment ; all shouted the same 
 warning cry — 
 
 " Los Ligleses ! Los Ligleses ! ! " 
 
 In an instant all was confusion, men sprang to the backs of their 
 horses without stopping to saddle, and galloped off" to drive up the 
 horses which were feeding in troops all over the plain ; others seized 
 their arms and collected in groups, not knowing what to do, and hav- 
 ing no one to tell them. The leaders ran together in the large patio 
 of the quinta, shouting contradictory orders which no one obeyed. 
 The doors and windows of the flat-roofed house were closed, and the 
 iron entrance-gate was shut. Women crowded into the ranchos, shriek- 
 ing and dragging their children with them. Among all this confusion 
 one man alone preserved his coolness and presence of mind, Marce- 
 lino Ponce de Leon, who at the first shout of alarm mounted to the 
 azotea, and made a rapid inspection of the approaching enemy ; then 
 descending again to the patio —
 
 THE BABYHOOD OF A GREAT NATION. 43 
 
 " Don Juan Martin," said he, addressing one of the chief leaders, 
 " run you outside and mount all the men you can collect together, 
 while we keep them out of the quinta." 
 
 Don Juan ^Martin Puyrredon mounted his horse, Avhich stood at 
 hand ready saddled for him, and causing the iron gate to be opened 
 galloped off at once ; and collecting the groups of armed men, who 
 waited in the open, not knowing what to do, told them to take up 
 their saddles and retreat with him behind the quinta, where by this 
 time a good number of horses had been driven together. 
 
 " Now those who have muskets up to the azotea,'' said Marcelino, 
 as Puyrredon galloped off. 
 
 "I will defend the gate," shouted one excited young man, drawing 
 his sword, and giving it a wild flourish in the air, " who will help me ?" 
 
 In a moment he was surrounded by volunteers. Then Marcelino, 
 callmg on a number of others by name to follow him, ran off through 
 the trees which surrounded the house towards the eastern fence of the 
 quinta. He was only just in time, the Highlanders were already on 
 the other side, but had halted while search was made for some way of 
 passing through it. A random volley of pistol and carbine shots w'as 
 the first notice they had of a foe more formidable than thorny aloes. 
 
 The captain in command gave the word " Forward ! " and Lieu- 
 tenant Gordon shouting, "Come on, 71st, follow me!" ran quickly 
 over the intervening ground, and picking out the lowest place he 
 could see in the hedge before him jumped clean over the ditch and 
 into the hedge, whence he slipped and fell on his knees inside. In an 
 instant he was on his feet again, and with two or three dexterous cuts 
 with his claymore cleared a way for his men to follow him through 
 the fence ; the next moment a blow^ on the head stretched him on the 
 ground, but ere it could be repeated the Highlanders came springing 
 in through the gap and entrance was won. 
 
 Marcelino made one desperate rush with such men as he could get 
 to follow him, to try and drive them back; but his men with their 
 swords and facones could not stand against the muskets and bayonets 
 of the Highlanders, they were beaten off, and INIarcelino broke his 
 own sword in the scuffle. As they retired Lieutenant Gordon drew 
 up a few of his men in line, and rushed after them with levelled 
 bayonets, when they fled at once to the shelter of the trees. Here 
 Marcelino again tried to make a stand, but the Highlanders had now 
 cut several passages for themselves through the aloe hedge, and 
 poured in by dozens. In five minutes the light company had the 
 whole of the quinta to the rear of the house in their possession. 
 
 Meantime the main body of the British force had driven everything 
 before them in the open, capturing a quantity of arms and horse-gear, 
 and several carts containing provisions and ammunition. They now 
 turned their attention to the flat-roofed house, whence a desultory fire 
 had been opened upon them, threw out skirmishers, who ran up to the 
 ditcli and fired ui)on all who showed their heads above the parapet of 
 the roof or who stood unprotected in the patio or among the out-build- 
 ings. Then finding the iron gate fast locked and the key gone, one of 
 the guns was brought up, and at the first discharge shattered it so se- 
 verely that it was easily pulled down and the troops poured into the i)atio.
 
 44 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 Marcelino, who had retreated to the house and had taken the com- 
 mand there, had withdrawn the men from the azotea, for towards the 
 quinta there was no parapet to the roof, and the Hght company spread 
 among the trees had them at their mercy. He now turned his atten- 
 tion to strengthening the doors and windows and spoke of liolding out 
 to the last extremity, and of allowing the house to be knocked to pieces 
 about his ears rather than surrender, but he had only about forty men 
 with him and their ammunition was nearly all expended. They looked 
 blankly one at another, and as he was but one of themselves they waited 
 only for a pretext to throw off the authority which he had given him- 
 self over them. 
 
 By interior doors the rooms of the house all communicated, but 
 most of the garrison were collected in the principal room, waiting in 
 gloomy silence for what might happen, marvelling that the English left 
 them so long without molestation. After about twenty minutes of this 
 anxious waiting, they heard again hoarse voices of command and the 
 rapid tramp of marching men. Cautiously opening the shutters of the 
 windows they looked out and saw that only a small detachment was 
 left in possession of the patio, while a strong force of the enemy was 
 manoeuvring in the open. 
 
 Don Juan Martin Puyrredon having got from Marcelino Ponce de 
 Leon some idea of what to do, did it with considerable energy, and 
 having collected five or six hundred of his men and brought them into 
 something like order, now returned to the scene and at once made a 
 swoop upon the small British force which was drawn up to receive him. 
 The British officer had formed his men in line two deep, with his right 
 resting on the quinta fence, the two guns in the centre in reserve, and 
 a few sections thrown back on his left to guard against any attempt to 
 take him in the rear. 
 
 Waving his sword, and riding some two lengths ahead of his men, 
 Don Juan Martin brought them on at a gallop, their sabres and the 
 blades of their lances glistening brightly in the rays of the rising sun, 
 while their many-coloured ponchos fluttered and danced in the morn- 
 ing breeze. When about 200 yards distant he shouted the word — 
 " Charge ! " and bowing to his horse's neck and driving in his spurs 
 he dashed at full speed at his enemy. His men answered with a wild 
 yell, and throwing themselves almost flat on their horses' backs broke 
 their ranks and followed him, a disorganized mob of horsemen, rush- 
 ing at headlong speed upon a slender line of gray-coated soldiers, who 
 stood motionless to receive them, motionless, but quite ready, with 
 their firelocks grasped tight in their hands, their teeth set, and their 
 eyes gleaming with excitement. Scarce fifty yards intervened between 
 them and the foremost horsemen, when from the lips of that one 
 horseman who sat so quietly in his saddle in the centre of the line of 
 soldiery came one low word addressed to the bugler who stood beside 
 him ; the notes of the bugle rang out clear on the frosty air, down 
 went those shining barrels, a flash of fire and smoke ran from one end 
 to the other of the line, and then began again in one continuous roll. 
 At the same time the Highland company who had remained in the 
 quinta, and had been drawn up behind the fence, hidden by the leaves 
 of^ the aloes, opened a rapid flanking fire upon the horsemen. Horses
 
 THE BABYHOOD OF A GREAT NATION. 45 
 
 and men rolled over in dozens. Don Juan Martin Puyrredon was one 
 of the first to fall. His horse was shot under him. Half-stunned and 
 dazed, he staggered to his feet ; then one of his men drawing rein 
 beside him, he mounted up behind him, and rode out of the press. 
 
 But other brave leaders were not wanting. Shouting words of en- 
 couragement to their men, they led them through the smoke right on 
 to the British bayonets ; but it was no use, they could make no im- 
 pression on that stolid line of infantry. If they spurred their horses 
 against the bayonets of the first rank, it only made them an easy mark 
 for the bullets of the second. One strong squadron of them had out- 
 flanked the infantry, and wheeled round to attack them in the rear. 
 Upon these the guns were brought to bear, two rounds of canister at 
 short range emptied many of their saddles, and scattered them in 
 hopeless confusion. The struggle did not last five minutes. The 
 level ground around the British position was strewed with men and 
 horses, most of them quiet in death, some few groaning and writhing 
 with the agony of mortal wounds. 
 
 Don Juan Martin Puyrredon having procured another horse, rallied 
 yet again a confused crowd of the stragglers and with them made 
 another attempt to take his enemy in flank ; but his men no longer 
 followed him with reckless impetuosity; as they saw the gininers again 
 wheel round their pieces to oppose them they turned and fled. Don 
 Juan Martin drew rein within fifty paces of the British bayonets ; 
 clenching his hand he raised it and shook it at them in fierce despair, 
 then turned and trotted slowly away. More than one musket came 
 sharply up to the shoulder as he thus defied the soldiery, but the 
 officer in command shouted to them in clear ringing tones — 
 
 " Do not shoot him ! He is a brave fellow that." 
 
 His men echoed his opinion by bursting into a hearty " Hurrah ! " 
 
 Leaving the artillery and Highlanders in possession of the quinta, 
 the ofiicer in command started at once with the rest of his men in 
 pursuit. Split up into pickets of about twenty men each, they spread 
 rapidly over the open ground beyond the quinta, firing upon any 
 groups who ventured to let them come within range. But the panic- 
 stricken horsemen made no further attempt to molest tliem. Such 
 groups as attempted to rally, broke up and fled as the inflmtry came 
 down upon them at the double ; in half an hour not a single horseman 
 remained in sight. 
 
 Some threescore, dead or mortally wounded, lay upon the ])lain, 
 five dead men lay on the flat roof of the azotea. The British 
 detachment had two men killed and about a dozen wounded. 
 
 The lesson which (ieneral Beresford had thought it necessary to 
 teach had been taught by one well experienced in such kind of 
 teaching ; whether it had been learnt or not was quite another question. 
 
 Meantime, as the first volleys of musketry shook their windows, the 
 garrison of the flat-roofed house had whispered one to another that 
 now was their time to escape. In vain Marcelino prayed them to 
 hold out till Don Juan Martin had driven off" the English, they had 
 imbibed a wholesome fear of tliese English and would not listen to 
 him. 'Hiey opened a side door and rushed forth ; the officer in com- 
 mand of the picket which occupied the patio made no attempt to
 
 46 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 Stop them, they ran at once for the trees and were soon safe from all 
 purtiuit. All save one, who stood alone in the open doorway, with 
 his arms crossed over his chest and the stump of a broken sword in 
 his hand, listening intently to the sounds of the fierce contention 
 which raged outside, of which he could see nothing from where he 
 stood. 
 
 As these sounds died away his lips closed tightly together, and as 
 the ringing sound of a British cheer came to him through the smoke, 
 which was lightly drifting away over the tree-tops, he threw the stump 
 of the broken sword from him and bowed his head as though he 
 resigned himself to some bitter fate. 
 
 " Porkey Oosty no va?" said a voice close at hand, speaking in 
 very barbarous Spanish, but yet in words which Marcelino could 
 understand. 
 
 He looked round and saw a young English officer standing on the 
 paved causeway which surrounded the house, looking curiously at him, 
 
 " Will not you stop me ? " answered Marcelino in English. 
 
 " Stop you ? no ; our orders are to send you away from here." 
 
 Marcelino looked at him attentively, he had seen him before some- 
 where, presently he remembered where that was. This was the young 
 officer who, to his astonishment and that of his men, had jumped in 
 among them over the aloe fence not an hour before ; also the same 
 officer whom he had seen standing under the glare of the wax-lights 
 beside his sister in his mother's sala only two nights ago. 
 
 " You will not stop here, you will go back to the city ? " he said. 
 
 " I believe so," replied the officer. 
 
 " Then will you do me a favour ? " 
 
 " I shall have much pleasure." 
 
 " You visit at the house of Don Roderigo Ponce de Leon ? " 
 
 " Yes, frequently," answered the young officer, his face lighting up 
 with pleasure. 
 
 " I will write a line for Dona Constancia if you will carry it for me." 
 
 " Certainly I will," answered the other, who began to have some 
 idea of who he was speaking to. 
 
 Marcelino drew a pocket-book from his breast and wrote in pencil 
 a line only to say that he was safe, signing it only with one letter, M. 
 Then tearing out the leaf, he folded it up and handed it to Lieutenant 
 Gordon, saying — 
 
 " There is no treason in it, but it may give ease to an anxious 
 heart." 
 
 " She shall have it as soon as I can get off," replied the other. 
 
 They shook hands cordially together, and Marcelino raising his 
 hat turned away, and walked off deliberately but rapidly through 
 the quinta. 
 
 " He is her brother, or I am a Dutchman," said Lieutenant Gordon 
 to himself, as he watched him till he disappeared among the trees ; 
 " and a fine fellow, too ; what a pity we should have to fight those 
 fellows ! "
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 IN WHICH IT APPEARS THAT A LESSON MAY BE WELL TAUGHT 
 AND YET NOT LEARNED. 
 
 As Marcelino left the quinta on one side, Evana galloped in by tlie 
 gate on the other. The Highland ofificer in command knew him 
 slightly, having seen him frequently in company with General Beres- 
 ford, and seeing his agitation divined the object of his visit, and in- 
 vited him to dismount. 
 
 " Are there any killed here ? " asked Evaha. 
 
 " Several," replied the officer. 
 
 The men were collecting the bodies of the slain from among the 
 trees and from tlie azotea, and laid them in the patio side by side ; 
 some wounded also they removed within the house. Eagerly Evaha 
 scrutinized them one by one as the soldiers brought them forward ; as 
 they brought the last his heart gave a bound of joy, Marcelino was 
 not among them. 
 
 "There are some wounded outside," said he to the ofhcer; "I 
 will go and see if I can assist them." 
 
 " I will send a party to collect them and bring them here," replied 
 the officer. 
 
 But without waiting for aid, Evana remounted his horse, rode back 
 to the scene of horror which lay without, and set to work to aid the 
 wounded to the best of his ability, tearing strips from the clothing of 
 the dead to bind up the wounds of those for whom there was yet hope. 
 
 One man he saw lying on his face with a leg hid under the body of 
 his dead horse. As he passed him the man turned his head slightly 
 to look at him ; he was not dead. Evaha knelt down beside him to 
 see if he was past all aid ; he could see no wound on him. 
 
 " Speak," said he to him, " where are you wounded ? " 
 
 " Leave me," answered the man ; " for God's sake, leave me. I 
 am not wounded, but if they know that I am alive they will kill me." 
 
 " I am alive, and they do not kill me," said Evaha. " Don't be a 
 fool ; the fight is over now, get up and help me with these wounded." 
 
 Then taking up a lance-shaft which lay by, Evaha pushed it under 
 the body of the fallen horse, and using it as a lever raised the dead 
 animal sufficiently to let the man draw his leg out from underneath. 
 He staggered to his feet and limped about, his leg was bruised but he 
 was otherwise unhurt. 
 
 " Ah ! I am lost ! Here come the heretics," he exclaimed, as 
 Evaha chafed his leg for iiim to restore the circulation ; then he threw 
 himself again Hat on the ground, saying, " Mount your horse and lly 
 while you can."
 
 48 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 Evana looked round and saw a party of Highlanders headed by an 
 officer, and carrying stretchers, coming towards him from the quinta. 
 As they drew near he saw with i)leasure that the officer was one he 
 knew. Lieutenant Gordon ; he had met him more than once at the house 
 of Don Roderigo Ponce de Leon. 
 
 " Senor Evaha, good morning ; you are well employed," said the 
 lieutenant. " I have come to help you. Most of them appear to be 
 killed, if there are any wounded we will carry them inside." 
 
 " There are few," answered Evana sadly ; then giving him a kick in 
 the ribs, he said to the man lying at his feet, " Get up, you fool, and 
 help us." 
 
 The man rose at once to his feet, glaring savagely at the new- 
 comers, but when he saw that they only smiled and looked curiously 
 at him, he set to work very willingly with the rest, and in a short time 
 such wounded as there remained any hope for were removed to the 
 quinta. All the beds in the house were brought into requisition for 
 them, and they were placed in the care of the women and a few men 
 belonging to the quinta who had taken no part in the fighting and 
 had not fled with the rest. 
 
 When the wounded were all sent off, Evaha commenced a search 
 among the dead ; they were all swarthy, roughly-dressed paisanos. 
 The man whom he had rescued from the fallen horse knew several of 
 them and told him their names, which Evana at once took down in 
 his pocket-book, and then enquired of him if he knew anything of Don 
 Marcelino Ponce de Leon, or had seen anything of him that day. 
 
 " Is he a tall young man with black hair and a short black beard? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Always very dandy in his dress, like one of the city ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Then I think I know who you mean ; I saw him yesterday. He 
 was always wanting us to do exercise and was never satisfied, and very 
 much a friend with Don Juan Martin. I did not see him to-day, but 
 there was some fighting in the quinta, perhaps he was there." 
 
 " I will go at once and enquire there," replied Evana, walking 
 towards his horse. 
 
 " And what shall I do ? " asked the man. " Are you going to leave 
 me here among these ? " 
 
 " Take your recao and bridle off your horse and follow me ; if I 
 cannot get you another horse I will give you mine." 
 
 ^Vhen they reached the quinta Evaha found many others there who 
 had come from the city to see what had happened, to whom the High- 
 landers were offering stray horses which they had captured for sale. 
 He bought one for two dollars and gave it to the man who had 
 followed him, who lost no time in saddling and mounting. 
 
 " Patron," said he to Evana, as he settled himself in the saddle, 
 " you have saved my life. My life, my services, and all that I have 
 are at your disposal. I am only a poor gaucho, but you have only to 
 speak, and I will do whatever you wish for you." 
 
 He still thought that the English had only removed the wounded 
 to the house so that they might cut their throats at their leisure, and 
 that they would have killed him at once had not Evaha been there to 
 speak for him.
 
 THE BABYHOOD OF A GREAT NATION. 49 
 
 "Va)'a con Dios," replied Evana, and as the man galloped off he 
 smiled, remembering that he had neither told him his name nor where 
 he came from, so that he knew not where to apply for his ser\ices 
 should he require them. 
 
 Evaiia dismounted in the patio of the quintaand then went in search 
 of Lieutenant Gordon, whom he found inside the house superintend- 
 ing the arrangements for the comfort of the wounded." 
 
 " Senor Gordon," said he, drawing him to one side, " I have come 
 here in search of a friend of mine, who I have reason to believe was 
 one of the garrison of the quinta this morning. I am very anxious 
 about him." 
 
 " What was his name ? " asked the lieutenant. 
 
 "I do not wish to mention his name,'' replied Evaha. 
 
 " Was it the same as this ? " asked the other, drawing from his waist- 
 coat-pocket a small piece of paper folded into the form of a letter and 
 addressed to — La Sra : 
 
 Doha Constancia Lopez y Viana. 
 
 " No," answered Evaha, as a thrill of joy shot through him ; he 
 recognized the hand-writing of his friend. 
 
 Lieutenant Gordon looked at him for a moment with a puzzled 
 expression on his face, then — 
 
 " Ah ! I forgot," said he ; " women do not change their names in this 
 country when tliey marry. Of course, but you recognize that writing? " 
 
 " Yes, it is his." 
 
 " Then he is all safe, I spoke with him not an hour ago. He went 
 away the last of them all. But it is not his fault that he is safe, if they 
 had been all like him we should not have got in so easily." 
 
 " If they were all like him you would not have got in at all," replied 
 Evaha warmly, at which the young officer smiled and shrugged his 
 shoulders. 
 
 " Excuse me," continued Evaha, '• but that note is to his mother. 
 If you will permit me I will take it to her at once." 
 
 A look of disappointment came over Lieutenant Gordon's face, he 
 seemed loth to part with the letter, but after pondering a little he 
 handed it to Evana, saying — 
 
 " Yes, )'ou had better take it, you can go at once, but I may probably 
 be here all day." 
 
 Itvaha put it carefully into his pocket-book. 
 
 " You will not mention his name to any one," he said, turning to 
 go away. 
 
 "No fear," answered Gordon. "No one spoke to him but myself, 
 and as he did not mention his name there will be no need to tell it, 
 but probably no questions will be asked." 
 
 As Evaha rode out of the gate he met the commanding officer re- 
 turning from the pursuit, and stopjjcd to speak with him. He recog- 
 nized him as Colonel Pack, General Beresford's secontl in command. 
 
 " I shall remain here till the afternoon," said the colonel, in reply 
 to a question of Evaha's. " They have carried off most of their 
 wounded with them ; those fellows are deuced difficult to unhorse, but 
 we have some here, I believe, and it will be well if }ou can send mei 
 some native surgeon to look after them."
 
 50 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 This Evana promised to do, and tlicn started at once for the city 
 at a quick gallop. 
 
 At the house of Don Roderigo Ponce de Leon he found all in a 
 state of great anxiety. Vague rumours of a fierce fight that morning, 
 in which the slaughter had been immense, were current among them. 
 Some said that Liniers had arrived in the night, and had been com- 
 pletely defeated ; others, that he had cut to pieces the entire English 
 detachment sent to oppose him, and was now advancing upon the 
 city ; others, that the English had fallen u])on the levies at Perdriel, 
 and had massacred them. Many not belonging to the household 
 were there, seeking information, or giving information upon which no 
 reliance could be placed. Among them Doha Constancia wandered 
 restlessly, listening to all, but believing nothing of what was said. 
 
 The entrance of Evaha into the sala, booted and spurred, and 
 flushed with his rapid gallop, caused a general cessation of talk. 
 Taking out his pocket-book he drew from it the folded pai)er and 
 handed it to Doha Constancia with a reassuring smile. 
 
 " Gracias a Dios ! " exclaimed she, as she read the few words 
 written by Marcelino. " He has spared my son to me yet again." 
 
 Her daughter Dolores, leaning on her shoulder, read the words 
 with her ; then throwing her arms round her mother's neck, and hid- 
 ing her face m her bosom, she burst into tears. 
 
 " Yes ; thank God that Marcelino is safe," she murmured ; "but why 
 should they fight when they might be such good friends? " 
 
 Evaha heard the low words, and a tender look came over his 
 usually stern features as he gazed u[)on her ; then turning away he 
 gave Don Roderigo and the others a rapid account of what he had 
 seen and heard that morning. As he spoke Doha Constancia came 
 and stood beside her husband, resting her crossed hands upon his 
 shoulder, while Dolores leaned upon her f.ither with his right arm 
 thrown round her. 
 
 "Then Marcelino was not engaged with the cavalry?" said Don 
 Roderigo. 
 
 " No ; he appears to have been in the quinta all the time. I be- 
 lieve they made some attempt to defend the place. Mr. Gordon 
 spoke very highly of the way he had behaved." 
 
 " And the Sehor Gordon intended to have brought this note him- 
 self? " asked Doha Constancia. 
 
 " Yes ; and he seemed much disappointed that he Avas not able to 
 do so." 
 
 "You will find him for me, and will bring him here, Roderigo?" 
 said Doha Constancia. 
 
 " I will," said Don Roderigo. " We shall hear all the particulars 
 from him. But have you no idea, Don Carlos, where Marcelino has 
 gone to ? " 
 
 " No ; but as their levies seem to be completely dispersed, he 
 will probably wait at no great distance until we see what Liniers 
 can do." 
 
 " He will go and join Liniers now, and they will fight again," said 
 Dolores. 
 
 " God protect us ! " said Doha Constancia. " Have we not already 
 
 ough of this ? "
 
 THE BABYHOOD OF A GREAT NATION. 5 I 
 
 There was great ferment throughout the city all that day. It soon 
 became generally known that the partidarios under Don Juan Martin 
 Puvrredon had suftered a severe defeat at the hands of the Eniilish, 
 but instead of losing heart at the news the townsmen murmured 
 among themselves vows of vengeance, and the name of Liniers passed 
 frequently from lip to lip ; in him was now all their hope. 
 
 Late in the afternoon many of them were gathered together in the 
 dining-room of Don Gregorio Lopez. Don Carlos Evaha had made 
 another effort to bring them to look favourably upon the English ; the 
 only answers he received were fierce threats and ujjbraidings : the 
 threats he treated with contempt, the upbraidings he suffered in 
 silence. 
 
 "Take my advice, Don Carlos," said Don Gregorio Lopez, "leave 
 off talking to us in that strain ; your ideas are all very well in your 
 study, here they are quite out of place. However ready we might 
 have been to accept the friendship of the English, the time has now 
 gone by. The sword is drawn and we have thrown away the scabbard." 
 
 " There is war between us now, and war to the knife," said Don 
 Isidro Lorea, who was one of those present. " They have attacked 
 us, and have murdered our brothers with their cannon ; this question 
 can now only be settled by fire and blood." 
 
 " It is folly to talk to us of Spanish tyranny," said another. " Do 
 the Spaniards ever send their men to shoot us and bayonet us when 
 we are asleep ? On the contrary, the Spaniards have often shed their 
 blood in our defence, they have made war upon the Indians for us, 
 and their ships destroyed the English pirates who infested the Parana 
 in the days of our grandfathers." 
 
 " I have been at Perdriel to-day," said another ; " I helped to put 
 the dead into the carts we sent out for them. For each dead man I 
 touched I vowed that I will kill an Englishman. Wait until Liniers 
 comes ; if he is strong enough, then we will show them the mercy they 
 showed to our countrymen to-day ; those of them who can swim off 
 to their ships may escape, the rest die. If he is not strong enough 
 for them, then we will kill them all the same, but more slowlv, with 
 the knife." 
 
 " If you had listened to me before, this disaster would never have 
 happened," said Evaha. " The j^artidarios were armed, therefore 
 their encampment was a challenge. General Bereslbrd does not 
 make war upon peaceable citizens." 
 
 " Basta, Don Carlos," said Don Gregorio. " In attacking the par- 
 tidarios he has made war upon us. ^\'e are men ; if we cannot fight 
 him we know at least how to die with honour. Come with me, I 
 have something to say to ybu in private." 
 
 Don Gregorio took Evaha with him into a smaller room, and lock- 
 ing the door, he seated himself. 
 
 " Do you know what these say of you ? " said he. 
 
 "Sufficient evil, I make no doubt," answered Evafia. 
 
 " More than sufficient, my friend. They say you have reasons for 
 thus speaking in favour of the English." 
 
 " Reasons ! of course I have. I love my country, and would see 
 her free and great. I know that she can only become so by the help 
 of these EngUsh."
 
 52 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 " I know )'ou love your country. Tliere are some who say tliat you 
 love Englisli gold better." 
 
 " I know they say that too," answered Evafia, looking straight at 
 Don Gregorio. 
 
 " I know you better, Carlos," said Don Gregorio. " But men make 
 traitors of themselves for ideas as well as for gold. To say the least, 
 your frequent interviews and friendship with the English general are 
 not in good taste at this juncture." 
 
 " You know the reason why I have sought his friendship, Don 
 Gregorio." 
 
 " I do ; but you must now see that it is too late." 
 
 " I fear it is." 
 
 " I know it is, and I request you as a personal favour to myself to 
 see him no more." 
 
 Evana made an impatient gesture as he answered — 
 
 " I have already made a considerable impression upon him, he has 
 even assured me that he would be very willing to join us in a war for 
 our independence, and that the British Government would look 
 favourably upon a project for an alliance with us. Shall I then leave 
 the work half done ? " 
 
 " It is not half done ; this morning's work has undone it all. Even 
 I would not now make peace with the English on any condition short 
 of their immediate departure from the country. Listen to one who is 
 older than you, Carlos, and knows much more of his own countrymen 
 than you do. I tell you that all alliance between us and the English 
 is at present impossible. Promise me that you will see him no more." 
 
 " What must be, must be," said Evaha with a sigh. " I will not 
 visit him again for fifteen days ; by then we shall have seen what 
 Liniers can do." 
 
 " That is well, Carlos ; I am content," said Don Gregorio. " Now 
 I have another request to make of you. Eor the fifteen days be my 
 guest, I will give you a quiet room, and you shall send for what books 
 and things you like from your own house, for anything that you wish 
 you have nothing to do but to ask." 
 
 " You wish me to be your prisoner ; can you not trust me, Don 
 Gregorio ? " asked Evaha sadly. 
 
 " Trust you ? of course I do ; your word is better security to me 
 than any prison, you are as a son to me ; I propose this for your own 
 safety." 
 
 " What ! not content with calumny, they would assassinate me 
 too ! " exclaimed Evaha. 
 
 " I fear it," said Don Gregorio. 
 
 " Fear not, against assassins I will trust to my own right arm." 
 
 "As you will," answered Don Gregorio, then unlocking the door, 
 he grasped his hand warmly, and they walked out together. 
 
 Evaha went straight to his own house, and shut himself up in 
 his own rooms to ponder upon the failure of this scheme, and to 
 devise a fresh one, while throughout the city Don Gregorio Lopez, 
 Don Isidro Lorea, and many others were eagerly consulting together 
 about how they might best assist the operations of General Liniers 
 and avenge the disaster of Perdriel.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE TWELFTH AUGUST, 1806. 
 
 CoLONiA is a small town situated on the eastern bank of the estuary 
 of La Plata, right in front of Buenos Aires. In the year 1806 it was 
 fortified, having walls built of massive blocks of granite, and bastions 
 on which cannon were planted. 
 
 On the afternoon of the same day on which Colonel Pack dispersed 
 the levies of the partidarios at Perdriel, Liniers reached Colonia at 
 the head of 1000 men, who had been placed under his command 
 by General Huidobro, the Governor of Monte Video. Two days 
 afterwards he embarked with this force on board such craft as he 
 could collect together, and on the 4th August landed at Las Conchas 
 on the other side of the river, some nine leagues north of Buenos 
 Aires. 
 
 Volunteers flocked to his standard. In a few days he saw himself 
 at the head of over 4000 men, with whom he marched upon the 
 capital. To the west of the city w^as a wide, open space of ground, 
 known as the Plaza Miserere, of which General Liniers took pos- 
 session. 
 
 The city remained all this time very quiet. General Beresford 
 found no difficulty in procuring provisions for his men, the shops were 
 open, business went on as usual, and the markets were well supplied ; 
 but since the affair of the ist the English officers had been invited to 
 no more tertulias, and when they adventured to pay complimentary 
 visits to the houses of any of their native friends they were conscious 
 of being received with great coldness by the men, while the ladies 
 were generally invisible altogether. One officer alone found himself 
 an exception in this matter. When Lieutenant Gordon visited the 
 house of Don Roderigo Ponce de Leon he experienced no lack of 
 cordiality, and the ladies especially seemed never to tire of listening 
 to what he could tell them of the black-haired young man who had 
 opposed his entrance to the Quinta de Perdriel, and whom he had 
 not detained when the fight was over. 
 
 The city was quiet because it was ready, and only awaited the signal 
 to rise in arms and drive out its conquerors. P^very man had pro- 
 vided himself with a weapon of some kind ; many of the mililia had 
 stolen out at night with their arms and accoutrements, and had joined 
 the force under the command of General Liniers. Don Lsidro Lorea 
 had not left town, and was as attentive as ever to his business, but he 
 had always two rockets at hand in one corner of his almacen, his sword
 
 54 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 and a brace of loaded pistols lav ever on a small table in his ante- 
 sala, covered over by some embroidery work of his wife Doha Dal- 
 macia, who had regained all her confidence in him, and was prodigal 
 of her caresses. 
 
 General Beresford was a prey to great inquietude. The dispersion 
 at Perdriel seemed to have failed altogether in its object ; the city 
 gave him no trouble, but he knew tliat the hardy yeomen of the coun- 
 try, undeterred by their defeat, had joined Liniers by hundreds. 
 Under skilful management their reckless valour would not be thrown 
 away, and their numbers made them dangerous. Moreover, he had 
 seen nothing since the last day of July of his friend Don Carlos 
 Evaha, and on sending to his house to enquire for him he had been 
 informed that he had left the city. Without his intervention any 
 attempt to come to an arrangement with tine townspeople was impos- 
 sible. On the loth he received a summons from Liniers to surrender 
 at discretion within fifteen minutes. General Beresford did not require 
 fifteen minutes to make up his mind, he could have only one answer 
 to such a sunmions, which was a prompt refusal. 
 
 On the morning of the nth Liniers moved from the west to the 
 north of the city, and drove in the British detachment which was sta- 
 tioned at the Retiro. Beresford despatched at once a reinforcement 
 to retake the position, but this force was driven back by a tremendous 
 fire of artillery and musketry, which was directed upon the troops as 
 soon as they debouched from the shelter of the streets. After this 
 Beresford drew in his other outposts, and stood on the defensive in 
 the two central plazas, where the fort served him as a citadel in case 
 of a reverse. 
 
 Then Don Isidro Lorea buckled on his sword, thrust his two pistols 
 into his belt, kissed his wife, and taking his two rockets in his hand 
 sallied out into the open ground in front of his house. There he fired 
 off these rockets one after the other. Ere their sticks had reached 
 the ground, doors opened in houses near at hand, and armed and 
 eager men ran out to join him. In half an hour he had his 200 men 
 drawn up, the two guns he had hidden in his almacen brought out 
 and mounted, and waited only for orders to march upon the Plaza 
 Mayor. But no orders came. Liniers contented himself with the 
 advantage he had already gained that day, and took his measures with 
 the greatest precaution. He established a line of outposts which 
 completely surrounded the British position on the land side, but he 
 kept the bulk of his troops in the suburbs, and deferred further opera- 
 tions until the next day. 
 
 Few of the militia retired to their homes that night, they made 
 great fires at the street corners and bivouaced in the open air. By 
 sunrise next morning they were all again under arms and impatient of 
 the delay, the reason of which they could not understand. 
 
 Don Isidro Lorea had planted his two guns at the end of the street 
 which led from the south side the open space to the Plaza Mayor, 
 and had told off parties of his men to occupy the adjacent azoteas. 
 At sunrise he drew up his small force on the open ground and looked 
 eagerly for the arrival of a reinforcement which Liniers had promised 
 to send him. An hour he waited ; his men began already to murmur
 
 THE BABYHOOD OF A GREAT NATION. 5$ 
 
 loudly, when at last a welcome shout announced the arrival of those 
 who were to share with them their task that day. 
 
 Don Juan Martin Puyrredon rode in by one street at the head of a 
 column of his fierce partidarios, the yeomen of Buenos Aires ; Don 
 Marcelino Ponce de Leon at the same moment rode in by another at 
 the liead of another column of horsemen. Marcelino's conduct at 
 Perdriel had Avon him warm approbation from all wlio had shared 
 with him the dangers of that skirmish, and Don Juan Martin had 
 made him his second in command. Their losses by deaths, wounds, 
 and desertion at Perdriel were already more than made up by the 
 volunteers who had joined them since. 
 
 As they debouched upon the open ground, both columns halted 
 and the two commanders rode forward to speak with Don Isidro. 
 Their consultation was long and somewhat angry ; Don Juan Martin 
 wished Don Isidro to take his guns out of the way so that he might 
 advance at once upon the Plaza with his horsemen, but Don Isidro 
 insisted upon leading the column of attack himself, and protested that 
 without the guns it would be impossible to destroy the breastwork 
 which the English had thrown across the end of the street. The 
 dispute waxed warm, but it was at last decided that Don Isidro with 
 his two guns and a small party of infantry should march down the 
 street leading to the right hand the Plaza Mayor, that Don Juan 
 Martin should follow him with his cavalry in the centre of the street, 
 that the rest of the infantry should keep pace with the cavalry along 
 the side-walks, and that Don Marcelino with his column of cavalry 
 should advance by the parallel street one square to the left, and either 
 attempt to force a way into the Plaza for himself or support the other 
 column as he might judge best. 
 
 The arrangements were hardly complete ere a spattering fire of 
 musketry was heard from the northern quarter of the city; Liniers 
 was evidently moving though he had as yet sent no orders. At the 
 sound of the musketry the impatience of the men became ungovern- 
 able, they were tired of seeing their chiefs talking together and to all 
 appearance wasting their time, they broke up the conference with loud 
 shouts of "Avancen! Avancen!" It seemed as though very little 
 more would have made them break their ranks altogether and rush 
 without leaders upon the enemy. Even the horses of the cavalry 
 seemed to share the general impatience, they curvetted, champing 
 their bits and neighing with excitement. 
 
 The signal to march was received with loud " Vivas." Some score 
 men, slinging their muskets, laid hold of the guns and trundled them 
 along. Don Isidro with a small jxirty of his best men marched in 
 front, and close behind came Don Juan Martin Puyrredon, sitting his 
 restive black horse with ease in spite of his plunging, at the licad of 
 as fine a body of men as any country in the world could furnish. 
 Tall, square-shouldered, and spare of flesh, they were formed equally 
 for strength and endurance ; in the saddle they knew no fatigue, they 
 feared no danger ; they were horsemen, to each man his horse was as 
 a part of himself, and being a part of himself was a necessity. 
 
 Similar scenes among the native levies were at the same time going on 
 all over the city ; everywhere the cry went up, " Avancen ! Avancen ! "
 
 56 PONCE DE LEON, 
 
 And Liniers, seeing that his army was getting out of liand, gave the 
 signal to advance, and at once moved with his regular forces from the 
 Retire upon the central Plazas. 
 
 Don Isidro Lorea had the honour of opening the attack; halting 
 his guns one square from tlie British breastwork, he opened fire with 
 round shot upon the slight defence ; the guns were served by eager 
 hands and the fire was rapid, and, in spite of the musketry from the 
 azoteas flanking the breastwork, a breach Avas soon made. Don Juan 
 Martin Puyrredon wanted no more ; shouting to the gunners to wheel 
 their i)ieces to one side, he waved his sword to his men, and putting 
 spurs to his horse dashed at full speed down the street. His own 
 men and the infantry followed him pell-mell, the British bayonets and 
 clubbed muskets were of no avail against his fiery onset, he burst 
 through the small detachment which guarded the ruined breastwork 
 and made his way to the centre of the Plaza ; his men poured in after 
 him, and the infantry forcing their way into the houses on either hand 
 drove the British troops from the azoteas. 
 
 At the same time another party of militia, headed by Don Felipe 
 Navarro, had burst into the houses in the block on the south side the 
 Plaza Mayor, and crossing the azoteas now attacked the British troops 
 who were stationed on the roof of the Recoba Nueva. The struggle 
 was a short one ; in a few minutes these troops were all either killed 
 or prisoners. 
 
 Meantime Don Marcelino Ponce de Leon had advanced witli his 
 column to the cross street level with the corner where Don Isidro had 
 planted his guns. Here he halted, and, after a careful inspection of 
 the breastwork which barred his entrance to the Plaza, dismounted 
 half his men and sent their horses to the rear. These men he joined 
 to a detachment of Linier's troops who had advanced thus far by the 
 cross street from the Retiro, and bursting in the doors of the houses 
 on the east side the street, he mounted at once to the azoteas and led 
 them against a British picket posted at the far corner which looked 
 upon the Plaza and commanded the approaches to two breastworks. 
 His Spanish troops poured in a volley at close quarters, then his own 
 men rushed forward brandishing sabres and facones, and shouting wild 
 cries of defiance. The British defended themselves with desperation, 
 and were aided by a heavy fire from the next block and from the roof 
 of the cathedral, where other parties of British troops were stationed, 
 but they were outnumbered ten to one, and in five minutes the few 
 Avho were not killed or disabled threw down their arms and sur- 
 rendered. 
 
 Marcelino left the troops in possession of the azotea lately occupied 
 by the British with instructions to screen themselves for a space as 
 well as they could from the fire directed upon them from the cathedral, 
 but to concentrate their own fire upon the party of the enemy who 
 held the breastwork, as soon as he should give the signal. This 
 l:)reastwork was merely a line of barrels set on end across the street, 
 topped with a row of sacks filled with sand, to demolish which would 
 be easy if it could be reached. The dismounted cavalry left the azotea 
 and collected in the patio of the house to the right of the breastwork, 
 the door of which opened about twenty yards up die street, while
 
 THE BABYHOOD OF A GREAT NATION. 57 
 
 Marcelino returned, put himself at the head of the rest of his men, and 
 led them on at a trot. As he reached the street corner he waved his 
 sword, it was the signal agreed ui)on. The Spanish troops sprang 
 from the sheltering parapets, under which they had crouched, and 
 opened a deadly fire upon the British detachment posted at the breast- 
 work ; the dismounted cavalry opened the door of the house, poured 
 into the street, and rushing upon the barricade with their facones in 
 their teeth, tore away in a twinkling the sacks and barrels from the 
 centre of the roadway. Marcelino, who was by this time half-way down 
 the square, again waved his sword and put spurs to his horse, his men 
 answered him with fierce shouts and yells, and utterly regardless of 
 the fire directed against them from tlie azotea on their right, which 
 struck many of them from their saddles, rushed with headlong fury 
 for the opening before them. Don Juan Martin Puyrredon had not 
 spurred his horse fifty yards into the Plaza on one side, ere Marcelino 
 and his column poured into it on the other, while another body of 
 militia charged and took almost unopposed the breastwork which 
 crossed the street beside the cathedral. 
 
 The partidarios spread themselves over the Plaza, sabring and 
 lancing the scattered groups of soldiery, who, attacked on all sides, and 
 overwhelmed by a plunging fire from the roof of the Recoba Nueva, 
 strove in vain to re-form their broken ranks. A strong party of the 
 71st Highlanders drawn up in front of the archway of the Recoba 
 Vieja yet presented a firm front, and kept up a steady fire upon the 
 horsemen as they continued to pour into the Plaza, till the ground in 
 front of the Cabildo was strewn with men and horses. 
 
 " A mi ! Muchachos ! A mi ! ! " shouted Don Juan Martin Puyrre- 
 don, as he saw the deadly effect of this steady fire. 
 
 Marcelino brought up a number of his men in tolerable order, and 
 Don Juan Martin joining them with those who had answered to his 
 shout, put himself at their head and charged right upon the centre of 
 the Highlanders. The rest of his men who were spread about the 
 Plaza joined in the general rush, nothing could withstand their onset, 
 they beat down the Highlanders under their horses' feet and galloped 
 over them. A sergeant who carried the regimental colour was cut 
 down by Don Juan Martin, who snatched the flag from his hand as 
 he sank upon the ground, and waved it over his head in triumph. 
 
 " Save the fiag ! " shouted a Highland officer, as he rallictl some of 
 his men under the archway. 
 
 The men lowered their bayonets and rushed desperately upon the 
 triumphant horsemen ; for a moment they drove them back, and the 
 officer springing upon Don Juan Martin, seized the staff of the flag 
 with both hands and almost tore him from his saddle. But Puyrredon 
 still clung fiercely to his prize, and Marcelino, who was close at hand, 
 drew a jjistol from his belt and fired. The oflicer made one more 
 frantic effort to free the flag from the clutch of his foe, then fell back 
 senseless. As he fell, Marcelino recognized in him the young officer 
 who had taken the note from him to his mother on the day of the 
 fight at Perdriel. He sprang to the ground at once, and calling upon 
 two of his men to help him, lifted him up and carried him out of 
 the press.
 
 53 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 The success of the Highlanders was only for a moment, they were 
 surrounded, their order was lost, their leader apparently slain ; standing 
 back to back and using their bayonets freely, about one half of them 
 forced a passage through the archway and rejoined their comrades in 
 the Plaza de los Perdices. 
 
 Meantime in this Plaza General Beresford had had enou"h to do 
 to withstand the onset of Liniers and his trained troops, aided by 
 swarms of militia and armed citizens, who after desperate lighting had 
 dislodged the British from most of the houses commanding the Plaza, 
 and now opened a galling fire ui)on them from the azoteas. Beresford 
 saw that his only chance lay in holding the fort until succour could 
 reach him from the squadron. As rapidly as possible he passed 
 his men in at tlie gate and raised the drawbridge. Some of the reck- 
 less horsemen who had captured the Plaza Mayor dashed after him as 
 he retreated, but the fire of the guns on the parade-ground quickly 
 drove them back again to the shelter of the Recoba Vieja. 
 
 Liniers lost no time in bringing up all his guns, and covered the 
 azoteas around the Plaza with infantry. P'or two hours the firing was 
 kept up on both sides, but with little result, when Beresford showed a 
 flag of truce, and the firing ceased. But Liniers refused to enter into 
 any negotiation with him, calling upon him to surrender at discretion. 
 
 While Beresford hesitated the troops and levies of all arms poured 
 into the Plaza, hundreds of them sprang into the ditch of the fort, and 
 clamoured for an immediate assault. Then the British flag was hauled 
 down from the flagstaff, the Spanish flag was run up in its stead, the 
 gate opened^ the drawbridge was lowered, and General Beresford 
 Avalked out alone to deliver up his sword to Liniers in token of sur- 
 render. Liniers putting aside the proffered sword opened his arms 
 and clasped him to his breast, the air was rent with the acclamations of 
 the multitude, and the British troops drawn up within the fort grounded 
 arms in silence. 
 
 The loss of the British in this affair was 400, betv.^een killed and 
 wounded ; that of the victors is variously estimated, but must have 
 been at least the same number.
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT.
 
 J
 
 PROLOGUE. 
 
 The first tottering steps of a child, held up by the hands of its 
 nurse, are not strictly speaking steps at all, they consist of a series of 
 kicks with the heels upon the floor, and are in no way conducive to 
 progression. The day that the child first stands alone, the day he 
 first successfully balances his weight upon his feet unaided, is an 
 epoch in his history. Once having learned the strength of his limbs, 
 to use them and to walk is a necessary sequence. 
 
 The flight of the Viceroy Sobremonte, the rout of the Spanish 
 troops, left the people of Buenos Aires alone in face of the enemy. 
 They armed themselves, they chose their own leader, they turned 
 upon the enemy and crushed him. 
 
 Buenos Aires was no longer a servile dependent upon Spain ; in her 
 hour of trial she had triumphed by her own strength, the trial and the 
 triumph taught her what she knew not before, they taught her that 
 she could stand alone. Having learnt that she could stand alone, she 
 essayed to walk. 
 
 Sobremonte had fled to the provinces, he returned with an army, 
 but Buenos Aires knew him not and had already rulers of her own. 
 The city called together a "Congress of Notables;" of these "Not- 
 ables" only one-fourth were natives, but the Congress acted under the 
 eyes of the people and obeyed their behests. The leader chosen by 
 tlie people in their hour of trial was again chosen by them in their 
 hour of triunipli, and entrusted with the task of forming their rude 
 levies into an army. 
 
 Linicrs, thougli he had no such title, became virtually the dictator 
 of Buenos Aires, and Buenos Aires prepared herself to renew the 
 struggle with Threat Britain, looking no longer to Spain for protection 
 but trusting in licr own strength.
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 AT THE QUINTA DE PONCE. 
 
 About three leagues from Buenos Aires, and about half a mile to 
 the west of the great southern road which led to the Guardia Chas- 
 comus, stood the Quinta de Ponce. The house was a small one with 
 a sloping roof of tiles and with a veranda running round three sides 
 of it. There were also three smaller houses detached, built of mud 
 and wattle, with thatched roofs. The ground belonging to the quinta 
 was fenced in and carefully cultivated, all round the fence ran a double 
 row of poplars, and many other trees grew about in clumps. The 
 house stood at one corner of the quinta, some twenty yards away from 
 the fence ; all about that corner the gi^ound was laid out as a garden, 
 where flowers grew in wild luxuriance. Within, the house was furnished 
 with great simj:)licity ; numerous doors and windows shaded by green 
 jalousies provided for ample ventilation ; tlie veranda and the many 
 trees which grew around it protected it from the glare of the summer 
 sun. It was well adapted for a summer residence, and had been built 
 for that object by Don Roderigo Ponce de Leon, whose family regu- 
 larly spent there the hot months of the year. 
 
 A cluster of similar quintas on a smaller scale stood around the 
 Quinta de Ponce, divided from each other by roads bordered by poplars. 
 Beyond these quintas on every side was open pasture-land, stretching 
 away to the southward in long undulations, dotted here and there by 
 the lonely, treeless house of some native " hacendado." To the north 
 the towers and domes of Buenos Aires could be seen marking them- 
 selves clearly out on the horizon, to the south-east at a nearer clistance 
 the sun-rays were reflected from the white-walled houses of the small 
 town of Quilmes. This group of cjuintas formed a sort of oasis, on 
 which the traveller, bound on some far journey into the dcjiths of the 
 treeless Pamp;i, looked back with a sort of tender gratitude as he 
 passed by, it was his last glimpse of the world of men as he galloped 
 on towards the world of Nature. 
 
 It was a sultry evening towards the end of November, the sun had 
 sunk beliind a dense bank of clouds on the horizon ; though the sky 
 overhead was yet clear there was evidently a storm brewing somewhere, 
 but the weather occasioned no inquietude to three persons who were 
 sitting under the front veranda of the Quinta de Ponce. "^Fhese tliree 
 were Doha Constancia, the wife of Don Roderigo, Dolores his daughter, 
 and Lieutenant Gordon of the 71st Highlanders, who had been their 
 guest since the preceding i2lh August — their guest, but at the same 
 tmie a prisoner of war.
 
 64 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 Wlien Marcelino had found, after the fighting ceased that day, that 
 Gordon's wound was not mortal he had him carried at once to his 
 father's house, where under the care of the surgeon of his own regi- 
 ment, he rapidly recovered, but still remained there as a guest, and 
 when in the spring the family left town for the quinta he went with 
 them, hoi)ing in the fresh country air soon to regain his former strength 
 and activity. Marcelino and he were fast friends, and with all the 
 household he soon became a favourite. Lounging there in an easy- 
 chair under the veranda he did not look like a prisoner of war, nor did 
 he feel like one either, talking gaily with the two ladies who were his 
 companions. 
 
 Dona Constancia had an embroidery-frame before her, but her 
 daughter seemed to have nothing particular to do, as she sat on a low 
 stool beside her, laughing at some absurd mistake in Spanish which 
 Gordon had just made, for in spite of the best of teaching the young 
 soldier was by no means yet a proficient in the language of the coun- 
 try. No man could wish for better teachers than he had. Doha Con- 
 stancia, tall and stately, was a model of matronly beauty, and the 
 clear, rich tones of her voice as she spoke sounded like music to the 
 ear ; her daughter, much smaller in person, and differing greatly from 
 her in features and complexion, Gordon had already learned to look 
 upon as the fairest specimen of womankind he had ever met. In voice 
 alone she resembled her mother ; it was the same voice but much 
 younger, and had a silvery ring in it which at present amply compen- 
 sated for the want of depth in tone which could only come with 
 maturity. 
 
 It is said that the most speedy way in which a man can learn a 
 foreign tongue is to listen to it as spoken by a beautiful woman. 
 Gordon had had ample opportunity of hearing Spanish so spoken, 
 and already spoke it himself with considerable fluency, but not with 
 perfect correctness, and so not unfrequently made ludicrous mistakes, 
 at which Dolores laughed. 
 
 Porteha ladies do not generally laugh at the mistakes in language 
 made by inexperienced foreigners, their innate good-breeding makes 
 them very tolerant of inaccuracies ; but Dolores did laugh at the mis- 
 takes made by Lieutenant Gordon, and her laughter was a sign of the 
 mutual confidence existing between them. Besides which Dolores 
 was very fond of laughing, and Gordon liked to hear her laugh, and 
 to see the merriment lighting up her face and shining in her deep- 
 gray eyes, half veiled by the long dark lashes which fell over them. 
 
 " Why do you laugh so much, Dolores ? " said Doha Constancia ; 
 " I feel sure that when you try to talk English you make far worse 
 mistakes than Mr. Gordon does in Spanish." 
 
 " Indeed she does, Doha Constancia," said Gordon, " fifty times 
 worse." 
 
 " And then you laugh at me," said Dolores, still laughing ; " and it 
 is quite right that you should laugh. If you looked grave and dismal, 
 as if you were some teacher, I should not like it at all, and would 
 never try to speak a word of English." 
 
 " I will laugh as much as you like if you will only set to work to 
 learn to read English. I found in my trunk to-day a prize that I will
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. 65 
 
 give you as soon as you can read one page of it without making more 
 than three mistakes." 
 
 " A prize ! Oh ! I will be very good and very diligent ; but what 
 is it?" 
 
 " It is a book." 
 
 " An English book ? " 
 
 "Yes ; ifis a novel called ' Evelina.' All the young ladies in Eng- 
 land read it, and in my country too." 
 
 " A novel ! " said Doha Constancia, somewhat gravely ; " I do not 
 wish Dolores to read novels. I never read a novel." 
 
 " You never read a novel, Dona Constancia," said Gordon. " Well 
 to be sure you have no novels in Spanish, or hardly any other books 
 either, that I can see." 
 
 " Oh yes, we have," said Dolores. " Papa has plenty of books in 
 town. IMarcelino is always reading them, and is ahvays wanting me 
 to read with him. I used to try just to please him, but oh ! I used 
 to get so tired. Long, prosy tales about people that I never heard of, 
 nor ever want to hear of; about Cortes and Pizarro, and Boabdil el 
 Chico, and the Duke of Alva, and the King of Jerusalem, and I 
 don't know how many more. Marcelino says that they were once all 
 real people, and that I ought to know what has happened in the world 
 before I was born, but I would rather read those legends of the saints 
 that Padre Jacinto lends me sometimes, though Marcelino tells me 
 that they are all false. Padre Jacinto was very angry with him for 
 telling me that, but Marcelino knows more than Padre Jacinto does." 
 
 " Those legends are sanctioned by the Church, Lola," said Doha 
 Constancia, "and so it is very right that you should read them, but 
 you have no need to tell Padre Jacinto what Marcelino says about 
 them." 
 
 " Or about him either," said Dolores. ' " Marcelino says that if he 
 had a house of his own he would never allow a padre to come inside 
 his doors." 
 
 " Those are the French ideas that Marcelino has learnt from Don 
 Carlos Evaha," said Doha Constancia sadly. " He will learn better 
 some day." 
 
 " But nearly all the young men who are'at all clever have just the 
 same ideas, mamma," replied Dolores. " Don Carlos would not speak 
 to a priest, and used to say all kinds of things about them. Padre 
 Jacinto says that if they talk that way and never go to Mass they will 
 never go to heaven when they die, but for my part, if it is only men 
 like Padre Jacinto can go to heaven, I would rather go some- 
 where else with Marcelino." 
 
 " Hush, Dolores ! you do not know what you are saying," said 
 Dona Constancia. " It is getting so dark that I can hardly see to 
 work any longer. Let us walk down the road a little, Marcelino is 
 late this evening." 
 
 " Pai)a said he would try and come out this evening, so I suppose 
 Marcelino has waited for him," said Dolores. 
 
 Doha Constancia wore an immense tortoise-shell comb at the back 
 of her head, secured in the thick folds of her luxuriant hair, over this 
 .she threw a light shawl of black lace, the ends of which she brought 
 
 F
 
 66 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 forward over her shoulders. This was the " mantilla," a style of head- 
 dress which suited well the stately beauty and graceful figure of Uona 
 Constancia. Her daughter threw a similar light shawl over her head, 
 but she wore no comb, and her hair, arranged in large plaits, formed a 
 golden background to the interlaced flowers and leaves of black silk 
 which made up the gossamer-like web which she used as a head- 
 covering. 
 
 " If your Padre Jacinto could read English I do not think he would 
 object to Dolores reading ' Evelina,' Dona Constancia," said Gordon, 
 as they walked down the road side by side. " My sisters have both 
 read it, and were delighted with it. In fact the book is a present to 
 me from one of them." 
 
 " But then he cannot read English. What is it about .? " asked 
 Dolores. 
 
 '•' It is about a young English lady, who was brought up very quietly 
 in the country, and describes what she saw and felt in London when 
 she went there for the first time, and about the balls and theatres she 
 went to.'' 
 
 " I am sure then I might read that," said Dolores. " I should so 
 much like to know what the young ladies in England are like. Are 
 they at all like us, Mr. Gordon ? " 
 
 As the lieutenant looked at the fair questioner, he thought that if 
 they were all like her England would be a very Eden to live in, but 
 he answered — 
 
 " There are of all kinds there, bad and good, as everywhere else, 
 but they do not dress with so much taste as you do, and when they 
 walk in the open air they wear hats with feathers in them instead of 
 ' mantillas ; ' but sometimes they put on most horrible bonnets, which 
 hide their faces, so that one cannot see what they are like." 
 
 "How absurd ! " said Dolores. " But are they pretty ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes ! There are more pretty girls there than in any other 
 country in the world." 
 
 At this Doha Constancia and Dolores both laughed very heartily. 
 
 " You say that with enthusiasm, Mr. Gordon," said Doha Con- 
 stancia. 
 
 " I suppose he has good reasons for being enthusiastic," said 
 Dolores. " Does not your heart beat quicker when you think of 
 them, Mr. Gordon?" 
 
 " Hardly," replied the lieutenant ; " for in spite of all your kindness 
 to me it reminds me that I am a prisoner of war." 
 
 " Do not think of that, you will not be a prisoner always," said 
 Doha Constancia. " You will be able to go back some day and see 
 the pretty English girls you think so much of" 
 
 " I am very sorry I said that," said Dolores. " But you should 
 not think you are a prisoner wdien you are with us. You are our 
 guest, not a prisoner, and I hope you will stop long enough with us 
 for me to learn to read ' Evelina,' and then I shall know what the 
 En<rlish ladies are like." 
 
 They had reached the end of the road between the poplars, and 
 now stood for a space gazing over the open plain which stretched 
 before them for no great distance ere it mingled with the fast-falling
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. 6/ 
 
 shades of night, appearing to mount upwards, as though it were the 
 slope of some hill-side, and to shut them in within a very near horizon. 
 Lieutenant Gordon bent his ear to the ground and listened. 
 
 " I can hear them," he said ; " they will soon be in sight ; but there 
 are more than two of them, and they are galloping very quickly." 
 
 " We will stop here, mamma, shall not we ? Then they will dis- 
 mount, and we will all walk back together," said Dolores. 
 
 They waited, and presently the footfalls of horses at a rapid pace 
 could be heard by them without bending to the ground. Then out 
 of the darkness appeared four figures, who saw tliem and drew rein as 
 they came closer. 
 
 " Grandpapa and Uncle Gregorio also," said Dolores, clapping her 
 hands.. 
 
 Two more horsemen came behind, and the first four dismounting 
 gave their horses in charge to these two, who were peons. 
 
 " Your blessing, papa," said Dolores, running up to Don Roderigo, 
 and in another minute she was in his arms. 
 
 " Your blessing, papa," said Doha Constancia, gliding in her usual 
 stately manner up to Don Gregorio Lopez, who answered a itw low 
 words and kissed her gravely on the forehead. 
 
 Then there was more kissing and saluting among the others, 
 Gordon having his due share of the latter, after which they all turned 
 to walk together to the house, Don Roderigo leading the way with 
 his wife leaning on one arm, while his daughter clung to the other 
 talking eagerly with him. Marcelino, walking beside his mother, con- 
 versed with her in low tones. The other three followed, Don Gregorio 
 the elder occasionally addressing some complimentary observation to 
 the lieutenant, but his son walked on beside them in silence. 
 
 When they reached the quinta the whole party halted under the 
 front veranda. The mam room of the house, which served both as 
 sala and dining-room, was brilliantly lighted up and the table laid out 
 for supper, and the windows and doors being open a flood of light 
 poured upon them which contrasted somewhat dazzlingly with the 
 darkness from which they had emerged. The four new-comers all 
 wore light ponchos and were booted and spurred. Dolores ran 
 inside to see that extra covers were laid for the unexpected guests, 
 Doha Constancia followed her more slowly ; as she went Gordon 
 saw her turn and gaze wistfully upon liim ; at the same time he noticed 
 an unusual gravity upon the faces of the others, even his fast friend 
 Marcelino seemed anxious not to meet his eye. 
 
 " i\Iy friend Gordon," said Don Roderigo, turning abruptly towards 
 him as his wife disappeared, " I have an unpleasant duty to perform. 
 We have advices that the British Government on hearing of the 
 cajjitulation of Buenos Aires prepared at once to send out a strong 
 reinforcement; the British fleet yet remains cruising oft" Monte Video, 
 there is little doubt that they will make another attempt to take our 
 city. Under these circumstances the " Recon(|uista(lor" ^ has de- 
 termined that all our English prisoners shall be sent into the interior. 
 I have asked for an exemption for you, and have offered to guarantee 
 
 ^ A complimentary title given by tlie people to General Liniers after the victory 
 of the I2tli August.
 
 6S PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 your security, but I can only give that guarantee on one condition ; 
 that you pledge me your word of honour that you will make no 
 attempt to escape, that if your countrymen land you will hold no 
 communication with them, and that while you remain with us you 
 will reside wherever I may direct." 
 
 Lieutenant Gordon turned pale as he heard this, then flushed 
 crimson, and as Don Roderigo ceased speaking answered at once — 
 
 " I can have only one answer, Don Roderigo," he said. " You have 
 all treated me with such kindness that I have never felt that I am a 
 prisoner among you. Your offer to stand guarantee for me is a fresh 
 kindness, for which I can never be sufficiently grateful. I should be a 
 scoundrel and a fool to reject it, so I give you my word as you require. 
 I will make no attempt to escape, and will hold no communication 
 with my countrymen except through you or with your permission." 
 
 "Palabra de Ingles?" said Don Gregorio the younger in a harsh voice. 
 
 "The word of a soldier and a gentleman," replied Lieutenant 
 Gordon. 
 
 " Then you will continue to be our guest ? " said Don Roderigo, 
 grasping his hand warmly. " You will always take care that either 
 Marcelino or myself know where you are, and for the present, at 
 least, I Avill place no restriction upon your moveiaients ; go and come 
 as you please amongst us." 
 
 " I am very glad," said Marcelino, coming forward and embracing 
 him ; " I was afraid you would refuse." 
 
 The lieutenant, albeit not much accustomed to embracing, responded 
 cordially to his caress, and then the elder Don Gregorio took his 
 hand, saying — • 
 
 " We will do what we can to make your time as a prisoner pass 
 pleasantly amongst us. Do you think you are strong enough yet for 
 a gallop ? If you are, I am on my way to one of my estancias, and 
 invite you to accompany me." 
 
 " I shall have great pleasure in going with you, I feel quite strong- 
 again now, and have a great curiosity to see something of your life on 
 the Pampas, but I have neither saddle nor horse." 
 
 " I will find you a saddle," said Marcelino ; " as for a horse, that 
 can always be found. Leave all that to me ; we will make a gaucho 
 of you before we let you go back to your own country." 
 
 Marcelino and Lieutenant Gordon had shared one room between 
 them since they had been living at the quinta. As they retired for 
 the night, so soon as they were alone together, Gordon seated himself 
 on the side of his bed and asked his friendly gaoler — 
 
 "Why did you think that I would not give my parole to your father ? " 
 
 " I was afraid you might have thought it your duty to lose no chance 
 of rejoining your army." 
 
 " My parole does not prevent me from doing all I can to procure 
 my release by exchange; but if you sent me up the country no one 
 would know anything of me." 
 
 " Then when the English come, if they take any officer of ours 
 prisoner they will give him back for you ? " 
 
 " Probably so." 
 
 *' And then you would go back to them and would fight against us?"
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. 69 
 
 Gordon hesitated, looking wistfully at his friend ere he answered — 
 
 " I should have to do my duty, but do not let us suppose anything 
 like that. Have you heard nothing of your friend the Sehor Evaha ? 
 You told me you thought he had gone to England." 
 
 " No, I have heard nothing from him since I received that letter 
 from Monte Video that I told you of If he has gone to England I 
 shall not hear again from him for months." 
 
 " General Beresford has declared publicly that he considers it the 
 true policy for England to aid you natives in freeing yourselves from 
 Spain." 
 
 " Yes, General Beresford has been very incautious, and has no right 
 to complain that he is now a prisoner at Lujan, instead of being free 
 on parole in Buenos Aires ; many good men are in prison now for 
 listening to him." 
 
 " And you think you are not ready yet for independence ? " 
 
 " No, we are not. You have met Don Manuel Belgrano at our 
 house in town I think ? " 
 
 " A soft-eyed man, with a long nose, and neither beard nor whiskers, 
 who talks English and French ? " 
 
 " Yes, that is he. He is now major of the Patricios, and no officer 
 is more active than he is in drilling the men, or more zealous in 
 urging all of us to prepare for another struggle with the English. He 
 is no friend to Spain, yet he says, ' The old master or none at all,' and 
 so say all of us." 
 
 " When Sobremonte comes back the first thing he will do will be to 
 disarm your militia." 
 
 " Disarm the Patricios and Arribehos ! ^ He had better not try to 
 do that." 
 
 " He will, you will resist it, and then will commence your war of 
 independence." 
 
 " I hope you are not a true prophet; if we strike the blow too soon 
 we shall fail. As I said before, we are not ripe for independence." 
 
 " And so long as the Spaniards rule over you they will take care that 
 you never do ripen, so that your hope of independence is a danger- 
 ous dream." 
 
 " Dangerous it may be, but it is no dream," said Marcelino, rising 
 excitedly to his feet ; " I know my own countrymen and I have faith 
 in the future of my native country. No great work can be performed 
 without danger; tliere are heroes amongst us who fear no danger; let 
 the dangers come, they will teach us how to meet them. I tell you, 
 my friend, before these black hairs of mine have turned gray you will 
 see the rise of a great Republic on the shores of La Plata." 
 
 " In establishing it you will do your share of the work nobly," an- 
 swered Gordon. " May God help you, for I believe you have a hard 
 task before you." 
 
 ' One of llie first measures adopted by General Linicrs on assuming tlie com- 
 mand in Buenos .Xircs, was to organize llie native militia into four battalions of 
 infantry. The first and second battalions were composed of Creoles of Spanish 
 descent, the third was composed of negroes and mulattocs, all natives of JJuenos 
 Aires ; these three battalions formed the regiment of the "Patricios." The fourth 
 battalion was , composed of provincials, and was known as the " Arribefto " 
 regiment.
 
 /O PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 " Do you believe there is a God ? " asked Marcelino, reseating him- 
 self and looking steadfastly at his friend. 
 
 " I do, as surely as I see you sitting there before me." 
 
 " I think there is too ; but I do not think that he takes any interest 
 in the affairs of men." 
 
 " That is most illogical," replied Gordon. " In all God's Avorks 
 around us we see the greatest evidence of care and foresight in pre- 
 paring this world for our habitation, how then shall he care nothing 
 for us who are his chiefest work ? " 
 
 " I wish I could think as you do. Do you know, one of the first days 
 when you were ill at our house I Avent in to look at you, you were 
 delirious, 1 thought you would die, and the thought made me very 
 miserable ; I Avould have done anything to save you and could 
 do nothing. I fell down on my knees by your side, I don't know why, 
 and I prayed wildly to God that he would let you live. It is in mo- 
 ments like that that one feels that there is really a God. When I 
 thought what I was doing I jumped up again to my feet ashamed of 
 my weak folly, but I went away quite happy for I felt sure that you 
 would live. Do you think that God would listen to a prayer addressed 
 to him in that way ? " 
 
 Tears swam in Gordon's eyes at this new proof of his friend's care 
 for him. 
 
 " Those are just the prayers that God does listen to," he answered. 
 " When men can do nothing then they feel their dependence upon God 
 and trust entirely to him. That is simple faith, and is just what God 
 requires of us." 
 
 " Some men would call it superstition," said Marcelino. 
 
 " You acknowledge that there is a God, and you know that he must 
 be infinitely greater and more powerful than you are, therefore to trust 
 in him is no superstition. To trust in dead men or in ceremonies of 
 man's devising, that is superstition." 
 
 " Who shall mark the line between faith and superstition ?" asked 
 Marcelino. 
 
 " It is impossible to do it, for it is a purely mental line in the mind 
 of each individual. I know Protestants in my own country who carry 
 their horror of ceremonies to such an extent that their worship of God 
 can hardly be considered as worship at all, yet many of them are most 
 fearfully superstitious ; and I believe there are good Christians among 
 you who go through all the ceremonies of the Romish Church, whose 
 faith is very slightly tainted with superstition. Yet faith and super- 
 stition are quite distinct from one another." 
 
 " But your religion is all taken from your Bible, which is a bundle 
 of old books written by the Lord knows who or when. Does it teach 
 you anything about faith ? " 
 
 " The one lesson which the Bible teaches is simple faith, the rest is 
 mainly historical." 
 
 " Some day I will read the Bible, I have one somewhere, Evaha 
 brought it for me from England as a curiosity," said Marcelino. " I 
 should like to know more about this faith you tell me of. If the Bible 
 is really a message from God, as some people say it is, every one ought 
 to read it. If religion is faith in God, then it is a study fit for men 
 and may well be the guiding principle of a man's life." 
 
 I
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 THE YEOMANRY OF BUENOS AIRES. 
 
 " What, Marcelino ! are you going too ? " asked Dona Constancia 
 the next morning, as she saw her son, after fully equipping his friend 
 Gordon for a journey, getting himself ready also. 
 
 " Yes, mamita ; and I am very glad you have come to ask me, for 
 I want to tell you why I am going. My uncle Gregorio is going to 
 Las Barrancas to raise a squadron of cavalry, as you know, and I 
 have been trying to persuade grandpapa to let me raise a company of 
 infantry among the slaves on his chacras about the Guardia Chas- 
 comus." 
 
 " Make slaves into soldiers ! " 
 
 " Yes, mother. The affair at Perdriel showed me that if we want 
 to beat the English we must have infantry. The Spanish regiments 
 and the militia are sufficient to defend Buenos Aires, but we want 
 troops who can meet the English in the open field. Now the paisanos 
 will not serve on foot, but I think I could soon drill negroes into very 
 fair foot soldiers. If grandpapa will set the example plenty more will 
 give me slaves, and I will raise a large regiment." 
 
 " But to put arms into the hands of slaves, that is never done." 
 
 " No, and therefore grandpapa says we must keep it secret till we 
 see whether it can be done. Don Fausto Velasquez is on his estancia 
 now, so we are going to ride over from the Barrancas to the Pajonales 
 to consult with him before I do anything." 
 
 "I do not like the idea at all, Marcelino. Now that Juan Carlos 
 has joined the Patricios you are surely exempt from service. If you 
 must serve, why did you resign your commission ? " 
 
 " For the sake of peace, mother. Don Isidro Lorea behaved very 
 well on the 12th August, so now he thinks himself a hero, and wants 
 to have everything his own way in the regiment. Many think that I 
 know more of military affair^ than he does, and there was danger of 
 disunion, so I resigned my commission, and I have permission from 
 Liniers to form a separate command for myself if I can find men." 
 
 " And you have not told your father ? " 
 
 " No, this must be a secret for the present. The Cabildo would put 
 a stojj to the project if they knew of it, but once I get the men to- 
 getlier Liniers will bear me out." 
 
 Doha Constancia attempted no more to dissuade him from the idea, 
 and before the sun was two hours high all were ready for the road 
 except Don Roderigo, who remained at the quinta, and who had i)ro- 
 mised to read " Evelina," and to report upon the book on their 
 return.
 
 'J2 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 The " Casa-teja," and much land lying around, was the property of 
 Don Gregorio Lopez, and was one of his estancias. Here Don 
 Gregorio and his party drew rein a little before noon, and in ten 
 minutes diey were seated at breakfast in the y)rincipal room. 
 
 '• Vou are tired, Don Alejandro," said 13on Gregorio to Lieutenant 
 Gordon. 
 
 " A little, for I have only been a few times on horseback at the 
 quinta, but in an hour I shall be quite ready for another gallop." 
 
 " Yes, and then to-morrow you will be quite knocked up. No, it 
 is well that the old and the invalid keep company together. We will 
 remain here until to-morrow, but my son and Marcelino are in a 
 hurry, so we will let them go on by themselves." 
 
 The word of Don Gregorio was the law of his household, so that 
 matter was settled without discussion, and Don Gregorio the younger 
 and Marcelino, after partaking sparingly of the plentiful breakfast which 
 was spread before them, mounted fresh horses and galloped off, taking 
 a peon with them and driving a tropilla before them. They travelled 
 fast, but ere sun-down the storm which was brewing on the preceding 
 evening burst upon them, and they were forced to take refuge in a 
 rancho which stood by itself surrounded by a forest of thistles, some 
 two squares to the left of the road. They received the usual frank 
 welcome of a paisano, and were told to dismount and unsaddle. In 
 ten minutes they were seated on horse-skulls in a smoky kitchen, 
 sucking mate,^ and safe from the storm which now raged furiously, 
 driving clouds of thistle-down before it and laying prostrate acres of 
 the tall thistles themselves. 
 
 Their host was a slim, active man, not so tall as Marcelino, but 
 apparently some few years his senior. His complexion was a bright 
 yellow with a ruddy tinge in his smooth cheeks. His hair, jet-black 
 and glossy, was of very coarse texture, falling down to his shoulders in 
 a scarcely perceptible wave ; had it been cut short it would have 
 appeared quite straight. A small black moustache graced his thin 
 upper-lip, and a slight fringe of black hair on his chin did duty as a 
 beard. His eyes, black also, were very bright and in constant 
 movement. 
 
 His wife was a young woman of similar complexion but of stouter 
 build, with full red lips and with very white teeth, which she was fond 
 of showing, by smiling whenever she was spoken to, but she spoke 
 very little herself, leaving that part of their entertainment to her 
 husband. 
 
 For some time they talked on indifferent subjects; at last Don 
 Gregorio said — 
 
 " I often pass this way, but I never! remember seeing this rancho 
 before." 
 
 " I have only been here two months, till then I lived with my father 
 over there," replied their host with a jerk of his head. 
 
 " Are you by chance one of the Vianas ? " asked Don Gregorio. 
 
 "Just so. 1 am Venceslao Viana, at your service, Senor, and this 
 is my wife. When I married, my father gave me some cows, and I 
 
 1 A word of two syllables — American tea.
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. y^ 
 
 have built this place for myself. We were married at the Guardia, 
 for, as my father said to me, people of family should marry." 
 
 As the man said this he threw back his head proudly, and his wife 
 smiled at her guests, showing more of her white teeth than ever. 
 They both evidently thought that they had conferred great distinction 
 upon themselves by marrying, as was in fact the case, for among the 
 paisanos in those days marriage was a token of respectability and 
 social standing. 
 
 " I call myself Gregorio Lopez," said Don Gregorio in reply, " and 
 I congratulate you both." * 
 
 " Many thanks, Sehor. Don Gregorio of the Barrancas, is it not so?" 
 " Exactly." 
 
 " Then we are in some sort relations," answered Venceslao. 
 " To me, no ; to this one, yes," replied Don Gregorio coldly, and 
 looking at Marcelino. " I knew that Viana's land lay somewhere 
 near here, but I did not know that it reached as far as this." 
 
 A brother of the second wife of Don Gregorio Lopez the elder, 
 named Francisco Viana, had married a mulatta, and had by so doing 
 lost caste with his own family, and had lived ever since in seclusion 
 on his estancia, so that his existence was unknown to the younger 
 branches of the family of Don Gregorio Lopez, and Marcelino looked 
 curiously at Venceslao, wondering how he could in any way be a rela- 
 tion of his. 
 
 " I have seen you before," said Venceslao, as he returned his gaze. 
 " Have you ? Where ? I have not been so far as this since I was 
 a boy," replied Marcelino. 
 "When the English." 
 " How.? Were you with us at Perdriel.? " 
 " Yes. I saw you there every day." 
 " And after, what became of you ? " 
 
 " I escaped by a miracle, and came straight back to my father's 
 house." 
 
 " AVere you with Don Juan Martin ? " 
 
 " Yes. I followed him right up to the English, but they confounded 
 us with shot. Caramba ! how the bullets went, phiz ! phiz ! I shall 
 never forget it. I missed a stroke at one of them with my lance, and 
 before I knew what had happened my horse reared and fell over with 
 me, and caught my leg so that I could not get away. Dios ! what 
 moments those were I it appeared a century. Afterwards, when they 
 were coming to finish me, there was a tall man, one of the city, who 
 spoke to them in their own Castilian, so they let me go, and he gave 
 me a horse, but I did not feel safe till I got back here. Dios mio ! 
 for days I did not know whether I was alive or dead. And you, 
 where were you that day ? You will excuse me the question." 
 " I was in the quinta all the time." 
 
 "Jesus ! " exclaimed the wife. " Venceslao said they killed all that 
 were there." 
 
 " They killed some of us," replied Marcelino, " when we tried to 
 keep them out, but when they got inside they let the rest of us go." 
 
 " Look you, what an escape you made ! You have never seen them 
 again I feel sure," said Venceslao,
 
 74 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 " I did though. I went off to Las Conchas, and had my revenge 
 at the Reconciucst." 
 
 " Also you found yourself in that affair ? Already you had not 
 enough of them ? " 
 
 " A patriot never has enough while an enemy treads the soil of his 
 native country." 
 
 " A patriot ! what is that ? " 
 
 " A patriot is one who is ready to make every sacrifice for the good 
 of his country, as you did when you risked your life for our country at 
 Perdriel." 
 
 " You are mistaken. They talked to us in the encampment about 
 that ; but excuse me, I am not a patriot, of that I understand nothing. 
 I went to the war because Julian Sanchez was going, and asked me to 
 go with him. You see he has done me many favours, he is my 
 brother-in-law, and we were always great friends, so that I could not 
 do less than go when he invited me." 
 
 " And how did it go with him? " asked Don Gregorio. 
 
 " Well. He did not find himself at the fight, he had gone the 
 night before to visit some friends at San Jose de Flores." 
 
 " And afterwards ? " 
 
 " He presented himself to Don Juan Martin at Las Conchas, but 
 when he found I was not with them he came back to tell my family 
 that I was killed, and here he found me alive." 
 
 " The English are coming again," said Don Gregorio. 
 
 " You don't say so 1 " 
 
 " True. And there will come more of them this time." 
 
 " And all will be to do over again. Look you what heretics they 
 are, that they will not leave us in peace ; for my part I abhor them ; 
 why did they come here at first?" 
 
 " They are at war with the Spaniards," replied Marcelino. " Last 
 year they had a great fight with the Spanish ships on the sea, and 
 the English were the strongest ; so now they go about in their ships 
 where they like, and wherever they find Spaniards on the land where 
 they can get near in their ships they come on shore and fight them." 
 
 " And that is what they call war ? " said Venceslao. " Look you 
 that they are barbarians." 
 
 " The same would the Spaniards do to them if they could," said 
 Marcelino. 
 
 " And what does that matter to us ? " said Venceslao. 
 
 " Nothing, until they come to our country ; but if they come here, 
 then it is our duty to help the Spaniards to turn them out." 
 
 " It may be, but I don't see why. If they only come to fight the 
 Spaniards, why should we meddle ? Let them fight themselves alone." 
 
 " But if the English beat the Spaniards then they will take our 
 country for themselves." 
 
 " In every way that may not be. They would put laws after their 
 fashion, and we should have to talk their Castilian, I could never 
 accustom myself to that." 
 
 Beyond the Guardia Chascomus, which was at that time a frontier 
 town held by a small garrison of Spanish troops, there stretches a
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. 75 
 
 chain of lakes, running in a southerly direction till they join the Rio 
 Salado. In some places the land around these lakes slopes gently 
 down to the water's edge, so that when they overflow during heavy 
 rains, their waters spread themselves for a considerable distance over 
 the plain. At other places the surrounding land rises abruptly, form- 
 ing perpendicular cliffs, which are called " barrancas;" probably the 
 highest of these barrancas is not more than forty feet above the 
 general level of the lake ; but forty feet is a considerable elevation 
 where the chief feature of the country is one uniform flatness. About 
 half-way between the Guardia and the Rio Salado, the east side of 
 this chain of lakes was for nearly two leagues one continuous line of 
 barrancas ; all the land about there, contiguous to the lakes and 
 stretching far inland, was the property of Don Gregorio Lopez the 
 younger, who had inherited it from his mother whom he had never 
 seen. He had placed there an estancia called " Las Barrancas," 
 where he and his father had immense herds of cattle and troops of 
 mares, and a few flocks of long-legged sheep. 
 
 The estancia itself consisted of a group of ranchos, in front of which 
 two ombues shaded the palenque, where horses were tied. Behind 
 them was an enclosure of considerable size, part of which was planted 
 with trees, and the rest carefully cultivated by slaves. Some slaves 
 were also employed as herdsmen, but the majority of these mounted 
 peons were freemen, who worked hard for small wages, and who 
 mostly lived in ranchos of their own on different parts of the estate, 
 at great distances from each other. All these freemen provided their 
 own horses, and were skilled from their earliest youth in the use of 
 the lasso and bolas. They almost lived on horseback, and had the 
 greatest dislike to any labour which could only be performed on foot, 
 deeming such work below the dignity of a man, and only tit for slaves. 
 
 Many other estancias similarly organized lay scattered about the 
 Pampa, within a day's gallop of the Estancia de Las Barrancas. The 
 limits of these difterent estancias were ill-defined, their tide-deeds 
 being merely a grant of some certain number of leagues of land from 
 the Viceregal Government of Buenos Aires or of Peru. There was 
 yet much land not allotted at all, so that any of these freemen who 
 worked on the estancias, who could get together a few cows and 
 horses, and wished to settle down quietly, could easily find land on 
 which to build himself a rancho and to pasture his animals, 'ihese 
 freemen were of a roving nature, seldom working more than a few 
 months at a time on one estancia ; but hundreds of them had thus 
 made homes for themselves ; to some of them at times government 
 gave grants of tlie land on which they had settled, and they became 
 proprietors. They were a hardy, simple race of yeomen, who held 
 the dwellers in cities in great contempt, and considered that man's 
 first necessity in life was a good horse. Their amusements consisted 
 of feats of horsemanship, in which horse-racing naturally held a pro- 
 minent place, in hunting deer and ostrich with their boleadores, or 
 in listening to the long monotonous songs of some '• cantor " of their 
 own class, who generally invented his songs for himself, and not 
 unfrequently improvised a fresh one when some incident of the day 
 Ijrovided him with a subject. Government was to them a mysterious
 
 '/(b PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 power, which gave grants of land and imposed taxes. Religion to 
 them consisted in the baptism of children, and in the burial of the 
 dead in consecrated ground ; yet they had an unwritten law among 
 them which they observed most strictly, and they had a sort of natural 
 religion, which told them that there was a God and a life beyond the 
 grave. 
 
 Among these men, peons or small proprietors, Don Gregorio Lopez 
 proposed to raise a squadron of cavalry, and Marcelino Ponce de 
 Leon proposed to lielp him in his work by instilling into them the 
 first princijjles of patriotism. 
 
 Don Gregorio met with very fair success, his recruits being left at 
 liberty all the week and meeting every Sunday at the Elstancia de Las 
 Barrancas for drill, which to them was a novel amusement. Their 
 chief did not purpose to embody them permanently until the near 
 approach of the English should render their services necessary, but 
 contented himself for the present with selecting his officers and 
 instructing them in their duties, in all which he showed considerable 
 skill. But his nephew instead of being any assistance to him was 
 rather a hindrance. 
 
 The sturdy yeomen were accustomed to obey their superiors and 
 to ask no questions, the summons of Don Gregorio they looked upon 
 as a command, to serve under him if they were wanted they con- 
 sidered a duty from which they might ask exemption as a favour, but 
 to which they could not refuse obedience. Marcelino spoke to them 
 of patriotism, and tried to instil into them enthusiasm for the defence 
 of their native country against foreign invasion. Patriotism was some 
 new idea which they did not understand; as for enthusiasm, it mattered 
 nothing to them who had the city so long as nobody took their cows 
 from them. But when Marcelino began to talk to them of the rights 
 of free-born men, of liberty, equality, and so forth, then their shrewd 
 common sense prompted them to argue the point with him. 
 
 " If all men are equal," said one of them, " why has the patron 
 Don Gregorio twelve leagues of camp, while I have only 200 cows 
 and have to feed them where I can ? " 
 
 " And what is this liberty," asked another, " if I have to leave my 
 cows to go and fight these English, who never did me any harm that 
 I know of? " 
 
 " A\'ill it be true what they say of these English, Patroncito? " said 
 another ; " that they are not people but have tails like the monkeys ? " 
 
 "Those are lies," answered Marcelino; "the English are men just 
 like we are." 
 
 "Then why should they not come here? there is plenty of camp for 
 them which has now no owner." 
 
 When Marcelino spoke to them in high-flown words they did not 
 understand him, w^ien he tried simple arguments they posed him 
 with questions such as these. The only effect of his talk was to raise 
 vague, communistic ideas in their minds, and to teach them that they 
 were in some unknown way unjustly treated, which was not at all 
 conducive to the strict disciplme which Don Gregorio sought to 
 maintain among them. 
 
 Thus passed two weeks, when a peon brought Marcelino a letter
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. jy 
 
 from Don Fausto Velasquez of the Estancia de Los Pajonales, telling 
 him that his grandfather had already been some days witli him, and 
 inviting him over at once to join in their consultation concerning the 
 arming of the slaves. 
 
 Marcelino received the letter in the morning, and sunset found him 
 the guest of Don Fausto Velasquez. His uncle had laughed at him 
 as he bade hiiii good-bye, telling him that he might be a very clever 
 fellow in the city, but that in the campaha he was worse than useless. 
 
 " You do not understand our people," he said ; " it is necessary to 
 order them, and they obey, but you must not give reasons to them, for 
 they know nothing."
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ARMING THE SLAVES. 
 
 The estancia house at Los Pajonales was a large brick building 
 with a flat roof, surrounded by a stockade of posts. There were also 
 three ranchos detached within the stockade, and outside a consider- 
 able extent of ground was enclosed by a ditch and cultivated, the 
 uegro slaves who were kept for this work having their huts at a 
 distance at the fiir side the enclosed ground. 
 
 When Marcelino Ponce de Leon reached the estancia he was 
 conducted at once to the sala, being met at the door by Don Fausto 
 Velasquez, a middle-aged man, tall and of striking presence, who was 
 dressed with great neatness in light linen clothing suitable to the 
 season, and wore his hair powdered and tied behind his head with a 
 ribbon. Don Fausto bowed low with great formality to Marcelino as 
 he entered, and tlien taking his hand led him up to his mother, a 
 dignified old lady with silvery hair, who was dressed in black silk and 
 reclined on cushions at one end of a low estrade which ran all down 
 one side of the room. She received him very graciously and enquired 
 particularly after his mother, who had been a great favourite of hers in 
 days gone by ; then with an approving smile and a graceful inclination 
 of the head she dismissed him. 
 
 Several other ladies were present, all of whom were seated or 
 reclined on cushions on this estrade, some were sewing or knitting, 
 others were sucking mate, which was served to them by two little 
 negro girls. One of these ladies was the wife of Don Fausto, a stout, 
 well-developed woman, with regular features, an exceedingly white 
 skin, and with large, lustrous black eyes, but with a languid manner 
 about her which lessened considerably the effect of their brilliance. 
 She was a sister, many years younger, of the lady who had been the 
 second wife of Don Gregorio Lopez, and was thus grand-aunt to 
 Marcelino, though younger than his own mother. At her feet there 
 rolled a stout, active little boy about five years old, whom she caressed 
 occasionally in her languid way, calling him her "son," her " Justito," 
 who seemed to find great pleasure in vain attempts to prevail upon 
 her to join him in a game of romps. 
 
 After being introduced to the other ladies and to two or three men 
 who were present, and after a cordial exchange of greetings with Don 
 Gregorio Lopez and Lieutenant Gordon, Marcelino drew forward a 
 heavy, straight-backed chair, the seat of which was of embossed leather, 
 and placed himself in front of his aunt, whom he had not seen for
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. 79 
 
 several years, Don Fausto having resided for that time on his estancia 
 in consequence of some trouble he had had with the Spanish author- 
 ities of Buenos Aires. For Don Fausto, though a Creole, was a proud 
 man and a wealthy, and thought himself the equal of any Spaniard, 
 an idea which in those days was apt to bring any free-spoken Creole 
 into trouble. The other men were mostly walking about, sucking' 
 mate when their turn came, and occasionally addressing a few words 
 to one or other of the ladies, but the conversation was far from 
 animated. 
 
 Other than the cushioned estrade on which the ladies were seated, 
 the room was very bare of furniture, a couple of small tables and a 
 few high-backed, very uncomfortable-looking chairs comprised the 
 whole of it ; but upon the walls hung some very choice paintings, 
 several of whicli were said to be the works of Velasquez, a famous 
 Spanish painter, who was claimed by Don Fausto as one of his 
 ancestors. The art of painting was held in small repute in Buenos 
 Aires at that time ; Don Fausto knew nothing of it, only preserved 
 these paintings out of respect for the memory of his father, who had 
 set great store by them, and was both surprised and pleased at the 
 great admiration of them which was expressed by his English guest 
 Lieutenant Gordon. He strove in vain to see any beauty in them 
 himself, but he was proud to see them appreciated by another who 
 came from the Old World. 
 
 JNIarcelino talked ,long with his aunt, telling her of his adventures 
 in Buenos Aires during the English occupation. As he told of 
 the affair at Perdriel and of the defeat of the English on the 12th 
 August, she caught up her little son in her arms, pressing him to her 
 bosom with unwonted animation, saying as she caressed him — 
 
 "Ah, Justiniano, my little son ! your mother will take better care of 
 you, she will ne\'er let you run away from her, nor fight fierce soldiers 
 who come over the sea ! " 
 
 " The soldiers, mamita ! " said the boy laughing, and patting her 
 cheek with his little hand ; " I have never seen a soldier, but when 
 I am big like this one then I will put myself to kill the English. All 
 of them, mamita, all of them." 
 
 As he said this he struggled from his mother's arms, and rolling 
 over a cushion, clambered down from the estrade, and running up to 
 Lieutenant Gordon clenched his little fist and struck him on the leg. 
 
 " This is one," he said ; " some day when I am big I will kill you." 
 
 Marcelino rose hurriedly from his chair, and Don Fausto walked 
 quickly to the spot with a look of great annoyance on his face, but 
 Gordon stooping down to the boy lifted him up in his arms and kissed 
 him, saying with a merry laugh — 
 
 " \Vhen you are as big as I am, my little man, we English will be 
 great friends with you, and will know better than to come here to 
 fight you." 
 
 " Thanks, my friend, thanks," said Don Fausto, taking his free hand 
 in both his own. " With years we shall all of us learn a little wisdom." 
 
 Justiniano looked wonderingly from one to the other with a finger 
 in his mouth to aid liis reflections, then seizing hold of one of (Gordon's 
 whiskers he wliispered in his ear —
 
 So PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 "You no, don't be frightened, you are not one of the bad ones. 
 Ahvays we will be friends." 
 
 " Mind you remember that, little rascal," said Marcelino, patting 
 him on the cheek. 
 
 "If he ever forgets it you will remind him," said Gordon: then 
 raising the boy to his shoulder he danced with him up and down the 
 long room, the child shouting and tossing his arms about with delight. 
 
 Doha Josefina, the boy's mother, had meanwhile sunk back again 
 upon her cushions, following him with her eyes, and seemed to care 
 little whether Marcelino resumed the conversation or not, but there 
 \vere other ladies there younger than she, who had listened eagerly to 
 what Marcelino had told them of the English invasion, and wished to 
 hear more. The twilight deepened into darkness, the mate-pot ceased 
 its rounds amongst them, lamps were lighted, fresh faces were seen in 
 the room, and others who had been there disappeared, but still 
 Marcelino talked on in glowing, enthusiastic language of the changes 
 during the last sixteen months in the city of Buenos Aires, and of the 
 greater changes which he foresaw in the future. He had often talked 
 thus before among men of his own age and of his own class, and he 
 had seen weariness in their faces, and scorn curling on their lips ; he 
 had talked thus to men his seniors in age, and had been treated as a 
 visionary, or had been silenced by a stern rebuke ; but here he found 
 an audience who hung upon his words, who sympathized in his hopes, 
 and saw no folly in his wildest aspirations ; it was an audience of 
 women, of women learned in needlework and household lore, skilled 
 in the art of dressing themselves and making the most of the natural 
 graces to which they were born, of beautiful women who could barely 
 write their own names, who knew little of the world in which they 
 lived, and nothing of the world ^which had passed away. These 
 %vomen were incapable of following out the abstruse reasonings by 
 which at times he sought to elucidate his argument, the illustrations 
 he drew from history conveyed no lesson to their minds, his logic was 
 thrown away upon them, yet they understood him and sympathized 
 with him, and learned from him to believe that their country would 
 one day be a great nation, governed by its own laws, and free from all 
 foreign control. 
 
 Several of them joined in the conversation with him, asking him 
 questions, making shrewd observations of their own and deductions 
 from his arguments, some of which were very wide of the conclusion 
 to which he wished to point. One of them, a young girl, plainly 
 dressed, and of very plain features, with a sallow complexion and 
 brown hair, asked him no questions, and spoke to him no word. 
 Listening to him, she had crept nearer till she leaned upon Doha 
 Josefina, resting her folded hands upon her shoulder, and her chin 
 upon them, her thin lips pressed tightly together, and her whole life 
 seemingly concentrated in her large gray eyes. 
 
 Marcelino felt her gaze and moved uneasily on his chair, but he 
 continued the conversation without pause till one of his audience, 
 drawing herself up and ])ressing her hands together, exclaimed — 
 
 " Look ! look at Malena ! " 
 
 "What have you, Nina?" said Doha Josefina.
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. 8 1 
 
 Malena, raising herself from her leaning posture, heaved a deep sigh, 
 and looked round her in a bewildered sort of manner as though she 
 had just awakened from a dream. 
 
 After supper it was the custom for Don Fausto and his guests to 
 repair to the veranda and to spend an hour or two there smoking and 
 talking together while coffee was handed round, but on this evening 
 Gordon found himself alone there before he had finished his first cigar ; 
 after drinking their coffee the others had walked off, Marcelino saying 
 to him as he went — 
 
 " Wait for me here." 
 
 Don Fausto had invited such neighbours of his, landed proprietors 
 and slave-owners, as resided within a day's gallop of his estancia, to 
 visit him that day for the purpose of discussing together the project of 
 raising a regiment of slaves, which had been started by Marcelino 
 Ponce de Leon. After coffee they assembled together in a small 
 room ; four only had accepted the invitation of Don P'austo. Don 
 Fausto explained to them the purpose for which they were met to- 
 gether, and then left Marcelino to himself to argue his case with them, 
 ^[arcelino spoke long and eagerly to them, but they looked upon it as 
 a scheme full of danger ill the future, and he would probably have 
 given up the idea but for the aid of Don Gregorio Lopez, who struck 
 in to his assistance. 
 
 " Our slaves," he said, " are not as a rule hard-worked, they will not 
 lead more easy lives under strict military discipline than they do at 
 present, therefore I do not think a few months' military service will 
 make them any the worse workmen afterwards." 
 
 " It will make them better workmen," said Marcelino, " for it will 
 make them more active and more obedient than they now are. The 
 objection I see, which none of you have mentioned, is that they will 
 not give up their present easy life for one of hardship and danger. I 
 do not want unwilling recruits, I want volunteers, and I anticipated 
 more difficulty with them than with you." 
 
 " As far as my slaves are concerned you will have no difficulty," 
 said Don Gregorio. " If we defeat the English I will give one in 
 every ten of them who may serve under you his liberty ; that will 
 be reward enough to bring you volunteers." 
 
 " If all the proprietors would do that, then I should soon raise my 
 regiment," said Marcelino. 
 
 " But I do not see yet why such a step is necessary," said one of 
 the strangers. " With the new regiments, Liniers has sufficient infantry 
 in the city, and in the campaha we can collect thousands of parti- 
 darios in an emergency." 
 
 *' Yes, you can," replied Marcelino, " and they would give very 
 efficient assistance to drilled troops on a field of battle, but they could 
 not stop the advance of an army from the coast, and in the city they 
 would be useless. And again, the militia and the Spanish regiments 
 who are kept embodied in the city will defend entrenchments to the 
 last, but they cannot man(jeuvre hi the open against the well-drilled 
 soldiers of the English. 'J'hey are only of use to defend the city, so 
 that if the English land again at Quilmes, Liniers has no troops fit to 
 meet them. Lut if I can raise and drill 2000 negroes, and teach them 
 
 G
 
 82 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 to march and manoeuvre, then Liniers will have a small force upon 
 which he can rely for any rapid movement, and can trust the defence 
 of the line of the Riachuelo to his other infantry, and to the parti- 
 darios." 
 
 " Two thousand ! " exclaimed Don Fausto ; " you can never collect 
 2000 slaves from this district." 
 
 "No, I cannot, but if I can commence here with 200, then others 
 will come forward from all the country." 
 
 " Well, if Don Gregorio will let you pick fifty from among his 
 slaves I will give you twenty from mine ; I will run the risk of some 
 of them being killed." 
 
 " Conforme," said Don Gregorio ; " the thing is to commence at 
 once ; where do you intend to fix your head-quarters ? " 
 
 " If you will permit me, grandpapa, I should like to establish my- 
 self at your large chacra close to the Guardia, the Chacra de Los 
 Sauces. I shall encamp my men on the open ground, and there is a 
 rancho I marked there which will do for me. The commandant of 
 the Guardia has promised me a sergeant and three corporals to assist 
 me in drilling them." 
 
 " Agreed," replied Don Gregorio. " Then, gentlemen,^if you will 
 promise nothing definite, you will let us hope that when the danger 
 becomes more pressing you will let my grandson seek more recruits 
 among your slaves." 
 
 " I will let you have twenty as soon as the wheat is cut," said one. 
 
 " Come, we have not done so badly," said Don Gregorio to his 
 grandson ; " the thing is to make a beginning." 
 
 Marcelino was disappointed to find his idea meet with so cold a 
 reception, nevertheless he returned to the veranda in very good spirits, 
 and met with more sympathy in his scheme from his English friend 
 than he had done from his own countr}'men. Don Fausto had pro- 
 mised to call all his slaves together the following morning for in- 
 spection by Marcelino, and ere the sun was up the latter was awakened 
 by some one shaking him by the shoulder. (Opening his eyes drowsily, 
 he saw his friend Gordon standing by his bed. 
 
 " Get up, my friend," said the latter ; " if you would [be a soldier 
 you must learn to parade your men every morning at sunrise." 
 
 Laughing at his eagerness, Marcelino sprang from his bed. 
 
 "Why you take as much interest in it as I do," said he. 
 
 " Ah ! if it were only not against us, I would be the first of your 
 recruits myself" 
 
 " The day will come yet," answered Marcelino, " when we shall 
 fight side by side." 
 
 Rejecting youths and old men, Marcelino found it easy to select 
 twenty stalwart negroes from among the many slaves who were brought 
 together by Don Fausto for his inspection, but when he commenced 
 to make a speech to them, asking them to show themselves men by 
 volunteering under his orders for the defence of their native country, 
 his host cut him sliort, and spoke to them himself. 
 
 •' Boys," said he, " our country has need of your services. Go with 
 my young friend here, and obey him as you would obey me. You are 
 henceforth under military discipline ; disobedience or desertion will
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. 83 
 
 be punished with death. If you behave yourselves bravely a reward 
 shall not be wanting to each one of you ; to any two of you who may 
 be specially recommended to me by Don Marcelino I will give free- 
 dom on your return. To-day you are at liberty to make what pre- 
 parations you require, to-morrow at sunrise you march." 
 
 Several of the "volunteers" looked far from joyful as they listened 
 to this speech, and many of the women collected round burst into 
 loud lamentations as the word passed among them that these twenty 
 had been selected to go and fight the English. Marcelino would will- 
 ingly have exchanged two or three of them who had families for others 
 of those he had passed over, but Don Fausto would not hear of it. 
 
 " The first duty of a slave, as of a soldier, is unquestioning obedi- 
 ence," said he. 
 
 " Give them plenty to eat and keep them hard at work, and they 
 will be quite happy," said Don Gregorio. " You have made a good 
 selection, and I believe if you are strict with them you will soon drill 
 them into very good soldiers." 
 
 Later on in the day word was brought to Marcelino that one of the 
 twenty had made off from the negro huts towards a dense pajonal 
 about half a league from the estancia. Don Fausto immediately 
 mounted several peons, and started in pursuit. Before sundown he 
 returned, bringing back the runaway, tied hands and feet, on the back 
 of a spare horse. 
 
 " There is your deserter," said he to Marcelino ; " I should advise 
 you to shoot him at once, as a warning to the others." 
 
 " No, that would be a poor commencement," replied Marcelino. 
 Then summoning the other nineteen, he ordered them to drive four 
 stout stakes into the ground in the form of a square, and to lash the 
 runaway to them by the ancles and wrists with flat strips of raw 
 hide ; after which he told off four of them to keep guard over him 
 till the following morning, giving him food and water as he required, 
 but allowing no one to approach him or speak to him. 
 
 During the evening Marcelino visited his prisoner once every two 
 hours, and found his guards always at their posts, till midnight, when, 
 on the mnaway promising that he would make no further effort to 
 escape, he told the otliers to cut the thongs so that he might sleep at 
 ease, but warned him that if he repeated the offence he would shoot 
 him on the spot where he found him. 
 
 " I am glad you did not shoot him," said Gordon, who was with 
 Marcelino at the time ; " but with these men you will find it necessary 
 to be very severe." 
 
 Next morning at sunrise Marcelino and his twenty men marched 
 away, Marcelino riding, but the men marching on foot, each man with 
 a bundle of spare clothes and provisions, and a stout stick. Don 
 (Jrcgorio and Gordon set off at the same time, attended by peons 
 driving a tropilla before them, and reached the Guardia Chascomus 
 before midday. 
 
 The next day Marcelino and his recruits reached the Chacra de 
 Los Sauces, where Don Gregorio had collected the most robust of 
 his slaves from his various establishments round about. From these 
 Marcelino selected fifty, and with the seventy men lie had thus under
 
 84 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 his orders he formed an encampment on some open ground by 
 the edge of the Laguna dc Chascomus, and, aided by the sergeant 
 and Corporals sent him by the commandant of the Guardia, pro- 
 ceeded at once to drill them into soldiers. 
 
 He had not been many days at work ere, greatly to his surprise and 
 pleasure, he received a fresh detachment of recruits, ten stout slaves, 
 sent to him by his father, who also wrote him a letter expressing the 
 warmest interest in his project, and offering him any further assistance 
 in his power. 
 
 i
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 STANDING ALONE. 
 
 Weeks passed, busy weeks for Marcelino Ponce de Leon. Every 
 morning at cock-crow the reveille sounded at the Chacra de Los Sauces, 
 at sunrise the recruits mustered, and the first six hours of the day 
 were spent in steady drill and in long marches. Marcelino had but 
 a dozen muskets which had been lent him by the commandant of the 
 Guardia ; a dozen men were detached every hour for instruction in 
 the manual exercise by the sergeant, the rest were instructed in evo- 
 lutions by Marcelino himself and the corporals. The afternoons were 
 spent by the negroes in the manufacture of accoutrements, and in the 
 routine work of the encampment ; at sundown they were paraded 
 again, and sentinels were told off for the night. 
 
 Under this discipline the negroes improved rapidly, lost their 
 slouching gait, and some of them showed such intelligence that in 
 January Marcelino selected sergeants and corporals from among 
 them, and advanced his four Spaniards to brevet rank as subaltern 
 officers. Not a week passed but he received some accession of 
 strength by small drafts of slaves from the estancias or chacras round 
 about; at the end of January he had 150 men. At this time he 
 received a note from 13on Gregorio Lopez of the Barrancas, telling 
 him that he was going to march his newly-raised squadron inside for 
 inspection by General Liniers, and advising him to accompany him, 
 as, if his recruits would bear inspection, the Reconquistador would 
 probably give him arms for them at once. 
 
 It was the second week in February ; Don Roderigo Ponce de Leon 
 and his wife Dona Constancia had a houseful of guests at their quinta. 
 The paved veranda round the house had resounded all day with the 
 clanking of sabres and the jingling of armed heels. The Reconquis- 
 tador and his staff had breakfasted with them that day at noon, after 
 inspecting the cavalry regiment from Las Barrancas and the negro 
 recruits under the command of Marcelino Ponce de Leon. Her 
 military guests had done full justice to the plentiful breakfast Doha 
 Constancia had jjlaced before them, patriotic toasts had been hon- 
 oured with enthusiasm, cheerfulness and confidence had shone in 
 every face. 
 
 The morning inspection had passed off very well, the cavalry had 
 performed some simple evolutions without getting into hopeless dis- 
 order ; the negroes, now fully armed and accoutred, had marched and 
 wheeled with a rapidity and precision which surprised the general, and
 
 86 rONCE DE LEON. 
 
 had elicited a warm eulogium from Major Belgrano of the Patricios, 
 for whose opinion the commandant of the negroes had a very high 
 regard. All this was very pleasing to Dona Constancia, but never- 
 theless, now that Liniers and his staff had returned to town, and her 
 remaining guests were chiefly members of their own family, sitting at 
 her ease under the front veranda with her favourite son beside her, she 
 was far from cheerful or happy herself. She had cause for anxiety, 
 one face that she had been accustomed to see almost daily for more 
 than twenty years she had not seen to-day, nor for many days past, 
 the face of her second son, Juan Carlos. 
 
 Early in January a detachment of the Patricios had volunteered to 
 proceed to Monte Video to aid in the defence of that city against the 
 English. They had crossed the river too late to take part in the 
 action of the 20th January, in which the Spanish troops had been de- 
 feated by Sir Samuel Auchmuty. Since then the city had been in- 
 vested by land and sea, and whether the Patricios were on their Avay 
 back again, or Avhether they had succeeded in entering the city, and 
 now formed a portion of the beleaguered garrison, was as yet un- 
 known in Buenos Aires. Among these volunteers had gone Juan 
 Carlos Ponce de Leon with the rank of lieutenant. 
 
 Mother and son found much to talk of, and they talked together 
 sitting side by side, till the long shadows of the trees had stretched 
 themselves right across the open space in front of the house, had 
 climbed up the white palings of the outer fence, shutting them out 
 from the sinking sun, and had then stretched on into infinity until 
 they were no longer shadoAvs at all, but all was one general shadow, 
 the shadow of night. Others came and went in the veranda, some 
 who had had a busy day seating themselves there to rest their weary 
 limbs, but presently lounging away again to some room inside where 
 they could rest yet more at their ease. Others walked to and fro 
 under the shade of the trees in couples, blue smoke curling up from 
 under the wide brims of their hats, and as they themselves were lost 
 to sight under the darkling shade of the foliage, the fiery tips of their 
 cigars yet gave evidence of their presence. Among them Dolores 
 flitted backwards and forwards, having taken upon herself the care of 
 their guests now that the more important of them had gone, and so 
 leaving her mother at liberty and at rest. She was dressed in a white 
 gossamer-like material bound together some few inches below her 
 shoulders by a broad scarlet ribbon, tied behind her in a huge bow 
 with two long streamers. The sleeves of her dress were very short, 
 not reaching down to her elbows, and were puffed out till they looked 
 like a pair of young balloons. Her round white arms were uncovered, 
 and on her head she wore a small straw-hat, also adorned with 
 scarlet bows and streamers, of which hat she was very proud, only 
 wearing it on great occasions, for such a head-dress was rarely seen in 
 Buenos Aires at that time. 
 
 This review of the recruits raised by her uncle and brother had 
 been a great occasion for Dolores. During the inspection she had 
 ridden at the left hand of General Liniers in this her gala dress, with 
 the addition of a flowing mantle and gloves reaching up to her elbows. 
 The general had been very polite to her, treating her with great defer.
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. 8/ 
 
 ence and toasting her aftenvards at the breakfast as the Queen of the 
 day. In his suite she had also found many other attentive cavahers, 
 who had found a sure way to her smiles and good graces by lavishing 
 encomiums upon her brother and his negro troops. Among these 
 cavaliers was one who seemed to take almost as much pride as herself 
 in the proficiency of the negroes, but who looked somewhat con- 
 temptuously upon the cavalry, Lieutenant Gordon, who was again her 
 father's guest at the Quinta de Ponce. To him General Ijniers had 
 been very cordial, and Major Belgrano of the Patricios had ridden 
 beside him all tlie morning, conversing with him and listening atten- 
 tively to all his critiques upon the movements and bearing of the re- 
 cruits. Major Belgrano had not returned to town with the General 
 and his staff, but had accepted Don Roderigo's invitation to remain 
 at the quinta until the following day. 
 
 Dolores had also had another cavalier in attendance who had en- 
 joyed the military display even more than she had done, her youngest 
 brother Evaristo, who was yet only fourteen years of age. Mounted 
 on a pony, he had galloped about all the morning, eagerly trying to 
 make himself useful, chiefly succeeding in being ahva3's in the way 
 when any rapid movement was performed, but invariably extricating 
 himself with great skill and presence of mind from his difficulties. 
 
 " They will ride over that boy presently," said Liniers to Dolores, 
 on one of the occasions. "Who is he? " 
 
 " He is my brother," replied Dolores. 
 
 Whereupon Liniers, calling the lad to him, complimented him upon 
 his horsemanship, and subdued and rewarded his enthusiasm by ap- 
 pointing him an extra aide-de-camp, and keeping him beside himself 
 till the evolutions came to an end. 
 
 Lamps were lighted in the sala, the table was duly set out for dinner, 
 Marcelino and his mother yet sat side by side under the shade of the 
 wide veranda, when the galloping of horses was heard on the road 
 outside. As they reached the quinta gate the horsemen drew rein 
 and dismounted, they opened the gate and two walked up the winding 
 path to the veranda with the confidence of men who were no strangers 
 there. As they drew near one quickened his step and took off his hat 
 as he set foot on the brick pavement. One word only he said — 
 
 " Mamita ! " 
 
 " Juan Carlos ! my son ! " exclaimed Doha Constancia, springing 
 from her chair and throwing herself into his arms. 
 
 At her cry many others came forward from inside and from under 
 the trees, and crowded round Juan Carlos, shaking him warmly by the 
 hand or embracing him, all of them asking him but one question : — 
 
 " What news ? " 
 
 " What matter the news ? " said Doha Constancia ; " I have my son 
 again, let me look at him." 
 
 She drew him into the sala, into the lamplight. 
 
 " You look pale, my son," said she, " and weary. These cursed 
 wars ! But }Ou are back again ! " 
 
 " We have been very anxious about you, Juan Carlos," said Don 
 Rodcrigo. "Since the affair of the 20th January we could not tell 
 what had become of you. I am glad you have come back again, it
 
 88 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 \voulJ have been useless to try to force your way into Monte 
 Video." 
 
 " I went to Monte Video, father," answered Juan Carlos sadly, 
 
 " and I have come back again. That I am here at all I owe to 
 
 Ah ! where is he? I thought he had come with me." 
 
 He turned and looked out into the darkness. There, unnoticed by 
 any one, leaning in an attitude of careless grace against one of the 
 iron pillars of the veranda, stood a tall man, with his hat thrust back 
 from his forehead, while an amused smile flitted over his sallow 
 features, lighting them up into a kind of stern beauty. 
 
 " Evaha ! " exclaimed Marcelino, who was the first to recognize 
 him, and ran out at once to seize him by the hand and draw him 
 forward. 
 
 " You are glad to see me again, mother," said Juan Carlos. "Then 
 thank him, for to him I probably owe my life, and certainly my escape 
 from an English prison." 
 
 " Don Carlos ! " said Doiia Constancia; "you are back ? This is 
 the second time that you have been the one who has given me happi- 
 ness when I was anxious for my sons. Are you their guardian angel ? 
 God bless you for it, I can only give you the thanks of a grateful 
 mother." 
 
 " And that is reward sufficient, Sehora," said Evaha, as he raised 
 her hand to his lips in courtly salutation. " But I fear that the news 
 we bring will not give equal pleasure to all of you." 
 
 " What of Monte Video ? " asked Don Roderigo. " What has 
 been done ? " 
 
 Evana turned away without answering, leaving Juan Carlos to 
 answer for him. 
 
 " You said you came from Monte Video ; what has happened ? " 
 asked Marcelino of his brother. 
 
 " Monte Video has fallen," answered Juan Carlos. 
 
 " How ? The English have taken the city already ! " exclaimed 
 Don Roderigo. 
 
 " They opened a breach in the wall close to the sea, and stormed 
 it under the fire of their ships. We had blocked up the gap in the 
 night before the assault, and the defence was rude and cost them 
 many men, but they carried everything before them at the point of 
 the bayonet." 
 
 " When was the assault ? " 
 
 " At dawn on the third." 
 
 " And you had entered the city before that ? " 
 
 " Yes, three days before. We were not at the breach, but were 
 posted near the citadel, and beat oft' a party that tried to scale the 
 wall, but we were cut off and surrounded by the English before we 
 knew that they had forced the breach. We fired on them, and they 
 would have massacred us but for Don Carlos, who kept them back, 
 and ran in through our fire waving a handkerchief. He told us that 
 resistance was useless, as the English had already captured the Plaza, 
 and had all our positions in reverse, so we surrendered." 
 
 "Then you were made prisoner," said Marcelino. 
 
 "Yes, ^but Don Carlos spoke for me, and they let me go on
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. 89 
 
 promising that I would not serve against them any more in this 
 
 war." 
 
 " And Sobremonte, what does he do ? " asked Don Roderigo. 
 " He had some force collected not far off, and we expected that he 
 would prevent the English from attempting an assault." 
 
 " Sobremonte does nothing." 
 
 " And never will do anything," said Marcelino sullenly. 
 
 " How many men have the English?" asked Major Belgrano. 
 
 " About 5000," answered Juan Carlos. 
 
 " They have the city, but they have not yet the campaha," said 
 Don Gregorio Lopez, who had already sent off his recruits to their 
 homes, but who had remained himself at the quinta. 
 
 '' The campaha, with Sobremonte to keep it, is the same as lost," 
 said Marcelino. 
 
 " Henceforward we can only look upon the Banda Oriental as a 
 danger," said Major Belgrano. " The English have now secured 
 themselves a footing on American soil, that is all they seek in IMonte 
 Video, but the prize they strike for is Buenos Aires. They will come, 
 my friends, but this time they will find us ready for them. Is it not 
 so, Don Gregorio.'* Is it not so, Marcelino ? " 
 
 " It is," answered both together. 
 
 " Then courage, my friends," added Belgrano ; " you have to-day 
 shown us that we have the raw material amongst ourselves of an effi- 
 cient army. I have wished to take our militia from their homes and 
 embody them as soldiers. I feel confident that this is the only way 
 in which we can hope to nieet with success in a renewed struggle 
 against these invaders, but my counsels are set at nought, and my 
 forebodings are treated with derision. The Reconquistador is a man 
 of experience and shares my opinions, but unfortunately he values his 
 popularity too much to support them. Aid me then, my friends, ere 
 it be too late." 
 
 " I would aid you with pleasure if my aid could be of any service," 
 said Don Roderigo ; " but the militia will not leave their homes and 
 their families until the enemy land." 
 
 " Leave such follies alone, that is what I counsel you, Don Manuel," 
 said Don Gregorio Lopez. " Among streets and houses your militia 
 are all right, but in the open camp they are worth nothing." 
 
 " The proper way to defend the city," said Belgrano, " is to meet 
 the invaders when they land, and not to let them see the city at all." 
 
 Don (jregorio and the major carried on the discussion for some 
 time, but no one else paid any further attention to the matter, crowd- 
 ing round Juan Carlos as he told of his adventures since he had left 
 Buenos Aires, and questioning Evaha as to where he had been for 
 months past, but not pressing their questions, as he seemed little 
 inclined to satisfy their curiosity. 
 
 It was nearly midnight. Marcelino and his friend Don Carlos 
 Evaha sat in an inner room talking earnestly together, seated one on 
 each side of a small table, on which stood a shaded lamp. Both had 
 been smoking, but Marcelino had let his cigar go out, so absorbed 
 was he in the subject on which they conversed together.
 
 90 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 "What are you two discussing?" said Major Eelgrano, pausing as 
 he passed the open door in company with Don Gregorio Lopez; 
 "you might be talking treason, you look so solemn." 
 
 " Something very like treason, according to my friend here," an- 
 swered Evana, stretching himself on his chair, and puffing a long jet 
 of smoke from his lips. " Come in ; I should like to hear your 
 opinion on the subject. Major, and yours too, Don Gregorio." 
 
 "Say no more," said Marcelino, leaning over the table, and whis- 
 pering to him, " with my uncle there is danger in such ideas ; he does 
 not understand you as I do." 
 
 " Danger ! " replied Evafia laughing ; " I should like all the world 
 to listen to me, my opinions are no secret. I see you in your ignor- 
 ance rushing headlong to destruction ; I am no traitor, but a friend, 
 when I try to open your eyes to your danger. What do you say, Don 
 Gregorio ? " 
 
 "You are among friends here and may speak," replied Don Gre- 
 gorio, drawing forward a chair and seating himself; " but I know your 
 opinions, and I warn you that you run great danger if you show your- 
 self in the city." 
 
 " So will you run danger when you rush with your raw levies upon 
 the bayonets of the English." 
 
 " I shall do my duty." 
 
 " And I not less so. I have been to England, as I told you, and 
 what I foresaw has come to pass. The English are not a warlike 
 people, but they are very jealous of their military fame, and the affair 
 of the 1 2th August has raised a stonn of indignation. I had ,inter- 
 views with several members of the Government, and got the same 
 answer from them all. Whatever their private opinions may be, they 
 are forced to yield to the popular clamour, which demands the con- 
 quest of Buenos Aires in satisfaction for the defeat of their General 
 Beresford." 
 
 " And the people of Buenos Aires will deny this satisfaction to the 
 people of England," said Don Gregorio, fiercely striking the table 
 with his clenched fist. " We have defeated and made prisoner one 
 Beresford ; let them send ten Beresfords, we will serve them all the 
 same." 
 
 " Whatever harm they may yet do us, they have at least done us 
 one service," replied Evaha ; " they have taught us our own strength. 
 I know and rejoice at it. Am I not also a Porteho of Buenos Aires ? 
 Shall I not glory in the proAvess of my own countrymen ? " 
 
 " Well, it may be so. You are a Porteho and a fellow-countryman, 
 but you sympathize strangely with the enemies of our country. How 
 is that ? " 
 
 " Spain is our enemy, we have no other." 
 
 " And these English then are our friends ! They come with their 
 ships and their cannon to break down our walls and to kill the best 
 men amongst us, as they killed Don Pancho Maciel, not a month ago, 
 near Monte Video. Frankly, of friendship of that kind I understand 
 nothing." 
 
 " Don Pancho Maciel died in defence of the flag of our tyrants, 
 many more will die as he did if we continue to defend it. To you,
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. 9 1 
 
 Belgrano, I appeal ; you have more influence with the Patricios than 
 any other, your newly-organized militia has the destinies of our 
 country in its hands. Let them tear down that flaunting flag Avhich 
 waves at the fort, and put our own flag in its place, then we can treat 
 with the English and they will be our friends." 
 
 " Our flag ! We have no flag," replied Belgrano. 
 
 " We have none, but we can make one. The day we hoist our own 
 flag we declare our independence and achieve it." 
 
 "You deceive yourself, Evaiia," said Belgrano; "the time has not 
 yet come. To tear down that flag now would be to kindle at once a 
 civil war amongst us, that flag alone it is that binds us together." 
 
 " Your own argument tells against you, Carlos," said Marcelino. 
 " We are the sons of Spaniards, the English people know no differ- 
 ence between us and them. Whatever flag we fight under, they look 
 upon us as enemies, and will not be content till they have trampled 
 us under their feet.'"' 
 
 " We have more chance than we had last year," said Belgrano. 
 "We have 8000 trained infantry in the capital, and the campaha 
 will rise as one man when the enemy lands." 
 
 " To say nothing of the slaves," said Evana laughing. " How 
 many of them have you, Marcelino ? " 
 
 " I have enough to commence with, and I have many promises of 
 more to-day." 
 
 " And not one of them has yet fired a musket. Can your Patricios 
 yet fire a musket without shutting their eyes, Belgrano ? " 
 
 To this Major Belgrano did not answer, and Evaha continued — 
 
 " Give up this idea of a foolliardy resistance to an overwhelming 
 force ; you are brave men, show that you are also wise, receive the 
 English as friends, and staunch friends you will find them. All their 
 interests drive them to a friendly alliance with us. There is time yet 
 to organize a provisional government of our own, there wants but one 
 step more to consolidate our independence, a separate treaty with the 
 English." 
 
 As Evaha ceased the three others looked doubtfully at one another, 
 his words had made a deep impression upon them, for with two of 
 them at least their independence of Spain was second in importance 
 in their eyes only to their freedom from the enforced authority of 
 Great Britain. 
 
 " Do you think the English commander would make a treaty with 
 us, and abstain from invading our country, if we had^a government of 
 our own ? " asked Belgrano. 
 
 " I doubt it much," said Don Gregorio. 
 
 " Nevertheless, the first step might he taken," said Marcelino. 
 " After this news from Monte Video it will not be difficult to persuade 
 the corporations to depose the Viceroy. Sobremonte has already not 
 one friend in the city." 
 
 " Well thought," said Belgrano, rising. " Of this we will speak 
 more to-morrow, and will consult with Don Roderigo." 
 
 "' These ideas of yours are not so new to us as they were," said 
 Marcelino to Evaha, when they were again alone. " General Beres-
 
 92 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 ford and his officers openly declare that the British Government 
 would cordially welcome an alliance with us if we would declare our 
 independence of Spain, but they may make peace with Spain any day 
 and withdraw their help from us. I can only see danger in such an 
 alliance until we have some solid organization of our own." 
 
 " Do they mix freely with the citizens ? " asked Evaha eagerly. 
 
 " They were for two months at liberty on parole," replied Marcelino ; 
 " but they spoke so very openly that Liniers and the Cabildo took 
 alarm ; Beresford and Pack and several others were arrested and sent 
 to Lujan in October, and most of the other officers have been sent 
 into the interior ; fortunately Gordon has been all the time separate 
 from the rest, so we have been able to keep him with us. Several 
 citizens were also arrested on suspicion of treasonable designs, and 
 until now there they are, the most of them, in prison. It is fortunate 
 that you have been away all these months, or you would have most 
 certainly been imprisoned. We gave it out that you had gone to 
 Paraguay, but you will require to be very cautious." 
 
 The following morning Don Roderigo, Don Gregorio, Major Bel- 
 grano, and Don Carlos Evaha rode in together to the city. Before 
 sun-down the latter had interviews with most of the principal native 
 residents, and with many Spaniards also. The result of his propaganda 
 a})peared on the loth February, when the various corporations of 
 which the actual Government was composed assembled together and 
 formally deposed the Marquis de Sobremonte from his authority as 
 Viceroy and took possession of his seals and papers. 
 
 Thus Buenos Aires became for the time de facto an independent 
 Commonwealth, but her Government ruled in the name of Spain, and 
 one only fear kept the heterogeneous members together, fear of the 
 English.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 AN EVENING IN THE MONTH OF JUNE. 
 
 The excitement occasioned in Buenos Aires by the fall of Monte 
 Video, and the favourable report of General Liniers, brought many 
 recruits to Marcelino Ponce de Leon, so that at the end of March he 
 had over 300 men under his command at the Chacra de Los Sauces, 
 but his dream of forming a legion of 2000 men remained a dream, 
 he had to be content with his 300, and spared no pains to make effi- 
 cient soldiers of them. 
 
 Early in March General Beresford, Colonel Pack, and three other 
 English officers escaped by the aid of some friendly Creoles from their 
 prison at Lujan ; three days they remained concealed in Buenos Aires, 
 and then embarked at night in a small boat and sailed for Monte 
 Video. They were picked up on their way by an English cruiser and 
 reached the British head-quarters in safety. General Liniers sent to 
 demand that they should be delivered up to him on the ground that 
 they had broken their parole; the demand was refused by Sir Samuel 
 Auchmuty on the plea that their imprisonment at Lujan cancelled the 
 parole which they had previously given. General Beresford returned 
 at once to England, and to Colonel Pack was confided the command 
 of the garrison of Colonia. 
 
 Meantime the English had overrun the western parts of the Banda 
 Oriental, they had garrisons at Canelones, Santa Lucia, and Colonia ; 
 but the country-people remained unsubdued, hovering in small parties 
 about any position held by the British, cutting off stragglers, seriously 
 impeding the communications between the different garrisons, and 
 driving off the horses from their immediate neighbourhood, so that the 
 invaders had great difficulty in mounting their cavalry. In addition 
 to this, various expeditions were sent from Buenos Aires to aid the 
 natives of the eastern province against the common foe ; in particular, 
 a strong force under the command of Colonel Uon Calisto Elio, a 
 Spanish officer, which was attacked by Colonel Pack in the neighbour- 
 hood of Colonia, totally defeated and compelled to re-embark, with 
 heavy loss both in men and equipments. 
 
 So the months passed on until June, when it was reported in Buenos 
 Aires that large reinforcements of English had reached Monte Video, 
 and that the invasion so much talked of would be no longer deferred. 
 This intelligence excited the enthusiasm of the citizens to the utmost ; 
 the militia required no urging to be constant at their meetings for 
 drill, confidence beamed in every face and was spoken by every 
 tongue, no not by every tongue. Major Belgrano had thrown up
 
 94 rONCE DE LEON. 
 
 his commission in the Patricios, disgusted at the small heed paid to 
 his warnings, and now served on the staff of General Balviani. He 
 did not speak confidently, he said that neither the militia nor the 
 Spanish regiments could face half their number of English troops in 
 the open field. 
 
 Don Carlos Evaha lived again at his house, near to that of Don 
 Gregorio Lopez, taking no part in the military preparations and 
 thereby incurring general censure, but passing his days in study and 
 his evenings at the houses of his more particular friends, talking little, 
 but listening much and watching always. 
 
 One evening a miscellaneous company, including many ladies, were 
 assembled in the large sala of the house of Don Gregorio Lopez. 
 Many officers in uniform were there ; they were the most favoured 
 guests, envied by the men who were in plain clothes, and basking in 
 the smiles of the ladies, who looked upon them as their defenders, and 
 told them so in flattering words. One young officer was more espe- 
 cially selected for attention, he had been absent from the city for 
 months. Slim and active, his uniform displayed to perfection his 
 graceful figure, while his bronzed cheek and erect bearing marked him 
 out as one to whom military duty was a profession, not a pasdrae, as 
 it was to many of the citizen soldiers around him. 
 
 Marcelino Ponce de Leon had marched his men to the Casateja, 
 and leaving them there had come to town to place himself and his 
 command at the orders of General Liniers, deeming his negroes now 
 fit for active service. He had already received his orders, which were 
 to march to the town of Ensenada and to report himself to his uncle 
 Colonel Lopez of the Barrancas cavalry, who had the command of 
 that important station, and whose regiment was spread in detachments 
 along the coast. 
 
 One of the ladies present was Doha Dalmacia, the wife of Don 
 Isidro Lorea. 
 
 " Come and talk to me, Don Marcelino," said she to him, as he 
 crossed the room and passed near her chair. " I wish to speak to 
 you about a friend of yours." 
 
 " Always at your orders, Sehora," said Marcelino, seating himself 
 beside her. 
 
 " Your friend Don Carlos Evaha is a patriot, so say you and some 
 others Avho know him better than I do ; but for my part I understand 
 nothing of such patriotism. An invasion is coming, all our young 
 men take some part in the preparations except he, he shuts himself 
 up in his house and does nothing. ^Vhere was he last year ? There 
 are who say he was never in Paraguay at all, but was in England. It 
 is known that there are Americans in London, who have for their own 
 purposes encouraged and even asked the British Government to send 
 out this expedition ; probably he knows them, perhaps he is one of 
 them, he was much in London before he came back from Europe." 
 
 " Don Carlos does nothing because he thmks resistance is useless." 
 
 " And he stirs not a hand to save our city from the dishonour of a 
 second time being conquered by a foreign army." 
 
 " He says that its conquest is dishonour to Spain, not to us ; in this 
 I do not agree with him."
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. 95 
 
 " I should think not. If we are beaten the loss and the dishonour 
 will be ours. But I have no fear; on the 12th August we had no 
 troops, now we have thousands ; we shall win, and the glory will be 
 ours. You will have your part in it, my friend, but as for Evaiia — 
 Pish ! I am sorry that he is a friend of yours, and a protege of Don 
 Gregorio ; if he were not he would long since have been where such 
 traitors ought to be, in the calabozo." 
 
 " Forgive me for differing from you, Dona Dalmacia, but Evana is 
 no traitor, he is simply an enemy of Spain. If we drive back the 
 English we shall have the glory, as you say, but Spain will reap the 
 reward." 
 
 "If! why you say 'if as though there could be any doubt about 
 it." 
 
 " This army which is coming against us is much stronger than the 
 detachment Beresford took our city with a year ago." 
 
 " A surprise ; now we are ready ; ' el hombre prevenido nunca fue 
 vencido.' " ^ 
 
 " Evana says we are not * prevenido,' our militia cannot face the 
 English in the field, and I agree with him. I have not seen much of 
 the English, but their soldiers are better than our militia. Gordon has 
 told me much about their drill and discipline." 
 
 " Do you know I like that English friend of yours," said Dona Dal- 
 macia. " He is very simple, but he is not wanting in intelligence." 
 
 " And he is a soldier, therefore his opinion is of more value than 
 that of either Evaiia or myself; he says that one English division 
 would be sufficient to rout all the infantry now in the city, in the open 
 field." 
 
 " He did not tell me so the other day when he was at my house. 
 He told me that he had been to pay you a visit, and that your negroes 
 were very good soldiers." 
 
 " My negroes are not citizen soldiers, Doha Dalmacia." 
 
 " But you will not tell me that they are equal to Isidro's company." 
 
 To this Marcelino merely bowed in answer, and hastened to turn 
 the conversation. 
 
 " But about Evaiia, Sehora," said he ; " I am sorry that you should 
 think so ill of him as to say that he merits the calabozo." 
 
 " There are some who would put him there to-morrow but for fear 
 of offending Don Gregorio, and perhaps they may do. I called you 
 to me to tell you so. Several officers of the Patricios met together 
 to-day at our house ; Isidro has brouglit them here, and has asked 
 Don Gregorio to send for Don Carlos Evana, so that they may ques- 
 tion him privately as to where he was last year, and if he was in Eng- 
 land wliat he was doing there. If he refuses to answer their questions 
 they will denounce him to the Reconquistador and he will be arrested 
 to-morrow." 
 
 " Many thanks, Sehora, for having told me this. If Evana comes he 
 will at any rate have one friend beside him." 
 
 " Don Gregorio is his friend." 
 
 " True, but my grandfather does not understand him as I do." 
 
 " And you would like to be with him when they question him ? " 
 ' " Tiic prepared man was never conquered." — Spanish Pnmerb.
 
 90 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 " I should," replied Marcelino, looking round. "Where is my 
 grandfixther ? I will speak to him at once." 
 
 "Then I will not keep you longer. Just before I called you, Don 
 Carlos came in. You were so much occupied with the bright eyes of 
 Elisa Pu)'rredon that you did not see him, and he went away with 
 Don Gregorio and Isidro and some others ; you will find them in 
 some other room. Come back and tell me what he says." 
 
 " I will not fail," said Marcelino, as he rose from his seat and 
 walked away. 
 
 Marcelino learned from a servant that his grandfather and several 
 others were in the dining-room, in consultation, the man said. He 
 found the door of the room locked, but on knocking he was admitted. 
 Don Gregorio sat in his arm-chair with a stern, anxious expression on 
 his face ; others sat or stood around him, several of whom wore on the 
 left sleeve a scarlet badge, on which was embroidered in black letters 
 the words ' Buenos Aires ; ' these were officers in the regiment of the 
 Patricios. In front of them, leaning back in a chair, with his legs 
 crossed, and a scornful smile flitting over his features, sat Don Carlos 
 Evaha. 
 
 "Why do you speak to us of the Spaniards? leave them," said 
 one of the Patricios to him, as Marcelmo entered. " It is not of them 
 we wish to speak, it is of the English." 
 
 " How came you to be with the English when they captured Monte 
 Video?" asked Don Isidro Lorea. 
 
 " The thing is very simple," answered Evana. " I came back from 
 Europe in an English ship." 
 
 " And you joined them in the assault, and entered the town with 
 them?" 
 
 " I followed them through the breach when they had stormed it." 
 
 "Traitor! you took part with our enemies, and. yet you dare to 
 come here and live amongst us ? " exclaimed Don Isidro. 
 
 " Gently, Don Isidro," said Marcelino, who had seated himself be- 
 side his friend. " Don Carlos went in without arms, and exposed his 
 own life among them to save the lives of our people. To him I owe 
 that my brother Juan Carlos was not killed that day." 
 
 " Gentlemen," said Don Gregorio, " let us not dispute about what 
 has nothing to do with the subject before us. Don Carlos is no 
 traitor to us, and his friendship with the English may be of great 
 service to us. Those who have most experience amongst us nearly 
 all agree that it is almost hopeless to attempt to defend our city 
 against the army the English will bring against us now." 
 
 " There is no man amongst us of more experience than the Recon- 
 quistador," answered another officer, " and he speaks very differently." 
 
 " Liniers," replied Don Gregorio with an impatient shrug of his 
 shoulders, " Liniers is a vain, hot-headed fool. Wlien you shout 
 * Viva Liniers ! ' he is ready to tell you any sort of folly. Ask Bel- 
 grano, your late major, he will tell you that the English will drive all 
 your battalions before them like sheep." 
 
 "What Belgrano says is worth no attention," said Don Isidro. "If 
 things are not done exactly as he wishes, they are all wrong. If we 
 find the English too strong for us in the open we will retreat upon the
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. 97 
 
 City, and we will defend it block by block, and street by street. It 
 cost them hundreds of men to storm one breach in Monte Video, 
 here each street-corner will be a breach, and the street itself will be 
 their grave." 
 
 " Well said ! well said ! Viva Don Isidro ! " shouted the officers, 
 clapping their hands. Even Evana smiled encouragement upon his 
 accuser. 
 
 " Let us be friends, Don Isidro," said he, rising and stretching out 
 his hand to him. " Our country has need of such as you, and it is to 
 prevent you and others like you from throwing away your lives in a 
 useless contest tliat I strive to make you look upon the English as 
 friends, and to unite you against our real enemy." 
 
 " If you -wish us to look upon the English as friends," said Don 
 Isidro, drawing back, " try your persuasive talents upon them and 
 keep them from invading our country. They have the Banda Oriental, 
 let them keep it ; but if they come here they are enemies, and the 
 sword alone will make treaty between us." 
 
 *' They say there is a new general come out to take command of the 
 English," said Marcelino, as Evana, somewhat disconcerted, reseated 
 himself " Do you know him, Evana?" 
 
 " His name is Whitelock," answered Evana. 
 
 " He might be more willing than the other to make some arrange- 
 ment with us," said Don Gregorio, " as he has left England later. 
 From that letter you showed me it seems that Miranda and your other 
 friends in London have not been idle lately. Do you know anything 
 of him?" 
 
 " No, I never heard of him before ; but doubtless his instructions 
 will be the same as those of Sir Samuel." 
 
 " You are known to many of the English, could you not go to 
 Monte Video and prevail upon \\'hitelock to remain there ? " said 
 Don Gregorio. 
 
 " Do so," said Don Isidro ; " in this way you may make your 
 friendship with the English of some use to us and we shall no longer 
 look upon you as a traitor. Something you will have done, though 
 you care not to risk your life in the defence." 
 
 " I am not more careful of my life than other men," answered 
 Evana angrily, " but I am not fool enough to — • — " 
 
 " Say you will go, Evana," interrupted ALarcelino ; " I believe you 
 may possibly do some good, and you can bring us information upon 
 w'hich we can rely. To-morrow I leave this for Ensenada, come with 
 me, and 1 will manage somehow to get you put across the river." 
 
 " Be it so. At what hour do you leave ? " 
 
 " Probably not before noon, but I will send you word." 
 
 " Then a(Hos, Don Gregorio," said Evana, shaking hands with the 
 old gentleman. " If the JMiglish liang me as a spy they will do me 
 less injustice than these friends of yours, who would shoot me as a 
 traitor." 
 
 "Neither spy nor traitor are you, Carlos," replied Don Gregorio. 
 " Whether you succeed in averting this war from us or not, I know 
 that you will regard as nothing the danger to yourself Go, and may 
 God have you in his keeping." 
 
 H
 
 98 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 It was nearly midnight when MarceHno reached his flitlier's house. 
 To his surprise he found tlie whole household astir, busily employed 
 dismantling the rooms and packing up clothes, house-linen, and 
 crockery. In the sala he found his sister, assisted by Evaristo and 
 Gordon, collecting the thousand and one articles of ornament and 
 luxury with which the room was adorned and carefully stowing them 
 away in a large packing-case. 
 
 " Lola ! " said he, going behind her and seizing her by the two 
 elbows, " what is all this about ? Are you going to tly away ? " 
 
 " Ahi ! " screamed Dolores, springing away from him. " Marcelino, 
 how you frightened me ! I thought that they had come already and 
 that I was a prisoner." 
 
 " Who are ' they,' that you are so frightened of, and what are you 
 doing?" asked Marcelino, seating himself on the case and drawing 
 her towards him. 
 
 " Hush ! " answered Dolores, laying one finger on her lip and 
 looking round at Lieutenant Gordon, then stooping over him she 
 whispered in his ear, " the English. Papa was away all evening, 
 when he came back he told us to commence at once to pack up 
 everything, for wc are all to go out to the quinta to-morrow." 
 
 " But why ? " asked Marcelino, laying a hand upon the shoulder of 
 his brother Evaristo, who had come up to him as he spoke. 
 
 " Don Alejandro says a soldier should obey and ask no questions," 
 said Evaristo ; " so he and Lola and I have been hard at work ever 
 
 since." 
 
 " You are not a soldier, my fine fellow," said Marcelino. 
 
 " Not yet, but I shall be." 
 
 " Don't say that, Evaristo," said Dolores. " You know mamma 
 does not like to hear you say that. Is it not plenty that one is a 
 soldier?" 
 
 " I shall go with them to the quinta of course," said Evaristo ; 
 " but when f/iey come," he continued in a lower voice, and looking at 
 Gordon, " then I shall be with you. Promise me, Marcelino, that you 
 will send for me, I will do all you tell me if you will only let me be 
 with you." 
 
 " You must stop at the quinta and take care of mamma and Lola." 
 
 "There will be papa and Juan Carlos and Don Alejandro." 
 
 " And Evaristo too," said Dolores. " Come, now that you are here, 
 though it is so late, you shall help me just a little, for we have nearly 
 finished now." 
 
 As they spoke together Gordon had kept away at the far end of 
 the room. Rising from his seat on the packing-case, Marcelino went 
 up to him and laid one hand on his shoulder. 
 
 " It is not far off now," he said in a low voice. 
 
 " It appears not, but I have asked no questions," replied Gordon. 
 
 " Promise me that whatever happens you will stay by them to the 
 end," said Marcelino. 
 
 " I will, so help me God," replied Gordon. 
 
 Tlie four then worked steadily on in silence till the packing-case 
 was full, and all the smaller articles which had been scattered about 
 the room were stowed away. Then IMarcelino went in search of his
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. 99 
 
 father and learnt from him that advices had been received that day 
 which reported that the bulk of the English forces had been concen- 
 trated in Monte Video, and that their number made it hopeless to 
 attempt to oppose their landing on the western shore of La Plata, so 
 that some of the leading townsmen had proposed to entrench the city 
 at once. Rather than run the risk of being shut up in a besieged 
 city, Don Roderigo had determined to remove his family to the 
 quinta, stowing away his furniture in an inner room, locking up his 
 plate and valuables in an under-ground cellar, and leaving the dis- 
 mantled house in the custody of a couple of slaves. 
 
 " I am glad you have so decided, father," said Marcelino. " I shall 
 care less for their cannon when I know that my mother and Dolores 
 are out of reach of their shot. I suppose you will take Don Alejandro 
 with you." 
 
 "Yes, in case the English should land at Quilmes or Ensenada, 
 some of their foraging parties may come as far as the quinta, and 
 Gordon may be of service to us." 
 
 The next morning a great lumbering vehicle resembling an oblong 
 box upon wheels, which was called a " galera," was drawn up in the 
 street in front of the house of Don Roderigo. It was a capacious 
 conveyance, and had need to be so, for it had a heavy load to carry 
 that day. Marcelino with his two brothers. Lieutenant Gordon, and 
 Don Carlos Evaha formed the escort. 
 
 As they left the city a feeling of sadness oppressed them all. 
 What might happen before they met there again ? Should they ever 
 again all meet together in the old house ?
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE LANDING OF THE ENGLISH. 
 
 The commission held by Don Marcelino Ponce de Leon designated 
 him as a cajitain of militia, but having a separate command he was 
 known at Ensenada as the " Comandante de los Morenos." On pre- 
 senting himself to his uncle he was ordered to encamp his men near 
 to the river-side to the north of the town. The land about there was 
 very swampy, and " paja " grew in great luxuriance ; the negroes made 
 themselves little huts with this paja, in which a man could neither sit 
 nor stand upright, but in which he could lie at full length and sleep at 
 his ease, quite sufficiently protected from the night dews or rain. A 
 small rancho close at hand was taken by INIarcelino for his own accom- 
 modation, and here he spent rather more than a fortnight, always on 
 the alert, and practising his negroes at target-shooting in addition to 
 their regular drills. 
 
 On the 26th June his brother Evaristo galloped into his encamp- 
 ment, bringing him letters from the quinta and from the city. Among 
 them was a short one from his friend Evana, accompanying a sort of 
 circular letter which he had addressed to Don Gregorio Lopez and to 
 several others, leading citizens of Buenos Aires. 
 
 " I have done what I can," he said in his letter to Marcelino, " but 
 it is all in vain ; the English insist upon the surrender of the city, and 
 their new general, Whitelock, brings with him his commission as 
 Governor of Buenos Aires, with a salary of ,^12,000 per annum. This 
 ^Vhitelock appears to me to be very inferior to General Beresford both 
 in intelligence and in military skill, but he has some first-class officers 
 with him. Although I cannot join you in defence of the flag of Spain, 
 I symi)athize greatly with your mistaken heroism. Would that I could 
 wish you success, but I cannot. Your victory will be a misfortune to 
 our country, and the welfare of our country must with me override all 
 personal feeling. Vale." 
 
 Marcehno had filled up many a lonely evening during the past 
 summer and autumn by reading in that book whose chief lesson, as 
 his friend Gordon had told him, was faith. As he read he became 
 more and more convinced that the book was the word of God, and 
 that the lessons it taught were of Divine authority. As he applied 
 these lessons to his own actions, he became confirmed in his opinion 
 that his present course was the right one to pursue. If they beat off 
 the English armament they might thereby forge fresh fetters for them- 
 selves, but jNIarcelino had learnt in this book that to do right and to
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. lOI 
 
 leave the result to God was the essence of faith. He was satisfied that 
 he was doing right, and that the result would be in some unseen way 
 for the future welfare of his country. 
 
 As the bugles sounded the reveille' the next morning, there came a 
 knock at the door of the rancho in which Marcelino had taken up his 
 quarters. He sprang from his catre, and, hurrying on a few clothes, 
 opened the door. 
 
 *' Adelante," he said, and a negro sergeant stepped into the room. 
 
 '■' Sehor Comandante," said the sergeant, " the Sehor Lieutenant 
 sends me to advise you that the river is covered with ships, which 
 appear to be coming here." 
 
 As the door opened Evaristo had also awakened. As the sergeant 
 spoke he sprang up, shouting — • 
 
 " The English ! and I shall be one of the first to see them. What 
 luck ! " 
 
 Marcelino rapidly dressed himself, Ipuckled on his sword, and 
 with Evaristo beside him walked up to a small hillock in front of his 
 encampment which overlooked the river, and on which it had been 
 his constant practice since his arrival there to have a sentry at all 
 hours on the look-out. The sentry was still there, wrapped up in a 
 thick, striped poncho, and walking rapidly backwards and forwards. 
 As Marcelino approached he drew himself up, presented arms, and 
 then resumed his rapid walk up and down. On the hillock stood 
 another man wrapped in a large cloak, gazing steadfastly towards the 
 river. As the sentry presented arms he turned and raised his hand 
 to his cap in a military salute. 
 
 " Buenos dias, Asneiros," said Marcelino, returning his salute ; " it 
 appears that we have them at last." 
 
 " So it appears, Seiior Comandante," replied the other. 
 
 Asneiros was a Spaniard who had formerly been a sergeant in the 
 garrison of Chascomus. He was now first lieutenant of the negro 
 corps, and was greatly trusted by Marcelino. This trust he merited, 
 for he was a very active officer, but he was a rigid disciplinarian and 
 very severe. The negroes obeyed him from fear only ; their com- 
 mandant they obeyed with cheerful alacrity, for his treatment of them, 
 while always strict, showed a constant care for their comfort, and a 
 due appreciation of their efforts to please him. 
 
 It was a bright, clear morning. The muddy waters of La Plata, 
 flowing slowly and silently onwards towards the great ocean, broke in 
 rippling wavelets upon the shelving beach at the foot of the hillock. 
 The sun had not yet risen, but the eastern sky was lighted up with 
 the radiance which marshalled his approach. The light-gray clouds 
 which hung low on the horizon lifted themselves like a veil of gos- 
 samer tinged with rainbow hues, heralding the advent of a new-born 
 day. Under these light clouds, away across a wide expanse of dark, 
 still water, the line of the horizon was broken by a multitude of dark 
 objects of uncertain form ; now clustering together and merging one 
 into the other, anon scattering themselves and losing their identity as 
 they were hidden from sight by the clouds of dawn, changing con- 
 tinually. 
 
 Side by side stood the two brothers watching them, neither speaking
 
 102 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 a word, each communing with his own tlioughts, but in manner of 
 thought differing as their natures differed ; the one pondering with the 
 far-stretcliini: thouiilit of a man, the otlier with the careless confidence 
 of a boy eager after novelty ; upon both there came a sense of awe 
 which ke]:)t them silent. As they stood so watching, the sun arose 
 steadily from behind the line of dark Avaters, and it was day. Then 
 the line of the horizon stretched further and further away, the dark 
 objects which had broken that line faded, and the first beams of the 
 morning sun fell diagonally upon the white sails of a vast fleet of ships. 
 
 As the sun rose, a breeze ruffled the calm surface of the river and 
 swept over the hillock where the brothers stood ; at the same moment 
 Marcelino heard a footstep behind him and awoke from his reverie 
 with a shiver. ^le looked round, his uncle Colonel Lopez stood be- 
 side him. 
 
 " Will it be they ? " asked the colonel. 
 
 " Witliout doubt," answered Marcelino. " But they are far off yet, 
 and it is cold ; come, let us take coffee." 
 
 Three hours later all tloubt was at an end, the breeze, though light, 
 was favourable to the hostile squadron, which came steadily on under 
 easy sail. Again Colonel Lopez with his two nephews and Lieutenant 
 Asneiros stood on the hillock watching it. They understood nothing 
 of naval affairs and could not tell one ship from another, yet even 
 their eyes could see that they sailed on in perfect order, each ship in 
 its own station and keeping at due distance from the one before it. 
 The leading ships were men-of-war of light draught, brigs and gun- 
 boats ; they had men in their chains throwing the lead continually, but 
 from the confidence with which they advanced in the deep channel, 
 avoiding the shoals, it was evident that their course was already 
 marked out for them. From the gaff of each of these ships waved the 
 white standard, bearing the red cross of Saint George, and from their 
 main trucks streamed the long pennant which marked them as men-of- 
 war. After them came transports crowded with troops, and deeply 
 <v^']pn with stores and ammunition, many of them with every sail set, 
 
 *^1 t r '"^^"iP'^^^' j"^*' ^^^ ^° ^^^^ their places as marked for them by 
 , ^ Y ^\- ^-vgiter-built men-of-war. These ships carried the red en- 
 
 T) ' 1 'vhcm again came larger ships, sloops-of-war, with their 
 sign. Beyond l^i » ° x ? i ? 
 
 f . 4. • . , 1 {^'^ guns run out. 
 
 ^ . ^, ^ , 2, gazed two of the brigs crowded on sail and, runnincj 
 
 As the watchers:!.? i • <■ . r .i i -n i i • P 
 
 • ,, • r^i!^°'^' °"^ nearly m front of the hillock upon which 
 
 .u \ \ l\ \i ','' further to the south. Between them lav a long 
 they stood, the othei , i*.-i,.ri jji. 
 
 stretch of flat shore, V?^''^ "^""^^^ ^^?^S'Y- ^^^^^^7 ™^ '^^g^^^^d, and where 
 any force attempting ^ °I'1'°^^ "" *^^'^^^"g '^°^^^^ ^^"^^ ^^^^^^ "^^ ^^^ 
 
 u A ■ I \\ ccan do nothing," said Colonel Lopez, as he 
 
 "Against these we V r i r u ■^ r .i \ ^ ■ 
 
 ^°, ^1 1 • u\.- frowned from the sides of the nearest brig, 
 
 counted the guns whichV , , , . .i i ■ i ^ ,, ° 
 
 " Put your men under art^' "^"^ ""'^f] ^^-^'l ^° '^'^ ^'^^' '''^'^i 
 
 In half an hour the A'f °''/ '''^^' their baggage mules and camp- 
 equipage, marched off uncV^::/^^ command of Lieutenant Asneiros; 
 and Marcelino, after seeing' ^'f "^ 'f ^^'^^'^^S'? the swamp to the firm 
 ground beyond, returned S^ ^'^^'^"^^^^ ^° ^^'^ ^^^^°^^ accompanied 
 by Evaristo on his pony.
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. IO3 
 
 No attempt was made by the invaders to land that day, many of the 
 transports did not come to anchor till nearly sun-down. The negroes 
 were encamped on the high ground about a league from their former 
 station, patrols of cavalry were set to watch the coast all night, and 
 Colonel Lopez took his two nephews with him to his quarters at the 
 village of Ensenada, whence he sent off a despatch to General Liniers, 
 acquainting him with the arrival of the hostile squadron off that place, 
 but stated that as they had made no attempt to land it might yet be 
 their intention to proceed further north and to disembark nearer to 
 the city. 
 
 The next morning at daylight all three were again in the saddle, and 
 rode to the hillock from which they had watched the enemy on the 
 day previous. Evaristo was most unusually silent that morning, keep- 
 ing near to his brother continually and wistfully watching him. Mar- 
 celino had hardly spoken to him, but frequently when beside him he 
 had stretched out his hand caressing him, and when he had spoken 
 his voice had a gentle tenderness in its tones which filled the boy's 
 mind with vague apprehensions of misfortune. 
 
 In the hollow behind the hillock, close to where the negroes had 
 had their encampment, a body of cavalry was drawn up where they 
 could not be seen from the river. The English ships were now at 
 anchor, their sails either furled or hanging loose in the brails, boats 
 flitted to and fro among them or hung in clusters at the sides of some 
 bluft"-bowed transport. One large sloop yet lay some distance off, 
 with her top-sails backed and with lines of small flags fluttering in the 
 air from the trucks of her stately masts. On the gun-brigs and on 
 some of the transports other lines of flags ran up to the mast-heads 
 in answer to these signals. The decks of the transports were crowded 
 with scarlet-coated men, and as the ships rose and fell, swinging to 
 their anchors, the beams of the rising sun glinted on polished steel. 
 Marcelino had seen these red-coats before and knew them again, they 
 were the trained soldiery of England, on the decks of the transports 
 they swarmed by thousands ; but what he had never seen before was 
 an English fleet, and now his gaze was rivetted upon the vast arma- 
 ment, so powerful yet so completely under control. As he looked 
 upon them his face flushed and he exclaimed, heedless that any heard 
 him — 
 
 " Ah ! if we had these with us, what need we fear from Spain ? " 
 
 Evaristo bent forward on his pony's neck and looked wonderingly 
 at his brother, but Colonel Lopez, who had dismounted, stamjicd his 
 foot angrily and seemed about to make some hasty rej)ly, when from 
 the far-side of the nearest brig there darted out a long jet of gray smoke, 
 and a few seconds afterwards the dull booiii of a heavy gun cut short 
 the words ere they had passed his lips. Down came the lines of 
 fluttering flags from the mast-heads of the large ship outside, then three 
 round balls of coloured bunting ran up in a string to the main truck, 
 and as they reached that giddy height burst open and became three 
 flags ; then from one of the ports on her lower deck there leaped a bright 
 flash, a jet of smoke, anrl shar]) through the maze of shipping sounded 
 the report of the gun which gave the signal for shore. 
 
 The roar of that gun echoed in the hearts of the three watchers as
 
 104 rONCE DE LEON. 
 
 a knell. An infant people had struck down the flag of a mighty na- 
 tion and had it trailed in tiie dust ; in all the pomp and imposing 
 majesty of mature strength a nation came to try conclusions once 
 more with an inf:int people. 
 
 In an instant the open water between the lines of transports was 
 filled with boats crowded with the red-coated soldiery, the crews of 
 the nearest ships sprang into the rigging waving their hats and shout- 
 ing, the soldiers responded by a ringing cheer. Then the stout oars- 
 men bent their backs, the oars as though moved by one hand took the 
 water, and swiftly, in long, regular lines, the flotilla glided over the 
 shallow water to the land. 
 
 " Look, uncle ! " said Evaristo, pointing to the nearest brig. 
 
 Colonel Lopez was at that moment thinking to himself, whether by 
 a rush of his horsemen upon the boats as they grounded he could not 
 inflict serious injury upon the foe ; what Evaristo pointed out to him 
 gave him his answer at once. By some means, inexplicable to the 
 colonel, the brig had been warped round on her anchor till she lay 
 nearly stem on to the hillock ; the brass tompions had been removed 
 from the muzzles of her guns, and now her whole broadside swept the 
 low-lying land for which the boats were making. 
 
 " Basta ! " said the colonel, " we have seen them. Now let Liniers 
 do what he can with them." 
 
 Stooping from the saddle, Marcclino put his arms round his brother's 
 neck and embraced him. 
 
 " You have seen them, now go," he said. " One kiss for mamita," 
 and he kissed him again. 
 
 " But you, Marcelino ! Let me " 
 
 " Mamita waits thee," answered Marcelino, as the soft tenderness 
 of his face faded into an expression of stern command. 
 
 Evaristo answered no more, but throwing his arms round his 
 brother's neck he kissed him eagerly, then gathering up his reins, he 
 drew the back of his hand across his eyes and galloped oft". 
 
 Half an hour later a strong force of the English with two guns had 
 landed ; they were apparently about to make some forward movement, 
 when Colonel Lopez, who had all this time watched them in silence, 
 turned to his nephew and said — 
 
 " Rejoin your negroes and march by the high road to the Puente 
 Calves, there you will halt and await orders from General Liniers, I 
 will keep these in sight." 
 
 ALircelino touched his hat and rode off; the colonel, leaving the 
 hillock, remounted his horse, and dividing his men into small detach- 
 ments prepared to keep a careful watch on all the movements of the 
 invaders. 
 
 Two hours after sunrise, on the ist July, a chasque from Colonel 
 Lopez galloped through the streets of Buenos Aires at headlong speed ; 
 as he passed along, many shouted to him " What news ? " 
 
 The stolid paisano answered nothing but galloped straight on, and 
 only drew rein in the Plaza Mayor, where he dismounted in front of 
 the Cabildo and enquired for General Liniers. 
 
 " Are you a chasque ? " asked a young ofticer.
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. 10$ 
 
 " I am." 
 
 " Wheie from ? " 
 
 " From away yonder." 
 
 "What news?" 
 
 " A letter for the Senor Reconquistador." 
 
 " H,e is very busy, is it anything urgent ? " 
 
 •' I have orders to dehver it immediately, and into his own hand." 
 
 " Then follow me." 
 
 In a large upper room the members of the Cabildo were met 
 together in consultation. Don Gregorio Lopez was the only native 
 member of that body, and had been only recently appointed, the 
 others were all Spaniards. Don Gregorio had just read to them part of 
 a letter he had received some days previously from Don Carlos Evaiia. 
 
 "From this letter, Sehores," he said, "it is evident that the Sehor 
 Evaiia considers it impossible that we oppose any effectual resistance 
 to the powerful force which is now coming against us. Resistance 
 will only cause useless bloodshed and expose the city to all the 
 horrors of a sack by infuriated soldiery. He counsels us to surrender 
 the city and then to attempt some negotiation." 
 
 At this a low murmur of disapproval ran round the room, and 
 several cried " No ! no ! " 
 
 " I pray you to listen to me yet, Senores," continued Don Gregorio, 
 " though I fear I shall try your patience. We none of us wish to see 
 our country disgraced, but it is well that we shut not our eyes to the 
 peril which hangs over us. We have but one experienced soldier 
 among us, the only troops upon which we can place any confidence 
 are collected here in our city, if in an unequal struggle our general be 
 killed and our troops dispersed we are .left completely at the mercy 
 of our invaders." 
 
 " True, true," replied Don Martin Alzaga, who, as " Alcalde de 
 primer voto," was president of the Cabildo. " And he who has Buenos 
 Aires has everything ; but Buenos Aires is not to be swallowed in one 
 mouthful." 
 
 " Last year," said Liniers, starting to his feet, " Beresford took our 
 city by surprise, but he had not ever3'thing. In one month our city 
 became a trap, in which we caught him like a wild beast in a net. 
 Now we are ready, and have an army ; I for my part wish only 
 one thing, that they may make up their minds to advance from 
 Ensenada upon the city, and so give me a chance of meeting them in 
 the open field. The first army that Buenos Aires has ever raised 
 shall hurl the haughty English back again to their ships in disgrace." 
 
 " I do not know whether it will be easy to drive the English back 
 to their ships, but we must defend the city to the last extremity," said 
 Don Martin Alzaga. 
 
 " I am quite of your opinion, Don Martin," said Don Gregorio ; 
 " but I am sorry to say that I cannot consider the army able to meet 
 the English in the open field. Therefore with all due deference to 
 the greater experience of the illustrious Senor Reconquistador, I beg to 
 submit to you whether it would not be better to turn our attention 
 solely to the defence of the city. Tlie Hat roofs of our liouses, and 
 the barred windows, make each block a separate fortress ; by cut-
 
 I06 rONCE DE LEON. 
 
 ting ditches across the ends of the streets we can in a very few days 
 surround the city with a continuous Hne of fortifications, we can call 
 ui)on every man in the city to aid in the defence of these lines, and 
 can direct the whole strength of the troops at once upon the point 
 which may be most seriously menaced. The chief advantage which 
 the English have over us is their superior discipline, which will avail 
 them lillle in the narrow streets of the suburbs." 
 
 At this most of the assembly looked grave ; such a step seemed to 
 them an admission of weakness, and there was a general murmur of 
 dissent as Don Gregorio resumed his seat. General Liniers glanced 
 rapidly round the room, and then with a smile on his face rose to 
 reply. 
 
 " Permit me, Senor Don Gregorio," said he, " to congratulate you 
 upon the knowledge you have so unexpectedly shown on military 
 matters, but I do not at all agree with you. So long as I retain the 
 command in chief I do not intend to let the English aj^proach within 
 cannon-shot of the city ; if I fall there will be time enough to dig 
 ditches and fortify the azoteas, in^which case, Seiiores, you know now 
 where you may find my successor." 
 
 "Sehores," said Don Gregorio, very calmly, "I make no pretence 
 to any knowledge of military affairs, but the words I have spoken have 
 not been spoken unadvisedly. The Senor Evaha has to some extent 
 studied the science of war. He has surveyed the city, and has drawn 
 up a plan of defence, which I have with me now. In his letter to me 
 he adds in a postscript, 'If you still determine on resistance remember 
 the plan I gave you, that is your only chance.' Now, Senores, I appeal 
 to you. Why not " 
 
 Here the speaker was interrupted by the entrance of a young officer. 
 
 " A chasque from Quilmes for the Senor General," he said. 
 
 " Admit him," said Liniers. 
 
 The oflicer stepped back and ushered into the room a slight-built 
 man of a clear yellowish complexion, with long black hair which 
 flowed down over his shoulders. He wore a striped poncho, which 
 covered him completely down to his knees, below which appeared his 
 boots, each made of the skin from the hind leg of a colt, a boot which 
 had no seam in it, and was waterproof except where the great toe pro- 
 jected for the purpose of holding the stirrup. He held his hat in his 
 hand, and as he came forward his huge iron spurs clanked at each step 
 he took. 
 
 " I seek the Senor General Liniers," said he, looking round him 
 with the greatest nonchalance, and tossing his poncho on to his 
 shoulder to free his arm as he drew a letter from a pocket in the tira- 
 dor which he wore round his waist. 
 
 " 1 am he," said General Liniers. 
 
 " A letter from the Senor Colonel Lopez." 
 
 " You can retire," said Liniers, as he took the letter, " but remain 
 at hand, I may want you." 
 
 Liniers returned to his seat, and did not open the letter until the 
 man had retired. 
 
 " Senores, with your permission," said he, as soon as the door was 
 closed ; then breaking the seal he opened the letter. As he read it
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. 10/ 
 
 his face flushed with a proud joy, then rising to his feet he looked 
 steadily at each of the watching faces before him. 
 
 " Sehores, they come," he said ; then as no one answered, each 
 waiting breathlessly for his next word, he continued, " and we, we 
 are ready ; I shall at once give orders that the alarm-guns be fired, 
 and then each man to his post. "\\'ait till I have given the order, and 
 then I will read you the letter." 
 
 In five minutes an aide-de-camp was walking rapidly across the 
 Plaza ^layor with an order to the commandant of artillery stationed 
 in the fort from the commander-in-chief, and Liniers, taking up the 
 letter from Colonel Lopez, read as follows : — 
 
 "La Reduction de Quilmes, 
 " I de Julio 1807, 
 " a las 7 de la mahana. 
 "A su Excelencia, 
 
 " El General Don Santiago Liniers, 
 " Excelentissimo Seiior. 
 
 " As I had the honour to advise Y. E. in my despatches of 
 the 27th June and of each day following, the enemy's fleet anchored 
 near to the Ensenada de Barragan on the 27th, and on the following day 
 landed a large force about half a league to the northward of that town. 
 For two days I have watched them as closely as was consistent with 
 the safety of my men, and have had several skirmishes with their 
 foraging parties and advanced posts without being able with my 
 cavalry to make any considerable impression upon them. As far as 
 I can estimate they appear to be from ten to twelve thousand men 
 perfectly equipped, and with a large park of artillery, but they have 
 no cavalry, or very few. Their entire force is now clear of the 
 swamps, and is echelloned on the high road between this and the 
 Ensenada. Of their intention there can be no longer any doubt ; they 
 are this morning marching straight upon the Puente Galves ; their ad- 
 vanced-guard is already within a league of this. 
 
 " I shall continue myself with my cavalry in observation of their 
 movements, but have despatched the infantry corps under the com- 
 mand of Captain Ponce de Leon to occupy the Puente Galves. 
 Doubtless this oflicer has already reported himself to Y. E. 
 
 "The advanced guard of the enemy, which marches. more' than a 
 league in advance of the main body, consists apparently of about 3000 
 men with four guns. 
 
 " I shall this evening concentrate my forces and encamp in the 
 neighbourhood of the Puente Galves, where I shall await orders 
 from Y. E. 
 
 " God keep your Excellency many years, 
 "S. S., 
 
 " Gregorio Lopez, hijo." 
 
 " Sehores," said Liniers, as he finished reading, " I shall put my- 
 self at the head of the troops and march at once against the invader. 
 I shall do my duty, I feel sure my troops will do theirs ; I shall return 
 victorious, or you will never sec me again. Meantime 1 lea\ e to you
 
 lOS rOXCE DF. I, EON. 
 
 the care of tlic rity. and trust that j'ou will attend with the utmost 
 speed to any rc(iuisition for siipjjlies that I may make ii]ion you." 
 
 " Senores," said Don Martin Al/.aga, " we are grateful to the illus- 
 trious soldier who has just spoken for the confidence he has placed in 
 us. To show our appreciation of his trust, and our determination to 
 aid him to the utmost of our ability, I propose that this Cabildo 
 declare itself in i)ermanent session so long as the danger lasts, and 
 that we devote our time exclusively to such measures as may be 
 requisite for the public safety." 
 
 " Agreed ! agreed ! " shouted the various members, rising from their 
 seats. 
 
 The words had hardly passed their lips ere the roar of a heavy gun 
 from the fort shook the windows of the room, and drowned the sound 
 of their voices. They paused, looking at one another, till another 
 heavy gun, and then another, spoke to the startled city, telling the 
 news that they had just received, that the foe was at hand. Then 
 crowding round Liniers, each man shook him by the hand, wishing 
 him God speed. So the Reconquistador went forth from them in 
 proud confidence, to win fresh laurels or a hero's grave. 
 
 Scarcely had the echoing voices of the alarm-guns ceased to 
 reverberate in the long, narrow streets of the city, than from every 
 tower in every church there sprang the clanging sound of bells. No 
 peaceful voice was that of these bells calling worshippers to prayer, 
 it was the fierce, rapid clang of alarm calling upon men to hurry forth 
 to battle and to slaughter. Through all the city, into every home and 
 household, rushed this voice of terror, surprising the tradesman at his 
 desk, the artizan at his bench or forge, the student at his books, and 
 the man of wealth amid the luxuries of a life of ease. To all, the 
 roar of the gims and the clangour of the bells spoke one message — j 
 
 " The foe is at our gates ; arm, and go forth to meet him." 
 
 The summons, though startling, was expected. Each man left at 
 once his occupation, whatever it might be ; the shops were closed, the 
 bench and forge were deserted, the books were cast aside, and the 
 man of no occupation found one which might perchance last him for 
 his life-course yet to run. 
 
 Everything had been prepared for this moment ; each company of 
 the militia had its own point ot rendezvous, each regiment had its 
 head-quarters, what eacli man had to do was to arm and proceed at 
 once to his station. There was hurry and bustle throughout the city, the 
 usually quiet streets were thronged with groups of armed men pressing 
 eagerly onwards, mothers kissed their sons with tearful eyes, wives 
 strained husbands to their bosoms in one last embrace, but there was 
 no faltering or hanging back. Buenos Aires felt herself strong, and 
 grudged not the blood of her best and dearest in the most righteous 
 of all causes, the defence of home and fatherland, for Buenos Aires 
 was a child as yet, and her childhood Avas heroic. 
 
 Each company of militia as it collected marched off to the regi- 
 mental head-quarters ; the regiments concentrated in the Plaza de Los 
 Perdices, Avhere General Liniers received them, having with him 
 already a strong force of regular troops, comprising almost the entire 
 garrison of the city.
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. ICQ 
 
 To each regiment was allotted its place in the line of battle, the 
 Patricios claiming as their right the post of honour, at the head of the 
 column on the march, on the right flank in action. About an hour 
 before sundown the whole force was marshalled in order, and marched 
 away through the city and out by the wide, sandy road which led to 
 the Puente Galves, now the Barraca bridge. 
 
 Men, women, and children crowded in the streets through which 
 they passed, gazing upon them in silence, broken only by words of 
 farewell as some well-known face passed by amid all the pomp of 
 military display. INIany a tearful eye watched them, many a heart 
 throbbed wildly, but as the eyes looked along those serried files, and 
 glanced at the apparently interminable lines of bayonets, the hearts 
 swelled with confidence. Buenos Aires trusted proudly in the cham- 
 pions to whom she had confided her honour and her defence.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 
 
 Drearily passed the night of the ist July with the citizen soldiers 
 of Buenos Aires and their Spanish brethren in arms, who to the 
 number of about 8000, with fifty guns, under the command of General 
 Don Santiago Liniers, the Reconquistador, tlie hero of the 12th 
 August, had crossed the Riachuelo by the Puente Galves after night- 
 fall, and had encamped in the open country beyond, there to await 
 the advance of the English upon the city. Tents they had none, 
 baggage little more than each man could carry for himself, and their 
 commissariat was of the most limited extent. The mounted auxiliaries 
 from the campana, many of whom had arrived at the general ren- 
 dezvous, had driven herds of beeves before them ; many of these 
 beeves were slaughtered, abundant rations of raw meat were served 
 out to the hungry soldiery, but for the cooking of it each man had to 
 trust to his own devices. The hardy horsemen of the campafia were 
 accustomed to such emergencies, they threw slices of the meat into 
 the ashes of their bivouac fires ; when the outside of the meat was 
 burned to a cinder they considered it cooked, and devoured it half 
 raw. But the more delicately-nurtured citizens of Buenos Aires could 
 not eat the tough meat with such cookery ; some of them had been 
 provident enough to carry small supplies with them, but the majority 
 were dependent upon the ration beef, and suffered accordingly. 
 
 Some two hours before midnight a mounted officer, covered from 
 neck to heels in a long cloak, rode through the encampment enquiring 
 for the bivouac of the Patricios, and more particularly for Captain 
 Lorea of that regiment. Captain Lorea, his brother-in-law Don 
 Felipe Navarro, and several other officers were grouped round a fire, 
 talking together in low tones and puffing wreaths of blue smoke into 
 the chilly night air from under the wide brims of their hats. 
 
 " Felices noches, Sefiores," said the horseman, drawing rein beside 
 them. 
 
 " Ah ! Don Marcelino," said Captain Lorea, starting to his feet ; 
 " welcome ! Dismount, and tell us what you have seen of these 
 invaders. I hardly thought to see you till to-morrow." 
 
 "To-morrow we shall have plenty to do," replied Don Marcelino 
 Ponce de Leon, dismounting ; " so I have come to talk to you now, 
 and to ask you what preparations are making in the city. I have 
 been encamped jiere for two days, but know nothing of what has 
 been done."
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. Ill 
 
 " This will not be new to you," said Don Felipe Navarro, as they 
 shook hands. 
 
 " Oh no ! Among you city men I feel like an old campaigner. 
 You have much to learn yet, from what I could see as I came along. 
 I fear some of your men will not be in very good fighting trim to- 
 morrow." 
 
 "To-morrow is another day," said Lorea. "We shall pass the 
 night badly, but it will pass." 
 
 IMarcelino then gave them a detailed account of the events of the 
 27th and 2Sth June. 
 
 " My uncle," he added, " is encamped with part of his cavalry 
 between this and Quilmes, a chasque has just come in from him. He 
 says that the English have already marched a strong vanguard in this 
 direction, but he believes that the main body is yet beyond Quilmes." 
 
 " So much the better," said Lorea. " We will beat their vanguard 
 to-morrow and there will be so many the less to fight the day after." 
 
 "And what of the city? Have any preparations been made to 
 resist an assault ? " 
 
 " An assault ! There is time enough to think about that. To-day, 
 at a meeting of the Cabildo, your grandfather proposed that the city 
 should be entrenched, and that we should let the English attack us 
 there. Fortunately the Reconquistador was there. Here in the open 
 camp, in face of the enemy, is the proper place for the defenders of 
 the city." 
 
 " In any way," said Marcelino, looking gloomily at the fire, " this 
 is not our proper position, with a river and a narrow bridge behind 
 us. We ought to be on the other side the Riachuelo to defend the 
 bridge and the passes higher up." 
 
 " Oh ! " said Felipe Navarro impatiently, " the Reconquistador 
 knows what he does." 
 
 " Don Gregorio had a plan," said Lorea. " According to him our 
 city is much stronger than Monte Video, just because it has no walls." 
 
 " I have seen that plan," replied Marcelino, " and I believe that 
 if it were adopted the English could never take our city by assault, 
 every street is a new line of defence. The man who drew out that 
 
 plan " 
 
 "Your friend Evaha," said Lorea scornfully. "All that he does 
 is well done in the eyes of a Ponce de Leon, and there is no Ponce 
 de Leon among you who is not worth three of him ! Bah ! we will 
 speak no more of it. Flow did your negroes stand the march ? " 
 
 " For them it was notliing. I left them singing round their fires 
 after a good supper ; come and see them. I can give you a good cup 
 of coffee to warm you up for the night." 
 
 The negro corps, which was known as " Los Morenos de Ponce," 
 was encamped near to the Puente Galvcs, almost in the centre of the 
 position occupied by the army ; sentries paced to and fro between 
 the watch-fires ; round each fire groups of men lay wrapped in their 
 thick ponchos, sleeping soundly; beside each fire stood a row of 
 camp-kettles filled with sou[j for the early breakfast on the morrow. 
 
 At one fire sat Lieutenant Asneiros on a three-legged stool, beside 
 him knelt a tall negro who was feeding the fire, and watching a kettle
 
 112 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 of water which stood on the embers. Giving his horse in charge to 
 the negro, MarceUno introduced his friends to the Hcutenant. 
 
 " Here you are quiet enough," said one of the officers of the 
 Patricios ; " the rest of the army is too enthusiastic to care much for 
 sleep." 
 
 " They know nothing," said the Heutenant. " Good food and sleep 
 are the necessary preparation for hard work." 
 
 " For my part," said Don Isidro Lorea, " I rejoice to see the men 
 so joyful. I feel no inclination to sleep, and am only anxious for the 
 moment when I can give the word to fire on the invaders." 
 
 " You will give it without doubt to-morrow," replied the lieutenant. 
 " I hope to God that firing may be all we have to do." 
 
 " And what more would you have ? " asked Don Felipe Navarro. 
 
 As the lieutenant only shrugged his shoulders contemptuously at 
 this question, Marcelino answered for him — 
 
 " Any man can fire off a musket, but only a trained soldier can 
 manoeuvre in face of the enemy." 
 
 "What matters it?" said Asneiros ; "what will be, will be." 
 
 After this they sat or lay on the ground round the fire till midnight, 
 talking cheerfully together of the loved ones whom they had left 
 behind them in the city, sipping coffee which was served to them by 
 the tall negro (who was Marcelino's favourite servant, Manuel), scent- 
 ing the damp night air with the perfume of their cigars, and occasion- 
 ally singing snatches of song. When his guests left him, Marcelino 
 wrapped himself in his cloak, threw himself down under a low hedge 
 on a heap of twigs and leaves which Manuel had prepared for his 
 couch, and slept till dawn. 
 
 Gaily the trumpets sounded a welcome to the new-born day, the 
 men sprang up with alacrity from their couches on the cold, wet 
 ground, threw fresh fuel on the watch-fires, and crowded round them 
 chafing their hands at the ruddy blaze. 
 
 Marcelino, climbing to the top of the hedge under which he had 
 slept, looked eagerly out over the encampment, marked by the blue 
 lines of smoke which hung heavily in the damp air over every watch- 
 fire. The extent of ground it covered made the force collected appear 
 much greater than it really was, and the heart of the young soldier 
 swelled within him with pride and a fierce joy as he looked upon this 
 evidence of the power of his native city. 
 
 A fresh flourish of tnmipets saluted the rising sun, and then the 
 whole force stood to arms, each regiment in its own encampment, 
 while the aides of General Liniers galloped wildly about, for an im- 
 mediate movement was in contemplation. The Reconc^uistador had 
 ridden out at dawn to survey the ground in front of him ; the aides, as 
 they delivered their orders to the commanders of the different regi- 
 ments, announced that fresh chasques had arrived from Colonel 
 Lopez, that the English vanguard had encamped that night two 
 leagues this side of Quilmes, and must now be close at hand. For an 
 hour there was a great amount of marching and counter-marching, 
 then on a level space of ground intersected by the southern road the 
 whole force was drawn out in line of battle, with guns in the intervals 
 between the different divisions. The extreme right was held by the
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. II3 
 
 first regiment of the Patricios, the left by General Balviani's division, 
 and the " Morenos de Ponce " were stationed near the centre of the 
 line. In front of them groups of horsemen were dotted over the 
 plain, while far away on the great southern road was seen a dense 
 column of infantry marching steadily towards them, their scarlet uni- 
 forms contrasting vividly in the bright sunshine with the dark verdure 
 of the surrounding pasture-land. This was the British vanguard, un- 
 der the command of Major-general Levison Gower, numbering some 
 2000 bayonets. 
 
 General Liniers, attended by his whole suite, rode along the line 
 from right to left. Confidence and exultation beamed in his face, 
 and with many a cheerful word he complimented the commanders of 
 the various regiments as he rode by upon the martial appearance of 
 their men. Each regiment presented arms as he passed it, but the 
 negro corps alone received him with shouts of welcome, shouts which 
 were sternly silenced by Lieutenant Asneiros, as subversive of disci- 
 pline. ]\Iarcelino sat on horseback in front of his men, the Recon- 
 quistador drew rein beside him. 
 
 " What say you ? " said he. '' These friends of ours arrive late to 
 the dance. Think you that they will force their way through us and 
 gain the bridge ? " 
 
 " That is more than they can do," replied Marcelino. 
 " Just so, but they will try it, probably by an attack on my right flank. 
 Your negroes march well ; when the action commences I shall send 
 orders to you to make a circuit beyond yon clump of poplars and fall 
 upon their rear. Balviani will support you, but will advance by the 
 road ; the success of the movement will depend upon your speed." 
 
 " Your trust shall not be thrown away, general," replied Marcelino, 
 dropping the point of his sword as the general rode on ; then looking 
 round he scanned the dark, eager faces of his men as they watched 
 the movements of the foe, and he knew that they would not fail him, 
 but would follow him where he led, even into the thickest of that 
 forest of glittering steel 
 
 General Liniers had hardly completed the inspection of his forces, 
 and the British were yet more than half a league distant, when 
 Marcelino saw them halt. They had reached the crest of a lomada, 
 from which the ground sloped gently towards the ])osition occupied 
 by the army of Buenos Aires, and which stretched away westwards as 
 far as eye could reach, running nearly parallel to the course of the 
 Riachuelo. On resuming the march, the hostile column left the high 
 road and turned off westwards, following the course of this lomada. 
 
 I iniers, fearing to be taken in flank, immediately commenced a 
 corresponding movement to his right, lioth armies thus marched 
 parallel to each other, retaining much tlieir former relative position, 
 but hidden from each other by the rising ground and by the various 
 chacras and plantations which lay scattered about. 
 
 The British, marching on the high ground, met witli few obstacles 
 to their jjrogress, while the Buenos Airean army had to force its way 
 through swamps and the many water-courses which intersected the 
 low-lying grounds between the lomada and the Riachuelo. 'i'luough 
 these swamps the men waded knee-deep in nnul; in the water-courses 
 
 I
 
 I 14 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 many of them sank up to their elbows, wetting their ammunition. 
 After more than a league of this toilsome marching they reached 
 firmer ground, where tlie lomada approached nearer to the course of 
 the river ; here they found that the British had again halted behind the 
 crest of the lomada. Again Liniers drew up his array, and the citizen 
 soldiers forgot the sufferings of the rapid march and the cold which 
 pierced them to tlie bones in their eagerness to close at once with 
 the foe. 
 
 The British screened their movements by the rising ground, but the 
 gleam of bayonets to the right of their position showed tliat some 
 manoeuvre was in preparation. Then skirmishers in the dark-green 
 uniform of the rifles moved rapidly forward on the high ground. An 
 aitle-de-camp from General Liniers came at headlong speed to the left 
 centre, where stood the " Morenos de Ponce." He delivered an order 
 to the commandant of that corps. Marcelino, wheeling his horse, ad- 
 dressed a few words to his men, then, waving his sword, the negroes 
 with a loud shout rushed forward, and, breaking into skirmishing 
 order, ran swiftly up the slope. The British rifles received them with 
 a spattering fire, then hurriedly retreated to the crest of the lomada, 
 and formetl in line. A few notes on the bugle and Marcelino had his 
 men all again together, and, telling them to reserve their fire, led them 
 on. The dark line of soldiery gave way before them and marched 
 rapidly off. The negroes broke their ranks and rushed after them 
 with loud yells. 
 
 On the crest of the rising ground Marcelino drew rein, and 
 
 "Where was the British army? Half stupefied, he gazed over the vacant 
 plain before him. All of the enemy that he could see was this small 
 body of light-armed riflemen, who were in rapid retreat, pursued by 
 his own negroes. 
 
 " Marcelino ! They have gone ! They have gone ! " 
 
 " Evaristo ! " exclaimed Marcelino, as he saw his brother, mounted 
 on his pony, close beside him. 
 
 " I told you I would be with you when the fighting came," said the 
 boy, with a bright smile. " Before day I was up and saddled my pony 
 and came away. I have watched them all the morning, and 1 knew 
 you could not be far off." 
 
 " But they ? Where are they ? " 
 
 " Tiiey have gone, do not I tell you? There where those quintas 
 hide the river, the Paso Chico. They have crossed by the pass, and 
 have marched up the road straight away for town." 
 
 " There, Evaristo, over there," said Marcelino, pointing towards the 
 hollow where the army of Buenos Aires was waiting, drawn up in 
 battle-array, for the foe who had escaped them ; " gallop as hard as 
 you can to General Einiers and tell him that. Tell him that I have 
 gone in pursuit." 
 
 As Evaristo galloped off, Marcelino put spurs to his horse, and, 
 rejoining his negroes, urged them on; but, rapidly as they marched, 
 the British riflemen, who had nothing more than their rifles and cart- 
 ridge-boxes to carry, out-paced them, and had crossed the pass ere 
 Marcelino and his negroes reached the river. 
 
 Evaristo was not the first to announce to General Liniers the eva-
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. I15 
 
 sion of the English vanguard. Colonel Lopez had also watched 
 them all the morning, hovering on their flanks and rear, but not ven- 
 turing to molest them. When he saw them march from their second 
 position straight for the Paso Chico, he sent off an officer at once to 
 the general with the intelligence, and putting himself at the head of 
 such of his cavalry as he could collect around him he drew them up 
 across the road leading to the pass. One British regiment deployed, 
 poured in a volley, charged, and drove most of the horsemen pell- 
 mell across the pass to the other side, dispersing the rest in all direc- 
 tions. Again collecting some of his scattered troops, Colonel Lopez 
 endeavoured to cut off the retreat of the detachment which had re- 
 mained on the lomada. But the ground favoured the light-armed 
 infantry. Instead of following in the track of the main bod)-, they 
 made at once for a quinta which lay between them and the river, and 
 bursting through the fences, which were impracticable for cavalry, 
 reached the pass, and crossed without the loss of one man. The 
 colonel then led his troopers to the road at a gallop, but on reaching 
 the river was met by a volley of grape from two field-pieces in posi- 
 tion on the far bank. Many of his men fell. He drew back to the 
 shelter of the poplars which formed the quinta fence, and awaited the 
 arrival of his nephew. 
 
 Marcelino, dismounting when he reached the quinta, led his men 
 on foot to the edge of the river, just in time to witness the repulse of 
 the cavalry. The owner of the quinta had a boat moored to a post 
 about a square down the stream, hidden from sight of the pass by a 
 bend in the river and the trees of another quinta on the left bank. 
 Enjoining the strictest silence, Marcelino marched his men with trailed 
 arms through the quinta to beyond the bend, rapidly passed them 
 across the river, and took possession of the other quinta without being 
 perceived by the enemy, who first knew of his wliereabouts as from 
 the shelter of the trees he opened a heavy fire upon the artillerymen 
 and the light infantry who had halted close at hand. Colonel Lopez, 
 Avho had been informed by him of his intention, and who had mean- 
 time been reinforced by several squads of cavalry, once more emerged 
 into the main road, and, at the head of a yelling mob of horsemen, 
 dashed through the pass. For a moment the capture of the guns 
 appeared inevitable; the artillerymen defended themselves desperately, 
 but were completely surrounded by the furious horsemen. 
 
 Colonel Lopez, however, by his eagerness to capture the guns, 
 blocked up the head of the pass, and prevented the passage of half of 
 his troops, and the riflemen, who were screened by the horsemen from 
 the fire of the negro corps, rushed upon the disordered mass with 
 levelled bayonets, forced many of them into the river, and drove the 
 rest back upon the quinta. I'he negroes, who were advancing from 
 the shelter of the trees to the assistance of the horsemen, were thrown 
 into great disorder by the fugitives, and before Marcelino and Asneiros 
 could re-form tlieir broken ranks and draw them clear they were 
 attacked in flank by an entire regiment of light infantry, which was 
 sent at the double by General Gower to the support of the rifles. 
 
 The bulk of the British vanguard had halted about a quarter of a 
 mile from the pass to rest the troops after their rapid march from the
 
 I 16 PONCE DE LECN. 
 
 loniada. General Gower lind not perceived the passage of the river 
 by tlic negroes, and was taken 1)\- surprise at the sudden fire o]K'ned 
 upon his two guns from the ipiinla. 'Hie wliole force was immediately 
 under arms, a)id one regiment, driving Colonel Lopez and his scattered 
 liorsemen before them, charged upon the right Hank of the " Morenos " 
 at the same moment that the guns opened fire upon them from the 
 river-side. 
 
 " To the quinta, muchachos ! " shouted Marcelino. 
 
 The ncL'roes faced about and ran for it. ]\Iarcelino, catching his 
 bugler by the arm, followed more slowly, and as soon as the bulk of 
 them had gained the shelter of the trees the trumpet sounded the 
 " rally." About half his force obeyed the summons, the rest dispersed 
 in confusion about the quinta. Despatching Asneiros to collect the 
 stragglers, Marcelino then spread his men along the fence and again 
 opened fire upon the English, who replied by one volley, and then 
 retreated rapidly up the road, taking their guns and wounded with them. 
 
 Of the horsemen who had passetl the river, hardly any were in sight ; 
 some had taken refuge in the quinta on foot, many had forced their 
 horses into the river and had swam across ; of what had become of 
 his uncle, Marcelino knew nothing for long after. 
 
 When Asneiros rejoined him, they paraded the corps once more in 
 the open and found they had suffered a loss of fifty men in killed, 
 wounded, and missing. 
 
 "We have begun badly," said Marcelino to his lieutenant. 
 
 " What would you ! " replied Asneiros, shrugging his shoulders. 
 "Alone we should have done something. But with these others 
 Bah ! "
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 LOS CORRALES DE LA MISERERE. 
 
 On receiving intelligence of the passage of the Riachuelo by the 
 invaders at the Paso Chico, from which a good road led to the Puente 
 Galves, General Liniers at once counter-marched to his former posi- 
 tion and occupied the bridge, having previously sent oft' an aide-de- 
 camp with instructions to the Comandante de los Morenos to rejoin 
 him there with all possible speed. 
 
 ]\Iarcelino left Asneiros to bring on the negroes by the road on the 
 left bank of the river, and galloped oft" himself at once to confer with the 
 general. He informed him that tlie English had apparently given up 
 all idea of attacking the bridge, and had marched away by a road 
 which led from the Paso Chico to the Corrales de la Miserere. 
 
 General Liniers became alarmed for the safety of the city, and 
 leaving General Balviani's division to hold the Puente Galves, marched 
 back at once with the rest of his troops, pressing on as fast as the 
 wearied state of the men would permit. The citizen soldiers, and not 
 less so the Spanish regulars, unuseci to long marches, were fatigued by 
 their unwonted exertions, and dispirited by the unexpected manoeuvres 
 of the enemy ; they plodded along the muddy road in silence, hundreds 
 of them sank down by the wayside unable to proceed further, and 
 many of the guns, sticking fast in a deep " pantano," were abandoned. 
 On reaching the suburbs of the city they wheeled to the left, and late 
 in the afternoon drew near to the Plaza Miserere. The Patricios, who 
 had some guns with them, followed by the " Morenos de Ponce," had 
 considerably outmarched the rest of the army, and at once took up a 
 position to the east of this Plaza, so as to defend all the western 
 entrances to the city, the negro corps being posted at the south-east 
 corner of the Plaza in a small quinta surrounded by an aloe hedge, in 
 which there were many gaps. 
 
 Meantime the British vanguard, which marched upon the city by a 
 more circuitous and mucli worse road than that by which General 
 Liniers had retreated, had also encountered great difftculties. The 
 river at tlic Paso Chico was more than waist-deep, through this the 
 men had waded, carrying their cartridge-boxes and the ammunition for 
 the guns upon their shoulders. The 88tli regiment, wliich formed a 
 part of this division, had been for nine months on board ship, so that 
 the men were in no condition to undertake a forced march along 
 roads ancle-deep in mud. (ieneral Crauford with the 95th regiment 
 and the rilles pressed on in front, but after marching about a league
 
 I I 8 rONCE DE LEON. 
 
 from the pass General Gower found it was im]iossil)lc to bring on his 
 guns any further, and accordingly left them behind him untler tlie 
 care of General Lumley, witli three companies of infantry, and such of 
 the men from the different regiments as were unable to proceed. 
 
 The Plaza Miserere was a wide, o])en space of ground beyond the 
 suburbs of the city, and was distant about two-and-a-half miles due 
 west from the Plaza Mayor. This space was at that time surrounded by 
 detached (juintas, and was a centre from which many roads branchetl 
 oft" in all directions. It was used as a slaughtering ground by the 
 butchers who supplied the city, and at one side were large corrales 
 where cattle were penned previous to slaughter. These corrales, being 
 formed of rough posts strongly bound together by transverse beams 
 tied to each post by thongs of raw hide, formed an excellent stockade. 
 
 In spite of the detachment of a division to hold the Puente Galves 
 and the numerous stragglers, Liniers had yet under his orders, when 
 he readied the Plaza Miserere, more than double the number of men 
 comprising the entire British vanguard, and spared no exertion to rein- 
 spire his troops with confidence ; but the greater part of them were 
 yet entangled in the narrow roads of the suburbs, when the advanced 
 guard of the invaders under the command of General Crauford de- 
 bouched upon the Plaza from the west, and took possession of the 
 corrales. 
 
 Without waiting for orders from General Liniers, the artillery 
 attached to the Patricios, and some other pieces which had been 
 planted among the quintas on the south side the Plaza, at once opened 
 a heavy but ill-directed fire of grape and round shot upon the head of 
 the British column, and the Patricios advancing from the suburbs 
 upon the open ground also commenced firing. 
 
 The sound of the musketry operated with a magical effect upon the 
 entire force, the men shouted to be led at once against the enemy, 
 and Liniers gave the order for a general advance. 
 
 From every road on the south side the Plaza dense columns of 
 troops poured into the open space, replying to the slow fire of the 
 British by rapid volleys of musketry. General Gower had drawn 
 back his left wing upon the advance of the Patricios, then as General 
 Liniers in person headed an attack upon the corrales, two regiments 
 poured in a volley, and led by General Crauford charged the Patricios 
 with the bayonet, driving them in headlong confusion back into the 
 western suburbs. The advance of General Liniers had been checked 
 by a heavy fire from the corrales ; he was now charged by the entire 
 British force, in front and on the right flank. Liniers galloped to 
 and fro frantically calling upon his men to keep their ranks ; but all 
 was in vain, retreat was impossible, the roads were blocked up by the 
 rear-guards of the several columns. Many of the men threw down 
 their arms and tied to the nearest quintas, the destruction of the entire 
 force seemed inevitable, when Marcelino Ponce de Leon, who had re- 
 ceived no orders, conceived it his duty to act without them. 
 
 The two regiments which had dispersed the Patricios were in front 
 of him, advancing with levelled bayonets upon the flank of the main 
 body. Shouting to his men to follow him, he dashed through the 
 quinta fence, then forming them hurriedly he opened fire upon the
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. II9 
 
 flank of the advancing British. The two regiments halted, wheeled, 
 poured in a volley at close quarters, and charged. Marcelino's horse 
 fell under him, the negroes set up a shout of dismay ; their ranks 
 Avere shattered, their leader was apparently killed, down on them bore 
 swiftly along a line of glittering steel, threatening to envelope them on 
 both flanks, they turned and fled. In vain Asneiros struck at them 
 with his sword, in vain E\-aristo, who had rejoined his brother at the 
 Paso Chico, threw himself in their way, shouting — 
 
 " Morenos ! cowards ! will you leave my brother to be killed by 
 these English ? " 
 
 They were panic-struck, and fought fiercely with each other for the 
 gaps in the fence which would admit them to the shelter of the quinta. 
 Asneiros, calling two subalterns to aid him, seized the largest of these 
 gaps, and the three with their swords kept back a number of the 
 fugitives. 
 
 Meantime Marcelino had sprung to his feet, half dazed but un- 
 wounded ; the English were close upon him, for a moment he stared 
 wildly round him, then Evaristo galloped up to him. 
 
 " Mount behind me, Marcelino," he shouted, shaking his left foot 
 from the stirrup. 
 
 The next minute the pony with a double load was galloping away 
 for the quinta, where Evaristo sprang to the ground and Marcelino, 
 galloping after the fugitives, succeeded in rallying some threescore 
 men, whom he led back to the fence and joined to those whom As- 
 neiros had stopped and had already drawn up under shelter of the 
 aloe hedge. The English had halted, and were apparently about to 
 renew their attack upon General Liniers, when the negroes opened 
 fire upon them from the hedge. With a loud cheer 800 red and 
 green-coated soldiery rushed upon the frail barrier which hid the rem- 
 nant of the " Morenos de Ponce," burst a way for themselves through it, 
 or ran in by the undefended gaps. There was a minute of wild con- 
 fusion, the negroes firing at random upon an enemy who outnuml)ered 
 them five to one, and who attacked them from all sides. Marcelino, 
 now on foot, and his officers tried to draw them away from the hedge, 
 and to fall back upon some outhouses in the rear of the quinta, but the 
 movements of the English were too rapid, the retreat soon changed 
 into headlong flight ; about forty of the negroes, being cut off and sur- 
 rounded, threw down their arms and were made prisoners. At the 
 far side of the quinta, Marcelino made another attempt to rally his 
 men, but was at once charged by a party of the enemy. 
 
 " Surrender ! " shouted the officer who led them. 
 
 Marcelino had lost his sword when his horse was killed under him, 
 he stooped and seized the musket of a negro who had fallen at his 
 feet mortally wounded, and beating aside the bayonets of those nearest 
 to him, tried to force his way through them ; the next moment he was 
 beaten down by the butt-ends of their muskets and trampled under 
 their feet as they rushed on in pursuit. 
 
 When Marcelino had rallied his men in the quinta, he had called his 
 brother to him, and telling him to remount his pony, had given him 
 into the care of his servant Manuel, telling the latter to go ofi with him 
 at once straight for the city. The negro took the pony by the bridle
 
 I20 rONCE DE LEON. 
 
 and led him away, but on reaching the cross-road behind tlie quinta 
 by an open gateway, ICvaristo refused to go any furtlier, and drawing 
 tight his rein sat there in the saddle watching the last struggle of the 
 " Morenos de Ponce." 
 
 " \'amos !" said Manuel, as the fugitive negroes came running past 
 them. 
 
 "No! no!" said Evaristo, still tighUy holding his pony by the 
 head. " Oh ! my brother, even yet I can save you ! " he cried, as lie 
 saw Marcclino's last desperate effort, then twitching the rein from 
 Manuel's hand, he urged his pony back through the gateway, and 
 was close to his brother when he fell, trampled to the earth under the 
 feet of the furious soldiery. But Manuel on foot had kept pace with 
 him, and now springing up behind him wrenched the reins from him, 
 and holding him fast in his arms, turned the pony's head and galloped 
 off, and neither spoke nor slacked his pace until he had reached the 
 house of Don Gregorio Lopez, where he set the boy clown, half dead 
 with sorrow and excitement, and went back himself in search of his 
 master, whom he had small hope of ever seeing again alive. 
 
 The " Morenos de Ponce " were utterly routed and dispersed ; Mar- 
 cclino had sacrificed himself and his men, but he had saved the army 
 of General Liniers from destruction. A deadly fire from the Corrales 
 de la Miserere had checked the advance of the main body of the 
 army, the charge of the British infantry had driven it back in hopeless 
 confusion into the roads by wliich it had debouched upon the Plaza ; 
 had the tlank movement of the two regiments under General Crauford 
 been uninterrupted, the retreat of the greater part of the army Avould 
 have been cut off. As it was. General I^iniers lost eleven guns, and 
 was driven from amongst the cjuintas into the open camp, far away to 
 the left of the road by which he had advanced. Night closed in and 
 prevented further pursuit by the victorious enemy. Almost broken- 
 hearted by the misfortune which had befallen him, and desperate at 
 the ruin of all his high hopes, the Reconcjuistador threw himself upon 
 the ground and for hours spoke to no one. About looo men lay 
 round him in every attitude of exhaustion and despair ; of the rest of 
 his army he knew nothing, it was dispersed in all directions. 
 
 The army to which Buenos Aires had entrusted her honour and her 
 defence had melted away at the first brush with the enemy. Buenos 
 Aires had no longer an army and the enemy was at her gates.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE NIGHT OF SORROW. 
 
 All day the city had been in a state of nervous anxiety, all manner 
 of conflicting rumours were current, every horseman who appeared in 
 the streets was beset by a crowd of eager questioners, men ran to and 
 fro and went from house to house, gleaning what intelligence they 
 could. Accordino[ to some General Liniers had marched from the 
 Puente Galves at dawn in search of the enemy, according to others 
 he was yet encamped there and beset by the entire English army. As 
 either hope or fear gained the ascendant, so each man spoke as his 
 hopes or his fears prompted him. 
 
 Thus the day wore on ; occasionally there was heard the far-off 
 ratding of musketry or the dull boom of a distant gun, but nothing 
 certain was known. Then in the eventide it spread about that the 
 enemy had passed the Riachuelo and was marching upon the city, from 
 the church towers their red-coated soldiery could be seen manceuvring 
 on the open ground of the Plaza Miserere. But where was General 
 Liniers ? where were the citizen soldiers who had marched out so 
 proudly to drive those English into the sea? The anxiety of the city 
 became consternation. 
 
 Tlien from the west and near at hand there came again the rattling 
 sound of musketry, interspersed with the frequent booming of the 
 guns. The sound came in gusts, fitfully, now dying away into a feeble 
 treble, the spattering fire of skirmishers anon swelling to a full chord, 
 the regular volley-firing of drilled troops accompanied with the deep 
 bass of the cannon. Al)0ut half an hour the firing lasted, dying 
 gradually away as the shades of night fell upon the anxious city. 
 What Inul happened ? Men hurried about no longer, seeking news, 
 each sat in his own place, waiting for the news which would surely 
 come. 
 
 After night-fall terror-stricken fugitives hurried through the streets, 
 each seeking his own home, each telling his own tale of defeat and 
 ruinous disaster. Then the anxiety of the city, which had become 
 consternation, became desijair. 
 
 From every household arose the voice of sorrow and of lamentation. 
 Mothers embraced their sons, wives clasped husbands to their bosoms, 
 welcoming them back from deadly i)eril, but they welcomed them back 
 with tears, and as they listened to their tale a cry of sorrow burst from 
 them, and there was loud^wailing over the shame and disgrace which
 
 122 rONCE DE LEON. 
 
 had fallen upon their native city. And there were households to 
 which none returned, there were mothers who watched and waited for 
 sons whom they were never more to see, there were wives who listened 
 with painful eagerness for a well-known footstep which would never 
 more fall upon their ears, and who, though they knew it not, were 
 alreadv widows. Throughout the great straggling city there was 
 mourn'ing and desolation. And the city was in darkness, and dark- 
 ness, if it be not rest, is sorrow and desjoair. 
 
 Then up rose Don Martin Alzaga from his seat at the council-table ; 
 Don Martin Alzaga, i)resident of \he Cabildo, of that body which had 
 now the destinies of the city in its hands. Don Martin had listened 
 in stern silence to the various reports brought in by members of the 
 Cabildo who had been abroad in the city in search of news. Of 
 Liniers himself no one knew anything, but of the fate of his army 
 there could be no question, it had been shamefully beaten and dis- 
 persed by what was, from all accounts, only a detachment of the 
 invading force ; it was no longer an army, Buenos Aires lay defenceless 
 before her victorious enemy. Buenos Aires lay defenceless, yet, 
 though she knew it not, in her defenceless condition lay her chiefest 
 strength. The overthrow over which she mourned awakened the 
 heroism innate in the Iberian race, and at the same time inspired the 
 British generals with an overweening confidence, sure prelude of 
 disaster. 
 
 From the days of Cortes and Pizarro to the present, the Iberian 
 race has ever shown itself greatest in misfortune. In prosperity cruel, 
 arrogant, and blind, the Spanish people have, when overwhelmed by 
 disaster, ever shown a capacity for endurance and a fertility of resource 
 such as has rarely been displayed by any other. When misfortunes 
 have fallen upon them, such as would crush other peoples to the dust, 
 then it is that they first put out their strength and rise superior to all 
 disaster. The secret of it lies partly in national character, but more 
 still in this fact, that the strength of Spain lies, not in her great men 
 and her nobles, but in her people. When Spain was the head of a 
 mighty empire, her nobles were new men sprung from the great body 
 of the people, who had carved out their fortunes by their swords ; 
 their valour and their skill gave Spain the empire over two worlds ; 
 these men were the representative men of the Spanish people. Since 
 then, the ruling class in Spain had been gradually and systematically 
 raised above the people, and separated from them. The people were 
 taught submission, and learned to see others rule over them till they 
 lost all care or interest in the aims and objects of their rulers. 
 
 At the commencement of the war of succession the Archduke 
 Charles and his English allies overran nearly the whole of Spain and 
 took possession of the capital. So again, at an epoch later than this 
 of which we treat, the armies of Napoleon marched from the 
 Pyrenees to Cadiz in one unbroken series of triumphs. The great 
 men of Spain, as imbecile as they were arrogant, invited by their 
 ignorance the destruction which fell upon them ; the soldiers of Spain, 
 who were recruited from the people, cared not to shed their blood for 
 rulers they despised, they fled, hardly waiting for the enemy to attack 
 them. Then in each case, when all was lost, the Spanish people rose
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. 12Z 
 
 J 
 
 in their strength and cast out the foreign rulers set over tliem by 
 foreign force. 
 
 Buenos Aires, a colony of Spain, has inherited two of the chief 
 characteristics of the mother-country, pride and heroism. As though 
 they were Spaniards, her native leaders have often shown themselves 
 too proud to learn, and have thus brought disaster upon their country ; 
 ^vhen the disaster has come, they have ever met it with the heroism of 
 the Iberian race. 
 
 Don Martin Alzaga was a true son of Spain, he had supported 
 Liniers in his rash determination to face the veteran troops of England 
 with liis militia and half-drilled levies, he had scoffed at the idea of 
 taking any further measures for defence ; the blow had now fallen, 
 Buenos Aires lay at the mercy of her enemy. All evening Don 
 IVIartin had sat in his chair, listening in silence to the long chronicle 
 of disaster ; as each said his say and sat down, his spirits rose within 
 him, and in his brain he revolved rapidly all that had been before said 
 concerning the defence of the city. If Buenos Aires must fall, then 
 let the enemy have nothing more than ruins over which to triumph. 
 
 Such were the thoughts of Don Martin Alzaga as he rose from his 
 chair at the head of the council-table and spoke as follows : — 
 
 " Sehores, a great disaster has befallen us. Our army is destroyed, 
 we know not what has become of our general-in-chief, the illustrious 
 Sehor Don Santiago Liniers ; in his absence the responsibility falls 
 upon us. There is now no time for vacillation, we must look our 
 danger straight in the face, and, if it please God, we shall yet find a 
 way for our deliverance. We have now no army, but the dispersed 
 soldiers are flocking back to the city ; we have yet guns, muskets, and 
 men, why then should we despair ? I look upon many a downcast 
 face, I have heard from many of you words of sorrow, as though hope 
 were gone from us ; from what you relate, the whole city is given over 
 to lamentation. True it is that w^e have suffered a great disaster, but 
 shall one blow suffice to subdue us ? Are we not Spaniards ? Is not 
 this Buenos Aires of ours the first city on the great South American 
 continent? Are we not the same men who not a year ago forced an 
 entire English army to capitulate, although they were established in 
 our citadel and had taken our city from us ? Let us cast aside this 
 depression and this unmanly sorrow, and join heart and hand together 
 in the great work which it has fallen upon us to perform, l.et us 
 show ourselves wortliy of the trust which the illustrious Reconquistador 
 placed in us when he marched only yesterday against the foe. Let us 
 rouse the citizens from the stupor of despair into which they have 
 fallen, let us reunite our dispersed soldiery, and to-morrow again show 
 a firm front to the arrogant enemy who assails us. To-morrow this 
 enemy, exultant wath his transient success, will doubtless summon us 
 to surrender our city ; I, as the chief of this Cabildo, will receive this 
 summons and shall return it with disdain, without waiting to know 
 what terms he may offer ; never shall any treaty for the surrender of 
 our city bear the signature of Martin Alzaga. 
 
 " What say you, Sehores? Will you show yourselves worthy to be 
 rulers of Buenos Aires ? Will you aid me to vindicate the outraged 
 honour of our country ? "
 
 124 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 Don Martin paused and looked proudly round him, the faces of his 
 hearers, no lonuer downcast, reflected his own enthusiasm, each eye 
 sought his, brilliant with hope. Springing to their feet they crowded 
 round him, assuring him that they were all of one mind, and that mind 
 was to lay the city in ruins rather than surrender. 
 
 " Sehores," said Don Ciregorio Lopez, " we will entrench the city 
 and defend it block by block against the invaders. Old as I am I 
 encharge myself with the defence of my own cjuarter." 
 
 "Yet you have your plan, Don Gregorio ! " said Don Martin 
 Alzaga gaily. " I believe it comes now very much to the point." 
 
 " 'Die plan of my young friend Evana," replied Don Gregorio. 
 
 " Let it be whose it may, we will study it together, and we two 
 will decide what can be done with it, but first, Sehores, there are other 
 things more urgent. The people are in despair, and night has covered 
 the city with mourning ; the first thing we have to do is to raise the 
 spirit of the people. Once that we reinspire them with confidence, 
 we may hope everything from their courage and abnegation, which we 
 all know. Let us disperse the darkness of night with bonfires and 
 illuminations; the sorrow and the shame will give place to enthusiasm." 
 
 " Well said," said Don Gregorio Lopez. " The illuminations wall 
 also attract the fugitives, who may yet be dispersed about the suburbs. 
 It also appears that General Balviani took no part in the engagement 
 with the Englisli, and is yet encamped at the Puente Galves with his 
 division ; let us send for him at once, and we shall have a nucleus 
 upon which to re-form the stragglers." 
 
 No time was lost in discussion, these propositions were at once 
 adopted. Various members of the Cabildo sallied forth to see after 
 the illuminations, and a mounted officer galloped away by the southern 
 road with an order to General Balviani to retire at once upon the city. 
 
 Midnight came, the city was one blaze of light. Lights shone from 
 the windows of every house, festoons of lamps hung across many a 
 street ; on every open space and at every street corner in the suburbs 
 there blazed huge bonfires, encircling the city with a girdle of flames. 
 The British sentries at the Plaza Miserere looked wonderingly upon 
 these endless lines of fire, and listened anxiously to the rising hum of 
 many thousand voices, which declared the whole city to be astir. 
 That city, since sundown so dark and desolate, so sunken in sorrow 
 and despair, was now a scene of wild excitement and of fierce resolve ; 
 men said only one to another, What shall we do ? Men sought only 
 for a leader. The defeat of the evening was an affair long past and 
 forgotten ; men thought only of the morrow, and of the stern duty 
 which on that morrow they would surely do. 
 
 In the midst of all this excitement Balviani's division returned to 
 the city, marching swifdy along the illuminated streets, dragging their 
 guns with them, which guns Balviani had directed to be spiked on 
 receipt of the order from the Cabildo for his immediate return ; but to 
 his command the artillerymen paid no heed, harnessing themselves to 
 the guns and dragging them through pantanos and mud, when their 
 wearied cattle dropped with fatigue, while the rain poured down upon 
 them in torrents. Yet in spite of the rain the people crowded round 
 them as they marched along, saluting them with shouts and with many
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. 1 25 
 
 a warm pressure of the liand. Their march more resembled the 
 triumpliant entry of a \ictorious army than the return of the remnant 
 of a beaten one. 
 
 Meantime some of the elder members of the Cabildo had been 
 occupied in a careful examination of the plan of the Sehor Evaiia for 
 the defence of the city. It was improbable that the English would at 
 once attack them, a day at least must elapse before they could bring 
 up their entire force from the Ensenada. But the plan was much too 
 extensive to be carried out in one day, though it was exceedingly 
 simple ; they therefore determined upon the adoption of one part of it 
 only : to draw a line including one block of houses all round the two 
 central Plazas ; to dig a ditch across the end of every street on this 
 line, throwing up the earth inside, and forming on it a breastwork and 
 a platform for a gun ; to garrison strongly all tlie azoteas on this line, 
 and to station a strong force at each trench. Further, they determined 
 that all the spare arms they possessed should be distributed to such of 
 the citizens as might apply for them for the defence of their own 
 houses, and that all the troops they could spare, after providing suffi- 
 ciently for the central garrison, should be distributed about the azoteas 
 all round to the distance of ten squares from the Plaza Mayor, and 
 that each block should be placed under the command of some trust- 
 worthy officer, with instructions to harass the invaders to the utmost 
 of their power as they advanced towards the centre, but not to 
 attempt to meet them in the streets. 
 
 Then a list was made out of the officers to whom was to be en- 
 trusted the work of constructing the various trenches, and a second of 
 those who were to command in each block, both within and without 
 the line of entrenchments. 
 
 Among these appointments Major Belgrano was entrusted with the 
 construction of two of the defences to the south of the Plaza Mayor. 
 Ca])tain Lorea, with his own company, had charge of the block in 
 which his own house stood, which was considered to be one of the 
 most important outposts ; his brother-in-law, Don P^elipe Navarro, 
 had command of the block situate to the west of the Church of Santo 
 Domingo ; and Don Marcelino Ponce de Leon and his negroes were 
 appointed to the block contiguous to the Church of San Miguel. All 
 these appointments were provisional, for nothing positive was known 
 as yet as to the losses which the army had sulfered in the action at 
 the Corrales de la Miserere. 
 
 The plan of defence thus adopted was a part only of that sketched 
 out by Don Carlos Evaiia, which was modified by the suppression of 
 an exterior line of defence and of sundry details, for the carrying out 
 of which tlie time was too short. The garrisons of the Retiro and 
 the Residencia, which formed two most imi)ortant outposts to the 
 north and south of the central Plazas, were to be instructed to defend 
 themselves to the last extremity. 
 
 Two hours after sundown on that night of sorrow, Doha Dalmacia 
 Navarro sat alone in her sala, alone and in darkness, save for a lamp 
 which burned dimly in the ante-sala on the writing-table of her 
 husband. So had she sat alone ever since the firing had ceased on
 
 126 rON'CE DE LEON 
 
 the Plaza Miserere, communinp; anxiously with herself, refusing all 
 attention or sympathy fnjm those who would gladly have shared her 
 anxiety with her, replying only to those who would at times approach 
 her with this one question — 
 
 " Vet has no one come ? " 
 
 Antl the answer was alwa)s, no. Men hurried across the wide, 
 open space before her sala windows and along the adjacent street ; 
 eagerly listening, she heard something of the words they s])oke as they 
 passed on — these words were ever of disaster, ruiri, and despair, and 
 as slie listened her heart sank within her. The army was evidently com- 
 pletely beaten; and Isidro and the gallant men he led, she knew them 
 well, thev were not the men to fly like frightened boys, they would have 
 withstood the onset of the English even if left alone ; and those volleys 
 she had heard, and that roaring of the guns, at whom had they been 
 directed? who had fired them? She shuddered to herself as she thought 
 how she had exulted at the sound, and had pictured to herself hundreds 
 of prostrate foes, stretched in wounds and death on her native soil. 
 
 Unable to bear her anxious thoughts in the quiet darkness of her 
 sala, she rose from her seat and went into the ante-sala, drawing her 
 heavy mantle round her with a shiver. She went and sat in her 
 husband's chair, and leaned upon his desk turning over his papers 
 mechanically, scarce knowing what she did. She took up his pen 
 and fondled it in her hands ; beside it lay a tinsel pen-wiper, heavily 
 embroidered with beads and gold cord, which she had made for him 
 herself; she bent over it and kissed it, as she had seen him do the 
 day she had given it to hmi, his saint's day, not two short months 
 ago. Then she looked under the sofa and saw his slippers lying 
 there, and drew them out and laid them beside his chair ready for 
 him when he should come in. Would he ever put them on again ? 
 As she asked herself that question a low moan broke from her, she 
 could look at them no longer, she could no longer bear the sight and 
 neighbourhood of all these things which spoke to her of him, and 
 seemed to ask her were they his no more ? She left the ante-sala 
 and the dim light, and went back to the darkness of her sala, crouch- 
 ing down on a low chair and burying her face in her hands. 
 
 Then there came a footstep and a voice, two voices, both of them 
 she knew. They were safe — her husband and her brotlier. What 
 mattered defeat and shame, they might be retrieved, but from death 
 there is no return. A wild joy succeeded to her anxious sorrow, she 
 started to her feet ; as she reached the folding-doors, her husband 
 stood before her, but oh ! so changed. Dripjnng wet, — for it was 
 raining heavily, — with clothes torn and covered with mud, his face 
 pale and haggard, his eyes deep-sunk in his head ; but for his voice 
 she would scarce have known him. 
 
 " Isidro ! " she exclaimed, opening her arms to him. 
 
 But he shrank from her, and, throwing himself upon the sofa, buried 
 his face in the cushions. 
 
 " Do not touch me, do not come near me," he said, as she bent over 
 him. " You know not what has happened." 
 
 " The English have been too strong for you," said Dona Dalmacia, 
 seating herself beside him, and laying one soft arm on his neck.
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. 1 2/ 
 
 *•' They were few, and we fled from them like sheep, Hke sheep. We 
 are disgraced for ever. Never more shall we dare to look them in the 
 face." 
 
 " You are tired ; to-morrow will be another day." 
 
 " Ah ! Dalma, if you only knew how they made us march ; all the 
 blessed day without a morsel to eat and nothing but muddv water to 
 drink," said Don Isidro, raising himself on his elbow and venturing at 
 last to look at his wife. What he saw in her face was a tender look of 
 pity and of sympathy. 
 
 " Are you not asliamed of me, Dalma ? " he asked her, with a 
 brightening eye. " I am a runaway and a coward. Are you nut 
 ashamed of me, Dalma ? " 
 
 " You are no coward, Isidro," said Dona Dalmacia, tlirowing her 
 arms round his neck ; " you are tired and have eaten nothing ; to- 
 morrow will be another day." 
 
 Don Isidro bowed his head upon her shoulder, and for a minute 
 there was silence between them. 
 
 Don Felipe Navarro, who had come in with his brother-in-law, had 
 thrown himself wearily into an arm-chair. 
 
 " Yes, Dalma, my sister," said he, " to-morrow will be another 
 day, and we without an army shall have all the invaders upon us. 
 Those we saw to-day were only the vanguard." 
 
 " Without an army," exclaimed Dona Dalmacia, looking round at 
 him with a fresh terror in her eyes. " Have then so many fallen ? 
 And the Reconquistador, what has become of him ? " 
 
 "Of Liniers I know nothing. We have not many killed, but tlie 
 army is dispersed," replied Don Felipe. 
 
 " We have no hope now, for there is no confidence," said Don Isiilro. 
 " All the fight was without order; it may be said that there was no fight. 
 We were not beaten, we ran away because we did not know what to do." 
 
 " So long as it was an affair of shooting," said Don Felipe, " our men 
 
 stood well enough, but when they came at us with the bayonet ■ 
 
 Do you know, it is an imposing thing, that charge with the bayonet. 
 Those English with their smooth faces look like boys, but wlien they 
 came at us in a long line close together we felt that they vi^ere men. 
 If we had vvaited for them the half of our men would have stopped 
 there for ever." 
 
 " Have many stopped there ? " said Dofia Dalmacia. " I have heard 
 heavier firing at a review." 
 
 " Of ours we have lost very few," replied Don Isidro. " The corps on 
 the left, where Liniers was, were all in disorder, and I don't think they 
 lost many. But I fear me much, Dalma, we have lost a friend." 
 
 " Say ! " said Doha Dalmacia, nervously closing one hand upon his 
 shoulder. 
 
 " Los Morenos de Ponce," are almost anniliilated. 
 
 " Marcelino sacrificed himself and his men to save the others," said 
 Felipe Navarro. 
 
 " It is what one might foretell of him," said Dona Dalmacia, burst- 
 ing into tears. 
 
 " Do not weep, my soul," S''i''l I^on Isidro. " As yet we know 
 nothing positive. Felipe and i niut sunic of the negroes after night-
 
 128 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 fall, and went back with them to the qiunta from Avhlcli they were 
 driven. 'I'here were many dead lying about, and we carried off a 
 great many wounded; every house about there is an hospital. We 
 searched where they said he had fallen — we found the bodies of three 
 negroes, but of him we could find nothing." 
 
 "Always we will hope," said the brave lady, rising and wiping away 
 her tears. " To-morrow will be another day." 
 
 Just then there came a knock at the outer door, and a loud voice 
 shouted — ■ 
 
 " Order from the Sehores of the Cabildo. That three lights be 
 placed in every window and a lamp hung in every doorway." 
 
 Again the knock was rejjeated. 
 
 " It shall be done," said Don Isidro, running out himself in answer 
 to the summons. 
 
 At the Quinta de Ponce the whole household was astir before sun- 
 rise on the morning of the 2nd July, roused from sleep by the cries of 
 the female servants and slaves, who had seen Evaristo saddle his pony 
 and gallop off towards town at dawn. Don Roderigo paced anxiously 
 to and fro in the sala, his wife covered with a loose wrapper and 
 with dishevelled hair vainly trying to soothe him. 
 
 " Where can that foolish boy have gone to? " said he. " Did he 
 speak to no one before he went ? " 
 
 " I can tell you, papa," said Dolores, who came in at that moment, 
 " he has gone to join Marcelino ; he said he would be with hmi when 
 the fighting began, and Evaristo always does what he says he wilL" 
 
 "What can he do? a mere boy like him?" said Doha Constancia, 
 clasping her hands and looking tearfully at her husband. 
 
 " Do not cry, Mamita," said Dolores, half crying herself, " God will 
 protect him as he will Marcelino." 
 
 " Who has made you so wise about what God will do ? " said Don 
 Roderigo sharply. " No duty calls him away from us." 
 
 As they spoke a mulatta girl came running into the room. 
 
 " Oh ! Patrona ! the English ! the English ! ! " cried she, wringing 
 her hands. 
 
 Dolores and her mother clung to each other in terror. 
 
 " Where ? " said Don Roderigo, putting himself in the way of the 
 terrified mulatta, and stamping his foot to bring her to her senses. 
 
 " The English Sehor, Patron, the English Sehor, Don Alejandro, 
 he has climbed up a tree, and he can see them on the high road. 
 They go straight for the city, he knows them. Oh ! my God ! what 
 will become of us ? " 
 
 " Silence, fool ! " said Don Roderigo ; " if they are going to the city 
 they will not come here." 
 
 At frequent intervals all day long Lieutenant Gordon climbed up 
 into his tree, giving an account of all the movements he saw in the 
 open country round him. Three hours after the passing of this first 
 body, which Gordon had calculated at about 2000 men, and which 
 had marched by the high road leading to the Puente Galves, there came 
 a much larger body, which left the road, and crossing camp about half 
 a league to the south of the Quinta de Ponce, marched round the head-
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. 129 
 
 waters of the Arroyo jMaciel and then turned nordiwards towai-ds 
 the Paso Zamorra on the Riachuelo. 
 
 Anxiously the day passed with them all. About noon the sound of 
 cannon and musketry came to them from a direction far to the west of 
 the Puente Galves, but it soon ceased, and no more was heard till clo5;e 
 upon sundown, when it commenced again, dying gradually away as 
 darkness came on. Again Gordon climbed into his tree ; over the- 
 tree-tops of the quintas about the Plaza Miserere there hung light 
 clouds of white smoke, then night came on, all was again silent ; what 
 had happened ? 
 
 This question Doha Constancia asked herself as she sat in a low 
 chair in the sala. Dolores, seated beside her on a low stool, resting 
 her head upon her mother's knee, asked herself that question also. 
 Don Roderigo, Juan Carlos, and Gordon each also asked himself that 
 question; no one answered it, and they expected no answer till the 
 morrow. They sat in darkness, for darkness was to them rest and 
 relief, hiding from each the anxiety which clouded the faces of them 
 all ; and in silence, for each feared to give utterance to his own 
 thoughts. There came a barking of dogs, a trampling of horses' feet, 
 and a confused sound of voices outside ; the door opened, a servant 
 came in bearing a lighted lamp and announced, " El Senor Coronel 
 Lopez." 
 
 As Colonel Lopez entered the room he bowed gravely to all 
 present, then advancing to Dona Constancia he ceremoniously kissed 
 her hand. They crowded round him in silence, waiting for him to 
 speak, all save Doha Constancia, who sat still in her chair twining her 
 fingers together nervously, and looking eagerly at him. But he spoke 
 not, throwing his hat on to a chair, and fumbling with the throat- 
 buttons of his cloak. 
 
 "Say- — what news ?" said Don Roderigo. " How has the day gone 
 with ours ? " 
 
 " What news ? " replied the colonel. " Little, and what there is 
 is bad. Where can I take off this cloak of mine ? " he added, looking 
 significantly at Don Roderigo. 
 
 " Come this way," said tlie latter. 
 
 " No, no ! " exclaimed Doha Constancia, springing to her feet and 
 clutching him with both hands by one arm. " My son ! ha\'e you 
 seen him? Quick, tell me, anything is better than this uncertainty." 
 
 " Marcelino ! yes, I was with him this morning. Since then I 
 know nothing of him. AVe tried to capture two guns from these 
 English ; me they pitched into the river, of him 1 know nothing." 
 
 " No, no ! you are hiding something from me ; he was with you, 
 what has become of him ? " 
 
 " I tell you, Constancia, I know nothing." 
 
 " He is dead ! '' .said Doha Constancia, sinking back into her chair 
 and covering her face with her hands. 
 
 "Uncle," said Dolores in a hoarse voice, "tell all you know. I 
 know that he can't be " she could not finish the sentence. 
 
 "I believe he is a prisoner," said the colonel. "He passed the 
 river with his negroes, and was cut off from the rest, lie had no way 
 to escape, I suppose he is a prisoner." 
 
 K
 
 I3C' 
 
 PONXE DE LEON. 
 
 ♦' I saw them," said Gordon. " There could not be much over 
 2000 of them. U'here was Liniers? 'I'hcy said yesterday that he 
 had marched out with all the garrison of the city." 
 
 " l.iniers talks much, but knows nothing. The English played 
 with him, got behind him, and marched upon the city. I watched 
 them ; for my part, I have had plenty of it. AVhat could Marcelino 
 .•md I do alone ? They did not even take one step to support us. 
 It appears that he counter-marched at once when he saw them across 
 the river, and went back to the city; in the suburbs they fell upon 
 him and routed him completely ; without doubt you heard the firing 
 two hours ago. We have no army now, and by this time the English 
 have the city. All is lost, and I have come to consult with you," 
 added he, laying his hand on the shoulder of Don Roderigo. 
 
 These two left the room together ; the others remained, looking at 
 one another in consternation. 
 
 " Do not believe him, Doiia Constancia," said Gordon, kneeling 
 down beside her. " You have been so good to me, I cannot bear 
 you to look like that. What he has said is simply impossible ; I am 
 a soldier and know how these things are done. Marcelino would 
 never have passed the river unless he had supports, and Liniers had 
 five times as many men as those English I saw."' 
 
 While Gordon with Juan Carlos and Dolores did all they could to 
 calm the anxiety of Dona Constancia, Don Roderigo heard enough 
 from the colonel to fill him with even deeper anxiety than before. 
 Leaving him, he went out, called for his horse, and then returned to 
 the sala, covered from neck to ancles in a large horseman's cloak, and 
 with a brace of pistols in his waist-belt. 
 
 " You leave us ? " exclaimed Dona Constancia, as she saw him 
 return. 
 
 " Yes," said he, bending over her caressingly. " I am not a 
 soldier ; while we had an army I left this work to soldiers, now we 
 have no army I shall do my duty as a citizen. Adios ! " 
 
 So he left them, and Doiia Constancia, leaning upon the shoulder 
 of Juan Carlos, said dreamily — ■ 
 
 " Father, sons, husband, all that I have, and this is what they call 
 patriotism." 
 
 So saying, her knees bent under her and she Avould have fallen, 
 but that her remaining son threw his arm round her, and supported 
 her in a fainting state to a sofa, where, as she lay, she heard the foot- 
 falls of her husband's horse as he galloped rapidly away.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE COUNCIL OF WAR. 
 
 The morrow came, and it was another dav. 
 
 At sunrise the drums beat to arms all over the city; again the troops, 
 native militia and Spaniards, assembled at their various head-quarters. 
 Trace of the sorrow and depression of the past night had all vanished ; 
 all was again enthusiasm and fierce resolve. On comparing notes one 
 with another, the losses seemed marvellously small after the crushing 
 defeat they had suffered. In some regiments entire companies were 
 missing, but they were probably with General Liniers, of whom no- 
 thing was yet known. 
 
 It was immediately resolved by the various chiefs that the English 
 should not be left unmolested, and sundry companies were detailed 
 at once for service in the suburbs, Avhile the rest of the forces were 
 employed on the central defences around the Plaza Mayor. 
 
 Captain Lorea of the Patricios was the first to march with his com- 
 pany. He marched straight for the quinta which had been held the 
 previous day by the " Morenos de Ponce." Here he found that the 
 English had established an outpost. He at once opened fire and 
 advanced against them, upon which the enemy retired. Then posting 
 his men along the far fence, with instructions to fire on any of the 
 English who should come within range, he renewed his search for his 
 missing friend Marcelino. But the search was again in vain. He 
 could find no trace of him, and the occupants of the quinta could tell 
 him nothing. They had fled when the fighting commenced, and had 
 only returned at midnight. 
 
 All day long the firing continued in the suburbs, with loss of life on 
 both sides, but the English withdrew any outpost that was seriously 
 attacked, only to re-occupy it when their foes retreated. So much 
 powder and shot wasted in a military point of view, but not wasted 
 in its effects upon the citizen soldiers, who thus became accustomed 
 to the whiz of the shot, and whose renewed confidence might have 
 melted away in forced inactivity. 
 
 Inhere was one corps in the army of yesterday whicli had no head- 
 quarters in the city, the " Morenos de Ponce." At sunrise they 
 paraded in the Plaza de Eos Perdices, under the command of 
 Lieutenant Asneiros, about 120 men, all tokl. Backwards and for- 
 wards through the ranks walked tlie lieutenant, rigorously inspecting 
 arms and accoutrements, when a liorseman drew rein in front of the 
 line. Many of the negroes knew him, and their dark faces brightened 
 up as they looked upon him.
 
 132 rONCE DK LEON. 
 
 '' ^^orenos ! " said he, raising his hand, " we all know how gallantly 
 you followed your brave leader yesterday. The country appreciates 
 your services. Spain, our mother-country, whose flag you have so 
 valiantly defended, will reward them. Your commandant, my son," 
 here the speaker's voice faltered a little, " is absent ; wounded or a 
 prisoner, we know not what has become of him. We yet need your 
 serxices, Morenos ; we have an arrogant enemy before us, but tlie 
 city is yet ours, and we will defend it to the last. You have shown 
 yourselves worthy to follow the lead of a Ponce de Leon. When the 
 struggle commences, if my son be not widi you, I myself will take his 
 ])lace. Together we will avenge the deaths of your slaughtered com- 
 rades and the loss of your commandant upon the insolent invader." 
 
 " Viva, Don Roderigo ! Viva ! ! " shouted the negroes ; after which 
 the horseman, waving his hand to them, spoke a few words to Asneiros 
 and trotted off. 
 
 About an hour afterwards an English officer with his eyes bandaged, 
 and escorted by a picket of the first Patricios, presented himself to 
 the Cabildo, having been received in the suburbs by Colonel Elio, 
 carrying a flag of truce, and bearing a demand from General Gower 
 for the immediate surrender of the city. The members present 
 glanced curiously one at the other and some laughed. Don Roderigo 
 Ponce de Leon, as the one among them most conversant with English, 
 took upon himself to answer the demand. 
 
 "Your general," said he, "deceives himself; he thinks that by his 
 victory of yesterday he has crushed us. He deceives himself. Tell 
 him that our troops are yet numerous and enthusiastic, and that to 
 a man we are all ready to die, if need be, in defence of our city. The 
 hour has now come for us to show our patriotism, and we shall do it." 
 
 All the members rose from their seats and bowed with great 
 formality as the officer retired. 
 
 As he went, a horseman m the dress of a paisano dismounted at 
 the door of the Cabildo, and announced himself as a chasque with a 
 despatch from General Liniers. He was at once led to the council- 
 chamber, and delivered his despatch to Don Gregorio Lopez, who 
 acted as president during a temi)orary absence of Don Martin Alzaga. 
 
 Don Gregorio read the letter, and then threw it across the table to 
 his son-in-law, saying contemptuously — 
 
 " Look at that." 
 
 The letter was from General Liniers to the Cabildo, announcing in 
 terms of humility, almost amounting to despair, the complete defeat 
 and dispersion of his army, and stating that he had yet looo men 
 with him and awaited orders. 
 
 " Just what one might expect," said Don Roderigo, when he had 
 glanced over it and handed it to another member of the Cabildo. 
 " Men of his fiery temperament are ever the most cast down when a 
 reverse comes. It will be best to order him at once back to the city 
 to take command of the defence." 
 
 " Give him the command again, when by his folly he has lost us an 
 army ? " exclaimed Don Gregorio. 
 
 "Just so," replied Don Roderigo. "As we place confidence in 
 him, so will he strive to merit it. He is a soldier, and the men like
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. 1 33 
 
 him ; he knows better than any of us what to do. The affair of 
 yesterday will be a lesson to him." 
 
 " If we call him back he is at once the chief over us all, and our 
 plan of defence will be set aside." 
 
 " That, no ; Ave have determined to act on the defensive without con- 
 sultmg him, we must tell him that it is to take command of the defence 
 alone that we recall him. What do you say, Sehores ? " said Don 
 Roderigo, addressing himself to the other members. " Shall we not 
 do better with a soldier to command our troops ? " 
 
 " Liniers is a daring soldier," said one of them. " The men will 
 forget yesterday when they hear his cheerful voice again among them. 
 When they see him they will remember only that last year he was the 
 hero Avho forced an entire army to surrender." 
 
 In this view all agi-eed, and Don Roderigo sat down to answer the 
 despatch at once in very few words. As he wrote, Don Gregorio 
 turned to look at the chasque who had remained in the room, looking 
 about him with an air of the most complete indifference. 
 
 " I have seen you before, my friend," said he. " Are you not the 
 man w'ho brought from Colonel Lopez the news of the advance of the 
 English upon Quilmes ? " 
 
 " Just so," answered the man. " The Sehor General Liniers took me 
 with him that day, and yesterday I was with him to the end." 
 
 " Then you were present at the fight on the Plaza Miserere ? " 
 
 " Yes, I saw it all, but I do not call that a fight. When they ought 
 to have rushed on them they stopped to shoot, and it was all disorder. 
 But what would you ? They were on foot. I, yes ; last year I saw a 
 fight further away, beyond the Plaza Miserere. There, yes ; there we 
 went on to the top of them like men, but it was all in vain ; in the same, 
 no more, it ended. Look you that these English are the very devil, 
 but \\Vi\t no fear, in some way we shall arrange them." uj,*^;.,.. 
 
 " Were you with Don Juan Martin Puyrredon at Perdriel ? " 
 
 " I was, and I escaped only by a miracle. That, yes ; that was a 
 fight. When a man is on horseback he is worth three, but these 
 people of the city who go on foot ! what would you have ? " 
 
 " But these English, they were on foot, both yesterday and at 
 Perdriel." 
 
 " And among houses and fences. Let them come and seek us in 
 the oj)en camp ; we will teach them." 
 
 '.' it apjjears that my son has had a warrior among his men." , 
 
 " Your son, Sehor ! Who will he be ? " 
 
 " Colonel Lopez, who was your chief two days ago." 
 
 " And your worship, will you be the Sehor Don Gregorio 
 Lopez ? " 
 
 " I am he. And you, what is your name ? " 
 
 " I call myself Venceslao Viana, at your service, Senor Don 
 Gregorio." 
 
 At this Don Gregorio rose from his seat with a grave look on his 
 face and walked away to a window, while Don Roderigo looked up 
 from the letter which he had just finished, and examined attentively 
 the face of the chasque, who appeared somewhat disconcerted at the 
 abrupt termination of his conversation with Don Gregorio.
 
 134 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 Then folding up the letter and sealing it with the official seal of the 
 Cahildo, Don Roderigo handed it to Venceslao Viana. 
 
 " This to the Sehor General Liniers," he said. " But first tell me, 
 have you seen anything of the Itnglish to-day?" 
 
 " Much, I came right through their lines. There is another army 
 of them crossed the Riachuelo at the Zamorra Pass this morninu." 
 
 " Then vaya con Dios, and don't lose a minute ; " so saying, Don 
 Roderigo opened the door for him, and shaking him warmly by the 
 hand dismissed him, as much surprised at his politeness as at the 
 sudden coolness of Don Gregorio. 
 
 " One must be the devil himself to understand the ways of these 
 men who wear coats," said Venceslao to himself, as he mounted his 
 horse. " That old man must be in some way a relation of mine ; he 
 will be one of those relations in the city of whom my father never 
 speaks. He would speak to me no more when he knew who I was. 
 And that other ! Who knows if he is not a relation also. When one 
 is a man of family one never knows where one may meet relations." 
 
 Venceslao was not much given to thinking, and had soon something 
 else to employ his wits on, having to make diligent use of his eyes to 
 escape the scouting and foraging parties of the English. He reached 
 General Liniers in safety and delivered his despatch, which restored 
 the despondent soldier to his usual confident activity. Taking Ven- 
 ceslao as his guide he marched rapidly by cross-roads back to town, 
 exchanging a few harmless shots with a party of English who were 
 advancing towards the Miserere, and at once took charge of the pre- 
 parations for defence. 
 
 That evening, as Venceslao was lounging about under the colonnade 
 m front of the Gabildo, he was accosted by Don Roderigo Ponce de 
 Leon. 
 
 " What are you doing, friend ? " said Don Roderigo, 
 
 " I am wvaiting for nightfall. There are so many English about that 
 it will be dangerous to go out by daylight," replied Venceslao. 
 
 " Go out ! And where are you going ? " 
 
 " To present myself to my chief" 
 
 " That cannot be. Here in the city is the place for all good 
 patriots. You have seen fire, we need men like you." 
 
 " And what can I do here ? Of these manoeuvres on foot I know 
 nothing, and my horse will die of hunger." 
 
 " Of that have no fear, remain with me, I will find something for 
 you to do." 
 
 "With very much pleasure; Senor, 1 am at your service," answered 
 Venceslao. 
 
 " Then go to my house, there }ou will find plenty of comrades. 
 Go that way," said Don Roderigo, pointing along the face of the 
 Gabildo northwards. " Take the second turning to the left and then 
 go straight on till close to the church of San Miguel. You Avill see a 
 negro sentry at a doorway, that is my house. The ' Morenos de 
 Ponce ' are quartered there ; tell Lieutenant Asneiros that Don 
 Roderigo sent you. I shall be there myself later on." 
 
 " Hasta luego, Senor Don Roderigo," said Venceslao, mounting 
 his horse and trotting ofif.
 
 THE PROVv^ESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. 1 35 
 
 As he settled himself in the saddle he shook his head meditatively 
 and said to himself, " Certainly he must be some relation of mine. 
 Look you, when a man is of family he has duties of which others know 
 nothing. This Sehor Don Roderigo must have some claim on my 
 services, for that it is that he sends me. It is necessary then that I 
 obey, so here goes to join the ' Morenos de Ponce.' I have seen 
 something of them, and now that I think of it, the comandante is that 
 young man who was at my house with the colonel months ago, before 
 I made myself a lancer; the colonel said he might be some relation of 
 mine, I will ask him about it." 
 
 Here his soliloquy was cut short by his finding the street blocked 
 up by a huge mound of earth, beyond which was a deep ditch. On 
 the mound a party of the Catalan regiment were hard at work raising 
 a stout breastwork and laying down a platform for a heavy gun, which 
 stood in the street behind. On the azotea on each side a sentry 
 paced up and down with his firelock on his shoulder. A Spanish 
 officer stopped him and enquired where he was going. 
 
 " I belong to the ' Morenos de Ponce,' " answered Venceslao. 
 " Where are they quartered ? " 
 
 •' Pass," answered the officer, pointing to a narrow passage on the 
 sidewalk. " Four squares from here on the left hand." 
 
 Venceslao passed on, found the " Morenos de Ponce," and was 
 soon at home among them, but he did not find the comandante, and 
 his curiosity concerning his relationship remained unsatisfied. 
 
 Meantime the news of the landing of the English had spread over 
 the campaha, and the chiefs of the partidarios hastily collected their men 
 together. On the night of the 3rd July messengers from them made 
 their way into the city, bearing letters asking instructions from the 
 Reconquistador. To all the same answer was returned, that the 
 men who had firearms should repair to the city and join the garrison, 
 and that the rest should hover about the rear of the invading army 
 and annoy it to the best of their ability. During the day, and more 
 especially during the night of the 4th July, hundreds of paisanos 
 entered the city, and were spread about in small detachments attached 
 to the different infantry corps. A strong force of them were also em- 
 bodied and encamped on the Plaza de Los Perdices, where they would 
 be at hand should cavalry be required. 
 
 On the 4th, Don Isidro Lorea turned his attention to fortifying 
 his house. He threw open all the windows of both house and 
 almacen, blocking them up for half their height with boxes and barrels, 
 through which he made two loop-holes at each window. On the 
 parapet of his azotea he arranged tercios of yerba and boxes filled 
 with earth, leaving a few inches between each to serve as loopholes. 
 In addition to his own company he had all the men resident in that 
 and the two neighbouring blocks under his command, which raised 
 his force to about 400, all supplied with fire-arms and anmiunition. 
 His instructions from General Liniers were, that he should on no 
 account venture into the streets, but was to defend his i)Osition to the 
 last extremity.
 
 136 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 It was the afternoon of the 4th July, the British army was cantonned 
 all alonijj the western side of the city, the British fleet was at anchor in 
 the roadstead, but as yet no attack had been made. General White- 
 lock with liis staff occupied a small country house close to the Plaza 
 Miserere, to which he had been conducted by an American named 
 White, to whom this house had formerly belonged. Mr. AVhite had 
 been for many years resident in Buenos Aires ; he had joined the 
 English army at Monte Video, and was frequently consulted by 
 General ^^■hitelock, who placed much confidence in him. 
 
 General Whitelock held a council of war that afternoon, all his 
 superior officers being present. The council was held in the dining- 
 room of Mr. White's house ; on the table in this room lay a map of 
 the cit}^ on which most of the churches and public buildings were 
 clearly marked, but which was full of inaccuracies. 
 
 The council had now sat for nearly an hour ; the general, seated in 
 an arm-chair at the head of the table, seemed somewhat ruffled at 
 what had passed. On the faces of many of his officers there was an 
 evident gloom ; they had not approved of the plan of attack which had 
 been disclosed to them, but their advice had not been asked, they had 
 been merely summoned to have the plan explained to them and to 
 receive instructions. The troops had been under arms all the morning, 
 General Whitelock having at first contemplated making the assault at 
 midday, but the constant fire kept up upon his advanced posts had 
 decided him to postpone it until the next morning ; even he saw the 
 danger of advancing in broad daylight down those long, narrow streets. 
 
 But on the faces of some younger officers there sat the smile of 
 undoubting confidence, and many a gay jest passed among them at 
 the expense of the runaway Frenchman and his Greole troops, who, 
 after the signal proof of incapacity which they had given two days 
 before, had yet dared to return a defiant answer to a second summons 
 to surrender their city. 
 
 At this moment the door opened, and a tall man with stern, sallow 
 features entered the room. 
 
 " Excuse me. General," said he in very good English, but Avith a 
 foreign accent, " I knew not that you were engaged, I will retire." 
 
 " By no means, Sehor," said General Whitelock. " Come in and 
 sit down, I thought we had left you in Monte Video." 
 
 " I landed at Quilmes this morning, and Colonel Mahon informed 
 me where I should find you." 
 
 " Craddock," said the general to an aide-de-camp, " a chair for the 
 Senor Evaha." 
 
 " Have you heard of the answer I have received from these citizens 
 of Buenos Aires to my summons ? " asked the general as Evaha seated 
 himself. 
 
 " I have heard that they refuse to surrender," answered Evana coldly. 
 
 " Refuse ! Yes, and in terms which Avould come well from a 
 victorious army, but not from a defeated mob of militia. See there, 
 read for yourself," added the general, handing an open despatch to 
 Evaha. 
 
 Evana took the despatch and read it. A flush spread over his 
 features as he read the proud disdainful words in which the men of an
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. 1 37 
 
 open city defied the menace of a soldier at the head of a well- 
 appointed arm}-. He glanced at the signatures, and saw amongst 
 them those of Don Gregorio Lopez and of Don Roderigo Ponce de 
 Leon. His own countrymen and the Spaniards joined cordially 
 together in the heroic resolve to defend the city to the last, and for 
 what? For Spain. He sighed deeply as he refolded the despatch 
 and returned it to the general with a Ioav bow, saying — 
 
 " Then there is nothing but an appeal to arms." 
 
 " And that we need think little of," answered the general. " Perda 
 cuidao, as your people say, the sun will shine for the last time to- 
 morrow upon the Spanish flag m that fort over yonder, and you will 
 have some shopkeeping countrymen the fewer." 
 
 " God grant that that flag come down," said Evaha ; " too long 
 has it crushed out the soul of my country, but, General, as I told you 
 before, you do not know my countrymen. If you would but have 
 made allies of them, that flag would have come down without your 
 risking the lives of thousands of men in pulling it down." 
 
 " It would have given place to some new-fangled flag of a republic 
 I suppose. Enough of that, Sehor Evaha, the flag that has to fly there 
 to-morrow is the English flag." 
 
 " Then you purpose taking the city by assault?" said Evaha. 
 
 " Just so," answered the general ; " 1 intend to give those saucy 
 citizens of yours another taste of the cold steel, it seems that one lesson 
 is not enough for them." 
 
 " You will lose many men. General. You have the command of the 
 river, I should have thought a blockade would have been much more 
 certain and would have spared useless bloodshed." 
 
 " The calculation of a civilian and not of a soldier, Senor Evana. 
 What do you say, Craddock ? Do you think you would win your spurs 
 by starving them out ? " 
 
 " I should precious soon tire of that work," answered the aide-de- 
 camp ; " besides which you would have to shoot me. General, for I 
 should begin to smuggle provisions into the city as soon as I heard 
 that the pretty Portehas were beginning to look thin on siege rations." 
 
 " Always thinking of the girls, Craddock," said the general laughing. 
 " Well, I can promise you that you wont have to wait much longer be- 
 fore you can begin making love to them." 
 
 "He may chance to have his love-making spoiled before he even 
 sees them," said Evana, bending over the table and examining the 
 map of the city which lay before him. 
 
 " Every bullet has its billet," said the aide-de-camp, with a sneer ; 
 " the billets of those of your militia seem mostly up in the air from 
 what I hear of their shooting." 
 
 During this talk most of the officers who had taken part in the 
 council left the room, but two or three still remained. One of them 
 was a strikingly handsome man of medium stature, with curly brown 
 hair and hazel eyes. 
 
 " Perhaps the Sehor Evaha would like to know our plan of assault," 
 said this officer. 
 
 " FLxplain it to him, Craddock," said the general. 
 
 " We shall keep looo men in reserve at the corrales," said Crad-
 
 IjS rONCE DE LEON. " 
 
 dock, "besides Colonel Mahoii's brigade, which will advance to 
 the Galves bridge to-morrow. The rest of the troops we divide into 
 three columns of attack, which will advance by parallel streets through 
 the city to the river-side, and will then unite in a combined attack 
 upon the great square, where we understand the principal force of the 
 enemy is entrenched." 
 
 " I see a great many streets marked on the plan," said Evana. 
 
 " Exactly so," replied the aide-de-camp ; " each column will march 
 in subdivisions by adjacent streets, which will mutually support each 
 other in case of need." 
 
 " And each subdivision will be separated from the next by a block 
 of barricaded houses 140 yards long," interrupted Evana. 
 
 " You see, General," said the handsome officer, " he has hit upon 
 your weak place at once." 
 
 " What does he know ? " said the general angrily ; " fire away, 
 Craddock." 
 
 " In the Spanish cities," continued Craddock, " the churches invari- 
 ably occupy the most important positions. We have thus fixed upon 
 two churches upon which the three columns will form their base of 
 attack upon the centre." 
 
 " \Ve have learnt to-day that they are running up barricades in some 
 parts of the city," said the officer who had spoken before. 
 
 " Are they ? " exclaimed Evana eagerly, as he thought of the plan 
 of defence he had left with Don Gregorio Lopez. " Do you know 
 where they have placed these barricades ? " 
 
 " Near to the principal square," answered the other. 
 
 " There is nothing that we know of to prevent us reaching our first 
 positions," said the aide-de-camp. " We shall simply march down the 
 streets musket on shoulder without firing a shot, till we are near enough 
 to inspect these barricades. We may probably have to batter them 
 with cannon before we make our second advance. See, these are the 
 churches I told you of. On the north there is this place, a large con- 
 vent, I believe." 
 
 " Las Monjas Catalinas," said Evana. 
 
 " A convent is always a good place to occupy as a post, it is " 
 
 " Quite in your line, eh ! Craddock," interrupted the general ; 
 " unfortunately, my boy, you wont be with that column to-morrow." 
 
 " The columns of the left and centre will concentrate upon this 
 convent after establishing a strong rear-guard at the bull-ring here to 
 the north of the city," resumed Craddock. " Then in the centre there 
 is this church, San Miguel I think they call it" 
 
 Evana nodded his head. 
 
 " This church stands in the highest part of the city. When the 
 three columns have reached their stations, we shall march a part of the 
 reserve upon this church so as to open communications with the at- 
 tacks from the north and south upon the great square. Then on the 
 south, where Crauford has the command," said Craddock, nodding to 
 the brown-haired officer, " we have first a large detached house 
 surrounded by iron railings." 
 
 " The Residencia," said Evaiia. 
 1 believe that is what it is called. Colonel Guard will be de- 
 
 ((
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. 1 39 
 
 tached to occupy this position. Then further on, only three blocks 
 from the great square, we have a large church with a dome and two 
 lofty towers. General Crauford with the rest of the column of the 
 right will form his base of attack upon this church." 
 
 "How do you call that church, Sehor Evaha?" asked General 
 Crauford. 
 
 " The church of Santo Domingo," answered Evaha. 
 
 " Crauford takes great interest in that church," said Craddock ; 
 " he has been all day on the roof examining it through a telescope, 
 but he can't see much of it from here." 
 
 " Crauford wanted to take the city all by himself on Thursday 
 night," said General Whitelock. 
 
 " There was nothing to oppose me after I had dispersed the militia 
 and that negro regiment that fought so well," said General Crauford. 
 " If I had not been recalled by Gower I should have marched through 
 the city and captured the fort. I penetrated through the suburbs to 
 the head of a street which Pack told me leads straight to the great 
 square." 
 
 " It is a pity you did not," said Evaha j " the city was panic-struck 
 from what I hear ; you would probably have captured the fort without 
 firing a shot. To-morrow you will find it a very different matter to 
 march down those long, straight streets." 
 
 " We shall lose some men of course," said General Whitelock, 
 " but we shall establish ourselves on both tlanks of their principal 
 position, and then you will see that Frenchman will have had enough 
 of it, and he will surrender." 
 
 " You know not what you are doing, General," said Evaha ; " if you 
 had studied for a year you could not have devised a plan which would 
 have entailed greater sacrifice of life. I tell you that if you carry out 
 this plan of yours, those streets of Buenos Aires will be to you and 
 your men pathways of death," 
 
 " Sehor Evaha," replied General Whitelock, rising bruskly from 
 his chair, " when I need the advice of so distinguished a miliiaire as 
 yourself be certain that I shall not forget to ask for it." 
 
 To this Evaha made no answer, but rising from his seat he took 
 up his hat, bowed formally to all present, and left the room. 
 
 " This native friend of ours has somewhat nettled the general," 
 whispered Captain Craddock in Crauford's ear. 
 
 "He has," answered the other gloomily, "and the worst is, that 
 what he says is perfectly true. Give me that city and a garrison of 
 10,000 men, and I defy any 50,000 troops in the world to drive me 
 out of it, even if they had Napoleon himself to lead them, or that new 
 Indian general of ours they think so much of at home. Sir Arthur 
 Welleslcy." 
 
 " Bah ! " replied the aide-de-camp scornfully ; " they are only 
 militia and dismounted gauchos, what need we fear from them? As 
 for Liniers, you and Gower showed us on Thursday what he is worth." 
 
 Long after nightfall Don Carlos Evaha walked by himself on the 
 fiat roof of the ({uinta house, wnippcd in a large cloak, which kept the 
 cold from his body, and in thought which made him oblivious to ail
 
 140 ^O^XE DE LEON. 
 
 tliat jxissed around liini. lie lieeded nothinp; the buzz and bustle 
 which i)ervaded all the quinta, never noticed tlie mounted messengers 
 who rode forth or came in continually at the open gateway, his eye 
 looked only on the glittering lights of his native city, his ear heard 
 only the distant hum which told him that there also all was busy pre- 
 paration for the conflict of the morrow. 
 
 His heart was sad, for his hopes died away within him. He had 
 crossed the ocean to urge on the despatch of this very expedition 
 which now menaced his native city. So far success had attended it, 
 even beyond his hopes, but the result which he desired seemed further 
 from attainment than ever. Should the struggle of the morrow end 
 in favour of the English, the result would be merely a change of 
 masters ; instead of serving men of their own race, language, and 
 religion, his countrymen would serve strangers. 
 
 On the other hand, if the English were worsted in their attack upon 
 tlie city, then would his countrymen be more than ever attached to 
 Spain, more quiescent than ever under her most tyrannical decrees. 
 For the danger and the glory would be theirs, the blood that might 
 flow would be their blood, the city they had fought and bled to 
 defend would be their city, saved by them for Spain. Men love ever 
 those for whom they have done great service and for whom they have 
 braved great danger. 
 
 In either case the dream of a republic of Argentines, of the rise of 
 a great, young nation on the banks of La Plata, was at an end, and an 
 Argentine Republic was the dream of Evaha's life. 
 
 Therefore Don Carlos Evaha was sad at heart, and the hope of 
 years died away within him. 
 
 Yet his cheek flushed with pride as he thought of the defiant 
 answer his countrymen had returned to the summons of the British 
 general. On what grounded they their confidence ? Surely the Cor- 
 rales de la Miserere had taught them plain enough that their troops 
 could not meet those of England on equal terms ! Then Evaha 
 thought of his own plan of defence. 
 
 " If they have adopted it only in part," said he to himself, " the 
 plan of attack devised by this General Whitelock will give them every 
 possible advantage." 
 
 " Oh ! that it were not for Spain, and that I were with you ! Oh ! 
 my people," he exclaimed aloud. 
 
 His own voice startled him. He looked round hurriedly ; no one 
 was near. He resumed his monotonous walk up and down, and now 
 his thoughts went back to the council upon which he had intruded in 
 the afternoon, and he pondered upon the talk he had had with General 
 Whitelock and the others. 
 
 " Such manifest folly," said he to himself. " They all saw it except 
 that fool of an aide-de-camp. There are good soldiers among them, 
 how is it that the one who knows least commands them all? Have I 
 been mistaken in the English ? Would their alliance be of no service 
 to us ? No, I have seen them in their own country. The English 
 are a great people, but there are many fools among them."
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE PATHWAYS OF DEATH. 
 
 The Corrales de la Miserere stood in a hollow. On the higher 
 ground behind this hollow stood Mr. White's house and some other 
 quintas ; to the east of the hollow the ground rose gradually for more 
 than half a mile till it reached the level of the centre of the city, 
 which extended to within half a mile of the eastern face of the city, 
 when the ground again sloped gently down to the beach. Thus from 
 the Corrales de la Miserere nothing whatever could be seen of the 
 city, save the houses immediately bordering on the Plaza, and the 
 orchards and aloe fences of the suburbs which stretched to the right 
 and left of the position held by tlie British army. Even from Mr. 
 White's house, which overlooked the suburbs and the nearer quarters 
 of the city, very little could be seen of it without ascending to the 
 roof, from which the towers and domes of the churches were plainly 
 visible, but the city itself appeared only as a wilderness of houses, the 
 lines of the streets being undistinguishable. 
 
 The city of Buenos Aires at that time was in the shape of a 
 triangle, of which the river front of the city, about three miles long, 
 formed the base, the apex being at the Plaza Miserere. On the two 
 sides of tliis triangle clustered the suburbs, cut up at regular distances 
 into blocks by roads which were the continuations of the streets of 
 the city. The city with its suburbs formed thus an irregular parallelo- 
 gram, but in the suburbs, in addition to the streets, there were many 
 bye-roads, in which a stranger miglit easily go astray. 
 
 The centre of the position held by the British army rested upon 
 the apex of the triangle which formed the city proper ; in front of the 
 right and left of this position lay the suburbs. 
 
 An hour before daylight on the morning of the 5th July the entire 
 British army was under arms. Each subdivision paraded at the head 
 of the street by which it was to advance into the city. The number 
 of men in each suljdivision varied from 250 up to 600 men, the total 
 force comprising the three columns being something less than 5000. 
 
 'l"he column of the left, under the command of Sir Samuel Auchmuty, 
 comprised the 3Sth, 87th, and 5th regiments of the line, and was 
 directed to occupy the bull-ring, the Retiro, and the convent of Las 
 Monjas Catalinas. The column of the centre, under the command of 
 General Lumley, comprised the 36ih and part of the 88th regiment, 
 and was directed to establish itself in the houses overlooking the 
 beach, and then combine with the column of General Auclunuty in an
 
 142 rOXCE I)E LEON. 
 
 nttark uj-ion the centre of the city. The column of the right, under 
 the command of General Crauford, comprised eight companies of 
 light intantry, eight companies of the 95th (the ritle corps), and 
 seventy recruits of the 71st regiment, also the 45th regiment, which 
 was detailed under Colonel Guard for the special service of occupying 
 the Residencia. General Crauford was directed to occupy the church 
 of Santo Domingo. Thus the instructions to the three generals in 
 command were to establish themselves along the eastern face of the 
 city, in positions distant three miles from the headquarters of the 
 army, and separated from it by a wilderness of houses and quintas 
 swarming with a hostile population. Further than this they had no 
 definite instructions, save that the capture of the fort and the great 
 square was understood to be the main object of the attack. 
 
 The reserve cons,isted of the 6th Carabineers ; four troops of the 
 9th Light Dragoons, all dismounted ; a part of the 88th regiment ; 
 pickets from all these regiments, which remained in charge of the 
 knapsacks and great-coats of the men; about forty of the 17th Light 
 Dragoons, mounted, and such of the artillery as had not been left 
 with Colonel Mahon at Quilmes. 
 
 General Crauford had two light field-pieces attached to his column, 
 the other columns were without artillery. 
 
 Colonel Duff of the 88th regiment had such misgivings as to the 
 result of the day that he left the colours of his regiment behind him 
 with the reserve, and, when he advanced before dawn to the head of 
 the street by which he was to enter the city, he found his regiment so 
 weak that he sent back for two of the companies which had been left 
 with the reserve. Before these companies were allowed to join him 
 they were ordered to take the flints from their muskets and leave 
 them behind, and Colonel Duff lost much time in trying to provide 
 them with flints, by searching among the rest of his men for spare 
 ones. Even so, many of the men of these two companies entered 
 into action without flints. 
 
 The division under the command of Colonel Mahon, which ad- 
 vanced from Quilmes to the Puente Galves on the 5th July, consisted 
 of about 1800 men, infantry, artillery, and dismounted cavalry, the 
 9th and 17th Light Dragoons, and 200 sailors from the squadron, who 
 had been landed by Admiral Murray to assist in dragging the cannon 
 through the swamps at Ensenada, where five guns captured from the 
 Spaniards at Monte Video stuck fast and were destroyed by Colonel 
 Frazer. 
 
 The idea of General Whitelock appears to have been, that by 
 avoiding the main streets of the city, which led direct from the 
 Corrales to the Plaza Mayor, and by a rapid march before sunrise, 
 without firing, through the suburbs and shorter streets, he would 
 succeed in surprising the principal positions to the north and south of 
 the great square, which idea, considering that most of these positions 
 were a league distant from the Plaza Miserere, presumed a great want 
 of vigilance on the part of the garrison, while all chance of a surprise 
 was effectually destroyed by the way in which the signal to advance 
 was given.
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. 143 
 
 As day dawned a salvo of twenty-one British guns on the Plaza 
 Miserere gave the signal. The troops marched at once ; each sub- 
 division in column of sections, seven men in line, left its position and 
 disappeared down the muddy roads, hedged by aloe fences, which 
 led through the suburbs. They disappeared, marching along avenues 
 in which they could see nothing either to the right hand or to the left, 
 towards an unknown goal at the end of a long, narrow path shrouded 
 in darkness and in mist. 
 
 Liniers had made every preparation for a vigorous defence. In- 
 cluding the regular troops, the three battalions of Patricios, the 
 Arribeho regiment, armed citizens, slaves,^ and the dismounted 
 paisanos, he had over 15,000 men under his command. The regular 
 troops were concentrated about the defences of the Plaza Mayor, but 
 the militia were spread about on the azoteas all over the city. 
 
 The thunder of the British guns roused up at once the sleeping 
 city ; on every azotea the troops stood to arms, by every gun stood a 
 gunner wdth a lighted match. There had been much rain for several 
 days past, now over all the city there hung a thick haze. Men rushed 
 up to the roofs of their houses, and peered anxiously over the parapets 
 into the murky morning air. Then over the whole city there fell a 
 great silence. 
 
 Rapidly through the suburbs marched the invading columns, 
 meeting with no foe, scarce seeing any sign of life ; then as the haze 
 cleared somewhat away they entered the long, straight streets of the 
 city, long monotonous lines of white houses, with barred windows and 
 parapeted roofs, deserted streets in which was neither life nor motion, 
 streets stretching straight before them with no visible end. Some of 
 the subdivisions encountered cavalry videttes near the suburbs, who 
 trotted away before them, shouting up to the azoteas of the houses as 
 they passed the warning of their approach. 
 
 When or where the firing commenced no one knows, but presently 
 these deserted streets sprang at once into fiery life ; on each hand the 
 azoteas bristled with armed men who fired without aim into the tliick 
 of the moving mass of men beneath them, who still marched swiftly 
 on with shouldered muskets, and fired not one shot in return. When 
 one man fell another took his place, and still the word was " forward." 
 Fiercer and fiercer grew the fire from the parapets of those flat-roofed 
 houses, men no longer crouching under them for shelter, but leaning 
 over the better to select their victim. Losing patience at the tedious 
 task of reloading, casting aside their firelocks, some tore down the 
 parapet itself with their hands and hurled the bricks at the heads of 
 the marching men. \Vomen with dishevelled hair ran about madly on 
 those fiat roofs, more fierce, more relentless than the men, urging 
 them on in their work of death, seizing bricks, grenades, or any other 
 missile that came to hand, and throwing them in wild fury at the lines 
 of living men, who pressed steadily on with teeth clenched and glaring 
 eyes, but who still sent back not one shot in return. Rank after rank 
 was broken, men fell by dozens and by scores, and still where each 
 man fell another took his place, still with sloped muskets, and shoulder 
 
 ' Many of the citizens had armed their household slaves.
 
 144 PON'CE DE LEON. 
 
 to shoulder, the soldiery pressed on up those pathways of death, where 
 the leaden hail poured upon them like hailstones in a winter storm, and 
 where, as they neared the centre, round shot and grape from the 
 defences of the Plaza Mayor tore through them. 
 
 Through all this tempest of fire the well-trained troops held on 
 their way unflinchingly, and every subdivision, or a remnant of it, 
 reached the position^for which it marched. The bull-ring, the Retiro 
 barracks, the church of Las Monjas Catalinas, the church of Santo 
 Domingo, the Residencia, and several l)locks of houses on the river 
 face of the city were captured and occupied. But round each position 
 so captured crowded thousands of the furious foe, rendered more 
 furious still by the unavailing slaughter they had inflicted upon the 
 invaders. 
 
 Then the British troops came to bay, the welcome word was given 
 to load and fire, and in turn their shot poured havoc and death 
 into the dense masses about them. Many a trim soldier of the Pa- 
 tricios fell lifeless on the parapet over which he leaned. Many 
 an honest householder, who had loaded his fowling-piece with ball 
 that day in defence of hearth and fatherland, then fired it for the last 
 time, and fell back upon the tiles which covered his own home, pour- 
 ing out his life-blood from a mortal wound. Many a swarthy, bearded 
 paisano, threw up his arms as a pang shot through him, and glarmg 
 wildly on the unwonted scenes around him, bethought him of the 
 peaceful solitude of his native Pampa, bethought him of his lowly 
 rancho and of the half-naked little urchins who called him father, 
 then sank down Avith swiftly-failing breath as death darkened those wild 
 eyes for ever. INlany a slave who fought bravely with freedom before 
 him as his guerdon then gained equality with his master in the grave. 
 But, regardless of those who fell, more and more pressed fiercely 
 round every position held by the British troops; those regiments 
 which penetrated into the vicinity of the Plaza ]\Iayor were the most 
 fiercely assailed. 
 
 The 88th regiment, in two subdivisions, under the command of 
 Colonel Duff and Major Vandeleur, entered the city by the streets 
 now known as Piedad and Cuyo. After an abortive attempt to cap- 
 ture the church of San Miguel, Colonel Duff marched on, losing men 
 at every step, till he found himself under the guns of the defences of 
 the centre, when turning to the left he burst into and occupied a 
 house close to the Merced Church. Major Vandeleur, after losing 
 half his command, occupied another house about a square further 
 north. But their men were driven from the azoteas by the over- 
 whelming fire of the enemy, and after several hours of unavailing re- 
 sistance both divisions w^ere compelled to surrender. 
 
 General Lumley, with the remainder of his brigade, advancing by the 
 Calles Parque and Tucuman, seized some houses in the last block 
 before reaching the beach and held them with the 36th regiment 
 against furious assaults and a heavy cannonade from the fort until the 
 afternoon. 
 
 The column of the left, under the command of Brigadier-general Sir 
 Samuel Auchmuty, advanced upon the northern quarter of the city. 
 The sSth regiment, under the command of Colonel Nugent, at the
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. 145 
 
 extreme left of the line, made a considerable detour through the 
 suburbs, and then advanced by a narrow road straight upon tlie Plaza 
 del Retiro. Here the garrison was strongly posted in the barracks 
 and the bull-ring, with cannon planted upon the open ground, and a 
 large, flat roofed house in front was occupied as an outpost. From 
 this house a heavy fire was directed upon the regiment, causing severe 
 loss ; but it was ca])tured by the bayonet, not one of the garrison 
 escaping. Colonel Nugent then attempted to advance upon the bull- 
 ring, but was repulsed by a murderous fire of artillery, upon which he 
 detached two companies to take possession of a house on the high 
 ground overlooking the river, to the north of the Retiro barracks. 
 This operation was successful, and the two companies, leaving the 
 house by a side door, forced their way into the barracks, drove out 
 the garrison at the point of the bayonet, and captured several can- 
 non, all of which but one twelve-pounder were spiked. Colonel 
 Nugent then hoisted his colours on the flag-staft", and opened fire with. 
 the captured gun upon the bull-ring. 
 
 Meantime Sir Samuel Auchmuty had advanced with the 87th regi- 
 ment by the Calles Arenales and Santa Fe, thinking that they would, 
 lead him to the left flank of the enemy's position on the Plaza del Re- 
 tiro ; instead of which, after a march of more than two miles, he found 
 himself directly in front of their position, and was received by a tre- 
 mendous fire of artillery and musketry from the bull-ring, against which 
 it was impossible to advance. He accordingly retreated two squares to 
 the right, where the little river Tercero, which flows down the Calle 
 Paraguay, had scooped out a sort of trench, along which he marched 
 his regiment, sheltered from the fire of the enemy, and took possession 
 of a large house and garden on the high ground overlooking the river. 
 Then hearing of the success of Colonel Nugent, he advanced to his 
 support, and at half-past nine, after two hours of incessant firing, the 
 garrison of the bull-ring hung out a white flag and surrendered at dis- 
 cretion. 
 
 By this success the British column captured 700 prisoners, thirty- 
 two guns, most of them of large calibre, two mortars, and an im- 
 mense quantity of ammunition, and secured at once a forniidable 
 base of attack, and the means of communicating with the squadron. 
 
 The right wing of this column, consisting of the 5th regiment, under 
 the command of Lieutenant-colonel Davie, which advanced by the 
 Calles Charcas and Paraguay, met with but slight opposition, and 
 captured some spiked guns in a cross street. After occupying some 
 houses on the river front Colonel Davie detached an ofllcer with a 
 strong party to seize the church and convent of Las Monjas Catalinas, 
 but Major King of this regiment in attempting to cajAure another large 
 house was driven back by overwhelming numbers of the enemy. 
 
 The right column of attack, under the command of General Crau- 
 ford, marched upon the southern quarter of the city. The left wing 
 of this column, led by Colonel Pack, about 600 strong, advanced by 
 the Calle Moreno, and jjcnetrated to the last block without much 
 loss, allhough the Calle Moreno was but one block distant from the 
 defences of the Plaza Mayor. The approaches to these defences 
 had been all niglit illuminated by lamps lianging in the doorways and 
 
 L
 
 146 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 windows of the houses ; these lamps were still burning dimly in the 
 murky air of the early mornint; when Colonel Pack halted among 
 the scattered houses which overlooked the beach to the south of the 
 fort. These houses were under the guns of the fort, and offered no 
 position that he could safely occupy. He looked about him ; to his 
 left lay a narrow street, closed by a black mound of earth ; once over 
 that mour.d and he was in the Plaza de los Perdices, and by one 
 desperate effort might seize the fort and decide the fortunes of the 
 day. His first step was to detach Colonel Cadogan with his rear- 
 guard to attack the church of San Francisco and so secure his rear. 
 Tliis church stood close to the trench which crossed the Calle De- 
 fensa at its junction with the Calle Potosi ; the azoteas all round were 
 strongly garrisoned. 
 
 Advancing rapidly up the narrow street, Colonel Cadogan brought 
 up a field-piece to blow open the side door of the church, but from 
 the surrounding azoteas and from the earthwork so tremendous a fire 
 was poured upon him that " on a sudden the whole of the leading 
 company and every man and horse at the gun were killed or disabled." 
 He was forced to a precipitate retreat, and bursting into a house in 
 the Calle Moreno took refuge there with 140 men. 
 
 Colonel Pack, with the remainder of his command, wheeled rapidly 
 into the Calle Balcarce, and made a desperate assault upon the earth- 
 work which closed the entrance to the Plaza de los Perdices. Over 
 the top of this earthwork frowned the muzzles of two heavy guns, in 
 front yawned a ditch twelve feet wide by six deep. The light inf:mtry 
 rushed up that narrow street straight upon the black muzzles of those 
 guns, while the grape-shot tore through their ranks, and an incessant 
 fire of musketry poured upon them from the azoteas on either hand. 
 They reached the ditch and sprang into it, only to find before them a 
 perpendicular wall of earth twelve feet high, over which they strove 
 to clamber, while hand-grenades, bricks, and all sorts of missiles were 
 showered upon them from above ; till seeing no possibility of success, 
 Colonel Pack, who was himself wounded, drew off seventy men, the 
 remnant of his force, and retreated upon the church of Santo Do- 
 mingo. There he met General Crauford, who had reached that position 
 unopposed, and who at once took possession of the church by blowing 
 open a side door with a shot from a field-piece. 
 
 On the extreme right of the British line. Colonel Guard, with the 
 45 th regiment, penetrated through the suburbs to the south of the 
 city, and attacked and captured the Residencia with very slight loss, 
 taking about 100 prisoners. The Residencia was at that time used 
 as a hospital, the wards being occupied by 150 sick, many of whom 
 had been wounded in the affair of the 2nd. It was surrounded by 
 high walls and an iron railing, and was a very strong position. Leaving 
 Major Nicholls with 400 men to hold the Residencia, Colonel Guard 
 then advanced with the grenadier company by the Calle Defensa to 
 join General Crauford. Reinforced by that general with a detachment 
 of light infantry, he then attempted to re-open communications with 
 Colonel Cadogan, but had hardly advanced fifty yards from Santo 
 Domingo when the guns on the defences of the Plaza Mayor opened 
 upon him with grape, and a storm of shot poured upon him from the
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. I47 
 
 adjacent azoteas. The grenadier company was swept away, Major 
 Trotter of the Rifles was killed, and he, with the few men left, was 
 forced to seek shelter in the church. 
 
 Meantime, on the Plaza Miserere, General Whitelock, surrounded 
 by his staft", walked to and fro, knowing nothing of what had hap- 
 pened, hearing from far off the shouts and cries of the combatants, 
 the incessant rattling of musketry, the frequent boom of cannon. Of 
 those troops who had disappeared in the murky dawn into that great 
 wilderness of houses, not one returned to tell how their comrades 
 fared. The firing was far off on the eastern face of the city to the 
 north and to the south of the Plaza Mayor. Between these points 
 and the Plaza Miserere there intervened a vast mass of flat-roofed 
 houses, which swarmed with armed men. No messenger could pene- 
 trate that wilderness. One ofl^cer, who was sent off to the riglit with 
 a few dragoons, returned, saying that to pass onwards was impossible. 
 
 The troops of the reserve were all under arms, and surrounded by 
 swarms of native cavalry, who now and then crept near enough to fire 
 upon them, and who watched for an opportunity of pouncing upon 
 any weak party which might venture away from the main body. One 
 party of this cavalry, about 200 men, approached so near that 
 Lieutenant-colonel Torrens, chief of the staff to General Whitelock, 
 was apprehensive of danger from them. Taking with him thirty 
 dragoons, he charged them, drove them before him, and pursued 
 them for nearly a league. 
 
 Then about eight o'clock General Whitelock determined upon a 
 further ofiensive movement upon the centre. Two detachments were 
 ordered upon this service. Three companies of infantry with two field- 
 pieces advanced by the street now known as the Calle Piedad, and a 
 corps composed of the 6th Carabineers and two troops of the 9th Light 
 Dragoons, dismounted, under the command of Colonel Kington of the 
 Carabineers, with Major Pigot of the Dragoons as his second in com- 
 mand, was ordered to penetrate by the next street to the right. This 
 corps had also two field-pieces attached to it. The carabineers were 
 armed with carbines and bayonets, the dragoons had muskets. 
 
 The infantry, galled by a heavy fire from the azoteas, forced their 
 way as far as the church of San Miguel, and bursting open the church 
 doors and the doors of several of the adjacent houses established 
 themselves there, filling the tower of the church with marksmen, whose 
 fire soon drove away the enemy from the neighbouring azoteas. The 
 two field-pieces were planted in the street in front of the church, and 
 by their fire drove off a party of the enemy who were advancing upon 
 them up the Calle Piedad. 
 
 At dawn Don Isidro Lorea inspected all his preparations and posted 
 his men with great care. At each loop-hole in the barricaded windows 
 of his house and almacen he placed three men, two of whom were to 
 load while the other fired ; his own company of Patricios he stationed 
 on the azotea and took command of them himself. He had barely com- 
 pleted his arrangements when the salvo of l^>ritish guns gave the signal 
 for the attack. At the report of the guns Doha Dalmacia ascended 
 to tlie azotea.
 
 148 rONCE DE LEON. 
 
 <( 
 
 Go ! go ! " said Don Isidro, as she approached him. " They come ! 
 How can I do my duty if thou art in danger ? " 
 
 " I come but to embrace thee once more," she answered ; " 1 know 
 that thou art brave and wilt do thy duty," so saying she threw her arms 
 round him and kissed him. Then turning to the men she spoke cheerful 
 words to them, encouraging them to do their (hity, and passing along 
 the ranks shook hands with many of them whom she had known from 
 childhood. The men answered her words with loud " Vivas," she 
 left them and retired to the security of her own room, but not to 
 rest there in idleness, she knew that fighting would entail wounds and 
 death. \\ ith her maids around her she went on with the work from 
 which the report of the guns had roused her — appliances for the relief 
 of the wounded and for the alleviation of the sufferings of the dying. 
 
 Hardly had Doha Dalmacia left the azotea than the report of a 
 musket was heard in the suburbs somewhat to the right, then another, 
 then came shouts and cries, and the musketry grew into one continuous 
 rattle, gradually spreading over the whole city to the north and to the 
 south of the Plaza Mayor, but Don Isidro could see no foe approach 
 him, and no musket was fired in his immediate neighbourhood. 
 
 Two hours his watch lasted and the partial cessation of the firing 
 told him that the heat of the conthct was over ; from all sides came 
 reports of a fearful slaughter of the invaders. Then away in the 
 suburb beyond his position he heard the reports of several muskets, 
 and there was a cry from a neighbouring azotea : — 
 
 " They come ! " 
 
 He moved his men up to the parapet, and stationed himself at the 
 corner, looking up the street out westwards. What he saw was a dense 
 body of red-coated soldiery, with brass helmets, with sloped muskets 
 and bayonets fixed, marching rapidly towards him. What he saw was 
 a miscellaneous multitude of men leaning over the parapets of the 
 houses and firing upon these marching soldiers, or step])ing back from 
 the parapet to reload. \Vhat he saw were soldiers dropping on their 
 faces as they marched, or staggering out of the ranks and clutching at 
 the bars of windows ere they laid them down on the side-walks to die. 
 
 As they issued from the street and emerged upon the open space, 
 the galling fire which had attended their progress died away. The 
 azoteas in front of them and about them were lined with armed men, 
 who waited for the signal from Don Isidro, and Don Isidro stood 
 motionless at his corner watching them. At the head of the column 
 came a troop of stalwart men, marching on with firm step and eyes 
 looking straight before them ; in front of them rode amounted officer, 
 the plumes of his cocked hat had been shot away, blood stained the 
 white gauntlet he wore on his bridle-hand, but stifliy erect he sat in 
 his saddle, and his face w^as calm as though he knew no anxiety, but 
 his lips were firmly pressed together, and the fingers of his right hand 
 twined round the hilt of his sabre in a convulsive grasp. 
 
 Don Isidro was a civilian, but he was also sufticiently a soldier to 
 admire and appreciate the perfection of military drill. Admiration 
 and pity struggled within him against what he knew was his stern duty ; 
 his men looked at him in astonishment. The leading troopers were 
 already half way across the open space, when with a shudder he shook
 
 THE PROWESS Of A YOUNG GIANT. 149 
 
 himself free from his thoughts, leaped up on to the parapet, waved 
 his sword, and shouted — 
 
 " At discretion ! fire ! " 
 
 A storm of shot shattered the ranks of those stately troopers, the 
 horse of the mounted officer plunged wildly in the air and fell back 
 over him, the head of the column was completely destroyed, the bodies 
 of the tall troopers strewed the ground on which but a minute before 
 they had marched so proudly. Only for a moment was the march of 
 the column delayed, on it came swiftly as before, men dropping at every 
 step under the fire from the loop-holed windows. They reached the 
 corner, then from the windows of the almacen a rapid flanking fire 
 opened upon them, and fresh assailants, leaning over the parapets of 
 the houses on either hand, met them with a fresh storm of shot. The 
 column reached the corner, entered the street, but went no further, 
 the leading files melted away under that deadly fire. The retreat was 
 sounded, the soldierv retired out of reach of the fire of the Patricios to 
 the back of the open space, where, opening fire themselves, they drove 
 the defenders back from the nearer parapets and obtained a respite. 
 
 Meantime the infantry corps had passed on a square further north. 
 From this subdivision came galloping back a mounted officer, his 
 cocked hat and plumes showed him to be an aide-de-camp. He 
 enquired angrily from Colonel Kington the reason of his halt, and of 
 his breaking the general orders by allowing the men to fire. In reply 
 the colonel pointed to the heaps of men, dead and dying, who lay 
 about the street corner. 
 
 " I am bringing up a gun. I must take that corner house, I cannot 
 pass it, the windows are all loopholed." 
 
 " You know the positive orders of General Whitelock ! Unless you 
 advance at once I shall be forced to report you." 
 
 Again the troopers formed in column, again they advanced over 
 ground strewn with the bodies of their slaughtered comrades, their 
 leader marching, now on foot, at their head, the aide-de-camp beside 
 him, a fine-made young man, with the blue eyes and yellow hair ot 
 the midland counties, Craddock by name, the favourite aide-de-camp 
 of General Whitelock. 
 
 Don Isidro had watched all these manoeuvres ; again he reserved his 
 fire till the column was more than half way to the fatal corner, again 
 leaping on to the parapet he waved his sword as a signal, again a 
 storm of shot swept away whole ranks of living men. Colonel 
 Kington fell ; the aide-de-camp reeled in his saddle, let go his reins to 
 press his hand to his side, his frightened horse turned and galloped 
 off, away back through the now silent suburb to the British cam]) ; his 
 rider, seeing nothing, knowing nothing of where he went, kept his seat 
 till the horse stopjjed, when he was gently lifted from the saddle, 
 carried into a house, and laid upon a bed. There he lingered till 
 sundown, neither opening his eyes nor speaking, save once, when 
 General Whitelock bent over him and spoke to him. 
 
 " Ah, General ! " he said. " Those streets of liuenos Aires, they are, 
 as that S[)aniard said they would be, the pathways of death." 
 
 Again the column recoiled from that fatal corner, and a gun being 
 now brought up was wheeled into position in front of the door of Don
 
 150 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 Isidro's house, at somewhat more than loo 3'ar(ls distance. The 
 first shot crashed through a panel of the door and did litUe liarm ; the 
 second struck it full in the centre, where it was secured by a heavy- 
 cross-bar, shattering the latter and the door itself so much that it was 
 only held by the lower bolts. Two more shots, and the door was a 
 complete wreck. Then the troopers, in open order, again advanced, 
 firing steadily at the Patricios on the azotea, and at the loopholcd 
 windows. 
 
 Fiercely occupied as each man was at his own post. Dona Dalmacia 
 was the first to notice the shattered door. T.eaving her own room she 
 ran across the patio to the almacen, calling upon the men there to bring 
 out boxes and barrels to block up the zaguan. Excited men rushed 
 out into the patio as they heard her voice, not comprehending what 
 she said amid the roar of the musketry. Seeing the open doorway 
 they fired from the patio upon the advancing troops. In vain Doha 
 Dalmacia ran among them, entreating them to block up the entrance at 
 once, they were mad with the fury of the fight. English bullets came 
 amongst them, several of them fell, then Doha Dalmacia, running into 
 the sala, brought out a heavy chair and threw it on its side in the 
 middle of the zaguan. Hardly had she done so ere a bullet struck 
 her in the throat, she fell forward upon the chair, clinging to it with 
 her hands, her blood pouring over the embroidered velvet in a steady 
 stream. 
 
 Don Isidro had heard his wife's voice ; calling upon some of his men 
 to follow him, he ran down the narrow stair from the roof; as he set 
 foot in the patio he saw his wife fall. 
 
 " Dalma ! " he screamed, rushing to her and raising her in his arms. 
 It was the last word he ever uttered. She opened her eyes once, 
 looked upon him with a loving smile, her lips moved, but no words 
 came, he saw she was dead. With one arm clasped round her, he 
 shook the other hand fiercely at the English ; they poured in one 
 deadly volley, and then rushed into the zaguan. Don Isidro fell, shot 
 through the heart, in death yet clasping his wife to him ; their blood, 
 mingling in one red stream, dyed the feet of the furious soldiers as 
 they ran in over their prostrate bodies. ^ 
 
 The shouts of men, the screams of women, as they saw Don Isidro 
 fall back upon the pavement with his wife's body in his arms, brought 
 the entire garrison of the house into the patio. From the roof, from 
 the sak, from the almacen men rushed towards the main entrance, 
 beating back the soldiery with clubbed muskets, staljbing furiously 
 with knives, bayonets, or whatever weapon came to hand, while from 
 the azotea the Patricios opened fire upon the zaguan itself. The 
 struggle was sharp but short ; all the English who had entered the 
 patio were killed, the zaguan was choked with the bodies of their 
 dead. Reinforcements poured in from every side, a strong party 
 from the suburbs ventured into the open street and attacked the in- 
 vaders in the rear; Captain BuUer who had led tlie attack upon the 
 house had fallen in the zaguan ; again they retreated. The Patricios 
 rushed out in pursuit. 
 
 The English, re-forming their broken ranks, attempted to cover 
 their retreat by the fire of their cannon, but from every side poured
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. I51 
 
 in upon them fresh hosts of foes. Men fell by dozens ; for five 
 minutes the open ground was the scene of a frightful butchery. Then 
 a cry arose among the Patricios, " To the cannon, muchachos ! " 
 
 A party of the Patricios, in something like order, rushed with 
 levelled bayonets on the gun ; behind them came a motley crowd- — 
 shopmen in their shirt-sleeves, their faces grimy with gunpowder ; half- 
 naked slaves armed with pikes and hatchets ; paisanos, Avho, wrap- 
 ping their ponchos round their left arms, threw aside their carbines 
 and drew from their waistbands poniards twenty inches in the blade. 
 The artillerymen were shot down or bayonetted, the gun captured, 
 and the dismounted dragoons driven in confusion back up the street 
 by which they had advanced. Here they were met in precipitate 
 retreat by Captain Forster, an aide-de-camp to General Whitelock, who 
 assisted Major Pigott to rally them. Re-forming them and bringing 
 up the other gun. Major Pigott opened such a deadly fire of grape 
 and musketry upon his pursuers that he drove them back across the 
 open gTOund and forced them to take shelter in the houses, abandon- 
 ing the gun they had captured. He then burst open the doors of a 
 corner-house to the west of the open space, took possession of it, and 
 posting a strong party of his men on the flat roof drove off by a well- 
 directed fire all the men on the neighbouring azoteas. 
 
 Here he remained all the rest of the day, not venturing to make 
 any further attempt to advance. Throughout the afternoon the 
 Patricios kept up a fire of musketry, but they did not venture to 
 attack him. 
 
 All morning the crews of the British fleet, anchored in the road- 
 stead, had looked anxiously from the masts and yards of their ships 
 for any indication of how the day was going. First on the Residencia, 
 then on the church of Las Monjas Catalinas, then on the Retiro, then 
 on the church of Santo Domingo, and at length, soon after ten o'clock, 
 on the church of San Miguel they saw the flag of England waving 
 in triumph. The greater part of the city was already theirs, and it 
 was yet early ; the first part of the plan of General Whitelock had been 
 successfully achieved. As the flag was hoisted last of all on the 
 church of San Miguel the watching sailors greeted the sight with 
 loud shouts of joy, with ringing cheers which were heard even to the 
 shore. 
 
 Yes, the first part of the plan of General Whitelock had been suc- 
 cessfully achieved, the first positions had been attained, but at what 
 cost ? Fully one third of the troops which had paraded at dawn in 
 full confidence of success were now hors-dc-combat. All over the 
 streets of Buenos Aires lay British soldiers still in death or grievously 
 wounded. As yet merely the undefended part of the city had been 
 traversed, only one attack had been made upon an entrenched posi- 
 tion, and that had been repulsed with fearful slaughter. 
 
 Those open streets of P.uenos Aires, held only by si^uads of militia 
 and half-armed citizens, had been to the trained soldiery of England 
 the pathways of death.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE AFTERNOON OF THE 5TH JULY. 
 
 The salvo of British guns at dawn on the 5th July roused General 
 Liniers from the soundest sleep he had enjoyed for several days. He 
 sprang up with the alacrity of one who, having a hard task before him, 
 had made every possible preparation and was confident of success. 
 In ten minutes the whole of the troops in and about the Plaza Mayor, 
 were under arms, and every post alaout the defences of the centre 
 strongly occupied. Beyond this there was nothing he could do but 
 wait in readiness for any emergency w^hich might befall. 
 
 ^^1len Colonel Cadogan attacked the church of San Francisco he 
 sent out a strong detachment of Spanish infantry to aid the militia, 
 and then took charge in person of the defence of the entrenchment 
 which was so furiously assailed by Colonel Pack. When these attacks 
 were repulsed he turned his attention to the north of his position, 
 where two subdivisions of the 88th regiment had established them- 
 selves in two houses about a square distant from each other in the 
 vicinity of the Merced Church. On the azoteas around these houses 
 he massed about 3000 men, chiefly militia and armed citizens, and 
 then directed an attack upon them by the streets and from the beach 
 by strong parties of Spanish troops with artillery. At the head of 
 these troops marched the " Morenos de Ponce," led by Lieutenant 
 Asneiros. The English, driven from the azoteas by the overwhelming 
 fire concentrated upon them, stubbornly held their position till nearly 
 twelve o'clock ; Lieutenant-colonel Duff then yielded to the summons 
 of Asneiros and handed him his sword, after having 220 men and 
 seventeen officers killed and wounded. INIajor Vandeleur, whose loss 
 had been almost as heavy, surrendered immediately afterwards. 
 
 After this success. General Liniers repaired to the tower of the 
 Cabildo, and looked forth around him. To the north the English 
 flag waved on the church of Las Monjas Catalinas, and over some 
 houses nearer the river ; to the west on the tower of San Miguel, and 
 to the south on the church of Santo Domingo ; it was upon this last 
 flag that his gaze lingered. Round each position so held by the foe 
 the azoteas were crowded with armed men, the rattle of musketry was 
 incessant, and the guns from the fort were firing steadily and with sure 
 aim upon those houses near the beach which were held by the 36th 
 regiment. 
 
 Calling to him Colonel Elio, his second in command. General 
 Liniers directed him to march with a strong force of infantry and four
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. 1 53 
 
 guns upon these houses near the beach, and upon the church of Las 
 Monjas Catahnas. Then sending for Asneiros, lie directed him to 
 return at once with the " Morenos " to his former station contiguous 
 to the church of San Miguel, and to instruct Don Roderigo Ponce de 
 Leon to concert measures witli the commander of the Arribeho regi- 
 ment, which occupied the two neiglibouring blocks, for the recapture 
 of that position. Having so ])rovided for the north and west, he 
 then turned his attention to the recapture of the church of Santo 
 Domingo. 
 
 The tirst measure of Colonel Elio was to go forward himself with a 
 flag of truce to the position held by General Lumley. Telling him 
 that further resistance was useless, and informing him of the fate of 
 the SSth regiment, he summoned him to surrender. To this General 
 Lumley returned a scornful refusal, and the firing which had ceased 
 on the appearance of the flag of truce, recommenced with greater fury 
 than ever. 
 
 Again Colonel Elio went forward with a flag of truce, and this time 
 with a written order from General Liniers, commanding him to sur- 
 render within a quarter of an hour, to which General Lumley replied 
 as before. A strong force of Spanish infantry then advanced by the 
 beach and opened fire with two field-pieces at point-blank range. 
 Lieutenant-colonel Bourne sallied out at the head of fifty grenadiers, 
 drove the infantry at the point of the bayonet back to the walls of the 
 fort, and spiked both guns. At the same time another strong body of 
 infantry which advanced by the streets was met by Major King with a 
 wing of the 5th regiment and driven back with heavy loss. 
 
 I'he loss of the 36th was already heavy, both in officers and men ; 
 the ammunition was almost exhausted, the numbers of the enemy 
 increased every moment. After communicating with Colonel Davie, 
 who still held the church of Las Monjas Catalinas, General Lumley 
 determined upon evacuating both positions, and retiring by the beach 
 to the Retire, where what remained of the two columns of the left and 
 centre concentrated soon after two o'clock, and restricted their atten- 
 tion to securing that position. 
 
 On the block contiguous to the church of San Miguel Don Roderigo 
 Ponce de Leon held the command on the morning of the 5th July, 
 having under his orders the " Morenos de Ponce " and about 300 
 armed citizens and slaves, the adjacent blocks fronting him being 
 held by detachments of the Arribeno regiment. 
 
 Lieutenant-colonel Duff, marching down the Calle Piedad in the 
 early morning with his wing of the 88th regiment, had attempted to 
 force an entrance into the church of San Miguel, but the massive 
 door resisted all his efibrts to break it open, and the fire of the Arri- 
 behos from the opjjosite azoteas was so destructive that he was com- 
 I^elled to relin([uish his attempt and march on, leaving thirty of his 
 men lying dead or badly wounded under the porch. 
 
 WJien a second party of l'>nglish attacked the church some hours 
 later, Don Roderigo had few men with him. The " Morenos " and 
 tiie Arribehos had been summoned by (General Liniers to aid in the 
 attack upon the 88th regiment, and many of the armed citizens had 
 gone with them. VViUi such as remained under hi.s orders, Dun
 
 154 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 Roderigo withdrew to the far side of the block, out of range of the 
 fire of the EngHsh sharpshooters. As the EngHsh burst into the 
 church, a large double door further down the street was opened, a 
 horseman issued from it having a boy behind him en croupe, who, in- 
 stantly setting spurs to his horse, galloped off, while the door closed 
 behind them. 
 
 " Don't hre, men, it is only a boy !" shouted the officer in command 
 of the English, and the horse carried his double load in safety to the 
 first cross street. 
 
 The horseman was Venceslao Viana, the boy was Evaristo Ponce 
 de T^eon. 
 
 On the return of Asneiros, Don Roderigo left the azotea, and de- 
 scending into the cross street where the " Morenos " were halted, 
 proceeded to make arrangements with the commandant of the Arri- 
 beho regiment for the recapture of the church. In half an hour the 
 streets to the north and east of the church were occupied by strong 
 parties of the Arribenos, and hundreds of armed citizens, flushed 
 with their recent triumph over the 88th regiment, poured on to all the 
 adjacent azoteas, crouching down behind the parapets, and creeping 
 nearer and nearer to the British position. 
 
 " Now we shall see what you are worth, Morenitos," said Venceslao 
 Viana, as he galloped up to Don Roderigo with a message from the 
 commander of the Arribeno regiment that all was ready. 
 
 " Adelante ! Marchen ! " shouted Asneiros, as Don Roderigo gave 
 him a signal. 
 
 Steadily the well-drilled negroes marched to the corner, wheeled 
 into the street not 120 yards from the British guns, and then with a 
 loud yell charged straight upon them. Round-shot and grape an- 
 swered their shout of defiance, and swept them from the centre of 
 the street, but, spread along the side-walks, they still advanced, firing 
 upon the artillerymen. The infantry drawn up in front of the church 
 advanced to the support of the artillery, red-coated soldiers poured 
 from the houses of the block beyond, of which the invaders had 
 taken possession. The advance of the negroes was stopped, but the 
 roar of the cannon had given the signal, men sprang to their feet on 
 every azotea round about, on every side militia marched into the open 
 streets. The red-coated soldiery, facing in every direction, kept their 
 foes at bay with a steady fire of musketry, one gun was wheeled round, 
 and a shower of grape drove back the Arribenos, who came by the 
 cross street from the north straight upon the church. 
 
 Again Asneiros formed up the negro corps. Don Roderigo him- 
 self led them on, waving his hat, and calling upon them to trust to 
 the bayonet. The negroes answered him with shouts, and rushed on. 
 Again a shower of grape tore through them. A dozen men fell. The 
 first to fall was Don Roderigo. Several of the negroes, throwing 
 down their muskets, ran to him, and, raising him in their arms, carried 
 him to the shelter of the next street. 
 
 Evaristo had seen his father fall, and ran up to him. 
 
 " Tata ! Tata ! " he cried ; " speak to me ! speak to me, Tata ! " 
 
 " I am not dead yet, my son," said Don Roderigo. " I think my 
 leg is broken — a small matter. Run and tell Asneiros — "
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. I $5 
 
 " Yet there is one Ponce de Leon to finish these," said Evaristo, 
 running off. 
 
 In front of the church of San Miguel, the second house from the 
 corner had a peaked roof, covered with large red tiles. This house, 
 b}' breaking the line of the azotea, had been a great protection to the 
 English formed in the street below. The adjacent azotea was crowded 
 witli armed citizens, who saw with consternation the second repulse of 
 the negroes. 
 
 " Cost what it may, we must stop the fire of that gim," shouted a 
 5'oung officer of the Spanish navy who was among them. " Follow 
 me, boys ! " 
 
 So saying he clambered up on to the roof of the tiled house, and 
 tearing up one of the tiles from the coping threw it at the gunner, 
 who at that moment held the linstock in his hand. The tile struck 
 him on the side of the head, down he fell, and the burning tow 
 dropped under the gun instead of firing it. The citizens gave a loud 
 shout as they saw him fall. Laying down their firelocks, scores of 
 them folloAved the young officer, showering heavy tiles upon the artil- 
 lerymen as fast as they could tear them from the roof. 
 
 "Ah! Morenitos ! are you afraid of a cannon? "said Venceslao 
 Viana to the negroes, as they clustered at the street corner ; " follow 
 me, and I will show you how cannon are taken ! " 
 
 He had already arranged the coils of his lasso in his hand ; he now 
 galloped up the street whirling it round his head. A dozen yards 
 from the gun he checked his horse, threw the noose over the breech 
 of the cannon, then turned and drove in his spurs. For a few yards 
 he dragged the gmi after him, then it turned over, and the fastenings 
 of the trunnions giving way, he galloped off with his prize, leaving the 
 wheels and body behind him. 
 
 " Follow me, Morenitos ! " shouted Evaristo, as the gun upset ; 
 " yet there is a Ponce de Leon to show you the way." 
 
 The negroes yelled, and losing all order, followed him pell-mell ; a 
 party of the Arribehos followed them, wild cheers and shouts rose 
 from all sides, the fire from the azoteas was more furious than ever. 
 The negroes drove the English infantry before them from the front of 
 the church and captured the other gun, but were in their turn charged 
 and driven back, but they took the gun with them. 
 
 Then the Arribehos again advanced by the cross street from the 
 north, i)oured in a volley at not more than twenty yards' distance, and 
 charged. The small EngHsh force was cut in two, one part made 
 good its retreat to the suburbs, the other, driven into the church by a 
 fresh advance of the negroes led by Asneiros, had no alternative but 
 to surrender. 
 
 The officer in command surrendered to Lieutenant Asneiros, his men 
 threw down their arms, the Englisl: ffag was removed from the tower 
 of the church, and Asneiros won the second sword he took that day. 
 
 Meantime General Liniers, as a first step to the reca])ture of the 
 church of Santo Domingo, completely surrounded the house occupied 
 by Colonel Cadogan, kecjiing up a constant fire upon the small 
 garrison, till, when he had only forty men left aljle to fire a musket, 
 that officer surrendered.
 
 156 rONCE DE LEON. 
 
 Liniers then despatched an officer \\ith a flag of truce to General 
 Crauford, telUng him that the assault had failed in all ([uarters, that 
 the losses of the English had been fearful, that several detachments 
 had surrendered, that he himself was surrounded and comi)letely cut 
 off, and calling upon him to yield himself and his men prisoners of 
 war. 'I'o which summons General Crauford returned a decided 
 refusal. 
 
 On receipt of this answer General Liniers directed an advance 
 from all sides upon the church, militia and armed citizens swarmed 
 on all the neighbouring azoteas, and their concentrated fire soon 
 overpowered that of the British sharp-shooters who occupied the 
 towers and leads of the church, and forced them to retire. 
 
 In front of the principal door of the church was an open space, on 
 which a portion of the light infantry were stationed, screened by 
 intervening houses from the fire of the guns on the entrenchments of 
 the Plaza Mayor, and on the south side the fort. Don Felipe 
 Navarro, who commanded on the block to the west of the church, had 
 just heard of the deaths of his sister and of Don Isidro Lorea ; furious 
 at the intelligence, and seeing the retreat of the sharp-shooters from 
 the towers and roof of the church, he led his men right up to the 
 parapet overlooking the open space, and springing upon it pointed 
 with his sword to the troops below him — ■ 
 
 " There they are, muchachos ! Fire upon the heretics ! Fire ! " 
 The words were hardly past his lips ere a ball struck him in the 
 chest, he fell from the parapet into the street below, dead ere he 
 reached the ground. 
 
 But now from every azotea round a deadly fire was directed upon 
 the open space, and the troops, unable to make any effective reply, 
 were withdrawn into the church. 
 
 "Within the church the British troops were safe from the fire of 
 musketry, but their position was full of danger, the great doors might 
 easily be beaten in by cannon, and then the garrison would be at 
 the mercy of their foes. General Crauford called together a council 
 of his officers. 
 
 Colonel Pack, on rejoining his superior officer, after the failure of 
 the attack led by himself, had counselled an immediate retreat upon 
 the Residencia, but General Crauford could not then see the necessity 
 for any such step, and considered that he was compelled by his 
 instructions to occupy the church of Santo Domingo. Later, on 
 Colonel Pack had discovered in the church the flag of his old 
 regiment, the 71st Highlanders, which had been captured on the 
 1 2th August. Overjoyed at the recovery of his flag, he had ascended 
 to the roof and planted it on the eastern tower of the church, and 
 spoke no more of the necessity of retreat. He now brought it down 
 again and repeated his former counsel. But most of the other officers 
 agreed that without a strong diversion in their rear, retreat was now 
 impossible, that to attempt it would result only in a wholesale slaughter 
 of the men. 
 
 Then General Liniers mounted a heavy gun upon a neighbouring 
 azotea and opened fire with it upon the eastern tower of the church, 
 at the same time that the guns on the southern side the fort were also
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. 157 
 
 turned upon it, with the intention of bringing it down upon tlie heads 
 of the Enghsh garrison. 
 
 Until four o'clock General Crauford held out, hoping that General 
 Whitelock might make some eftbrt to relieve him, while not a man of 
 his could show himself at any opening without drawing upon himself 
 at once the fire of 100 muskets, and the base of the tower crumbled 
 away under the steady fire of the cannon. Finding his situation 
 hopeless, he then hung out a flag of truce, the firing ceased, and he 
 surrendered, yielding himself, his officers, and 600 men as prisoners 
 of war, and leaving 100 more, who were too severely wounded to be 
 moved, lying on the floor of the church under the great dome. 
 
 It was four o'clock in the afternoon, a wild shout of joy rose up all 
 over the city, Buenos Aires was once more in the possession of her 
 own people. Stern men, who seemed to have no softness in them, 
 wept like children ; friends and brothers rushed into each others' arms, 
 embracing each other in the exuberance of their delight. For half an 
 hour the city gave itself up to the delirium of triumph. 
 
 Then while daylight yet lasted those who had been foremost in the 
 strife took the lead in the work of mercy. Bands of the Patricios 
 scoured the streets- all over the city, collecting the wounded British 
 soldiers who had so lately been their deadly foes. Where the carnage 
 had been the greatest, where the struggle had been the fiercest, every 
 house became a hospital, and every household ministered to the wants 
 of suffering men. And in many a household there was mourning and 
 loud lamentation over those who were of that household no loncer ; 
 in many a house fathers, brothers, or well-loved friends lay moaning 
 on beds of pain ; yet every house was open to the wounded foemen 
 who had brought that sorrow upon them, and upon whom it had so 
 fearfully recoiled. Gentle hands raised them from the earth, bound 
 up their shattered limbs, and held cups of water to lips pale Avith 
 agony. 
 
 Then night once more covered the city with a ^cil of darkness, the 
 roar of the cannon, the rattle of the musketry, which had been inces- 
 sant all day, was no longer heard. 
 
 The great struggle of the 5th July was now a matter of the i)ast, 
 was already an epoch in the history of a young nation, who recked 
 not as yet that she was a nation. Whose sons had fought under a 
 flag that was not theirs, and wlio laid the hard-won laurels of victory 
 at the feet of an older nation, looking up to her in loving reverence as 
 to a mother. 
 
 So the night passed over, and on the morrow it was another day.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE CAPITULATION OF THE 6tH JULY. 
 
 At sundowTi on the evening of the 5th July, General Liniers 
 presided at a council of the Cabildo ; the utmost enthusiasm prevailed. 
 The number and quality of the prisoners they had made, the heavy 
 loss they had inflicted upon the invading army, filled each man with 
 the confidence of certain victory. In this enthusiasm and confidence 
 General Liniers fully shared, and he proposed that terms of arrange- 
 ment should be offered to the English General for the prevention of 
 further bloodshed. He proposed that on condition of the immediate 
 evacuation of the province all the prisoners should be given up, and 
 that the English should be permitted to re-embark without molestation. 
 
 " No, no ! " said Don Martin Alzaga eagerly. " By that we should 
 lose the entire fruits of the victory we have won. Let us insist that 
 they also evacuate the Banda Oriental." 
 
 " It is impossible that General Whitelock should listen to such a 
 proposition," said the Reconquistador. " As yet not more than half 
 his force has been engaged. To make such a proposition would be 
 to prevent all chance of an arrangement." 
 
 " Let it," answered Don Martin Alzaga. " As yet he has not even 
 seen our teeth. Our men were cautious to-day, we did not even know 
 our strength ; to-morrow every man will be a hero, we will attack him 
 in his own positions, and he shall not get away at all." 
 
 " If we are rash we shall lose the advantage we have gained," said 
 Don Gregorio Lopez. 
 
 " Try it, at any rate," said Don Martin, " he can but refuse." 
 
 The majority of the council supported Don Martin Alzaga, a letter 
 was drawn up as he had proposed, and despatched at daylight to the 
 Retiro, where it was received by Sir Samuel Auchmuty, who at once 
 forwarded it to the Plaza Miserere, where General Whitelock had 
 passed the night in almost complete ignorance of the events of the 
 day, having had but one communication with Sir Samuel Auchmuty 
 on the afternoon of the 5th, and none whatever with the leaders of the 
 other two columns. 
 
 The following is the official translation of this despatch : — 
 
 " General Liniers to General Whitelock. 
 " Sir, 
 
 "The same sentiments of humanity which induced your 
 Excellency to propose to me to capitulate, lead me, now^ that I am 
 fully acquainted with your force, that I have taken eighty officers 
 and upwards of 1000 men, and killed more than double that number
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. 1 59 
 
 without your having reached the centre of my position, the same 
 sentiments, I say, lead me, in order to avoid a further effusion of blood, 
 and to give your Excellency a fresh proof of Spanish generosity, to 
 offer to your Excellency, that if you choose to re-embark with the 
 remainder of your army, to evacuate Monte Video and the whole of 
 the river Plata, leaving me hostages for the execution of the treaty, I 
 will not only return all the prisoners which I have now made, but also 
 all those which were taken from General Beresford. At the same 
 time I think it necessary to state, that if your Excellency does not 
 admit this offer, I cannot answer for the safety of the prisoners, as my 
 troops are so infinitely exasperated against them, and the more, as 
 three of my aides-de-camp have been wounded bearing flags of truce ; 
 and for this reason I send your Excellency this letter by an English 
 officer, and shall wait your answer for one hour. 
 
 " I have the honour to be, &c., 
 " Santiago Liniers. 
 "Buenos Aires, 5th July, 1807, 
 
 at 5 o'clock in the evening." 
 
 At daylight, on the morning of the 6th, a strong column of British 
 troops advanced from the Retiro upon the centre, but not venturing 
 again to attempt the passage of those long, straight streets, descended 
 to the river-side and advanced by the beach under cover of the fire of 
 four gunboats, which came close in shore for the purpose of supporting 
 them. Two squares from the fort they were hotly assailed by the 
 regular troops and the militia, but after an hour's firing the column 
 retreated unpursued to its former position. The gunboats continued 
 their fire for several hours, throwing both round shot and shell into 
 the vicinity of the fort and the Plaza Mayor, one shell bursting in the 
 apartments of General Liniers in the fort. 
 
 At about eleven o'clock General Whitelock, who was still at the 
 Miserere, received the above despatch from Cieneral Liniers, and re- 
 turned an answer by an aide-de-camp, after which he himself proceeded 
 with an escort to the Retiro, there to await the reply. 
 
 The following is a copy of this despatch :^ 
 
 " General Whitelock to General Liniers. 
 " Headquarters, 
 
 "Place de Tauros, 6th July, 1S07. 
 
 "Sir, 
 
 " I have the honour to acknowledge receipt of your letter. 
 You do me no more than justice in believing that whatever advances 
 the cause of humanity would be grateful tome; and therefore as, from 
 the extent of the action of yesterday, the wounded on both sides are 
 dispersed over a considerable space of ground, 1 would i^ropose that 
 there should be a truce for four-and-twenty hours, that each might 
 collect those dispersed on the lines of approach of the difierent cohnims. 
 The ground on which tlie armies now stand to be the line of demar- 
 cation, and each to bring the wounded of the other to deliver them 
 to the respective outjjosts. 
 
 "As to the idea of surrendering the advantages which tliis army has 
 gained, it is quite inadmissible, having also taken many prisoners,
 
 l60 rONCE DE LEON. 
 
 captured a quantity of artillery, with all its stores, and gained both its 
 flanks. I leave to your candour the comparison of the relative situa- 
 tion of the two armies. 
 
 " I have to lament the circumstance A. D. C. having been wounded ; 
 I cannot account for it otherwise than by attributing it to those mis- 
 takes which often occur at the commencement of hostilities. I shall 
 take care that nothing of the kind shall happen for the future ; but 
 I have to remark that my A. I). C. was fired at the whole way of his ap- 
 proach to your lines on the 4th inst., when I sent him with a flag of truce. 
 
 "J. ^Vhitelock." 
 
 To this proposition for a suspension of hostilities General Liniers 
 returned a decisive negative, giving the British General only a quarter 
 of an hour for deliberation, and reiterating his previous demand for the 
 surrender of all the acquisitions of the English in the Rio de La Plata. 
 
 The quarter of an hour passed, no answer was returned, whereupon 
 General Liniers, with a strong force of the Patricios, supported by a 
 body of regular troops, sallied forth from his entrenchments and ad- 
 vanced upon the Residencia by the Calle Defensa. This position was 
 still held by IVLijor Nicholls with 400 men of the 45th regiment, who 
 charged his assailants with the ba}onet, drove them back with heavy 
 loss, and captured two howitzers, with their limbers and ammunition. 
 Later on another attempt was made upon this position, but the attack- 
 ing column was received with discharges of grape from the captured 
 guns and forced to retreat. 
 
 About two o'clock General Whitelock, who was then at the Retire, 
 sent another officer to General Liniers with a flag of truce, accei)ting 
 the terms offered by him in his despatch of the previous evening, upon 
 which the firing at once ceased. 
 
 Soon after sundown Major-general Levison Gower, with a strong 
 escort of Spanish troops, proceeded through the city to the fort for 
 the purpose of drawing up with General Liniers a formal deed of 
 capitulation, which should be signed on the day following. As he 
 passed through the streets the excited populace thronged round him 
 with fierce shouts of defiance, at times firing into the air, but by the 
 exertions of the Spanish officers who were with him he reached the 
 fort in safety, and was led to the room in which General Liniers was 
 at that moment at dinner, having several of the English officers, his 
 prisoners, with him as his guests. The disorderly crowd, armed with 
 swords and pistols, rushed in over the drawbridge in front of the escort, 
 and forced their way into the dining-room, shouting — 
 
 " Sehor Pack ! Sehor Pack ! come out, we have something to ar- 
 range with you." 
 
 It had been represented to the people by the Spanish authorities 
 that General Beresford and the officers who had escaped with him 
 from Lujan, in March, had broken their parole. This, together with 
 his success at Perdriel and Colonia, and the fact of his having been 
 the only English officer who had attacked the entrenchments on the 
 5th, greatly irritated the populace against Colonel Pack, and they 
 would certainly have wreaked bloody vengeance upon him had they 
 got him into their power.
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. l6l 
 
 General Liniers sprang from his chair as the rioters burst into the 
 room, and seizing the foremost by the throat forced them back, going 
 out with them and doing all in his power to pacify them, in which he 
 partially succeeded, but apprehensive of a further attempt, he, two 
 hours later, sent Colonel Pack to the Retiro under a strong escort of 
 Spanish troops. 
 
 Two priests, who were dining with General Liniers that evening, also 
 interposed between Colonel Pack and the rioters, and declared that 
 they would lose their own lives rather than permit any harm to befall 
 him. 
 
 The following day the treaty of capitulation was signed by Santiago 
 Liniers, Caesar Balviani, and Bernardo Velasco on the part of the 
 Spaniards ; and by General Whitelock and Admiral Murray on behalf 
 of the British, the latter agreeing to evacuate Monte Video within 
 two months. 
 
 On the same day the British released all their prisoners, and about 
 1700 men, many of whom were wounded, were released by the 
 garrison of the city ; but the British General was forced to leave about 
 200 men who were too severely wounded to be moved, in the care of 
 the Spaniards, and it was impossible for General Liniers at that time 
 to deliver up the prisoners captured with General Beresford, they 
 being dispersed at great distances throughout the provinces. 
 
 Many of the dead were buried in the places where they fell, in 
 particular those of the left wing of the 88th regiment, which had 
 penetrated the city by the Calle Cuyo. This street acted at that 
 time as a drain to all that part of the city, the roadway near to the 
 beach had been washed away by heavy rains till it formed a deep 
 ditch. After the fighting was over, this ditch was used as a grave, and 
 a new roadway formed over the bodies of the slain. During the 
 process of repaving the city, in the year i860, the excavations in this 
 street brought to light a quantity of human bones, mixed up with 
 brass buttons and regimental badges. Of these the then British 
 Consul-general, Frank Parish, Esq., took charge, and provided them 
 with more fitting sepulture in the British cemetery. 
 
 In a few days the survivors of this expedition re-embarked from the 
 beach below the Retiro. The British flag was driven in disgrace 
 from the whole Viceroyalty of Buenos Aires. 
 
 M
 
 EPILOGUE TO BOOKS I. AND II. 
 
 THE MONUMENTS AND THE REWARDS OF VICTORY. 
 
 The Plaza Mayor, in which the fierce horsemen of Don Juan 
 Martin Puyrredon trampled underfoot the choicest troops of General 
 Beresford, bears to this day the name of the " Plaza Victoria," in 
 commemoration of the victory of the 12th August, 1806. 
 
 Don Juan Martin led his horsemen to victory by the street now 
 known as the " Calle Victoria," which is thus to this day a monu- 
 ment to the prowess of the wild horsemen of the Pampas. 
 
 The Calle Reconquista, the street by which General Liniers led 
 his Si)anish troops on that same 12th August, is to this day a monu- 
 ment of that feat of arms by which he himself gained the title of the 
 " Reconquistador." 
 
 The Calle Defensa, in which stand the church of San Francisco, 
 the church of Santo Domingo, and the Residencia, is by its name a 
 monument to the heroic defence of their city by the militia and 
 citizens of Buenos Aires on the 5th and 6th July, 1807. 
 
 The vacant space which early in this century lay in front of the 
 house of Don Isidro Lorea is now a public Plaza, planted with trees, 
 laid out with walks, one of the breathing-places of the great straggling 
 city. It is known as the " Plaza Lorea," and is a monument to the 
 heroic courage and untimely fate of Don Isidro Lorea and his wife 
 Dalmacia. 
 
 Twenty cannon-shot imbedded in the brickwork of the eastern 
 tower of the church of Santo Domingo tell to this day of the des- 
 perate leti.'^ths to which the citizens of Buenos Aires were ready to go 
 rather than yield one foot of ground to a foreign invader. When the 
 tower needs white-washing these cannon-shot are carefully painted 
 black ; they speak to all who look upon them of the days when as yet 
 the Argentine Republic was a dream, when an infant people yet in 
 tutelage dared to defy the power of a mighty nation. 
 
 Within the church of Santo Domingo, under the dome, hang six 
 colours, the flags of English regiments which laid down their arms, 
 defeated on the 12th August, 1806, and on the 5th July, 1807. One 
 is the flag of the 71st Highlanders, seized by Don Juan Martin Puyr- 
 redon with his own hand. 
 
 Nearly 1000 armed slaves had taken a part in the defence of the 
 city on the 5th and 6th July. To some of them their own masters 
 gave freedom as their reward. The Patricios raised a subscription 
 amongst themselves, and purchased the freedom of seventy slaves, 
 drawn by lot from all who had been under fire.
 
 THE PROWESS OF A YOUNG GIANT. 163 
 
 When the INIendicant Asylum was opened, in the year i860, the 
 first admitted into the institution was a worn-out old man, who was 
 son to the twice victorious General Liniers. 
 
 The native Argentines found their reward in the knowledge of 
 their own strength, and in the organization of their militia, which they 
 preserved after all danger from Great Britain had vanished, in spite 
 of the opposition of their Spanish rulers. The regiments of the 
 Patricios and the Arribehos were afterwards the nucleus upon which 
 were formed those conquering armies which eventually annihilated 
 the power of Spain in South America. 
 
 ««£e»««3)«« 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 THE COURT-MARTIAL. 
 
 The disgraceful defeat of the second expedition against Buenos 
 Aires roused a storm of indignation in Great Britain. General White- 
 lock was arrested on his return to England, and tried by court-martial. 
 
 The Court sat at Chelsea Hospital, and the trial which commenced 
 on the 28th January, 1808, was continued by adjournment to the 15th 
 March. 
 
 The Court consisted of nineteen general ofticers, under the presi- 
 dency of General the Rt. Hon. Sir W. Meadows, K. B. One active 
 member of this court-martial was Lieutenant-general Sir John Moore, 
 K. B., who as yet recked nothing of the disastrous retreat through 
 Galicia or of the blood-stained ramparts of Coruna. 
 
 Nearly all the officers in command of regiments or subdivisions of 
 regiments on the 5th July, 1807, the general officers, and the ofticers 
 of the staff, besides others connected with the expedition, were ex- 
 amined, after which General Whitclock was called upon for his defence. 
 
 The sentence of the Court was, that " Lieutenant-general Whitelock 
 be cashiered, and declared totally unfit and unworthy to serve his 
 Majesty in any military capacity whatever." 
 
 Concerning the equity and even lenience of this sentence there can 
 be no question, but in justice to an oflicer at once incapable and 
 unfortunate it is well to state the principal point in his defence. 
 
 In the General Orders issued to the army on the 4th July occurs 
 the following sentence : — 
 
 " Each officer commanding a division of the left wing, which is 
 from the 88th to 87lh inclusively, to take care that he does not incline 
 to his right of the right wing, that is, Light Brigade and 45U1 regiment 
 to the left." {Sic.) 
 
 General Whitclock in his defence alleged that Colonels Pack and
 
 164 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 Cadogan disobeyed this order by their attack upon the church of San 
 Francisco and of the entrenchment, both of wliich lay to the left of 
 their line of advance, and also General Crauford by his occupation of 
 the church of Santo Domingo, which lay to the left of his line of 
 advance. Had Colonel Pack occupied the church of Santo Domingo, 
 and General Crauford the houses to the rear of that church, they 
 might in the afternoon have retreated upon the Residencia, and the 
 entire column would have been available on the day following. 
 
 The chief mistake of General Whitelock seems to have been that 
 he made no attempt to establish a cordial understanding between 
 himself and his officers, seldom consulting them, and listening to the 
 advice of irresponsible men of far less experience. In particular, 
 Colonel Pack, who had resided for three months in Buenos Aires, was 
 never once consulted by that General. The result was that the valour 
 of the troops was thrown away, they were sacrificed by the ignorance 
 and incapacity of their commander, and deep disgrace and humiliation 
 was inflicted upon the British flag. 
 
 The name of General Whitelock is to this day a bye-word of 
 reproach in the provinces of La Plata, but there are no grounds for 
 attributing the misfortune to treachery, as it is the common custom of 
 the Spaniards to do. It is an unfortunate characteristic of the Iberian 
 race to attribute all disasters rather to treachery than to ignorance 
 and incapacity.
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 THE UNKNOWN FUTURE.
 
 PROLOGUE. 
 
 When a child first learns his strength he adventures to walk, and 
 delights in the exercise of his new-found powers ; yet in every diffi- 
 culty he seeks the supporting hand of his nurse, in every trouble he 
 flies for refuge to his mother, he trusts in her and confides in her, 
 obeys all her commands implicitly, questioning nothing. The day 
 comes when neither nurse nor mother is by to aid him, he pauses, 
 trembling at the unwonted solitude, then his spirit stirs itself within 
 him, and he thinks. The day that the child first thinks for himself 
 he has set his foot on the second round in the ladder of life. 
 
 Two struggles with the English had taught the Argentine people 
 one great lesson — that in times of difficulty and danger they need 
 look for no help from Spain. 
 
 Then the all-conquering genius of revolution set his heel upon 
 Spain. Spain, long tottering, fell, and became a mere appanage to 
 the empire of Napoleon. Spain had kept her children in bondage, 
 now she was in tutelage herself. 
 
 Buenos Aires looked around her and she was alone. Her stay and 
 her support was gone from her, but she knew no fear, for her spirit 
 was strong within her. The danger with which she was menaced was 
 a danger no longer — the enemy whom she had fouglit for Spain was 
 now her friend. 
 
 The third expedition, with which Great Britain was preparing to 
 avenge the two defeats she had suffered in Buenos Aires, never 
 readied the shores of La Plata. Trooj^s mustered at Cork, but ere 
 they embarked their destination was changed. In Portugal, under 
 the command of Sir Arthur Wellesley, they won the two victories of 
 Rolica and Vimeira, the first in that long list of victories which is 
 called by English historians the Peninsular War.
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 AT THE QUINTA DE DON ALFONSO. 
 
 It was near the end of August. In a small, barely-furnished room 
 at the quinta where General Whitelock had held his council of war on 
 the afternoon of the 4th July, Marcelino Ponce de Leon lay on a low 
 bedstead reading a newspaper entitled " La Estrella del Sur." It was 
 about the size of a fly-sheet of the present day, very badly printed on 
 very bad paper, and it bore the date " Monte Video, April, 1807." 
 The Comandante de los Morenos de Ponce looked very pale ; his left 
 arm was bandaged, and lay in a sling formed by a silk handkerchief, 
 which passed round his neck and hung down in front of him. He was 
 propped up with pillows, and held the paper in his right hand ; even 
 turning it and holding it in a position to read "was a labour to him. 
 
 There came a footstep in the patio outside, a hand was laid upon 
 the latch of the door, Marcelino hurriedly rolled up the paper, and 
 pushed it under the pillow behind him. The door was softly opened, 
 and Don Carlos Evaha walked in. 
 
 " It is you, Carlos," said Marcelino ; " I thought it was my host, 
 for he has not been to see me to-day. Come and sit down and talk." 
 
 " With pleasure, I have come to spend the morning with you. Don 
 Alfonso has gone into the city to meet his daughter, who has been 
 living for the last four years with Don Fausto Velasquez and his family 
 at their estancia." 
 
 " His daughter ! I did not know he had one." 
 
 " Nor 1 either till yesterday. It seems that while he was in prison 
 Don Fausto Velasquez took pity on his daughter, and she has lived 
 more with his family than with her father ever since." 
 
 " But how goes my father ? " 
 
 " Yesterday he was hobbling about with a crutch — the wound was 
 nothing more than a simple fracture. He says the only thing he has 
 to grumble about is your being here, and he is very anxious for you 
 to grow strong enough to be moved." 
 
 " There again, and none of tliem will come to see me while I am 
 here, not even my mother ! " 
 
 " Poor Doha Constancia ! I can tell you it has cost her many 
 tears, but Don Roderigo's orders are positive. Luckily I followed 
 General Whitelock here, or I don't think they would ever have heard 
 of you till you got well enough to seek them yourself." 
 
 "And the English officer who brought me here, liave you never 
 been aljle to find out who he was ? " 
 
 " r have not tlic slightest clue to him, except that he was an ofliccr 
 of Crauford's brigade."
 
 i;o PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 " Well, one is forced at times to accept benefits for which one can- 
 not even give thanks ; but (Jod knows who he is, and will reward 
 him."' 
 
 " Pish !" answered Evana; " did not you do the same for that Eng- 
 lish friend of yours, Gordon ? " 
 
 " The circumstances were quite different. I could not have done 
 less for him, and I have my reward in a valued friendship which will 
 last our two lives. But Gordon, how is it he has never been to see 
 me ? " 
 
 " He was sent outside after Whitelock's capitulation. The Cabildo 
 only gave up such of Beresford's prisoners as happened to be in the 
 city at the time of the assault ; they have kept your friend Gordon for 
 you a little longer. He went to the Pajonales, so I should not wonder 
 if he has come back with Don Fausto." 
 
 " Poor fellow ! But I should have been very sorry if he had gone 
 without my seeing him again." 
 
 " I don't know whether I am doing right in letting you talk so 
 much, but you do look very much better to-day, and your voice is 
 quite clear again. That will be good news for Dona Constancia and 
 Dolores ; I shall go and see them this afternoon." 
 
 " Who is this Don Alfonso ? He has been to me the best physician 
 and the most grumpy host that ever a man had." 
 
 " If I tell you his surname you will know at once who he is, then 
 we need talk no more of him, and I will read to you. His name is 
 Miranda." 
 
 " Miranda ! " said Marcelino meditatively ; " Miranda ! Is he any 
 relation to the General, Don Francisco ? " 
 
 " His brother." 
 
 "And what has he done that my father should think him his 
 enemy? " 
 
 " Have you never heard ? It happened before I went to Europe ! " 
 
 " What happened ? " 
 
 " I see you have never heard of him before. Strange ! Then I 
 suppose I must tell you. You have heard of the expeditions of 
 Miranda for the liberation of Venezuela?" 
 
 " Oh yes ; you and I have often spoken of them." 
 
 " Unluckily for Don Alfonso, who was in England at the time of 
 his second attempt in 1798, he just then determined to return to 
 Venezuela. He had lost his wife, who was an Englishwoman, I 
 suppose that made him leave England. He had never mixed in poli- 
 tics, and knew^ nothing of his brother's schemes, but when he landed 
 at Garracas he was thrown into prison, and only liberated on condition 
 of leaving the country at once. He came here. Your father had 
 him arrested again, and kept him in prison for more than a year. 
 Your grandfather and Don Fausto Velasquez interfered to get him 
 out, and the affair nearly ended in a complete rupture between your 
 father and the rest of the family. It is generally believed that Don 
 Alfonso revenged himself on Don Roderigo by sending secret inform- 
 ation against him to Spain. Whether that is true I do not know, but 
 soon after that your father fell into disgrace, and the two have been 
 deadly enemies ever since. I wonder you never heard of this."
 
 THE UNKNOWN FUTURE. I/I 
 
 " I remember that before I went to Cordova there was a great 
 quarrel between my father and my grandfather. I have seen my 
 mother cry about it for an hour together, but I never knew wliat it 
 was about. It must have been this affair, I suppose," answered Mar- 
 cehno musingly. " How strange of my father ! He is very liberal 
 in his ideas, but he cannot see that we in our country have just the 
 same rights that Spaniards have in Spain." 
 
 Then Marcelino lay back wearily on his pillows, and a shade of 
 sadness passed over his face. 
 
 " I have let you talk too much," said Evaha ; " and I should not 
 have told you of this yet but that I thought you had heard before of 
 Don Alfonso INIiranda. Let me read to you ; I have brought you 
 another paper." 
 
 So saying, Evana drew another paper from the breast-pocket of his 
 coat, and began reading it aloud to his sick friend, every now and 
 then pausing to make comments, and to add observations of his own. 
 Marcehno listened dreamily with his eyes half closed, and a smile 
 playing over his lips for some time, till his eyes closed altogether, 
 and Evaha looking at him saw that he was asleep. 
 
 For two hours Evaha sat in silence at the bedside of his friend, 
 listening to his low, regular breathing, looking at him now and then 
 and marking the ravages which sickness and pain had made upon his 
 young face. As he looked an expression of pain came into his own 
 face, he thought of the numbers of his own countrymen in the bloom 
 of their youth, or in the pride of their manhood, who would be struck 
 down even as his own friend here before the dream of his life could 
 be accomplished, before the dominion of Spain could be cast off, and 
 a republic of Argentines take its place among the nations of the 
 world. Of his own life he recked nothing, he had calculated the 
 probable cost of a struggle with Spain, the price of liberty would be 
 counted down in the lives of men, and that his own life would be one 
 of them he thought likely enough, for did not he seek his own place 
 in the very van of the great movement. But that the friends of his 
 youth, who would follow him in the blind generosity of their hearts, 
 fighting for a liberty of which they could not know the value, should 
 fall, that thought was painful to him, and fall they would, that he 
 knew right well. 
 
 So passed two hours ; again the door opened, and a girl entered, 
 bearing a tray with a basin of broth and some thin slices of bread on 
 a plate. 
 
 " Here is your broth," said Evaha, as Marcelino awoke at the 
 sound of the opening door ; " let us see if you will leave less of it than 
 you did yesterday." 
 
 " 1 don't intend to leave any of it to-day," replied Marcelino. 
 " But first, Carlos, tell me, that daughter of Don AUonso's you spoke 
 of, what is she like ? " 
 
 " I have never seen her," replied Evaiia. 
 
 " I was at the Pajonales last summer, I must have met her there." 
 " She has been there for the last four years. 
 
 "'I'herewas a little girl there they called the Inglesita, I never 
 thought of asking her name ; she could not be more than fourteen or
 
 172 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 fifteen years old. She had a snub nose, and die most beautiful large 
 gray eyes I ever saw." 
 
 " That would be her ; you appear to remember her very well," said 
 Evaha smiling ; " but she must be more than fifteen, those English 
 always look younger than their real age. Her name is Magdalen." 
 
 " Magdalen ! Malena, I think I heard them call her so." 
 
 " That's she, without doubt. So the best thing you can do is to 
 get strong enough to move into the sala, and then the owner of those 
 gray eyes will amuse you better than I can." 
 
 " You don't admire gray eyes, you admire black ones, like my 
 mother's or Eliza J'uyrredon's ; but I can tell you gray eyes are the 
 most beautiful of all, if a sympathetic heart shines through them." 
 
 " You have studied them ? " 
 
 '' I have seen one pair which I shall never forget." 
 
 " And I also," said Evana to himself ; but he added aloud, " never 
 mind about eyes just now, you can dream of them after you have 
 taken your broth." 
 
 When Evaha, covering him carefully up, left the room, Marcelino 
 lay back on his pillows, thinking dreamily of those gray eyes that 
 Evana's talk had brought back to his recollection. He had never 
 spoken a dozen words to the Inglesita, but she had listened atten- 
 tively to what he had said to others ; he had looked at her, had seen 
 his own ideas reflected in her eyes, and those eyes had haunted him 
 ever since. 
 
 Next morning at his usual hour Don Carlos Evana was again at the 
 Quinta de Don Alfonso. Marcelino's eyes brightened as he took his 
 seat beside him after making enquiries about his progress. 
 
 " Never mind about me," he said, " I am twice as strong to-day ; 
 but tell me your news, I am sure it is good from your face." 
 
 " Good and bad, both ; but I don't know whether we need think 
 the bad bad." 
 
 " Then the bad first. What is it ? " 
 
 " Your grandfather has resigned his seat in the Cabildo." 
 
 " But that is bad, he was the only Creole those Spaniards thought 
 worthy to sit with them." 
 
 " No, it is good. The best thing for us is that there be a broad 
 line drawn between Spaniards and the sons of the soil. The broader 
 this line is the easier will it be for us to tell friends from enemies 
 when the day comes." 
 
 " And he resigned of his own will ? " 
 
 " Yes, but not till he saw that to remain was to expose himself to 
 expulsion." 
 
 " To expulsion ! after all that he did for the defence of the city ! 
 If it had not been for him Liniers would never have been able to 
 rescue the city from Beresford. And after that, who has done as 
 much as he for the equipment of the militia? " 
 
 " No one," answered Evana smiling. " Why you are strong enough 
 to be quite indignant." 
 
 " Indignant ! I should think I am." 
 
 " They only tolerated him so long as he was useful to them," re- 
 plied Evana. " I think he has done very well to resign."
 
 THE UNKNOWN FUTURE. 1 73 
 
 " What became of Asneiros when my men were disbanded ? " 
 
 " Liniers has given him a captain's commission, but I don't know 
 if he has joined any regiment yet." 
 
 " He is a smart soldier, but he is all a Spaniard. Do you know, if 
 there were many Spaniards among us like him we could never have 
 the country to ourselves, they would beat us if Ave came to fighting." 
 
 " There are many Spaniards as good as he," replied Evaha ; " but 
 not for that have I any fear. The Spanish system keeps the good 
 men down, that is the weakness of Spain, and that is also the reason 
 why we must free ourselves from Spain. We have many good men 
 amongst us, but nothing can they do so long as Spain and the Spanish 
 system rule over us." 
 
 " True. I shall see Asneiros some day, and shall keep my eye 
 on him." 
 
 "Well, you have my bad news, now for the good ones. Your 
 friend Gordon has come back with Don Fausto, and is coming with 
 me to see you this afternoon." 
 
 " Viva ! Yes, that is good." 
 
 " You can talk to him as much you like about the gray-eyed Mag- 
 dalen. She talks English as well as I do, and Gordon and she are 
 great friends." 
 
 " And Gordon, poor fellow, will be a prisoner yet for no one knows 
 how long." 
 
 " He does not seem to fret about it. Very few prisoners find such 
 kind gaolers ; I am sure I do not pity him." 
 
 " What made him go to Don Fausto's estancia ? " 
 
 " He had to go somewhere, for if he had been seen by any English 
 officer he would have been claimed, so Don Fausto took him with 
 him when he went back." 
 
 " Then was Don Fausto in the city on the 5th July?" 
 
 " Did I never tell you ? He came in with a party of peons all 
 armed to the teeth, as soon as he heard that the English had landed. 
 He got into town on the night of the 4lh, and without resting a 
 moment set to work to turn his house into a fortification ; a lot of 
 the Patricios went to help him, and there they stood all day waiting 
 for some Englishmen to come and be shot, and not one went any- 
 where near them." 
 
 " I should have thought that was exactly where the English would 
 have tried to go in. Don Juan Martin Puyrredon went l)y that street 
 on the 1 2th August, with Don Lsidro Lorea to help him." 
 
 " They did try, but poor Don lsidro stopped them." 
 
 " Don lsidro ! what about him ? How your voice changed when 
 you spoke of him," said Marcelino, raising liimself on his elbow and 
 looking earnestly at Evafia. 
 
 " It was a slip," said Evaha sadly. " I did not intend to have told 
 you yet, but you must know some day. He was killed, fighting like 
 a hero at the head of his men. Could you wish for a better tleath 
 yourself — fighting for his country in defence of his own home ? " 
 
 " And Dona Dalmacia ! what a blow for her ! How does she 
 bear it?" 
 
 " I have not seen her since. He completely beat the English and
 
 174 rONCE DE LEON. 
 
 captured a giin. Don't ask me any more about it ; when you are 
 well and strong again we will go all round the city together, and I 
 will tell you all I know of the attack and the defence. But I have 
 something else to tell you now. Your Uncle Gregorio is missing." 
 
 " I thought you said he went to the quinta after the fight at the 
 Paso Chico." 
 
 " He did, but the next day he went outside, and has never been 
 back. We expected to hear of him from Don Fausto, but no one 
 knows where he has gone." 
 
 " Oh, that is nothing ! he is always disappearing like that, but 
 he always turns up again. The old game, I suppose, some pair of 
 shining black eyes." 
 
 " But it is strange now when all the comandantes are in the city, 
 and he is in command of a regiment." 
 
 " Ah, Carlos, you don't understand those things ; politics are every- 
 thing to you, and if you see a pair of bright eyes you don't even 
 notice what colour they are. When my uncle Gregorio sees a pair 
 which smile on him he forgets everything. He always was that way, 
 so they tell me." 
 
 "And then, after looking at himself in those eyes for a month or so, 
 he gets tired of them, and goes away, and never thinks of them any 
 more," said Evana. " Frankly, I cannot understand a man like that, 
 yet I believe there are such men." 
 
 " Of them there are many, but you are not one of them, Carlos, 
 therefore you cannot understand my uncle. If ever you love it will 
 be for all your life ; you are a tyrant to every one else, but you would 
 be a slave to a woman you loved." 
 
 " Therefore I had better never love," replied Evaha ; " man was 
 not made to be slave to any, but to be lord over the whole earth." 
 
 " But not lord over his own heart, Carlos, that is in no man's 
 power. Proud as you are, your time will come." 
 
 " Let me read you some more of the ' Estrella del Sur,' " said 
 Evana, hastily. 
 
 " I have it safe under my pillow, no one has seen it," replied 
 Marcelino. " Ah ! Carlos, if the English had only made war upon 
 the Spaniards with these newspapers instead of with cannon-balls, 
 then we could have received them as friends." 
 
 " Be it then our work to teach the lesson they have failed to teach," 
 repHed Evaha.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE EPISODE OF THE FAH^ MAURICIA. 
 
 A FORTNIGHT passcd, Marceliiio gained strength rapidly, Don Al- 
 fonso pronounced him well enough to bear removal, and very readily 
 acquiesced in the desire of Don Roderigo that he should pass his 
 convalescence under another roof A covered litter, carried by slaves 
 and escorted by Don Carlos Evana and Lieutenant Gordon, made its 
 appearance at the quinta one fine morning in September. That night 
 ]\Iarcelino slept under his father's roof and his pillow was smoothed 
 for him by his mother's hand. The change did him good, a few days 
 more and he was able to spend his afternoons on a sofa in his mother's 
 sala. 
 
 Little by little he learnt all the particulars of the struggle of the 5th 
 and 6th July. The sad fate of Doha Dalmacia Navarro caused him 
 deep sorrow, but on the whole he was surprised to learn the small ex- 
 tent of the loss suffered by his fellow-citizens, and his heart swelled 
 with pride as anecdote after anecdote of their bravery and of their 
 tender care for the victims of the fight, were poured into his willing ear. 
 
 One afternoon as his sister Dolores, aided by his two friends Don 
 Carlos Evaha and Lieutenant Gordon, were doing their best to amuse 
 him, Don Roderigo Ponce de Leon hurriedly entered the room and 
 requested Don Carlos Evana to favour him with his company for a few 
 minutes. 
 
 " What is there ? " asked Marcelino, as the door closed. " ]\Iy 
 father looked very grave." 
 
 " I came in just as he did," said Gordon. " There was a gaucho 
 waiting for him, who seemed very impatient to see him. They went 
 into Don Roderigo's private room together." 
 
 " Will it be some news of my uncle Gregorio, I know grandpapa 
 is very anxious about him ? " said Dolores. 
 
 News about this uncle Gregorio it most certainly was, and news 
 which caused great disquietude to Don Roderigo. While raising his 
 regiment in the preceding summer, Don Gregorio Lopez the younger 
 had made the acc^uaintance of Don Francisco Viana, the father of 
 Venceslao Viana, and had passed much of his spare time at his estancia, 
 receiving from him much assistance in his recruiting operations. Don 
 Francisco had several daughters, all good-looking, in spite of ihe dark 
 blood which they inherited from their mother. One of them named 
 IvLuiricia appeared to the Colonel of cavalry the handsomest woman 
 he had ever seen in his life. lie at once fell deeply in love with her, 
 and felt that life without her to share it with him would be a burden
 
 176 rONCE DE LEON. 
 
 to him greater than he could bear. This sensation was no novelty to 
 the Senor Colonel Don Gregorio Lopez, it was commonly reported of 
 him in Buenos Aires that he experienced it at least once every six 
 months, nevertheless he pursued this new love with all the ardour of 
 a first affection and prospered in his suit. 
 
 The day of the repulse of General Whitelock he made his appearance 
 at the estancia of Don Francisco, all the men were absent, during the 
 night he disappeared, and Mauricia went with him. Great was the 
 sorrow of the family, who knew of his love and had encouraged it. Don 
 Francisco had seen in the marriage of his daughter with the Colonel a 
 means of reconciliation with his own family, a matter which he had 
 much at heart. Search was made in every direction for the runaway 
 couple, but for long there was no tidings of them, till Venceslao returned 
 from Buenos Aires, who, being better acquainted than the rest with 
 the Colonel's habits, before many days had traced them to the 
 Guardia Ranchos. 
 
 So much Don Roderigo told to Don Carlos Evaha as they stood in 
 an ante-room together, then he added — 
 
 " This man insists upon the Colonel marrying his sister at once, 
 but this the Colonel refuses to do, and he has come in to ask my 
 intervention in the matter. Now, as you know, Don Gregorio is very 
 jealous of my meddling in the affairs of his family, and I don't see 
 that I should be justified in doing so in this instance. But this Mau- 
 ricia is the niece of my mother-in-law, therefore the honour of her 
 family is involved in this matter. You have great influence with Don 
 Gregorio, much more than I have, and I think it would be best for 
 you to break the matter to him. It will be very painful to him, he 
 has so carefully avoided all connexion with Don Francisco Viana, 
 that I believe he would rather see his eldest son dead than married 
 to one of his daughters." 
 
 Evana did not answer immediately, but stood with his eyes fixed on 
 the ground, pulling nervously at his moustache with one of his long, 
 white hands. 
 
 " You had better see the man yourself," continued Don Roderigo, 
 opening a side door. " You will find him in here, and while you 
 sjjeak to him I will go and consult Constancia." 
 
 Evana entered the room of which Don Roderigo had opened the 
 door, and saw before him a handsome, dark-featured man, in the 
 ordinary rough dress of a paisano, seated on a chair, twirling his hat 
 round between his fingers. The man looked up at hira as he closed 
 the door behind him, then dropping his hat he started to his feet, 
 exclaiming — ■ 
 
 " My deliverer ! my preserver ! at last I have met you. Always 
 when I have been in this city since, I have looked for you. Thanks 
 be to God that I again see you." 
 
 " Who are you ? " replied Evaha, looking at him in surprise. " I 
 have never that I know of done you any service, or even seen you 
 before." 
 
 *' Alread}' have you forgotten the massacre at Perdriel, where you 
 dragged me out from among the dead, and saved me when they were 
 coming to finish us ? "
 
 THE UNKNOWN FUTURE. 1/7 
 
 "You are the man that I helped from under a dead horse ! I think 
 I remember your face now." 
 
 " Yes, I am that man whose life you saved. I am Venceslao 
 Viana."' 
 
 " You never told me your name, but I am glad that I was able to 
 assist you. Alas ! the most of those lying there were beyond all 
 assistance." 
 
 " Two minutes more and I should have been like the rest, beyond 
 all assistance, for I knew nothing of their speech, and you spoke for 
 me. You .saved my life." 
 
 " Hum ! " answered Evana, looking steadily at the eager eyes of 
 the man before him. 
 
 " Yes, Senor, I owe you my life," said Venceslao, somewhat abashed 
 by the cold, searching gaze of Evaha. " I owe you my life, and, as I 
 told you then, my services, everything that I have is at your disposal, 
 send me where you will and I will go, tell me anything I may do for 
 you and I will do it." 
 
 "Perhaps some day I may need your services," replied Evaha; 
 "then I will apply to you freely, and shall count upon you." 
 
 " God grant that it be soon," said Venceslao, as a tlush of pleasure 
 brightened his face. 
 
 Evaha started, Venceslao had echoed his own thoughts in his ready 
 words. Again he looked searchingly into the bright eyes of the 
 paisano, but he could read nothing more there than the gratitude 
 which prompted a simple nature to acknowledge and repay as he best 
 could a signal service, there was no ulterior thought. 
 
 " .Sit down," said Evana, taking a chair to himself. " Some other 
 day we will talk of that. I have come to speak with \-ou on a matter 
 in which perhaps I may be able to help you better than Don 
 Rodcrigo. Tell me all about this aflair between your sister and 
 Colo.iel Lopez." 
 
 Half an hour they sat talking together, during which time Evaha 
 learnt all about the family and connexions of Don Francisco Viana, 
 and much about Colonel Lopez of which he had no idea, for though 
 he had neces-sarily seen much of the latter he had never been intimate 
 with him. Now he learnt tliat Don Gregorio Lopez the younger had 
 very considerable influence o\er all the estancieros in the southern 
 parts of the province, and was looked up to by all the stout yeomanry 
 as tiieir natural chief. 
 
 " Then you all knew of the Colonel's love for your sister ? " said 
 Evana. 
 
 " Yes, all of us, it was no secret. The Colonel was always at our 
 house when his duties permitted him ; he came and went just as he 
 pleased. We are very simple people, and for our friends our door is 
 always open. We thought him (jur friend, and nc\er dreamed of 
 dishonour." 
 
 "But you thought he was going to marry her, had nothing ever 
 been said about it ? " 
 
 " Said, no, but it was a thing understood. We are not rich as he is, 
 but we have land and cattle of our own, we arc people of fimily, and 
 are not gauchos. My sister Mauricia is very beauliiul, and it is not 
 strange that he should love her. Besides, there is already some 
 
 N
 
 1/8 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 relationship between us, his father married as his second wife my 
 father's sister." 
 
 " Yes, I know all about that, but your father has been for many 
 years estranged from the rest of his family." 
 
 "What matters that? we are still of the same family. That he 
 should bring dishonour upon his own relations is what we never 
 thought the Colonel capable of doing, we esteemed him very highly." 
 
 " Then you seek the intervention of his own family to prevent this 
 dishonour ? " 
 
 "Just so ; he will not see us, not even me, and before proceeding 
 to extremities we would wish to try every means." 
 
 " Before proceeding to extremities ! what do you mean by that ? " 
 
 " Pues ! that you know well enough, it is sufficient that I 
 mention it." 
 
 " You would force him to marry her ? But how ? " 
 
 "If he does not marry her there are no longer any terms between 
 us," said Venceslao, rising excitedly from his seat. " We are a decent 
 family as is any other family ; I am the eldest son of my father, upon 
 me devolves this duty to avenge the honour of my family, and I have 
 sworn upon the Holy Cross that my duty I will do, although ten die 
 and I among them." 
 
 " Be calm, man, and sit do\vn, fresh misfortunes cannot cancel the 
 one you lament. Sit down and talk rationally, I wish to be your 
 friend." 
 
 " Among gaucho-folk this sort of thing is little thought of," said 
 Venceslao, still standing and gesticulating with his hands, " but 
 among people of family it is different. The family gives dignity and 
 privileges to a man, but it also imposes upon him duties. I am 
 nothing more than a simple paisano, but I am an honest man, and 
 the honour of my family is dearer to me than my own life, as dear to 
 me as that of any of the grandees of the city is to him. It appears 
 that the Sehor Coronel thinks little of the honour of his father's 
 family, to me it remains to teach him that being people of family all 
 are equal." 
 
 Evaha's eyes glistened ; that all honest men were equal, and that 
 rank and wealth were but as tinsel adornments, was one of the leading 
 articles of his political creed. That many of his own standing agreed 
 with him, he knew, but he did not know that such ideas would find 
 any favour among the rough, unlettered denizens of the Pampa. In 
 thought he peered through the mists of the unknown future, and he 
 saw a time when the aid and friendship of such a man as Venceslao 
 Viana might be of great service to him ; rising from his seat he went 
 up to him and laid his hand upon his shoulder. 
 
 "There is justice in all you say, my friend," said he, "and to me 
 you may speak safely, but it is not well to speak your thoughts aloud 
 in every ear. Be calm, there is no need for us yet to discuss this 
 between us. I wish to be your friend, and I wish also to be a friend 
 to Colonel Lopez, I desire that he and you may be friends together 
 and not enemies. Trust me, he shall marry your sister." 
 
 " Ah ! Senor, if you can manage that you will lift a great weight 
 from my heart, and will do me a greater service than when you saved
 
 THE UNKNOWN FUTURE. 179 
 
 me from the English. Before this I greatly liked the Colonel Lopez, 
 as a chief I ne\er wish to find one wliom I would follow with greater 
 pleasure. This has been a great tribulation to all of us. Oh ! Sehor, 
 save us if you can, the service you will do us is infinite." So saying, 
 Venceslao reseated himself on his chair and bowing his foce on his 
 hands burst into tears, sobbing till his shoulders shook with the 
 violence of his grief. 
 
 Evaha took two or three turns up and down the room, then coming 
 back to Venceslao he again laid his hand on his shoulder. 
 
 " I am going to see Don Gregorio, the father of the Colonel, he is 
 the only one who has any power over his son, stay here with Don 
 Roderigo till I see you again;" so saying, Evana turned from him and 
 left the room. 
 
 In another room he found Don Roderigo and Doha Constancia, 
 the latter held a handkerchief in her hand and had evidently been 
 weejjing. 
 
 " You have heard what he says ? " asked Don Roderigo. 
 " He has told me everything," replied Evana, " and I am going to 
 see Don Gregorio." 
 
 " I will go with you," said Don Roderigo. 
 
 " No, no," said Doha Constancia ; " let Don Carlos go alone. It 
 is right that my father should know of this, but I do not wish that 
 you should have any dispute with him. Such an idea ! If you mention 
 it to him he will never speak to you again." 
 
 " Constancia says that it is absolutely impossible to think of such a 
 thing as a marriage l)etween them," said Don Roderigo. 
 
 " The idea is folly," said Doha Constancia. " That Gregorio should 
 amuse himself with a gauchita, to that we are accustomed, but 
 Roderigo says that they insist upon him marrying her ! " 
 
 " I fear me, Schora," said Evaha, " that is the only course left 
 open to him. This Mauricia is no gauchita, she is a cousin of your 
 own, Sehora." 
 
 " Cousin ! we recognize no such relationship," rei)lied Doha Con- 
 stancia haughtily. " What are you going to tell my father, Don 
 Carlos ? " 
 
 "I am going to tell him the simple facts, he-will decide for himself 
 whether he will interfere at all in the matter." 
 
 " But you will be careful not to mention to him that these Vianas 
 insist upon him marrying the girl ? " 
 
 " I shall tell him that also, Sehora, and shall do my best to prevail 
 upon him to consent to it." 
 
 "Don Carlos!" exclaimed Doha Constancia, clasping her hands 
 and looking at him in astonishment. 
 
 " I sec nothing so extravagant in the idea, Sehora. For years you 
 have all been wishing that Don Gregorio woukl marry, he is old 
 enough to know what sort of a wife will suit him best." 
 
 " I'ues ! do wJiat you think best, but my father, 1 know, will never 
 give his consent, and wc can never recx'ive her." 
 
 "'I'liat may never be necessary," said Don Roderigo. "Don 
 Gregorio will live on his estancia, it is the life for which he is most 
 fitted."
 
 l80 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 Evana went and saw Don Gregorio, for more than two Iioins lliey 
 talked together. 
 
 " My son could seek a wife in the first famiHes. Of those Vianas 
 of Chascomus I wish no one to speak to me, for me they are as 
 though tliey did not exist," said Don Gregorio, as he walked up and 
 down the dining-room in his anger. 
 
 But Evaha would sj^eak of the Vianas, and of their existence Don 
 Gregorio was most painfully aware. 
 
 "I know what you mean, Carlos," said Don Gregorio; "though 
 you will not say it plainly to me. You mean that Don Francisco 
 Viana is my equal, that therefore his daughter is the ecpial of my son, 
 and that he does not degrade himself by marrying such a woman. I 
 deny your premises, and therefore the whole of your argument falls to 
 the ground. By birth Don Francisco is mv equal, in everything else 
 he is my inferior; he has himself married a woman not only inferior 
 to him in birth but in race also. His daughter is not the equal of my 
 son, and there is less disgrace to her in their present connexion than 
 would come to my son by their marriage." 
 
 " In their own way they are a most respectable family, from all I 
 can hear," replied Evana ; " and they feel keenly the disgrace which 
 has come upon them." 
 
 " Bah ! what matters it, that family ! Bring that man here to see 
 me, Carlos, I will speak to him myself." 
 
 It was nightfall before Don Carlos Evana returned to the house of 
 Don Gregorio Lopez, accompanied by Venceslao Viana. They were 
 shown into a small room in the first patio, and were soon joined by 
 Don Gregorio. Don Gregorio looked hard at the roughly-dressed but 
 handsome man who stood before him ; the dark blood he had inherited 
 from his mother was plainly seen in his skin and in his hair, but his 
 features were of almost classical beauty, and in his face there was a 
 look of intelligence and of fearless honesty of purpose Avhich won 
 ui)on the old gentleman in spite of his prejudices. Venceslao on his 
 part also carefully scrutinized the appearance of Don Gregorio, and 
 recognized him at once. 
 
 ' " It is the same," said he to himself, bethinking him of the letter he 
 had carried from Liniers to the Cabildo on the morning of the 3rd 
 July. " It is the same, I knew that in some way he was a relation of 
 mine, they all of them seem to be people of ' Categoria,' but not for 
 that shall I yield one inch. The higher the family, the deeper is the 
 stain of dishonour." 
 
 " Thanks for having taken the trouble to come and visit me, take a 
 seat," said Don Gregorio, without however offering to shake hands 
 with him. " My son has behaved very badly to your sister, and to all 
 of you ; apparently you have shown him much kindness, and he has 
 requited you most infamously. I am glad you have come to see me, 
 for I have great influence over my son, and will use my utmost en- 
 deavour to induce him to make you every possible reparation. I 
 shall write to him, that on pain of my severest displeasure he return 
 your sister at once to her father's house, that is the first thing he must 
 do, then we will see what further — ■ — " 
 
 " No, Senor ! excuse me," interrupted Venceslao, " that is not the
 
 THE UNKNO\YN FUTURE. l8l 
 
 first thing. The first thing he has to do is to make her his wife, after 
 that, if he cares for her no longer, the door of her father's house will 
 be open to her, not before." 
 
 " Do nie the favour to listen to me. You must be aware that an 
 alliance " 
 
 " Excuse me, Sehor Don Gregorio. By the side of a great Sehor as 
 you are, my father is but a poor man, but we are an honest family, and 
 of good name. Our honour is as dear to us as your own is to you, 
 and we will not permit a stain to be cast upon our good name by any 
 one widi impunity.'' 
 
 " You permit yourself to talk folly, my friend," said Don Gregorio, 
 strivinsr to i)reserve his cahnness. " I asked you here that we might 
 speak together in a friendly manner, and I can excuse much to you, 
 as you have reason for indignation." 
 
 " Reason 1 " said Venceslao excitedly. " You do not know my 
 father. He is a venerable old man, older than you are I think. 
 Your son has brought shame and sorrow upon his head, and would 
 you that I, his eldest son, shall talk of reason ! I have well loved 
 your son, and have followed him as my chief, and I wish to save him 
 from the consequences of his own act, or I had no need to have 
 come here." 
 
 " What is that you say ? " said Don Gregorio, frowning angrily. 
 
 " I think it is useless to speak any more," said Evaha, " I see that 
 it can have no good result ; 1 will go to the Guardia Ranchos, and will 
 see Colonel Lopez myself." 
 
 Venceslao looked at him gratefully, and rose from his seat to go. 
 
 " Not yet," said Don Gregorio, stepping rapidly between him and 
 the door. " You have used words which require explanation, you do 
 not leave this room till I know more of your intentions." 
 
 " If the honour of your family is nothing to you, to my father it is 
 more precious than life, and I, his son, know how to avenge any 
 affront to the family." 
 
 " My family ! " said Don Gregorio. 
 
 " I am of your family, and so is my sister Mauricia ; the stain is 
 upon you as well as upon us. I have come to appeal to you, as the 
 head of the family ; it appears that the honour of the family is to you 
 of small value, I am a man of another stamp, and will know how to 
 take my measures. 1 will know what measures to take." 
 
 " Talk no more in that way, Venceslao," said Evaha ; " you forget 
 the respect you owe to an old man." 
 
 " It is not alone in respect that he is wanting," said Don Gregorio ; 
 "he has used words which rerjuire explanation, and I recjuire an 
 exj^licit explanation before he leaves this room." 
 
 " I have spoken clearly enough, and seek to hide nothing," said 
 Venceslao. 
 
 " Vou have spoken of consequences to my son," said Don Gregorio. 
 
 " 1 have spoken ; I know my duty, and shall do it." 
 
 "You apprehend danger?" said i'^aha to Don (Ircgorio, taking 
 him aside, " Dismiss all fear of that. Those who l;ilk nine h never 
 do anything. Leave it all to me; as I told you, 1 will g(j to-morrow 
 to the Ciuardia Ranchos, and will see Gregorio myself, we shall arrange
 
 1 82 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 tlie matter, but if you interfere with this man it will occasion a scandal. 
 You might write to Gregorio, and I will carry the letter for you." 
 
 " No, I will not write, I am too angry to write now, but tell my son 
 that he must submit to any demand they may make upon him, and 
 that I will not see him again until he has completely severed all con- 
 nexion between himself and this family. 
 
 " I will tell him what you say, word for word," said Evaiia. 
 
 Two days after this, Don Carlos Evana and Colonel Don Gregorio 
 IvOpez sat talking together in the plainly-furnished sala of a house in the 
 frontier town of Ranchos, which is situate about ten leagues to the 
 north-east of the Guardia Chascomus. For more than an hour they 
 had talked together, and it was now near sundown. The Colonel 
 sat leaning back in an arm-chair, with his legs stretched out before 
 him, his hat, loosely set on, completely concealed his forehead, his 
 eyes being just visible under the wide flap. He was smoking, and 
 was apparently more intent upon watching the white rings of smoke, 
 which he now and then succeeded in puffing into the air, than upon 
 the conversation of the Sehor Evaha. Everything in his demeanour 
 and attitude denoted careless ease, yet now and then there was a 
 hurried, anxious glance in his eye, which showed that the ease w^as 
 more apparent than real, Don Carlos Evaha was not at all at his 
 ease, and made no attempt to appear so. He had laid aside his cloak 
 and hat, and walked up and down the room, nervously rolling a cigar 
 between his fingers. 
 
 " All that you say to me is in vain, Carlos," said Don Gregorio. 
 " Mauricia is a pearl among women, the more I know of her the more 
 precious she is to me." 
 
 " Then marry her, and make her yours for life," replied Evaha. 
 
 " And break for ever with my father ! no ! " 
 
 " I gave you your father's message, word for word, as he gave it to 
 me ; he insists upon your severing all connexion with that family, as 
 I told you." 
 
 " With the family with pleasure ; I have done that most decisively 
 already by robbing a daughter from them," replied the colonel, with 
 a hollow laugh. 
 
 "And never did you do anything more contrary to your own interests." 
 
 " Why do you so insist upon my interests? Granted that I do lose 
 my influence with the paisanage, and that I cease to be comandante, 
 \vhat matters that to you ? " 
 
 " To me ! what can it matter to me ? But to you it matters more 
 than you think. The day is not far distant when the comandantes 
 will have the destinies of our country in their hands." 
 
 " Ah ! always at that old idea of yours — America for the Americans. 
 It seems to me that we fought the English for Spain and not for 
 America. I raised a regiment and worked like a slave for months, 
 because it was my father's wish that I should do so. How have they 
 rewarded my father ? " 
 
 As Don Gregorio said this all his carelessness disappeared, he 
 thrust his hat back froni his forehead, and stamping angrily with one 
 foot on the tiled floor he fiercely repeated his question, " How have 
 they rewarded my father ? "
 
 THE UNKNOWN FUTURE. 183 
 
 " They despise him, and kick him out from amongst them as though 
 he were a dog," rephed Evaha. 
 
 " Pues ! why then should I be comandante, to drill troops and 
 run upon the fire, if need be, for them ? " 
 
 " You speak well. But answer me one question. How many 
 Spaniards are there in your regiment ? " 
 
 "None. "What do I want with Spaniards?" 
 
 " In the Partido of Chascomus, how many Spaniards are there who 
 have houses and land ? " 
 
 " Perhaps fifty." 
 
 " Then if you have all the paisanos at your back you need fear 
 nothing from the Cabildo if you happened to quarrel with them ? " 
 
 " In my own partido I am king, and fear no one." 
 
 " Answer me yet another question. Who was it that drove Beres- 
 ford from the Plaza Mayor, and so insured his destruction on the 
 1 2 th August? " 
 
 ''Juan Martin Puyrredon and my nephew." 
 
 " Another question. ^Vhat troops drove back the English columns 
 on the 5th July ? " 
 
 " The Patricios. I am not a schoolboy that you should ask me 
 questions that every one knows." 
 
 " ^^'ell, I will ask you no more. But look you here ; you are an 
 American, and are king, as you say, in your own partido. Don Juan 
 Martin Puyrredon, Don Martin Rodriguez, and all the other coman- 
 dantes are just as powerful in their districts as you are in yours ; the 
 strength of Buenos Aires is in the native militia, who obey Don 
 Cornelio .Saavedra, everywhere the strength is in the hands of 
 Americans ; where the strength is, there the power will go. They 
 have turned Don Gregorio out of the Cabildo, the Spaniards are to 
 have all the power to themselves. Think you that this can last ? No, I 
 tell you your father must go back to that Cabildo. You must keep 
 up }'our regiment, and when the day comes your strength and influence 
 will put him there." 
 
 " it may be," replied Don Gregorio, again leaning back lazily in 
 his chair; "but for the present we have other things to think of. 
 You did not come here to tell me that." 
 
 " No, but if you marry Mauricia you secure your power and influ- 
 ence. If you do not, your help will never be of any service to your 
 father." 
 
 " Tales, my friend, why should I marry her ? She is better off 
 here with me now than she ever was before, or was ever likely to be." 
 
 " You think so, but I doubt it. She must love you very dearly, or 
 she would not have run away from her liome with you. She would 
 be proud to be your wife, now she is to you as your horse or your 
 dog, you can turn her away when you are tired of her. She has sacri- 
 ficed everything for you, but she lias no claim \\\)0\\ you." 
 
 " She has more than a claim, she has power over me. She knows 
 that I can refuse her nothing; this house, everything that 1 have is 
 hers, she has only to ask, and she knows it." 
 
 " Has she ever asked you for anything? " 
 
 " Never. She is with me because she loves me, and I love her." 
 lias she ever asked to sec her father, or any of her family ? " 
 
 <(
 
 1 84 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 " Never. I never speak to her about them, and I never wish her 
 to see them again." 
 
 "Yet she was much attached to them ah. Do you tliink she has 
 forgotten them?" 
 
 As Don Gregorio thd not answer tliis question, Evana continued — 
 
 " Men cut themselves off from their fauiiHes and form homes for 
 themselves, but women never forget the homes of their childhood. 
 It may be a light thing to you to quarrel with your father, but it will 
 be a sore trial to Mauricia to lose hers, you have blasted her life for 
 ner. ' 
 
 " Folly, man ! Here she has a house of her own, a better one than 
 she ever lived in before, servants to wait upon her, and nothing to do 
 but amuse herself." 
 
 " Nothing to do ! " answered Evana. " Idleness either in man or 
 woman is destructive of happiness. If she has nothing to do she will 
 soon be miserable ; she has been accustomed always to have plenty of 
 work on her hands. If she were your wife she would feel that this 
 house was hers, and would soon find plenty of work in ruling it for 
 you. As the head of your household her work would be happiness 
 to her J as your wife she would feel herself a queen among her 
 sisters." 
 
 " Since when have you learned to know so much of women, Car- 
 los ? " replied Don Gregorio, laughing. " Formerly you cared for 
 nothing but books." 
 
 Evana turned impatiently away from him and did not answer, 
 whereupon Don Gregorio arose from his chair, saying — 
 
 " I will go and speak with INIauricia, for her happiness I am ready 
 to make any sacrifice." 
 
 Evana relighted his cigar and threw himself fulldength upon a sofa ; 
 the cigar was long smoked out ere Don Gregorio returned. 
 
 For several days past Mauricia had been less cheerful than 'she 
 was wont to be. Don Gregorio had noticed this once or twice when 
 he had come upon her unawares ; he had found her in tears, which 
 she had striven to hide from him. When he left Evana he found her 
 sitting alone with some embroidery work before her, but her fingers 
 were idle, traces of recent tears were on her cheeks, yet as he sat 
 down beside her she cast her sad thoughts to the winds, and turned 
 to greet him with a loving smile. 
 
 " Has your friend gone ?" she asked. 
 
 " No, not yet. We have been talking of your father, and of the 
 rest of your family ; he says " 
 
 But as Don Gregorio spoke of her father, all the sad thoughts in 
 which she had been indulging rushed back to her mind, her colour 
 faded from her face, and she clasped her hands together, twining her 
 fingers one over the other, and bowing her head upon her bosom. 
 About her father and her family she .could not speak, and, as Don 
 Gregorio spoke to her of them slightingly, her heart for the first time 
 rose in rebellion against him. 
 
 "They all loved me," said she sharply, in a tone which Don Gre- 
 gorio had never heard from her before, "and I have brought sor- 
 row and shame upon them ; what matters it that they are poor ? " As
 
 THE UNKNOWN FUTURE. 1 85 
 
 she said this she hid her face in her hands, and the tears trickled 
 through her fingers. 
 
 Don Gregorio did all that he could to soothe her, speaking loving 
 words to her, leaning over her and caressing her ; but to all that he 
 said she spoke not one word in return, still hiding her face from him, 
 still struggling in her own way against the remorse which lay heavy 
 on her heart. 
 
 " They want me to marry thee," said he, drawing slightly away 
 from her. 
 
 At this her hands dropped from her face, she turned and looked 
 full upon him, a wild gleam of joy and hope in her eyes. 
 
 " Will they forgive me ? " she asked eagerly. 
 
 " To my wife they have nothing to forgive," replied Don Gregorio 
 haughtily. " If it is that thou lovest them better than me, leave me ; 
 go to them and ask them to forgive thee." 
 
 "No, no !" replied Mauricia, again dropping her fiice on to her 
 hands, " with thee, wherever thou art? " 
 
 " Thou askest me not then to marry thee ? " 
 
 " Do not be angry with me, only love me, and let me always be 
 with thee." So saying, Mauricia rose from her seat, and threw herself 
 on her knees beside him, laying both her hands upon one arm and 
 leaning upon him. 
 
 Don Gregorio put his arm round her and bent over her, asking her 
 again — 
 
 " Wiliest thou that we marry ? " 
 
 But Mauricia still clung to him answering him nothing. Then he 
 took her in his arms and raised her to her feet, and said in a low 
 whisper — 
 
 " Venceslao is near here, I go to send him to thy father to ask his 
 permission for thee to become my wife." 
 
 With a low cry of joy she threw her arms round his neck, kissing 
 him frantically. 
 
 It was a Sunday forenoon, three weeks after this, that Don Carlos 
 Evaha, accompanied by Venceslao Viana, rode up to the estancia of 
 Don Francisco Viana. Many horses were tethered about, and dogs 
 rushed out barking fiercely at them, but no one came to bid them 
 welcome. 
 
 " They are at service," said Venceslao, as he tied Evaha's horse for 
 him to the palenque ; " would you like to see ? It is a thing you will 
 not see on other estancias." 
 
 " With pleasure ; I am curious to see it." 
 
 " It is well worth seeing," said Venceslao, smiling. " There is no 
 Padre Cura can say Mass like my father does." 
 
 He then led the way into a large room where the whole household 
 was collected, sitting or kneeling on the ground in rows, the women 
 having small carjicts under them, and some of the men had coarse 
 rugs or sheepskins. Don Francisco himself, a venerable-looking old 
 man with white hair, which hung down to his shoulders, and a 
 long wliite beard, stood behind a small table at one end of the room, 
 reading from a large book which lay open on it before him — the service
 
 1 86 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 of the day. His eye flashed a cordial greeting to Evaha as he entered, 
 he paused for one moment to bow a mute saUitation, and then calmly 
 resumed his reading. 
 
 Evaha took a seat on a chair which stood near the door, looking 
 with curiosity upon a scene such as he had never before witnessed, 
 and many a furtive glance was cast upon him by tlie worshi]:)pers, 
 more especially from the front row, where Mauricia knelt with her 
 mother and her sisters, Don (iregorio was not present, and Vences- 
 lao whispered to Evana that he had ridden into the Guardia that 
 morning, and would be back before sundown. As the service ended 
 all knelt down, bowing their heads, and Don Francisco, raising his 
 liands, pronounced the benediction ; then as the others rose to their 
 feet he made his way through them, and came up to Evaha with tears 
 in his eves, and both hands stretched out in welcome. 
 
 " May God all-powerful and the most Eloly Virgin have you ever 
 in their keeping, and return to you tenfold the benefits you have 
 worked for us. You have saved a whole family from misery, and have 
 brought joy and contentment back to our household." 
 
 A feeling of shame came over Evaha as he stammered out some 
 incoherent w^ords in answer, then he said — 
 
 "I had no idea you had so large a family. Are all these yours?" 
 
 " All," replied the old man, looking proudly round him ; " all are 
 mine, sons, daughters, and relatives of my wife. I have no stranger 
 in my household, we are but one family." 
 
 Then taking Evaha by the hand he introduced him to his wife and 
 daughters, who kissed his hands, and the mother, a stout, well-featured 
 woman, \\\\\\ dark complexion and coarse, black hair, thanked him 
 and blessed him with many fervent words for having restored her 
 daughter to her when she wept over her as lost. 
 
 " Boys," said Don Francisco, turning to the male members of his 
 family, " you see this Sehor, we owe to him a benefit Avhich we can 
 never repay ; through fire and through water our lives and all that we 
 have are at his service if the day ever comes that he need them." 
 
 Then he added in a low voice to Evaha — 
 
 " Don Gregorio has told me that the day may come when you may 
 need a few stout horsemen at your back. Look round, you will see 
 stout men among my household. All are yours when you call for 
 them." 
 
 Evaha remained three days at the estancia of Don Francisco, days 
 which were held as fete days by the family and their neighbours, and 
 passed in all manner of rural sports and games. On tlie Tuesday there 
 was a grand ostrich hunt, in which over 200 horsemen took a part. 
 Many were the feats of horsemanship performed, and the choicest 
 trophies Avere laid at the feet of Don Carlos Evaha, though the hunt 
 was nominally to celebrate the wedding of the Sehor Coronel Don 
 Gregorio Lopez and the fair Mauricia, daughter of Don Francisco 
 Viana.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 WATCH AND WAIT. 
 
 When Don Carlos Evana left the estancia of Don Francisco Viana, 
 Colonel Lopez accompanied him for about a league on his way. As 
 he drew rein to turn back, he stretched out his hand to Evana, saying— 
 
 " May God keep you, my friend. If )'ou had not come to see me 
 I should never have married her, and now I know it is the best thins; 
 1 ever did m my life. Do what you can for me to make my peace 
 with my father. I have written to him announcing my marriage, but 
 have no answer from him. If he will receive me I will go in and 
 visit him at once, but of course Mauricia will remain on the estancia." 
 
 In consequence of this Evana went in by way of the Casateja, 
 having an idea that he might find Don Gregorio there. In this he 
 was not disappointed, but he was much disappointed at the reception 
 he met with. Don Gregorio told him plainly that he believed his son 
 to be the victim of a conspiracy, to which he, Evana, had lent himself 
 for some unknown purposes of his own, so that the interview between 
 til em was highly unpleasant to both of them, and Evana gave a sigh 
 of relief as he swung himself once more into his saddle, and galloped 
 off for the Quinta de Ponce. 
 
 Here also he met with disappointment. He had always been a 
 great favourite with Dona Constancia, but now she received him very 
 coldly. 
 
 " And you tell me that it is actually true, Carlos ? " she said. " You 
 stood by and did nothing to prevent it, and gave your countenance 
 to it by being present ? I always looked upon you as one of our- 
 selves, Carlos." 
 
 "I have no dearer wisli in life than that you should continue to do 
 so, Doiia Constancia," replied Evaiia. " In what I have done I have 
 acted as I considered tliat the interests of tlie Colonel liimself de- 
 manded. Had I considered my own interests I should have refused 
 to have anything to do in the affair either one way or another. Your 
 father seems disposed to excuse the Colonel and to lay the whole 
 blame ujjon me. I am content that he should do so if by so doing 
 h'e learns to forgive his son. But if you blame me I shall feel that I 
 have incurred a very heavy and most unmerited niisforlune." 
 
 "You arc always generous, Carlos," said Dona Constancia, "and T 
 should be sorry to blame you more than you deserve. Your intentions 
 may have been quite right, but you have at any rate shown great want 
 of judgment, and we did not expect that from you. 'I'hat my biolli-r 
 should commit such great folly is no matter of suri^rise to any of u.->,
 
 I 88 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 l)ut to papa it lias been a very severe blow, and I cannot help feeling 
 angry with you for the share you have had in causing liim this 
 sorrow." 
 
 If Evaha felt sore at the reception Dona Constancia gave him, he 
 was amply comi)ensated by the cordial greeting of her daughter 
 Dolores, who on this subject held very different ideas from either her 
 mother or grandfather, and declared them boldly, fortified as her own 
 opinion was by the few words which Don Roderigo had said upon the 
 sul)ject. 
 
 She, Marcelino, and Lieutenant Gordon were seated under the front 
 veranda when Evaha joined them after his short conversation with 
 Doha Constancia. 
 
 " What a time you have been away, more than a month, but you 
 have been well employed, I think," said Dolores, smiling upon him. 
 " Marcelino and I have talked it all over together, and we agree that 
 you have done our uncle a great service, if you had anything to do 
 with his marriage, as they say you had." 
 
 " Every one has been wanting Uncle Gregorio to marry for years," 
 saitl JNIarcelino, " and now they are angry because he has chosen his 
 wife himself" 
 
 " Sit down and tell us all about it, Don Carlos," said Dolores. 
 
 Evaha sat down and remained talking with them for nearly an hour. 
 
 " I have quite a curiosity to see that Don Francisco," said Dolores ; 
 " he must be like one of the old patriarchs." 
 
 " And lives like one too," said Evaha. " His wife and daughters 
 make clothes for the whole household, they spin and weave the wool 
 of their own sheep, and the whole of the outside work is done by the 
 boys, I do not think they have any slaves." 
 
 " And he says Mass every Sunday and Feast-day ? I don't think that 
 is proper," said Dolores. 
 
 " Ask Padre Jacinto," said Marcelino ; " he will tell you that it is 
 very wicked." 
 
 " He does not say Mass exactly, at least I think not," said Evana. 
 " Fie reads passages of Scripture, and psalms, and prayers, and no 
 Latin, so every one can understand him." 
 
 " If Don Fausto will take me out with him next time he goes I will 
 go and see this Don Francisco," said Gordon ; " I should like to hear 
 the service very much." 
 
 " We will go together some day when I am strong enough to ride 
 so far," said Marcelino. 
 
 " How very ungrateful of you, Marcelino. What would grandpapa 
 say ? " said Dolores. " Don Carlos ! I have something to tell you. 
 The wonderful French carriage that you sent out to grandpapa has 
 actually been used at last." 
 
 " There is some hope for us then yet," replied Evaha. " When 
 carriages are used then we shall begin to be civilized." 
 
 " But it was a very special occasion. Grandpapa took Marcelino 
 to the Miserere, and they spent a day with Don Alfonso." 
 
 " And how was the medico ? " asked Evaha. " As grumpy as ever ? " 
 
 " Oh no ; all smiles and hospitality," replied jMarcelino. " He 
 received me as my grandfather's grandson, and you know he can re-
 
 THE UNKNOWN FUTURE. 1S9 
 
 fuse nothing to Don Gregorio. Gordon went with us, we were both 
 told that the house was ours, and we mean to go again." 
 
 " Bravo ! " exclaimed Evaha. " Don Alfonso is coming out in a 
 new line. It is something new for him to invite young men to his 
 house." 
 
 " You do not call yourself old, do you ? " asked Gordon. 
 
 " Don Alfonso treats me as if I was," replied Evaha. 
 
 " That is because you are so learned and wise," said Dolores, at 
 which speech Evaha looked uncomfortable and the others laughed. 
 
 " My paisanita was there too," said Gordon, " so we passed a very 
 pleasant day I can tell you." 
 
 " And Marcelino was bashful and dared not talk to her in English," 
 said Dolores. 
 
 " She talks Spanish as well as you do, so why should I ? " said 
 iSIarcelino. 
 
 " You must ride every day while you are here," said Evaha. 
 " When you are strong enough to ride there she will teach you Eng- 
 lish better than Gordon can." 
 
 " As soon as I am strong enough I shall have something else to do," 
 said Marcelino ; " I am going into harness. I suppose you don't 
 know the last news. Juan Carlos is going to Spain and I am to take 
 his place at the Consulado." 
 
 "Juan Carlos going to Spain ! " said Evaha. "What is he going 
 there for ? " 
 
 " Papa arranged it all," said Dolores. "As a reward for Marcelino's 
 bravery last year the Council of the Indies sent out to him an appoint- 
 ment ' for his son ' to a very high post at Cadiz. Of course it was 
 intended for Marcelino, but he won't go, so papa accepted it for Juan 
 Carlos. We did all we could to persuade Marcelino, but it was no use, 
 I don't think even if you had been here you could have persuaded him, 
 and it is too late now." 
 
 " You seem very anxious to get rid of me, Lola," said INIarcelino. 
 
 " You know I am not. But I can't make out what could make you 
 refuse such an honour as that." 
 
 " I may perhaps be of some use to my own country at the Consu- 
 lado, and Juan Carlos wishes to visit Europe." 
 
 " Use ! you might be of more use in Spain. Papa says that in a 
 few years you might have been in the council ' yourself, then you 
 would have been one of the rulers of Spanish iVmerica, and you might 
 have come here again as Viceroy. Juan Carlos is not as clever as you 
 are, he will never be Viceroy." 
 
 " I do not think he will," said Marcelino. " But if I went, who is 
 to command my negroes when the English come again?" 
 
 " They are disbanded," said Dolores. " Besides, the English will 
 not come again. Have they not enough with two defeats? Do you 
 think they will come again, Mr. Gordon?" 
 
 At this Gordon looked troubled and made no answer, but J^^vaha 
 answered for him. 
 
 " I have lived in England and know the English, I think they will," 
 said he. " You have heard me speak of their game ' the box ; ' I have 
 seen a man knocked down ten times, and yet get up again all bleeding
 
 190 rOXCE DE I.hOX. 
 
 as lie was and win after all. The English are all like that, to be 
 beaten is only to begin again." 
 
 " It is their merchants," said Marcelino, " who will force them to 
 continue the war with us. Their commerce is ruined by the conti- 
 nental system of Napoleon, and they think to make a market here for 
 their goods with cannon-shot and bayonets." 
 
 At this Gordon rose from his chair and walked away under the 
 trees, and Dolores, looking after him as he went, said sadly — 
 
 ** It is a barbarity, this war, why cannot we be friends?" 
 
 " Our masters the Spaniards will not let us," said Evaha. 
 
 " The Spaniards ! always the Spaniards," said Dolores impatiently, 
 then she also rose from her chair and went inside the house. 
 
 " So you do not care to be Viceroy of Buenos Aires ? " said Evana, 
 as he and Marcelino were left alone. 
 
 " I think I have as good a chance of becoming Viceroy by remaining 
 here as by going to Spain," replied Marcelino. 
 
 " How so ? Everything seems to be falling back into its old 
 channel." 
 
 " With one great difference, that so long as there is any fear of 
 another English invasion the militia will remain embodied. You 
 know Liniers, the Spaniards distrust him^for he is a Frenchman, and is 
 very popular with us Creoles, he knows that his power depends alto- 
 gether upon the Patricios. Don Cornelio Saavedra is his particular 
 friend, Liniers does nothing without consulting him ; the opinions of 
 the people are the opinions of Don Cornelio, and he has his way in 
 spite of the secret hostility of the Cabildo. I tell you, Carlos, we 
 Portenos are already the rulers of Buenos Aires." 
 
 " Then the English are still of some service to us," replied Evana. 
 " So long as there is any danger of another visit from them, Liniers 
 and Don Cornelio will keep up the militia, and the will of the people 
 will be law, but take care how you say that in the streets, my friend. 
 ^^'hat says Don Roderigo ? " 
 
 " My father expects that the Court of Aranjuez will make Liniers 
 Viceroy, the danger of another English invasion will make them over- 
 look all other considerations, but that if Spain should make peace 
 with England then he will be recalled at once." 
 
 " And the militia will be disbanded, and everything be as before," 
 said Evana. 
 
 " But in the mean time, months, perhaps years, will pass, during 
 which we have the power de facto in our own hands. Time is working 
 a pacific revolution amongst us ; at last Spain will see that the only way 
 to preserve her colonies will be to give us the right of self-government." 
 
 " Spain give us the right of self-government ! Dreams, my friend ! 
 Since when did you get that idea ? " 
 
 " Since the day when I went with my grandfather to visit Don 
 Alfonso." 
 
 "Ah! my friend, I compliment you upon your new master in 
 politics," said Evaha, laughing ; " Don Alfonso has worked a miracle 
 with you. Why don't you go to Spain and come back Viceroy? 
 Tell me, do you really think that Spain will ever consent to leave the 
 revenues of the country at our disposal ? "
 
 THE UNKNOWN FUTURE. 191 
 
 " Of course we should still have to pay some of it to the King as 
 our sovereign." 
 
 " Yes, but King Charles is not Spain. What would become of the 
 Consulado of Cadiz if they lost the monopoly of our trade ? What 
 would become of the lazy Spanish grandees, who draw their revenues 
 from us and do nothing in return ? " 
 
 " We are the subjects of King Charles as much as they are ; if the 
 King consents to be our sovereign just as he is the sovereign of Spain, 
 and lets us have a Cortes of our own, what can the Consulado of 
 Cadiz or the Spanish nobles do against us ? " 
 
 " You know as well as I do that all Spaniards, from the King down- 
 wards, look upon us as their slaves and consider all that we have as 
 their property. From Don Alfonso you can never have got such 
 ideas as these." 
 
 " There is Gordon," said Marcelino, interrupting Evaha. " Don 
 Alejandro ! " he added, calling to Lieutenant Gordon, " come here 
 and help me." 
 
 Then as Gordon returned to the veranda and resumed his seat, he 
 continued — 
 
 " You remember the conversation we had with my grandfather and 
 Don Alfonso that day we were at the quinta? " 
 " Perfecdy," replied Gordon. 
 
 " Now tell me again what made your colonies in North iVmerica 
 revolt against England ? " 
 
 " Government wanted to tax them for imperial purposes," said 
 Gordon. 
 
 " Then formerly none of their revenues went to England ? " 
 " No, the colonial revenues were applied to colonial purposes, but 
 of course they had to pay the English officials." 
 
 " And they had their own laws and their own municipal institutions, 
 and would have been perfectly content to remain colonies until now 
 if England had only left them as they were ? " 
 
 " 1 believe they would. I don't think that King George had 
 anywhere more loyal subjects than in those colonies until the English 
 Parliament began to tax them by its own authority." 
 
 " What the English wanted to force upon the Americans of the 
 United States is what Spain has always forced upon us. Americans 
 had a right to rebel against the English, we have a right to rebel 
 against Sjjain?" 
 
 " 1 think so," replied Gordon. 
 
 " But the Americans would have been content enough with King 
 George if the English Parliament had left them alone, and we would 
 be content enough with King Charles if he would let us have our 
 own laws, as your colonies had before their War of Indepentlence." 
 
 " Dismiss any such idea from your mind, Marcelino, it is iolly, and 
 you know it," said Evaha, rising to his feet. " \Vhy you should try 
 to believe that we can ever enjoy the rights of free-born men by any 
 proceedure short of an absolute rupture with Spain I cannot imagine." 
 " But I can imagine it very easily," said Gordon. 
 Tlien Evaha, looking earnestly at Marcelino, saw a deep shade of 
 anxious sorrow come over his sLiU worn features.
 
 192 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 " Ah I mv friend," he said, " I see that you have some reason of your 
 own for wishing that we could acliieve our freedom and yet preserve 
 our connexion with Spain, but again I tell you that it is impossible." 
 
 " Oh ! Carlos, do you not see why it is that I am so anxious to 
 preserve our connexion with Spain ? " exclaimed Marcelino. 
 
 " I see only that freedom and Spanish rule are incompatible," 
 replied Evaiia. 
 
 "And my father? Do you never think of him?" 
 
 " He is a Spaniard,'' replied Evaha ; then as he spoke the sadness 
 which clouded Marcelino's face was reflected in his own. 
 
 " Yes, he is a Spaniard," said Marcelino, " and there are other 
 Spaniards like him, though not many ; men of liberal minds, who 
 would gladly see Spain herself free from the rule of bigoted priests 
 and ignorant nobles, who would gladly see the colonies of Spain ruled 
 by their own laws, but they as sternly as any other Spaniards assert 
 the supremacy of the royal house of Spain." 
 
 " I wish I could think any pacific revolution possible," said Evana 
 with a sigh. " But we have power in our own lands now, let us make 
 use of it. Why are you going to the Consulado? " 
 
 " My father wishes me to devote myself to the civil service. At 
 present I think I shall be of use there. And you, will you do 
 nothing?" 
 
 " I have already done something ; I have bought an estancia." 
 
 " You ! you will never be an estanciero ! " 
 
 " I never intend to be. But on my estancia I have peons, and my 
 peons will be soldiers the day I want them. I have not lost the 
 month I spent outside with your uncle, I have persuaded him also to 
 do something. That mob of horsemen he had with him at the 
 Ensenada were just of no use whatever, he is going to select about 
 200 of the best of them and form them into a regiment of dragoons. 
 I have a letter from him to Liniers on the subject ; if Liniers will 
 send him arms, and three or four sergeants to drill the men for him, 
 he will do the rest." 
 
 " Bravo ! before the English come again we shall have some decent 
 cavalry. Don Martin Rodriguez is also raising a regiment of hussars 
 at his own expense among the peons and quinteros in the suburbs. 
 With some drilled cavalry among them to steady them, our partidarios 
 may be of great service in the open." 
 
 " Your gauchos, if properly drilled and officered, would make excel- 
 lent cavalry," said Gordon. 
 
 " It is chiefly the want of officers makes them of so little use," said 
 Evana. 
 
 " But tell me, Carlos," said Marcelino, " where is your estancia ? " 
 " It adjoins the land of Don Fausto Velasquez. I have put Ven- 
 ceslao Viana in charge of the place. He will have command of a 
 troop of forty men in Don Gregorio's regiment." 
 
 " Then if there be another invasion you will join us, Carlos?" 
 " If the English come as they did before, to conquer us, then I will 
 be a dragoon, and will lead my men myself against them. Watch and 
 wait, that is all we can do at present ; when time lifts the veil from 
 before the unknown future then we shall know against what enemy 
 to turn our arms."
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE RAISING OF THE VEIL. 
 
 " Nearly a year, mamita, nearly a year," said Dolores to her mother, 
 as they sat together under the wide veranda at the Quinta de Ponce. 
 
 " And it seems a long time to you, Lola ? " replied Doha Con- 
 stancia. 
 
 " The time has passed quickly, but it seems ages ago. Last year 
 there was always something happening. Marcelino was busy training 
 his negroes, and in town every one was talking of the new regiments, 
 and about what the English were doing in Monte Video, and when 
 they were coming. Now they say the English are coming again, but 
 no one knows when. Marcelino is secretary at the Consulado, grand- 
 papa hardly ever leaves his house, and Uncle Gregorio is always at 
 his estancia outside." 
 
 " But we are not left quite alone, Lola ; we have one visitor who 
 comes very often." 
 
 " Yes, Don Carlos Evaha, wlien he is not at his new estancia ; but 
 now he and Mr. Gordon have been there more than a montli, and 
 they said they were only going for a week. But when they are here 
 they never talk politics as they used to do ; Don Carlos seems to 
 think of nothing but of his estancia. Papa is the only one who talks 
 of politics now, and he talks only of the Prince of La Paz, and Prince 
 Ferdinand." 
 
 " I never thought that you cared about politics, Lola." 
 
 " But I like to hear them talk and argue, mamita ; it sounds as if 
 it was something important when tliey are so eager about it, but now 
 they are never eager, any of them. Even Marcelino the other day, 
 when Don Manuel Belgrano was here, did not seem to care anything 
 about wliat the French did in Portugal, though papa got quite excited 
 about it." 
 
 It was nearly a year, as Dolores said, nearly a year since the last 
 invasion of the English, for it was now the month of ALay in the year 
 1808, a balmy day for the season, wiUi light, lleecy clouds Hitting over 
 the blue vault of heaven now and then hiding the sun. A calm day 
 in which the air was never still, and yet no one could tell from which 
 quarter the wind came. When there was any wind, it came in little 
 gusts, sweeping along the smooth walks of the quinta, creating great 
 tumult and bustle among the dry leaves fallen from the overhanging 
 branches of the trees, so stirring them as tlunigh with the intent to 
 garner them up, then straightway casting them down again and leav- 
 
 o
 
 194 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 in^f them, and going sighing away among the tree-tops, mourning over 
 the past glories of the summer. 
 
 It was nearly a year since the last invasion of the English, it was 
 nearly time that they came again, if so be that they were coming ; 
 and men said that they were coming, and, full of confidence at the 
 failure of two previous invasions, they thought lightly of it ; yet not for 
 that did they neglect some needful preparation, and Buenos Aires was 
 stronger now and better able to meet invasion than she had ever been 
 before. So the summer had passed, and the autumn, and the only 
 event of importance that had occurred had been the formal nomina- 
 tion by the Court of Aranjuez of General Don Santiago Liniers as 
 Viceroy of Buenos Aires, raising him at the same time to the rank of 
 field-marshal, to the great content of the Patricios, who looked to 
 Liniers as their own especial leader, and to the general satisfaction of 
 all Porteiios. 
 
 " Yes, Lola, we have been very quiet all this summer and autumn, 
 but to-day is our last day here," said Dona Constancia. 
 
 " And won't Aunt Josefina be glad to see us in town again. Mar- 
 celino is stronger now than ever he was, so next month of course she 
 will give that grand ball she has promised so long in his honour ; 
 but, ah me ! it is so long ago now that he has forgotten what it is to 
 be a hero, and has a pale face and white hands, you would never take 
 him now to be the Comandante de los Morenos de Ponce." 
 
 " Then if you think heroes ought to have sunburnt faces and brown 
 hands, you must look for another one. What say you to Don Carlos 
 for a hero ? " 
 
 " He would make a very good hero, mamita ; but he has never 
 done anything yet but gallop about." 
 
 " And gallop in to Buenos Aires and back whenever a certain young 
 lady that I know, has fancied that she wanted anything that was to 
 be found in the city." 
 
 " He has been very kind to us all the summer ; so strange of him, 
 who never seemed to care for anything except his books. But every 
 one seems to be quite changed now, except you, mamma ? " 
 
 '' Yes, Lola, as time goes on every one changes ; I see a great 
 change in you." 
 
 " In me, mamma ?" 
 
 " Yes, in you, Lola. Last year you used to be as merry as the day 
 was long ; now I often see you sitting with your hands before you 
 quite quiet, thinking to yourself. What do you think about, Lola ? " 
 " Thousands of things, mamma, at times, but generally about 
 nothing," replied Dolores, as a bright flush spread over her cheeks. 
 " Do you ever think of any one hi particular, Lola ? " 
 Then as Dolores did not answer this question, but bowed her head 
 while the long dark lashes fell over her eyes like a veil, Doiia Con- 
 stancia added another — 
 
 " Do you think much of Don Carlos Evaha, Lola ? He has paid 
 you great attention for months. I never before knew him pay atten- 
 tion to any one." 
 
 "To me, mamma?" exclaimed Dolores, looking up with a merry 
 smile.
 
 THE UNKNOWN FUTURE. 195 
 
 "Yes, to you, Lola." 
 
 " Oh ! maniita, what ideas you do get into that pretty head of 
 yours ! Why Don Carlos talks three times as much to you as he 
 does to me. Next you will tell me that he is in love with me ! Fancy 
 the wisest of men being in love with a foolish, ignorant girl like me ! " 
 So saying, Dolores jumped up from her seat with a ringing laugh. 
 
 "Lola!" said Doiia Constancia, "come and sit down again, I 
 want to talk to you, and do not like you to laugh at what I say." 
 
 " No, no, no, mamita ! " said Dolores, running off along one of the 
 walks, and still laughing. " I hear horses on the road, some one is 
 cominc;." 
 
 Dolores went up the quinta fence and looked over, then presently 
 she came back and reseated herself very quietly beside her mother, 
 saying — 
 
 " They come, mamita, they have gone in by the other gate." 
 
 "Who come, Lola?" 
 
 "Don Carlos and Mr. Gordon." 
 
 A few minutes passed, mother and daughter sitting in silence 
 together ; Dolores with her hands clasped, looking dreamily out 
 upon the trees, her mother watching her. Then the two whom 
 Dolores had seen coming came, walking slowly up by a winding path 
 together. Dolores rose and went to meet them, smiling merrily at 
 Don Carlos Evaha with a new look of curiosity m her eyes, and holding 
 out her hand to him in cordial welcome. Then after the usual greet- 
 ings she turned from him, the smile dying away from her face, and the 
 fringes of her eyes hiding them, to give a silent welcome to his com- 
 panion. Her hand hesitated as she stretched it out towards him, and 
 the flush spreading over her features added a fresli charm to her 
 radiant beauty. Between these two a coldness and constraint had 
 sr)rung up during the last few months, putting an end to the careless 
 intimacy which had previously existed. Don Carlos had watched 
 them closely all these months, but had spoken no word to any one of 
 what he had seen ; now, though he was speaking to Dona Constancia 
 and held her hand in his, still he watched them with a jealous 
 scrutiny. 
 
 An hour later, as they sat together talking of the morrow's journey 
 to the city, and of the gay doings which might be looked for during 
 the coming winter, if so be that the English would only leave Ihem 
 in peace, two more were added to the company, INLarcelino and Eva- 
 risto, who had galloped out from town together to superintend the 
 removal of the morrow. 
 
 "And what news from the Old World?" a.sked Gordon, when the 
 messages had all been duly delivered. "Have not my paisanos made 
 up their minds not to come yet? It seems to me that we have plenty 
 to do ill Europe without coming here." 
 
 " Great news ! " replied Marcelino, looking eagerly at I^vaha. 
 " King Charles has al^dicated, and Eenlinand Vll. is now King 
 of Sixain and the Indies." 
 
 "Viva! Fernando Seplimo ! Viva!!" shouted Evaristo, throwing 
 up his hat. 
 
 Don Carlos Evaha had been leaning back lazily in an arm-chair, but
 
 196 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 as Evaristo sliouted "Viva! Fernando Scptimo," he started upright, 
 dutching both the arms of his chair with his liands. 
 
 " He has the French willi him, Prince Ferdinand? " said he, ahnost 
 breatliless with excitement. 
 
 " He depends upon French assistance," said Marcehno, "and it is 
 rumoured that he is to marry a niece of the Emperor." 
 
 " Spain ! Spain ! how art thou fiillen ! "' said Evaha, in a hollow- 
 voice. " Nor Charles, nor Ferdinand, but the Lieutenant of the 
 Emperor, he will be King of Spain. When was it that the ' IMoniteur ' 
 said those few words of Portugal : ' The House of Braganza has 
 ceased to reign?' As yet only a k\v months have passed since then. 
 Ere this year run out there will be another line in the ' Moniteur ' 
 concerning Spain : ' The House of Bourbon has ceased to reign.' All 
 Europe— — but come, ^larcelino, tell me more of this;" so saying, 
 Evaha sprang from his chair, and taking Marcelino by the arm the 
 two walked away under the trees, talking eagerly together in low tones. 
 
 " Now, Lola, what do you sr,y?" said Dona Constancia. " Flas 
 Don Carlos forgotten all about politics ? " 
 
 " I have something else to tell you, Carlos," said Marcelino, after 
 they had talked long together. " My grandfather has never smiled 
 since the day he heard of my uncle's marriage, he has fallen off 
 greatly ; I fear my mother will be much shocked when she sees him. 
 He never speaks of Don Gregorio, but I know he is always thinking 
 of him, and I believe he only wants an excuse to forgive him. It 
 is very hard on you, Carlos, for us to ask you to meddle any more 
 in this affair, after the reproaches you have suffered already, but I 
 think if you could prevail upon Don Gregorio to come in and go 
 straight to his father that he would receive him with open arms." 
 
 " I will go at once," replied Evana, 
 
 " To-morrow ? " 
 
 " No, now, this evening." 
 
 " There is no need for that, it is nearly'sundown, but to-morrow, I 
 shall think it so good of you to do it. And if great changes are at 
 hand, as you say, if you succeed in reconciling Don Gregorio wiUi his 
 father you will greatly increase your own power, with either of them 
 you will be able to do what you like." 
 
 " Do not say that. I owe much to your grandfather, and to his son 
 too, to all of you in fact. I shall bring some happiness back to you, 
 let me think that I do it from gratitude only, from no ulterior motive. 
 It is a rough road to tread, this road that I have chosen, demanding sacri- 
 fices at every turn ; love, friendship, even honour itself must be trampled 
 under-foot by one who devotes himself to ambition. Let me think 
 that I can do a service to my best friends without any selfish motive." 
 
 " What can be more noble and less selfish than your ambition, 
 Carlos? You seek the freedom of your native country, and are ready 
 to sacrifice yourself for her sake." 
 
 " Myself, yes. Ah ! if that were only all ! But wait here, I will 
 rejoin you in a minute." 
 
 As they spoke they had walked back to the front of the house, and 
 Doha Constancia called to them —
 
 THE UNKNOWN FUTURE. I97 
 
 " We are going to walk up tlie road to take one more look over the 
 Pampa, will you come with us?" 
 
 "In one minute, Sehora," said Evana, walking away towards the 
 back of the house. 
 
 Evaristo found himself something else to do, but the rest were soon 
 afterwards walking together up the road between the long lines of pop- 
 lars, Doha Constancia walking in front with Marcelino and Lieutenant 
 Gordon, while Don Carlos Evaha and Dolores came behind. Doha 
 Constancia walked quickly, so that these two were soon left quite by 
 themselves. At first they talked of the news brought out by Marce- 
 lino, Dolores trying her best to incite Don Carlos to some vehement 
 expression of his political opinions, which were well known to her, but 
 she tried in vain, his enthusiasm seemed to have quite evaporated 
 during his talk with Marcelino, and his thoughts seemed to be far 
 away, and bent on some quite different subject. 
 
 " You are very happy, Dolores," said Evaha ; " why should you 
 care anything for Spain or for Spanish affairs ? " 
 
 " Spain is papa's country," said Dolores ; " I love everything that 
 papa cares for." 
 
 " Your father loves you very dearly, Dolores, you are very fortunate, 
 every one you have near you loves you." 
 
 " Yes, I am very fortunate, and very happy, with papa and mamma 
 and my brothers and so many aunts and uncles and cousins to care 
 for, and who all love me, I am very happy, I ought to be," said Dolores, 
 unconscious that in so saying she reopened an old wound in the sensi- 
 tive nature of her companion, who had none of whom he could so 
 speak, and who, having none, all the more deeply felt the need of 
 them. 
 
 " Yes, you ought to be happy, and you are, but no one in this world 
 can be always free from sorrow and trouble, not even the most happy ; 
 to all there comes a time when they feel the want of something more 
 than the love of those who have always been dear to them ; some 
 trouble comes to them, in which the support and aid of some firm 
 friend may be of great service to them. Would you value the friend- 
 ship of one who, while you are happy in the love of all about you, would 
 never intrude a thought or a wish of his own upon you, but, if you were 
 in trouble and in need of anyjielp that he could give, would lenve 
 everything to serve you, and seek a reward only in the pleasure it 
 would give him to aid you in any way? " 
 
 Dolores looked up at him in surprise as he paused for an answer ; 
 she had never felt the need of such friendship, and hardly thought it 
 possible that she ever should do, i)ut as she saw the eagerness in his 
 eyes her own fell before them, she stammered out some words in 
 re];Iy, she hardly knew wliat, and Evaha went on — 
 
 " 1 know you do not love me, Dolores," he said ; " you never will 
 love me as you love your father or your brothers. We have seen much 
 of each other during the jjast few months, but circumstances m;iy very 
 likely mtcrfere between us so that we see much less of each oilier in 
 future. It would be a great consolation to nic to know that sonielimes 
 y<Hi will yet think of me, and that if some who are dear to you speak 
 evil of me, you will not condenm me in your heart unheard, but will
 
 198 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 think of me as a friend who would make any sacrifice to serve you. 
 Will you not let me be your friend, Dolores ? " 
 
 " My friend, oh ! yes. A\'hy not ? We have always been friends, 
 and you are Marcelino's best friend, he often says so." 
 
 " Yes, Marcclino and I have known each other long and intimately, 
 and nothing will come between us to interrupt our friendship, but with 
 you and me it is different ; already I see a cloud rising between us 
 Avhich may drive us far apart, our ways in life are separate, but will 
 you not promise me, Dolores, always to think of me as your friend, 
 whatever happens ? " 
 
 " You are my friend, and mamma's and papa's and Marcelino's, and 
 to grandpapa you are as a son." 
 
 " I know all that, and I value their friendship and their kindness to 
 me, but some of them may learn to thmk me unworthy of their friend- 
 ship, and you may do so too : but will you not promise me, as I 
 have asked you, always to think of me as your friend, whatever 
 happens ? " 
 
 There was a plaintiveness in Evaiia's voice as he asked this which 
 startled Dolores, looking up again at him she saw his face flushed, and 
 an eager, imploring look in his eyes such as she had never seen before. 
 
 " Promise me that, Dolores," he continued, taking her hand in his. 
 " To you it may seem unreasonable and unkind that I should fear 
 any interruption to our friendship, but I know the value of what I ask 
 from you, I know that if you promise me you will keep your promise, 
 whatever happens ; I know that you will always look upon me as your 
 friend." 
 
 Then Dolores knew that Evaiia loved her ; ignorant and foolish as 
 she had said she was beside him, yet she knew now that he loved her, 
 and she knew also that he never would tell her so in words, never seek 
 her love in return. A strange mixture of fear and regret filled her 
 heart, for she knew that she could never love him as he loved her, 
 though he was well worthy of her love, and in that she could not love 
 him she pitied him all the more. And she feared she knew not what ; 
 she had always looked up to him as to one much wiser than herself, 
 and now he spoke of some unkno\\'n cause which might interrupt the 
 friendship she had always felt for him ; her hand trembled in his firm 
 grasp and she burst into tears. 
 
 " Do not cry, Lola," said Evaiia, using for the first time that dear, 
 familiar name by which she was known to those who were nearest 
 and dearest to her ; " do not cry, if you are angry I will importune 
 you no more, I will suffer anything rather than see you sad." 
 
 " No, no, I am not angry," said Dolores, making a strong eftbrt to 
 keep back her tears. " I will promise what you wish, I know that 
 you are my friend, and always will be." 
 
 " And will be, whatever happens, Lola." 
 
 "Yes, whatever happens I will never doubt you, and will think of 
 you only as my friend." 
 
 " And as your friend you will ever trust me, and will seek my aid 
 without hesitation or scruple if the case should ever arise in which I 
 may be of service to you or yours ? " 
 
 " I will, just as Marcelino does."
 
 THE UNKNOWN FUTURE. 199 
 
 "Just as you trust in Marcelino, that is what I mean. God bless 
 you, I shall go away very happy, as happy as I ever shall be." 
 
 " Go away ! are you going ? Where to ? " 
 
 " I am going back again outside, I shall probably not return for a 
 month or two." 
 
 " But you are not going now? " 
 
 " Yes, now at once. I only wished to speak with you, and wdn 
 that promise from your own lips before I went. My horse is coming, 
 I shall wait for him there beyond the fence where Doha Constancia 
 is standing." 
 
 " You were always wise, now wiser than ever before," said Dolores, 
 stepping closer to him and laying her disengaged hand upon his arm. 
 But Ewiha shrank from her as though this mute caress were a pain to 
 him, and they walked on side by side until they emerged from between 
 the rows of poplars out upon the open plain, and rejoined the others 
 who there awaited them. 
 
 "Mamma," said Dolores, "you promised me that I should see the 
 sunset, but there will be no sunset for us to look on to-night." 
 
 Far away on the western horizon there lay a bank of dull gray 
 clouds, behind which the sun had already sunk. From behind these 
 clouds sprang diverging rays of orange and gold, stretching up over 
 the gray sky almost to the zenith, and tinging all objects upon which 
 they shone with the reflection of their brilliance. 
 
 "No, we shall not see the sunset," said Gordon. "That cloud is 
 a veil which hides him from us, but if it were not for that cloud we 
 could not look steadily upon the western sky, the sun would dazzle 
 our eyes, and we should see nothing. Is not this that we can look 
 upon more beautiful than any sunset?" 
 
 " It is the sunset all the same," said Dolores, "only that the sun is 
 wanting." 
 
 "The sun has been kind enough to hide himself behind that cloud 
 for your sake, Lola," said her brother, " so that without dazzling your 
 eyes you may see how he can paint the sky. In the most beautiful 
 sunsets of summer you never saw anything so beautiful as this." 
 
 " No, I never did," said Dolores. 
 
 Just then the servant of Don Carlos Evaha rode up to them leading 
 a saddled horse by the rein. 
 
 " Don Carlos ! your horse ? " said Doha Constancia. 
 
 " Yes, Sehora," replied Evana ; " I have urgent business outside, 
 and shall leave as soon as you turn back to the c^uinta." 
 
 All except Dolores looked at him in surprise. 
 
 " Why not remain till to-morrow ? " said Marcelino. 
 
 " I have a fancy to gallop through the niglit," said l<2vaha. 
 
 " The sooner you go the sooner you will be back," said Doha 
 Constancia. 
 
 " Look, Don Carlos," said Dolores, " there is something for you to 
 see before you go. Was there ever anything more beautiful than 
 this ? " 
 
 'J'he gray cloud had lifted itself, disclosing one bright spot of fire 
 on the far horizon, the last gleam of the (lei)arting day. As the cloud 
 rose it seemed to dissipate itself, mingling its gray tones with the
 
 200 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 golden radiance of the setting sun, tempering the brilliance of those 
 broad bands of glory which stretched over the western sky, melting 
 them as it rose over them, absorbing them into itself, then with them 
 vanishing away. 
 
 Then the bright si)ot of fire sank down out'of sight, and straight- 
 way the place so lately filled by the gray cloud became one mass of 
 brilliant light. Two broad bands of rich vermilion, with one band of 
 yellow gokl between them, parallel to the horizon, hung like a gorgeous 
 canopy over the resting-place of the sun. 
 
 " Sec, Don Carlos ! " said Dolores ; " the flag of Spain ! See, when 
 Nature seeks to array herself in her most glorious dress how she 
 chooses the colours of the most glorious of the nations." 
 
 "The cloud has risen from the face of the setting sun," replied 
 Evana, " and I see the emblem of Spain before me sinking after the 
 sun into the darkness of night. That sky is as a prophecy, giving to 
 all of us an insight into what will shortly come to pass." 
 
 " Buenas noches, Don Carlos, and a pleasant journey to you," said 
 Dona Constancia laughing. " Come with me, Mr. Gordon ; we will 
 go back and leave these politicians to prophesy and discuss the future 
 as long as they like." 
 
 Removing his hat, Evaiia shook hands gravely with her and with 
 Gordon ; then, as they walked away, he turned again to Dolores. 
 
 " Yes," he said, " I see the flag of Spain painted on the sky in all 
 its gorgeous colours, where but a few minutes ago there hung a dark, 
 gray cloud. That cloud was as a veil hiding from us the unknown 
 future ; the veil has risen, and we stand face to face with the future, 
 now no longer unknown to us. The news we have heard to-day is 
 but news of the first step in the ra])id downward course of Spain. 
 Other news shall follow, which shall stir our hearts to their inmost 
 depths, till we v/ake to the full knowledge that we are a free people. 
 The genius of revolution shall set his foot upon Spain, shall crush our 
 tyrant in the dust, and in crushing him shall break our chains for us 
 for ever." 
 
 " God grant it," said Marcelino ; " then may we live in peace our- 
 selves, Spaniards and Americans aHke citizens of a new nation." 
 
 Clinging to her brother's arm, Dolores looked in wonder on them 
 both. There was silence for a space as the three stood side by side 
 gazing on the western sky, where the gorgeous colours of the sun- 
 set faded gradually away, merging themselves into the gray tints of 
 the evening twilight. So they stood for a space, each occupied with 
 his own thoughts, each interpreting to himself as his desires led him 
 the prophecy of the setdng sun. 
 
 Evaha took the hand of Dolores in his own and raised it to his 
 lips, saying but one word — 
 
 " Remember." 
 I "Always my friend, whatever happens," said Dolores. 
 
 Grasping Marcelino by the hand, Don Carlos Evana stood for 
 one moment as though he would speak, his lips pressed tightly 
 together, and the signs of deep emotion on his face. Then laying his 
 other hand upon the shoulder of his friend, he bent forward and 
 kissed him.
 
 THE UNKNOWN FUTURE. 20I 
 
 " j\Iy brother," he said ; then turning from them he mounted his 
 horse and slowly rode away. 
 
 Brother and sister stood silently side by side looking after him till 
 the gray shades of the falling night closed around him, when Mar- 
 celino bent over Dolores and kissed her, putting his arm round her, 
 and led her away back between the rows of the tall poplar trees to 
 the quinta. 
 
 " Marcelino," said Dolores, as they drew near to the quinta gate, 
 "are men who are born to be great also always born to be unhappy?" 
 
 Marcelino divined much of what was passing in his sisters mind, 
 but not all, and to her question he gave no answer in words, but again 
 bent over her and kissed her, and from that day forth brother and 
 sister felt that there was another tie between them, but about the 
 evening on which they two had looked together upon the setting sun 
 while Evana had expounded for them the prophecy of the clouds 
 they never spoke. 
 
 Vvhen Dolores thought of it she thought but of one word — Remem- 
 ber ; and Marcelino from that night forth looked no longer upon 
 Evaha as his dearest friend, but as his brother.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 TO OUR FRIENDS THE ENGLISH ! 
 
 Nearly two months passed, it was the 4th July. In the large 
 sala of the house of Don Roderigo Ponce de Leon, Lieutenant 
 Gordon stood by himself near a window, looking out dreamily into 
 the street, a shade of sadness and of deep anxiety on his face. Don 
 Roderigo had just left him, after a short conversation in which he had 
 spoken many kind words to him, and had announced to him that he 
 was no longer a prisoner of war, that he was released from his parole, 
 and was free to go wheresoever it pleased him. 
 
 Don Roderigo had expected that his news would have been 
 received with an outburst of joy, and so had taken it upon himself to 
 make the announcement to him, for he had a kindly feeling for the 
 young officer who had been so long his guest, and he felt a pleasure 
 himself in telling him what he thought would give him pleasure. He 
 was thus somewhat surprised when he saw the colour fade from his 
 cheek, and at receiving answer only in a few incoherent words in 
 acknowledgment of his great kindness. 
 
 His release was not unexpected by Lieutenant Gordon, the course 
 which affairs were taking in Spain had shown him that the war 
 between Spain and Great Britain was already virtually at an end, 
 there could not be much longer any pretext for detaining him as a 
 prisoner in Buenos Aires, and, once free, his duty called him far away. 
 He himself had taken no step to obtain his release, had said no word 
 to any one of his anticipation ; now that the release came he thought 
 only of its immediate consequences, and these consequences were to 
 him painful, the announcement of freedom was to him as a sentence 
 of banishment. 
 
 As he stood there by the window, sadly communing with his own 
 thoughts, footsteps again approached him ; he turned and saw 
 Marcelino coming towards him with both hands stretched out, his 
 face beaming with smiles and words of congratulation on his lips, but 
 the words died away as Marcelino saw the sadness in the face of his 
 friend. Then Gordon smiled and said — 
 
 " You come to congratulate me and you find me sad, most prisoners 
 rejoice when they see their prison doors open for them, but is it 
 strange that I cannot rejoice ? I have had you for my gaoler and my 
 imprisonment has been one long holiday." 
 
 " We have done our best to make it pleasant to you."
 
 THE UNKNOWN FUTURE. 203 
 
 " That you have, all of you. I know that in the future I shall look 
 back upon my prison as the dearest spot upon earth.'' 
 
 " We shall be sorry to lose you and shall miss you much, but have 
 not you promised me that it shall only be for a time ? " 
 
 " I have, and if God give me life I will keep my promise. When 
 my own country needs my sword no longer then I will come back 
 and aid you in the great object you have at heart." 
 
 "That object is surely well-nigh attained already. Spain fighting 
 for her own liberty will hardly deny liberty to us." 
 
 " I wish I could think so, but I fear you will not become a free 
 people without a sore struggle, and one which will entail much sorrow 
 upon yourself." 
 
 " I know of what you think, it has caused me many a sleepless 
 night for months past. You think of my father? " 
 
 " Yes, Don Roderigo is a man of very liberal opinions, but when 
 the struggle commences he will remember only that he is a Spaniard." 
 
 " But he and many other Spaniards would gladly yield to us a share 
 in the government of our own country, that is all we ask from Spain, 
 we do not wish for absolute independence." 
 
 " You do not, for your father's sake, but others who have no such 
 tie to Spain will be content with nothing short of complete independ- 
 ence. That Spain shall ever yield to you rights which she denies to 
 her own sons is a dream, my friend. A year ago that was your 
 opinion also." 
 
 " It was," said Marcelino sadly. 
 
 " You know that you have my sympathy in every trouble that may 
 befall you," continued Gordon. " I wish I could remain and share 
 your troubles with you, but in your chief trouble I cannot help you, I 
 cannot even advise you. You will have to choose between your duty 
 to your country and your duty to your father, look to God and your 
 own conscience, they alone can guide you in each difficulty as it 
 arises." 
 
 " God help me then, for if you cannot advise me .1 know not who 
 can." 
 
 Then came the sound of feet tripping over the soft carpet towards 
 them, and Dolores, with a bright flush on her fiice and a smile on her 
 lip, came to present her congratulations to the newly-released prisoner 
 of war, but her speech stopped short as she looked upon the grave 
 faces of the two, and she hardly listened to what Gordon said in 
 return, but laying her hand upon her Ijrother's arm she said — 
 
 " What makes you sad, Marcelino?" 
 
 " We arc losing a friend, Lola," said Marcelino, forcing himself to 
 smile. "Is it not natural that 1 should be sad?" 
 
 " Yes, it is not strange, but he is not going now?" 
 
 " In three days I believe," said Gordon. " Don Roderigo tells mc 
 there is an English man-of-war at Monte Video, and I must lose no 
 time in returning to my duty." 
 
 "Three days !" said Dulcjres, the colour fading from her cheeks. 
 
 " I5ut he does not regret his imprisonment among us, Lola," .said 
 Marcelino softly, "he will not forget us when he is back in his own 
 country."
 
 204 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 " Forget ! never ! " said Gordon. " These last two years have been 
 the happiest in my Hfe so far. Wherever I go I shall look upon this 
 country as my second home, and shall long for the day when 1 can 
 return to it and to you." 
 
 "'llien you will come back?" asked Dolores eagerly. 
 
 " That is my firm purpose. As yet I am only a subaltern and must 
 rejoin my regiment, but when the war is over I shall come back ; I 
 shall have one great joy if the 71st has the luck to be ordered on 
 active service, that in my next campaign I shall be fighting for you 
 and not against you." 
 
 " Do not forget to say that in your speech at the banquet to- 
 morrow," said Marcelino. " Are you clever at making speeches ? " 
 
 " I never made one in my life," replied Gordon. 
 
 " Then if you do not prepare one you will simply say two words 
 and sit down again, and every one will be disappointed." 
 
 " I hope I shall manage to say something more than two words, I 
 ought to after all the kindness I have received, but of a set speech I 
 "am incapable." 
 
 "Without preparation that is very probable; but if I were to write 
 down for you some hints, you could easily make them into a speech. 
 You may safely say things that none of us dare to say, such as I have 
 often heard you say in intimate conversation. You will be the only 
 Englishman present." 
 
 " That is a fact, and I will speak out boldly as an Englishman just 
 what I think, but in preparing ray speech some hints from you might 
 be of service to me." 
 
 " I will go and write them out for you at once," said Marcelino, 
 and turning from them he left the room. 
 
 Dolores and Lieutenant Gordon being left alone stood together at 
 the window for some mmutes without speaking. Dolores was the first 
 to break the silence. 
 
 " You are sorry to leave us, Mr. Gordon," she said ; " but it will 
 give you great joy to see your own family again." 
 
 " It will. You who have never been away from your own people 
 cannot tell the joy there is in meeting again those you love after a 
 long absence," replied Gordon. 
 
 " But I can understand it, remember how long Marcelino was away 
 from us ; I was quite a little girl when he went to Cordova, but I used 
 often to think of him and wonder what he would be like, and then 
 when he did come back I was so proud of him. Your sisters are 
 thinking about you now as I used to think about Marcelino." 
 
 " I dare say they are, for this was my first experience of foreign 
 service. 1 had no idea that I should come here when I left England, 
 for we were sent to the Cape of Good Hope." 
 
 " What things you will have to tell them ! If you had never been 
 
 if you had not stopped with us you would never have known 
 
 what it is to gallop over the Pampa." 
 
 " And more than that, I should never have known you as I do know 
 you. They know already what kind friends I have found here, how 
 fortunate I have been. When I reach home I shall never be tired of 
 talking to them about you."
 
 THE UNKNOWN FUTURE. 205 
 
 " They will be glad to have you back again, but they will not care 
 to hear much about us. Marcelino has told me how in Europe they 
 think that all South Americans are savages." 
 
 " They will soon learn to know better when I tell them about you, 
 and about Dona Constancia and Don Roderigo and Marcelino, and 
 about all of you. And about your houses, and about your tertulias 
 in the evenings. They will learn to think much of you, my sisters 
 would be ready to love you if they only saw you. My mother knows 
 your name already • in her second letter she asked me a great many 
 questions about you." 
 
 " But you will not stop long with them, will you ? If the English 
 send an army to Spain you will go and fight for Spain against 
 Napoleon." 
 
 " If my regiment is ordered there I shall go with it. Would you 
 be glad to hear that I was fighting for Spain ? " 
 
 " I should. Will not you be proud to fight for Spain ? " 
 " You look upon Spain as your own country ; then if I fight for 
 Spain I shall think that I am fighting for you. If the 71st is not sent 
 to Spain I will exchange into some other regiment and go there for 
 your sake, if an English army does go. If I were in Spain you would 
 often think of me. I am only a subaltern with little more than my 
 sword to depend upon, but when the war is over and we have beaten 
 Napoleon out of Spain then I shall come back here, for I shall never 
 forget Buenos Aires, and shall think of you every day till I come back 
 a<Tain. Promise me that wherever I have to go you will not forget me." 
 "Oh ! of that there is not the slightest fear," said Dolores, in a low, 
 eager voice, which sounded in Gordon's ears as the sweetest music, 
 and the memory of which remained with him for years after, while an 
 ocean rolled between them. 
 
 " My time is very short here now," he said, in a tremulous voice ; 
 " perhaps we may never be alone together again before I go, and years 
 may pass before I am able to return. You have promised that you 
 will not forget me, that you will think of me while I am far away ; 
 will you not give me some still sweeter hope ? Will you not let me 
 hope that when I return I shall find you as you are now ? \Vill )ou 
 not let me centre all my hopes for life in you ? " 
 
 " When you reach your own country you will find some one for 
 whom you will care much more than you can ever care for me," said 
 Dolores, in a very low voice, while the long, dark lashes fell over her 
 eyes, and she bent her head, gazing upon the ground. 
 
 " Never," replied Gordon earnestly ; " I never met any one whom 
 I could love as I love you, and I never shall." 
 
 As he spoke he stepped nearer to her, and took one of her hands 
 in his own. 
 
 " I know not what life is before me," he continued, " but one little 
 word from you encouraging me to hope would gild that life so that 
 1 should shrink from no toil or hardship wliich might bring me nearer 
 to you. Will you not bid me hope, I ask no more." 
 
 To this Dolores answered ncuhing, but the taper fingers of her 
 hand twined round his with a gentle pressure, which sent a thrill of 
 proud joy through his whole frame.
 
 206 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 Again the door opened, and in came Dona Constancia, smiling, 
 and stretching out her hand to Lieutenant Gordon. 
 
 " I have come to congratulate you," she said, apparently uncon- 
 scious of the excitement which was only too manifest in his face. 
 " You are going from us, and we shall miss you very much." 
 
 Long the three sat together talking of the future, Gordon again and 
 again reiterating his resolution to come back and make Buenos Aires 
 his home. 
 
 The next day there was high feasting at the house of Don Gregorio 
 Lopez. His dining-room was very large, but there was barely room 
 for the numerous guests assembled. It was a political banquet in 
 celebration of the first anniversary of the defeat of the English army, 
 which had attacked the city under the command of General White- 
 lock. The Viceroy, Marshal Don Santiago Liniers, with many of his 
 principal officers, was present ; also the leading members of the vari- 
 ous corporations which formed the government, together with the 
 commanders of the various regiments, both of the Spanish troops and 
 the militia ; also others who held no official position, but were there 
 as personal friends of their host. Among these there was one who, 
 among the crowd of brown and blue uniforms, profusely embroidered 
 with gold lace and bullion, was conspicuous by his plain scarlet coat, 
 and the gay tartan plaid which hung gracefully from his shoulder. It 
 being a political banquet there were no ladies present. 
 
 The banquet commenced an hour before sundown ; after about 
 two hours Don Gregorio rose from his seat, and in a short compli- 
 mentary speech proposed the health of the Viceroy, the hero of the 
 1 2th August, 1806, and of the 5th and 6th July, 1807. The toast 
 was drunk with enthusiasm ; then Liniers replied at greater length 
 and proposed "The Junta of Seville," now the virtual government 
 of Spain and the Indies, on account of the imprisonment by Napoleon 
 of the ex-king Charles IV. and his son Ferdinand. To these fol- 
 lowed many other patriotic and complimentary toasts ; and then there 
 was a short pause, during which each man spoke with his neighbour 
 in low tones, till Don Manuel Belgrano, after receiving a nod of 
 acquiescence from Don Gregorio, rose to his feet and proposed the 
 " Morenos de Ponce." His speech was a short one, but it elicited 
 a long one from Don Marcelino in acknowledgment of the toast. 
 For Marcelino was proud of his negroes; and as on the 5th July 
 he had not commanded them he could expatiate freely upon their 
 gallantry on that occasion without laying himself open to an accusa- 
 tion of vanity. He told many anecdotes about them, illustrative both 
 of their devotedness and of their simplicity ; several of these anecdotes 
 excited peals of laughter, and when he at length sat down he was 
 applauded by a vehement clapping of hands, the Viceroy himself set- 
 ting the example. 
 
 Then Don Roderigo Ponce de Leon rose to his feet :— 
 
 "Senores," he said, "we this day celebrate the first anniversary 
 of our great victory over the English. We do right to celebrate this 
 victory gained by a colony of the old and glorious kingdom of Spain 
 over the well-appointed army of a great and valiant nation. We are
 
 THE UNKNOWN FUTURE. 20/ 
 
 proud of the victory we gained on the 5th July, 1807, but T'know that 
 you will all join with me in the wish that we may never gain another. 
 The war between England and Spain resulted from the insidious in- 
 trigues of the usurper who, not content with seizing for himself the 
 throne of France, seeks to make kings and princes of all the low-born 
 adventurers who surround him, seizing for them by fraud and violence 
 the thrones of every kingdom in Europe. Thank God, the mask of 
 friendship by which he has deluded Spain has at last been torn from him, 
 we have seen ere it was too late the abyss into which he would have 
 led us. England, Austria, Prussia, and Russia have in vain striven to 
 stay the advance of his victorious standards, but at last his usurpations 
 have raised against him a foe who will trample them in the dust. 
 Spain, unconquered Spain, has risen up against him. The Spanish 
 people have risen as one man against Napoleon, and Spain will be the 
 graveyard of his ruffian soldiery. We have seen and acknowledge 
 the errors which led us into hostilities against England, we have 
 stretched out the hand to her in friendship, she has clasped it in for- 
 giveness of the past. We forgive the destruction of our navies at 
 Trafalgar, she forgives the wholesale slaughter of her soldiery in the 
 streets of this our city. England and Spain are now firm allies, to- 
 gether we shall reconquer the territory the invader has already wrested 
 from us, and shall bring back in triumph our rightful king. 
 
 " No, Senores, we wish for no more victories over the English, the 
 English are our friends and sworn allies. We who witnessed the fight 
 this day one year ago, who saw how dauntlessly the English advanced 
 under a hailstorm of balls which strewed our streets with their dead ; 
 we who saw how small parties of them, cut off from all succour and 
 hemmed in on every side, yet held out for hours refusing to surrender ; 
 we who saw them on that day know how to appreciate the valour of such 
 brave allies. We rejoice that they are no longer our foes, they are now 
 our friends, and as friends and allies we welcome them to fight beside 
 us in the cause of every people. We have seen them as they are, and 
 know that they are worthy to fight side by side with the indomitable 
 soldiery of Spain. 
 
 " Senores, fill your "glasses and join me in one more toast to our 
 friends the En"lish ! " 
 
 O 
 
 Again with loud " Vivas " every man rose from his seat, and every 
 eye was turned towards the place where Lieutenant Gordon sat in his 
 scarlet coat, the sole representative there of the new-found friends of 
 Spain. As the applause ceased he rose and spoke as follows : — 
 
 " Senores, it is with many mixed feelings that I rise to tliank you 
 for the warmth with which you have received the toast which has just 
 been proposed to you by my kind friend Don Roderigo, whose guest 1 
 have been for two years. Two years ago the fortune of war made me your 
 prisoner ; thanks to Don Roderigo, and to others of you from whom 
 I have received unvarying kindness, these two years have been to me 
 as one long holiday ; I cannot look upon you as my gaolers, I cannot 
 fancy that I ever did look upon you as my enemies, your kindness to 
 me will make it im[)Ossible for me ever to think of you otherwise than 
 as dear friends. \Vhen I am faraway, I know not where, in the service 
 of my own country, 1 shall look back upon Buenos Aires as the spot
 
 208 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 where I have passed the happiest years of my hfe. I came here know- 
 ing as httle as En,2;lislimen generally do of Spain or of the colonies of 
 Spain, I was a soldier, my country was at war with S])ain,and I came 
 here to do her bidding, to fight as I thought against Spain. I came 
 here as an enemy, the chances of war made me your prisoner, among 
 you I have lived ever since. 
 
 " Li\ing among you I have learned to know you, and to think it the 
 greatest of all misfortunes that England and you should look upon 
 each other as enemies. Living among you I have learned that Buenos 
 Aires is not Spain, and that in fighting against Buenos Aires England 
 fights against a country which every interest binds to her in firm friend- 
 ship and alliance. Most of you l)y race and language are Spaniards, 
 many of you were born in Spain, but this country is not Spain, tliose 
 who live in this country cannot long remain Spaniards. In the Old 
 World we live fettered by the trammels of worn-out traditions, but here 
 in the New World the very air is redolent of freedom. Unarmed, often 
 alone, I have galloped for days over your boundless Pampa, I have 
 shared the hospitality of great landowners, whose possessions exceed 
 the limits of many an English county, and have also often been in- 
 debted for a night's lodging to the kindness of some lowly herdsman ; 
 from both the reception was the same, a frank welcome, an offer of 
 everything I could require, and no question asked as to whence I 
 came, or when or whither I would go. Galloping north, south, and 
 west over the trackless Pampa, meeting nowhere with any obstacle, 
 finding everywhere frankness and open-handed hospitality, I have felt 
 the blood course through my veins with the joy of unrestricted freedom. 
 I have gazed around me to the very verge of the far-off horizon, seeing 
 nothing which could prevent me from galloping on and on whitherso- 
 ever my will might lead me, and have known for the first time in my 
 life the proud feeling of absolute independence. 
 
 " This liberty, which has been to me but as a brief holiday, has been 
 to the majority of the men of this country the leading influence of 
 their life. These immense plains which you call the Pampa are 
 peopled by a hardy race of yeomen, who have grown to maturity in 
 an atmosphere of freedom ; from their earliest boyhood they have been 
 accustomed to think and act for themselves, they have been trained 
 in self-reliance, the trammels of the Old World are to them unknown, 
 liberty is with them the very essence of their life. And you who live 
 in the city also feel the impulse of this all-pervading influence. Obso- 
 lete laws and customs fetter you and check the growth of the genuine 
 instincts of your nature, but you breathe the free air of America ; 
 around you stretch those boundless plains which speak to you when- 
 ever you look upon them of the nothingness of man in face of the 
 immensity of Nature. No man, whether he be a Spaniard, an English- 
 man, or a Frenchman, can live long surrounded by these influences 
 without feeling that in the sight of God all men are equal. It has 
 therefore caused me no surprise to find here men who, in ideas and 
 modes of thought, resemble the most advanced philosophers of Europe. 
 
 " The liberal ideas, which carried to excess have been a scourge to 
 France, driving her to seek for peace under the iron rule of a military 
 despot, have yet their foundation in great natural truths ; these truths
 
 THE UNKNOWN FUTURE. 209 
 
 are taught to you by every influence which surrounds you. Thus the 
 men of this land, though colonists of Spain, are yet a separate people. 
 In coming here to tight against Spain we forced you into hostilities 
 against us, and raised up for ourselves an enemy where we might have 
 found our firmest friend. Spain alone is powerless against us, but 
 twice have we been foiled by a colony of Spain. 
 
 "A colony is an infant nation- the day will come when in the 
 maturity of your strength you will take your place among the nations 
 of the world. If in your infancy you have by your valour humbled 
 the pride of haughty England, that place will surely be in the foremost 
 rank. England at peace with Spain is now no longer your enemy, 
 and will be the first to stretch out to you the hand, and welcome you 
 into the great fomily of the nations. 
 
 " England and Spain have now the glorious task before them of setting 
 bounds to the insatiate ambition of Napoleon ; in this struggle I hope 
 to have my part, fighting once more under the red cross of St. George, 
 in the most righteous of all causes, the deliverance of a noble people 
 from foreign usurpation. In fighting for Spain I shall feel that I am 
 fighting for you also, and thus in some degree repaying the great 
 kindness which during two years of captivity has taught me to look 
 upon Buenos Aires as my second country. 
 
 " Senores, again I thank you for the warmth with which you have 
 welcomed tlie friendship of old England." 
 
 As Gordon resumed his seat, the majority of those present com- 
 menced clapping their hands, shouting " Vivan los Ingleses ! " and 
 some few added in a lower tone, " The true allies of America." 
 
 But there were others, among them the Viceroy, who neither 
 shouted nor clapped their hands, but looked uneasily one at the other, 
 as though they were far from pleased. 
 
 Don Gregorio, looking round his table, saw the various emotions 
 depicted on the faces of his guests ; he saw a cloud on the usually 
 open countenance of the Viceroy, ill-concealed anger in the faces of 
 Don Martin Alzaga and other Spaniards, anno3'ance and vexadon.in 
 the face of his son-in-law Don Roderigo Ponce de Leon ; while in the 
 flushed features of many of his younger guests he read a dangerous 
 excitement, which one untoward word might rouse into a storm. 
 Hurriedly he rose from his seat. 
 
 " Senores," he said, " Spain has taken upon herself a task which 
 Europe united has failed to accomplish. In this she will need staunch 
 allies, she will find them in the English, therefore fill your glasses once 
 more and honour a repetition of this toast, ' To our friends the 
 English!'" 
 
 "To our friends the English !" shouted all the company, rising to 
 their feet, and the toast being duly honoured they left their places 
 and began conversing in groups about the room, upon which Don 
 (jregori(; ordered a large pair of folding doors to be thrown open, and 
 invited iiis guests to adjourn to the sala for coffee, thus j^revcnting the 
 perpetration of any more ambiguous speeches." 
 
 Erom the sala the guests gradually dispersed, many of them being 
 engaged to pass the rest of the night at the house of Don Ivuisto 
 Velasquez. 
 
 1'
 
 210 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 " My congratulations on your speech, my friend," said Marcelino to 
 Gordon, as they left tlie house together. 
 
 " Some of tliem did not half like it," replied Gordon, laughing ; 
 "but I said nothing that I have not said to you fifty times." 
 
 " True, but it would be treason for any of us to speak so before 
 the Viceroy. The Spanish doctrine is that 'a colony is a slave.'" 
 
 " If her colonists were slaves Spain would have lost this colony a 
 year ago. It takes men to beat us." 
 
 "^^'ell, as my father said, we will never beat you again. I never 
 drank to a toast with more pleasure in my life than I did to his ' To 
 our friends the English ! ' "
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 THE DAWN OF FREEDOM. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 THE BRIGHTENING OF THE EASTERN SKY.
 
 PROLOGUE. 
 
 The thoughts of a youth are as the winds of heaven, which blow 
 where they hst, none knowing whence they come or whither they go^ 
 yet have they all some certain course and goal. The thoughts of a 
 youth spring from the instincts of his nature, and are turned hither 
 and thither by the ever-varying circumstances which surround him^ 
 yet all tend to one end — the development of his strength and charac- 
 ter. The youth has but one object before him, to be a man ; if he 
 li\-e, the attainment of this object is certain, its value is to him incal- 
 culable ; manhood is to the youth the gate which opens to him the 
 whole w^orld. 
 
 The veil had fallen from before the unknown future, Buenos Aires 
 stood face to face with her destiny. Her chains had been struck from 
 her hands and from her feet, by events of which she could have no 
 foreknowledge; she stood upright in her youthful strength, unfettered, 
 and alone. 
 
 But Buenos Aires had looked upon Spain as upon a mother ; now 
 that Spain lay prostrate in her degradation she felt her tyranny no 
 longer, she remembered only that she was her mother. 
 
 The waves of the sea toss up their heads rushing to and fro, dash- 
 ing themselves in never-ending succession upon the shingly beach, 
 each wave after its headlong rush sinking back again into the ocean, 
 vanishing for ever, yet does the tide ever march steadily onwards. 
 As are the waves of ocean, so are the thoughts of a youth, vacillating 
 ever, yet ever advancing towards the one inevitable goal. As are the 
 thoughts of a youth, so are the acts of a young nation, w^hich is not 
 yet known to be a nation, vacillating ever, yet ever advancing towards 
 that one goal which is the object of all her aspirations — Independence.
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 MAGDALEN. 
 
 The quinta of Don Alfonso Miranda was not a pretentious dwelling, 
 nevertheless there were men in Buenos Aires who thought it one of 
 the pleasantest houses in or about the city, in which they could wile 
 away a leisure hour. Among others Lieutenant Gordon, during the 
 last }'ear of his residence in Buenos Aires, had been very fond of 
 strolling out there either on foot or on horseback, and had frequently 
 delighted the owner by telling him that while there he could almost 
 fancy himself back in his native country, and certainly if any flat- 
 roofed house with barred windows could remind an Englishman of 
 England it was the house of Don Alfonso Miranda. Don Alfonso 
 had lived so long in England that he had acquired many of the tastes 
 of an Englishman, he had learnt by practical experience the meaning 
 of the English word " comfort," and had fitted up his South American 
 home with a variety of contrivances for keeping out the heat in 
 summer and the cold in winter, which were complete novelties to the 
 hospitable people who had welcomed him amongst them, and who 
 had befriended his daughter when he fell under the ban of their 
 Spanish rulers. 
 
 This house, after his release from prison, he had purchased from 
 an American of the name of White, who had built it for himself, but 
 had special reasons of his own for being glad to find a purchaser in 
 Don Alfonso. This same Mr. White had returned to Buenos Aires 
 in the year 1807, in company with General Whitclock, and was much 
 consulted by that unfortunate officer. 
 
 In one of the rooms in this house was a large, open fire-place, where 
 cheerful wood fires burnt in the cokl season. When Don Alfonso 
 brought his daughter to live with him she made tea for him in the 
 English fashion, presiding with demure gravity over her porcelain 
 tea-cujts, clustered round a tall, steaming urn. This tea-urn and the 
 fire-place were to their native visitors most marvellous innovations, but 
 Don Alfonso had now no greater pleasure in life than to sit cosily in 
 an arm-chair beside his fire on a chilly winter evening, watching his 
 daughter as she so presided at her own tea-tal)le, listening to her voice 
 as she chatted with some chance visitor, and thinking dreamily of his 
 English home and his English wife, now both lost to him for ever. 
 Don Alfonso was himself of rather taciturn disposition, but he liked to 
 hear others talk, and there was no voice he loved to hear so much as 
 that of his daughter Magdalen,
 
 2l6 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 Magdalen was but a very joung woman, her teens wanted yet one of 
 completion, but when she returned to the city, after her long visit at 
 the Pajonales with the funnily of Don Fausto Velasquez, her father 
 thought her (juite old enough to govern his household for him. He 
 had fitted up two rooms with great care for her especial use, adorning 
 them with books, pictures, and trinkets which had years ago belonged 
 to her mother, and which he had carefully packed up and brought 
 with him across the ocean for the special purpose of some day bestowing 
 them upon his daughter. 
 
 Doha Josefina and her friends found the Quinta de Don Alfonso a 
 very pleasant resort in the warm summer evenings. It stood off a 
 short distance from one of the main roads, separated from it and from 
 the wide, open space which went by the name of the Plaza Miserere 
 by thickly-planted trees. 
 
 A\'here ladies go, there young men are ever sure to foUoAV, so that 
 before her first summer at her father's quinta had passed over, Mag- 
 dalen had taught some score of young men who had never tasted tea 
 in their lives before, to drink it out of her porcelain cups. Among 
 those who drank out of her porcelain cups this summer there were 
 three who had found special favour in her eyes, Don Carlos Evaha, 
 Don Marcelino Ponce de Leon, and Lieutenant Gordon, for they 
 would now and then speak to her in English; her father having 
 taken care that she should not forget her native tongue, generally 
 speaking to her himself in that language, and she was glad when she 
 could find any one to talk English with. Of English books she had 
 what her friends thought a large collection, and these three friends 
 would sometimes borrow some of these books from her, and talk to 
 her about them after reading them. But one great trouble she had ; 
 she had not come at once to the quinta when she returned to the city 
 with Don Fausto, but had remained several weeks with Doha Josefina, 
 at whose house she had frequently met Dolores Ponce de Leon. 
 Between Dolores and her a warm friendship had sprung up, in which 
 there was more than friendship, for each became to the other as a 
 sister, and as sisters they loved each other, telling each other unre- 
 servedly the deepest secrets of their hearts, hearts which had as yet 
 known no deep emotion, and in which there were no secrets but such 
 as they might have told unblushingly to all the Avorld. Still they met 
 occasionally at the house of Don Fausto Velasquez, where Magdalen 
 went often, or at the house of Don Gregorio Lopez, where she went 
 less frequently, but to the quinta Dolores never came, saying that her 
 father had forbidden her. The reason of this remained a mystery to 
 Magdalen, for when she had applied in her perplexity to Doha 
 Josefina that lady had spoken to her such words of Don Alfonso 
 that she felt she could never ask any more questions on the subject. 
 
 The outside of the house of Don Alfonso differed in one respect 
 from the generality of the houses about Buenos Aires. On the 
 eastern side, which was the front, instead of the usual veranda there 
 stood before the main entrance a wide porch of trellis-work, over 
 which honeysuckle and other flowering creepers climbed luxuriantly, 
 loading the air in the summer-time with the sweet scent of flowers 
 innumerable. The flooring of this porch, on a level with that of the
 
 THE DAWN OF FREEDOM. 21/ 
 
 house, Avas raised some two feet above the level of the garden, from 
 which the approach was by three wide steps. In this porch it was a 
 frequent custom with Don Alfonso to sit with his daughter or with 
 their guests in the warm evenings of the summer and autumn, sheltered 
 from the sun, and gazing through the foliage of the trees upon the 
 green suburbs and upon the white houses of the nearer portion of the 
 city, and farther away upon the summits of the towers and domes of 
 churches. 
 
 Magdalen rejoiced with the joy of a young girl whose life so far 
 had been passed amongst strangers, when she found herself at the 
 head of her father's household, and her sweet womanly instincts 
 developed themselves rapidly as she felt that the comfort of others 
 depended upon her diligence and foresight. The household was but 
 a small one, but there was much for her to do in the Avay of contrivance 
 and arrangement, for Don Alfonso would never buy anything which 
 could possibly be made at home, or which his quinta would produce. 
 
 So Magdalen passed the spring, summer, and autunm in great 
 contentment with her father at his quinta ; it was now winter, and 
 though she had made frequent visits to her friends in the city, yet she 
 had during all this time never passed one night from under her 
 father's roof until the night of the 5th July, which she spent in very 
 unwonted fashion under the roof of Don Fausto Velasquez, dancing 
 and listening to soft speeches in the spacious saloons of Doha Josefina, 
 which were crowded with all that Buenos Aires could furnish in the 
 way of beauty and distinction. 
 
 The number of those having some claim to distinction in Buenos 
 Aires was not great at that time, for until the iirst invasion of the 
 English under Beresford the modes by which a native of Buenos 
 Aires could distinguish himself were very few. Two English invasions 
 had given opportunities for distincdon, and officers of the Patricios 
 and Arribehos who had shown skill or courage were the favoured 
 guests of Doha Josefina on this occasion. Among these officers 
 there was but one Spaniard, a captain in the regiment of the Anda- 
 luces. To this captain Doha Josefina showed great attention, intro- 
 ducing him to many a fair partner, whispering to them to pardon his 
 coarse manners and want of address, as he was a protege of hers, 
 and had been lieutenant of the " Morenos de Ponce." 
 
 But of beauty Buenos Aires had enough and to spare. It is said 
 (in Buenos Aires) that when Venus was apportioning her gifts among 
 her sisters she gave pre-eminence in grace and elegance to the Spanish 
 Avonian, in liveliness and savoir-taire to the Frenchwoman, to the 
 Italian perfection of form and feature, to the Englishwoman a com- 
 plexion clear as the morning, and so on, some special gift to the 
 women of every race upon earth, but that she forgot the Porteha 
 altogether, till being told of her neglect she took from each woman 
 of every race a fragment of the special perfection of each one of 
 them and bestowed it u[)on the Porteha, thus creating a race of 
 women unecinalled in the variety of their charms in any country 
 under tlie sun. However that may be, it wouUl be difficult to find 
 anywhere such a collection of beauty as graced the saloons of Doha 
 Josefina on this evening of the 5lh July.
 
 2l8 rONCE DE LEON. 
 
 Magdalen was not a Portena, her friends called her the " Inglesita," 
 because England had been her birthplace. She was sliort in stature, 
 irregular in feature, witli high cheek-bones ; her English birth had not 
 even endowed her with a brilliant complexion, but her figure was good, 
 her hands and feet were small, and there was an easy grace about her 
 every movement which was in itself no inconsiderable charm. Through- 
 out this evening she was surrounded by a constant succession of ad- 
 mirers emulous of her hand, and each one as he led her to a seat after a 
 dance lingered near her, wondering to himself what it was that made 
 him so linger. 
 
 She spoke little during the dances, for this was the first city ball at 
 which she had ever been present ; the brilliance of the scene somewhat 
 embarrassed her, and many of those who sought an introduction to 
 her she had never seen before. This was her first ball and she 
 enjoyed it greatly, the pleasure which she felt beamed in her face ; 
 joy is infectious and produces joy in those who look upon it, by 
 sympathy. 
 
 Her dress was of white muslin, richly embroidered, with a very 
 short body and immense balloon sleeves padded with swan's-down, 
 which stood out round her shoulders but left the greater part of her 
 arms bare. Under this dress she wore another of blue silk, the outer 
 dress of muslin being looped up at the left side with a small rosette 
 of blue silk ; both dresses were exceedingly long in the skirt, sweeping 
 the ground for fully a yard and a half behind her as she walked. Her 
 hair, rising straight up from her forehead, was combed in a fashion 
 much in vogue at that day into one mass on the top of her head, and 
 was sparingly sprinkled with powder ; from the back a few curls fell 
 down behind her ears, and two or three smaller curls lay in careful 
 negligence upon her forehead and temples. She wore a necklace of 
 pearls, from the centre of which hung a small gold cross, and her left 
 wrist was encircled by a bracelet of plain gold. 
 
 About an hour before midnight, during a pause between two 
 dances, Magdalen was walking down one of the rooms in company 
 with Lieutenant Gordon, who was repeating to her some of the 
 anecdotes which Marcelino Ponce de Leon had told about his 
 negroes at the banquet not two hours before, when she was accosted 
 by an officer in gala uniform, with the epaulets of a major on his 
 shoulders. She started at his voice as he spoke to her, and then 
 looked up at him with a glad smile, but as her eyes met his they fell 
 beneath their earnest gaze and a warm flush spread over her cheeks. 
 The officer who had addressed her, and whose bright dark eyes were 
 riveted upon her face as he bowed lowly before her, was Marcelino 
 himself 
 
 Marcelino had never forgotten those eyes which had haunted him 
 during the long summer and autumn which he had passed training 
 his negroes, and he had eagerly accepted Don Alfonso's subsequent 
 invitation to visit him at his quinta, but during the many evenings he 
 had passed there since he had never again seen the same look in 
 those eyes, often as he had looked into them in search of it, and he 
 had learned to think of Magdalen as an amiable but very plain- 
 featured girl, with a certain nameless fascination about her for ^vhich
 
 THE DA^YN OF FREEDOM. 219 
 
 he could not account. Also, as a girl -with a talent for conversation, 
 and a voice to which he could listen for hours with the same feeling 
 as though he had been listening to music. 
 
 Magdalen had inherited from her English mother a gift more 
 charming than any physical beauty, and one less liable to fade, that 
 of a most melodious voice. In Buenos Aires, where physical beauty 
 is so general among women, a melodious voice is but rarely heard, 
 and ]\Iarcelino had often caused great amusement to his friend 
 Gordon during many months past by his mode of asking him to 
 accompany him on a visit to Don Alfonso. 
 
 " Come out with me to the Miserere, and talk to your paisanita for 
 me while I listen." 
 
 As ]Marcelino now looked upon Magdalen, with the girlish joy 
 beaming in her face, he saw once again that same look in her eyes 
 which had haunted him for so long and which he had never forgotten. 
 Her face seemed to him lighted up widi a new beauty all its own, a 
 beauty far exceeding all beauty of feature or complexion, the beauty 
 of expression. When she smiled upon him with the glad smile with 
 which she received him, her soul looked out upon him through those 
 large gray eyes, a soul in consonance with the sweet voice he loved 
 to listen to, the soul of a large-hearted, loving woman. To Marcelino 
 she never appeared plain-featured again. 
 
 He asked her hand for the next dance, and then instead of danc- 
 ing they sauntered away to a quiet corner, where they sat down and 
 talked together. 
 
 " So Gordon has been telling you about the banquet ? " said Mar- 
 celino. 
 
 " Not much about the banquet, but about the speech you made," 
 replied Magdalen. 
 
 " I made ! Yes, I did make a speech of a sort ; talked about 
 my negroes, which is very easy for me to do ; but his was the great 
 speech, did not he tell you about that?" 
 
 " Not a word. What did he say ? " 
 
 " He said one thing, which there are some of us will take care to 
 spread all over the country. He said that a colony is an infant 
 nation." 
 
 "You think so, I know. I have heard you say something like it 
 more than once." 
 
 " Yes, but not in public, and before the Viceroy. In us poor 
 Creoles it would be rank treason to say such a thing, but just at pre- 
 sent an Englishman may say what he likes." 
 
 " Then when he goes there will be no one left among you who will 
 dare to speak the truth openly ? " 
 
 "No one, for a time at least; but the day is coming wlien all will 
 be able to speak openly just what they think." 
 
 " Why not begin at once ? I should think it was never too early 
 to speak the truth." 
 
 "There you are mistaken; but you must think me very stupid to 
 talk to you about politics in a ball-room, though I have seen you listen 
 when others were talking politics at the cjuinta." 
 
 " I always listen, and then talk to papa about it afterwards. Papa
 
 220 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 and I are great politicians when we are alone together. I have 
 never seen my uncle Don Irancisco, but papa has talked to me for 
 hours about him, though he hardly ever speaks of him to any one else." 
 
 " Allow me to compliment you on your dress, I admire the colours 
 you have chosen ; blue and white, are they your favourite colours ? " 
 
 " Yes, they are, so I would wear them. Doha Josefina and Lola 
 did all they could to persuade me to wear pink, but I can be very 
 obstinate when I choose." 
 
 " And quite right too. I never saw you looking so well before, all 
 the men seem to think so, it was ever so long before I could get a 
 chance of speaking to you." 
 
 " That is because you are the hero of the ball, and have so many 
 others to speak to. Does not Lola look beautiful this evening, quite 
 like a little queen ? " 
 
 " I think she has spoiled it by the way she has arranged her hair, 
 the peinete ^ does not suit her at all, and I should think it must be 
 very uncomfortable." 
 , "' La moda nunca incomoda,"^ answered Magdalen. 
 
 " I am glad you have not followed the fashion," said Marcelino, 
 "for the peinete would suit you even less than it does Lola." 
 
 As they spoke, a lady of fair stature and of radiant beauty, in the first 
 bloom of womanhood, dressed in pink, and with masses of dark hair 
 falling in silken curls upon her white shoulders, came sailing proudly 
 down the room leaning upon the arm of a young officer ; as she passed 
 near them she turned her brilliant black eyes full upon Marcelino, 
 and bending towards him with a peculiar wave of her fan, said in a 
 low voice — 
 
 " Le felicito " (I congratulate you). 
 
 ISIagdalen, who had apparently not heard her words, gazed eagerly 
 after her. 
 
 " What a beautiful girl," she said ; " I do not think I ever saw such 
 a beautiful girl. Who is she ? " 
 
 " Elisa Puyrredon ; she is sister to Doha Juana de Saenz-Valiente ; 
 some men say that the two sisters and my aunt Josefina are the three 
 most beautiful women in Buenos Aires." 
 
 " And what do you say ? " 
 
 " I don't know any woman equal in beauty to Elisa Puyrredon." 
 
 " But we were talking about my uncle," said Magdalen. " I am so 
 proud to have such a man for my uncle. I think a man who has 
 spent his life as he has, has done more that he may be proud of than 
 the greatest conqueror that ever lived. He has always been beaten ; 
 but even Napoleon, with all the battles he has won, is not near so 
 great a man in my eyes as my uncle Francisco." 
 
 As Magdalen spoke her face flushed, her enthusiam beamed in her 
 large gray eyes, tinging them with a darker colour than was usual to 
 them; and Marcelino, watching her intently, forgot to speak, till 
 meeting his wrapt gaze she bent her head and appeared intent only 
 upon the figures on her fan. 
 
 ' The large comb at that time worn in Buenos Aires as in Spain, generally made 
 of tortoiseshell, and sometimes two feet in width. 
 ' The fashion is never uncomfortable.
 
 THE DAWN OF FREEDOM. 221 
 
 " Then you think that a man who devotes himself to the welfare of 
 his country, even if he fail and be proscribed and banished, has not 
 spent his life in vain ? " said Marcelino. 
 
 " In vain, no ! Good work is never done in vain." 
 
 "You will miss Gordon ver}^ much." 
 
 " Indeed I shall, and so will you ; but he says he will come back 
 again, and I think he will." 
 
 Magdalen spoke this last sentence in a peculiarly confidential tone, 
 raising her fan as she spoke, and looking over the edge of it at Mar- 
 celino, but the glance and the tone were alike thrown away upon that 
 gentleman. 
 
 " He promised me long ago," replied he, "that if we have to fight 
 for our freedom he will join us ; but now I think we shall win it with- 
 out fighting, the French are doing that for us. He likes the country, 
 so some day we shall have him back again. What will you do with- 
 out him? You will have no one to read English to you in the porch 
 next summer." 
 
 " Poor me ! but it was very seldom he did read to me last summer. 
 I think he likes galloping about better than reading. Last summer he 
 was always in a hurry to get away, and his gallops were always in one 
 direction." 
 
 " Yes, the traitor ! he was always taking me to the Miserere in the 
 afternoons, and then leaving me t(j find my way back by myself" 
 
 "Yet I never saw you angry with him for deserting you." 
 
 " The time passed so pleasantly that I never missed him till it was 
 time to go back. You cannot think how I am wishing for the long 
 days to come again." 
 
 " Papa likes the winter best." 
 
 " Yes, he likes to sit at his fireside while you make tea for him, but 
 we Portenos like the open air better. For me the most pleasant place 
 in any season is where you are." 
 
 "A compliment! You know that I do not like compliments," 
 answered Magdalen, with a look- of annoyance. 
 
 " I did not intend it as a compliment," said MarceUno. 
 
 " When men say things like that it sounds to me as if they were 
 mocking one. There are some men who are always doing it, and it 
 is so annoying. You have never said anything like that to me before." 
 
 " I never said a word to you yet that I did not mean. Do you not 
 like to hear the truth spoken to you ? " 
 
 "Yes, even if it be unpleasant." 
 
 "And I like to speak the truth when it is pleasant to do so; when 
 it is not 1 prefer to kee[) silent." 
 
 "If you never speak anything but the trulii to me we shall always 
 be good friends, and I shall know how to inter[)ret your silence." 
 
 " Then we are good friends now, for I have never said a word to 
 you that is not true. I am going away, and I do not know when I 
 shall be back. I should be very sorry to go away leaving you angry 
 at anything I had said to you." 
 
 " You are going away ! Where to ? " 
 
 "To Rio Janeiro. I arranged it this morning, if the captain of 
 the English frigate which is at Monte X'ideo will give me a passage
 
 222 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 I am coins: with Gordon, so I shall not lose him so soon as you 
 
 will." 
 
 " He does not know, at least he said nothing of it to me." 
 
 "No, I have not told him yet. No one knows but you and my 
 
 father." 
 
 " Poor Dolores ! she will be quite lonely, losmg both you and Mr. 
 
 Gordon at once." 
 
 " Not so lonely as you generally are. She has always plenty of 
 people about her. If she saw you more often she would miss us less. 
 Could not you come and pay Aunt Josefina a visit of a month or so, 
 I know she wants you to do so ? " 
 
 "And leave papa all alone ! Impossible ! " 
 
 " Then I will tell you what to do. Come and spend one day every 
 week with Aunt Josefina. Lola often tells me that she wishes she 
 could see more of you than she does." 
 
 "Does she? Oh! I am so glad. I shall be here all _ day to- 
 morrow till the evening, and then every Wednesday morning after 
 this I will come in and spend the day with Doha Josefina. I am 
 sure papa will let me if I ask him, and when I have a lixed day for 
 coming then Lola will come too." 
 
 "Then when I come back the Wednesdays will be an established 
 custom, and I shall think that I have done something to give you a 
 pleasure by suggesting it. Every Wednesday while I am away I shall 
 think that you and Lola are together, and when she speaks of me you 
 will think of me for a moment, and will remember that I am thinking 
 of you."
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 HOW DON GREGORIO LOPEZ A SECOND TIME SOUGHT AN ANSWER 
 TO THE QUESTION OF THE DAY. 
 
 In August there came an emissary from the Emperor Napoleon to 
 Buenos Aires. Viceroy Liniers received this Frenchman very affably, 
 and the two held conferences together of which none knew the pur- 
 port ; but why this Frenchman had come was no secret to any one 
 in Buenos Aires. He came on behalf of the Emperor Napoleon to 
 invite the colonies of Spain to follow the example of their mother- 
 country, telling them that Spaniards desired no longer that Bourbons 
 should reign over them, but had welcomed with joy a new king whom 
 he had chosen for them, his brother Joseph. 
 
 But Buenos Aires had heard of this new king, Joseph, before this 
 Frenchman had come to tell her of him, and knew that those Spanish 
 nobles and courtiers who had crowded round Murat at Madrid, and 
 had welcomed the new king whom Napoleon had sent to them, were 
 not the Spanish people. Buenos i\.ires knew that the Spanish people 
 would have no foreigner for their king, and that the Central Junta 
 established at Seville proposed to rule Spain and to make war upon 
 Napoleon in the name of Ferdinand VII., who by the abdication of 
 his father was the legitimate King of Spain, although both he and his 
 father were now prisoners in France, and were said to have renounced 
 their rights in favour of the new king, Joseph. 
 
 Buenos Aires had no great cause to love Spain, and her reverence 
 for her was fast dying out, yet still she looked upon Spain as her 
 mother, and her spirit rose in anger as she heard of her degradation. 
 Men went about Irom house to house and stood in groups at the 
 street corners, talking eagerly one to the other, questioning one an- 
 other why it was that this Frenchman was hospitably entertained in 
 their city, while Spain lay prostrate at the feet of Napoleon, who had 
 sent him ? Then they remembered Liniers also was a Frenchman, 
 and their wTath was kindled against him ; and when sundry Spaniartls 
 came amongst them, striving with soft speeches to still their indigna- 
 tion, telling them that the question was not theirs, but was Si)ain's, 
 that Spain would decide for herself and for them, they thrust them 
 out from among them with scornful words. 
 
 On the 15th August Liniers made a ])roclamation to them, counsel- 
 ling them to moderation, showing how the destinies of a colony should 
 follow those of the mother-country, but that while the struggle went 
 on they should for their own sake hold aloof But neither to him 
 would they listen, and throughout the city the ferment was great.
 
 224 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 Tlicn on the 21st August Liniers gave answer to the emissary of 
 Napoleon, and justified himself in tlie eyes of the men of Buenos 
 Aires by proclaiming with all due formality and military display 
 Ferdinand VII. King of Spain and the Indies. 
 
 It was evening on this 21st August, the roll of the drums was long 
 since hushed, the regular troo])s had retired to their barracks, the 
 militia to their homes, the quietude of a winter night had come down 
 over the city. The streets were almost deserted, yet here and there 
 men might be seen issuing from their houses, and wending their way 
 through the darkness to the house of Don Gregorio Lopez. Each 
 man as he reached the door of this house looked cautiously round to 
 see that he was alone, then struck one smart rap with his knuckles 
 upon one of the panels of the door, and bent his head to listen. 
 From the inside there came one rap in answer, upon which he struck 
 twice rapidly in the same place as before, and the door opened. In 
 the centre of the zaguan hung a lamp, which threw its rays directly 
 on the face of each man as he went in ; under this lamp stood a tall 
 negro. Each man as he entered the zaguan waited till the door 
 closed behind him, then said to the negro one word — 
 
 " Patria." 
 
 " Buenas noches y pasa adelante," replied the negro, stepping to 
 one side and leaving the passage free. 
 
 Each man crossed the first patio and entered a second zaguan, 
 where three young men stood in silence, waiting till he should s[)eak. 
 To them he also spoke one word — 
 
 " Libertad." 
 
 Upon which one of them led him across the second patio, and 
 ushered him into the same large room in which Don Gregorio had 
 held anodier secret meeting more than two years before, some few 
 days after General Beresford had taken possession of the city. 
 
 Some days previous to the proclamation of King Ferdinand, and 
 while the excitement of the city was at its greatest, Marcelino Ponce 
 de Leon had returned to Buenos Aires. His trip to Rio de Janeiro 
 had been a pleasant one, but he had there met with a certain Don 
 Saturnino Rodriguez Pena, a Porteno by birth, who had inspired him 
 with a great idea. Big with this idea he hurried back, and after an 
 interview with his grandfather sent messengers in every direction, 
 summoning the friends of Don Gregorio Lopez to meet at his house 
 on the evening of the 21st August. One of these messengers galloped 
 out by the southern road and returned on the day of the meeting with 
 Don Carlos Evana and Don Gregorio Lopez the younger, whose father 
 had received him with oper arms when he had visited the city in May, 
 soon after the sudden return of Don Carlos Evaha to his estancia. 
 
 About nine o'clock a numerous company was assembled, then the 
 door of the dining-room was shut, and Don Gregorio took his place 
 at the head of the long table, the rest seating themselves on chairs or 
 standing in gi-oups about the room, 
 
 Don Gregorio rose from his seat and looked round him, pausing ere 
 he spoke ; a proud smile beamed on his face ; as the rest looked 
 upon him this smile was reflected in their faces and many of them 
 clapped their hands.
 
 THE DAWxV OF FREEDOM. 225 
 
 " Senores," said Don Gregorio, as the applause subsided, " it is 
 with pride and pleasure that I look round on you who have come here 
 at my invitation. It brings to my remembrance, as it will to many of 
 you, an evening more than two years ago when we met together as we 
 do now. These two years have been years which will be for ever 
 memorable in the annals of our country." Here Don Gregorio was 
 interrupted by " Vivas " and clamorous applause ; when silence was 
 restored he went on : — 
 
 " These two years have worked a mighty change amongst us. ^^'e 
 have learnt in times of difficulty and danger to trust to our own strength 
 and our own abilitv, and we have found that we have both strensth 
 and ability withm ourselves. In former tunes we looked to Spain 
 to protect us in danger, and we obeyed without question the man- 
 dates of the rulers she set over us. In these years Spain has been 
 unable to do anything to protect us, yet have we defended our- 
 selves successfully. We turned out the Viceroy sent by Spain as our 
 ruler, and have now a Viceroy of our own selection, to whom we look 
 as the representative of our legitimate sovereign. But our sovereign 
 liimself is in prison, cut off from all communication with us, to whom 
 then shall we look as to the source of the authority which we obey ? 
 
 " Daring the last two years ideas and wishes have grown up amongst 
 us which were formerly unknown, it is for the discusbion of these ideas 
 that I have called upon you to meet me this evening. One such idea 
 my grandson Marcel ino has asked my ])ermission to lay before you." 
 
 As Don Gregorio resumed his seat, Marcelino Ponce de Leon rose 
 in the midst of an ominous silence, and in a carefully-prepared speech 
 disclosed a plan for bringing the Princess Carlota, sister of King Fer- 
 dinand and wife of the Prince-regent of Brazil, to Buenos Aires to rule 
 over the provinces of the Rio de La Plata as queen. 
 
 During his speech he was frequently interrupted, and as he sat down 
 the confusion rose to a tumult. Most of those present laughed at the 
 idea as absurd, and some in no measured terms expressed their in- 
 dignation. When the uproar had partially subsided, Don Gregorio 
 Lopez again rose to his feet and said — 
 
 " Senores, it is with my entire approval that my grandson has laid 
 this proposition before you. 1 think it well worthy of careful con- 
 sideration by all of us, but I doubt much whether it would be received 
 with favour by our Si)anisii. rulers." 
 
 " Our Spanish rulers '. " shouted Don Carlos Evaha, springing indig- 
 nantly to his feet, "our Spanish rulers ! they are the men who are to 
 decide this and every other question for us ! Spain has fiiUen, and with 
 Sjjain the one check which existed to protect us from Spanish rapacity ; 
 in place of being the slaves of a great empire we arc now the slaves of 
 a handful of Spaniards. Who are these Spaniards that lliey sh(;uld come 
 among us and arrogate to themselves the possession (jf all authority? 
 Do not deceive )ourselves, my countrymen, we, the citizens of this 
 country, have inborn rights which no Spaniard, no king, or Bourbon, 
 can take from us. There is no longer any question of Spain or Bour- 
 bons, we are the peo[)le, and the time has come for us to demand our 
 rights as men. \Vhat shall we do to ckiim and take possession of 
 these rights of ours? That is the <[ueslion which is now before us.
 
 226 • FONCE DE LEON. 
 
 " To you, Don Gregorio, as the man of most influence among us ; to 
 you, young men, who wear the uniform of our victorious miUtia, the 
 rising hope of our country, 1 address this (juestion, that you take it 
 into your serious consideration, but I ask you not for your answer, 
 that answer it is not for us alone to give, that answer must come from 
 an entire people, and shall ere long be spoken on the house-tops in 
 the full blaze of the sun." 
 
 Then, as Evaha sat down, burst forth from the younger members 
 of that assembly a storm of applause, and Valentin Lopez y Viana, 
 the youngest son of Don Gregorio, raising his hand in the air, shouted 
 " Viva la Patria ! " a cry which found its echo in every heart there 
 present, and which ere long reverberated from south to north over an 
 entire continent, rousing enslaved nations into the bold assertion of 
 their rights as men. 
 
 There was no more discussion of this or any other question ; with 
 many there present the influence of Spain was yet paramount, they 
 might shout " Viva la Patria," but the Patria was to them a dream, and 
 Spain was a dread reality, and treason against Spain was a fearful crime, 
 entailing fearful punishment ; they were only too glad to take any pre- 
 text for opening the doors and seeking the shelter of their own homes. 
 
 In deep chagrin Marcelino left the house in company with Don 
 Manuel Belgrano, the only one who had shown any warm sympathy 
 with his project.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 SEVERAL WAYS OF LOOKING AT ONE QUESTION. 
 
 It ',vas the evening after the one on which Don Gregorio Lopez had 
 held a secret conference with his friends as narrated in the preceding 
 chapter. Don Alfonso Miranda in a loose dressing-gown and slippers 
 sat in an easy-chair at his fireside. On the wide, open hearth logs of 
 wood burnt and crackled cheerfully, throwing out showers of S])arks 
 when tlie)' were touched. 
 
 Opposite to Don Alfonso, in another easy-chair, sat Don Carlos 
 Evaha, holding in his hand a tea-cup which had just been refilled for 
 him by the small white hands of Magdalen Miranda, who sat near to 
 him at a round table, in the centre of which hissed a huge brown urn. 
 At the far side of this table, with the urn between him and the fire, sat 
 Marcelino Ponce de Leon, holding a silver tea-pot under the spout of 
 the urn, while Magdalen with her hand on the tap let just so much 
 water run into it as she judged sufficient for one more cup of tea. 
 
 " You did not tell us anything about that, Don Marcelino," said 
 Magdalen. 
 
 " Xo," replied Marcelino, looking across the table at Don Alfonso. 
 
 " Don 'Carlos, you see, trusts us more than you do," replied the 
 young lady, with a slight toss of her head. 
 
 " It is not want of trust that kept me silent. But secrecy implies 
 danger ; to admit you to the secret admits you to the danger also." 
 
 "Among sixty! Did not you say there were sixty, Don Carlos?" 
 asked Magdalen. 
 
 " Yes ; and the secret of sixty is not much of a secret," answered 
 Evana. 
 
 " 1 do not see why it should be a secret at all," said Magdalen. 
 "The Princess Carlola could not be queen without the consent ot 
 her brother. Did you see her when you were at Rio ? " 
 
 "Yes, Gordon took me with him to a ball at the British Embassy, 
 and she was there for about half an hour." 
 
 "What is she like?" asked Magdalen, but before Marcelino could 
 answer Don Alfonso turned towards him and asked him nbruptly — 
 
 "You were at the British iMnlmssy, did you speak with Lord 
 Strangford?" 
 
 " Yes, he look me to one side and asked me a great many questions 
 about this country and about WJiitelock's affair." 
 
 " Did he mention my name to you?" 
 
 " Yes, and seemed curious to know what you were doing licre. 1 
 told him as little as 1 could of you."
 
 228 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 " Right, quite right," rcpHcd Don Alfonso, turning back again to 
 the tire. 
 
 " You have been several times in tiie city while I was away," said 
 Ma reel in o. 
 
 " I make it a custom to go every Wednesday to see Dona Josefma," 
 replied Magdalen, bending over her empty tea-cups and arranging 
 them on a small tray. 
 
 "To one person you give great pleasure by so doing," said Evana, 
 in a low ^•oice. 
 
 • " And that one is myself," said Magdalen. " When are you going 
 out again to your estancia, Don Carlos ? " 
 
 " Some time next month," replied Evana. " Are you tired of giving 
 me tea in your English fashion ? " 
 
 "Not at all, I like trying to civilize you proud Portenos, who suck 
 mate through tubes one after the other, and yet think yourselves the 
 most polished people on the face of the world." 
 
 " You go often to your estancia, Don Carlos ? " said Don Al.fonso, 
 rising from his chair. 
 
 The playful smile vanished from Magdalen's face as she heard her 
 father speak, there was something in the tone of his voice which she 
 had seldom or never heard before. As she looked up at him she saw 
 that his lips were white, and his face set as though he were a prey to 
 some unseen terror. She had risen from her seat to summon her 
 maid to remove the tray and urn, but as she looked at her father she 
 sat down again, clasping her hands together. 
 
 "Since I purchased the place I have spent nearly half my time 
 there," replied Evana. 
 
 " You do well, but you would do better to spend all your time 
 there," continued Don Alfonso. " I have heard that when you are 
 there you pay more attention to men than to beasts, and think more 
 of your horses than you do of your cattle." 
 
 • " Yet I have more cattle than either men or horses," replied Evana 
 evasively. 
 
 " Listen to me, young men, both of you," said Don Alfonso. " One 
 of you buys an estancia and gives away his cattle to any men who 
 will join a regiment with which he has nothing whatever to do ; tlie 
 other gets three months' leave of absence for a voyage of pleasure, 
 meets in Rio Janeiro a man whose hatred of Si)ain has driven him into 
 exile from his own country, and then hurriedly returns before his leave 
 has half expired. Then both of you are present at a secret meeting 
 and report that the subject discussed was a project for supplanting 
 our rightful king by his sister. At this meeting there was much talking, 
 but nothing was resolved upon, each man spoke his own thoughts. 
 Now I know that if Don Manuel Belgrano and Don Carlos Evana 
 spoke their thoughts they would say something very different from 
 this insane project of bringing a queen to reign over us." 
 
 " I assure you, Don Alfonso," said MarceHno, " that Don Manuel 
 Belgrano is much in favour of the idea." 
 
 " It may be so," replied Don Alionso ; " but when men meet in 
 secret to speak their thoughts what they speak is treason. I do not 
 ask you of what you spoke last night, 1 do not wish to know, but I
 
 THE DAWN OF FREEDOM. 229 
 
 will tell 3-ou what neither of }-ou know. When I left England ten 
 years ago I was a hale, strong man, now look at my white hair and 
 my weak, trembling hands, I am an old man before my time ; I should 
 have died, and my daughter would be an orphan, but for the kindness 
 of men who knew nothing of me save that I was in misery. Ten 
 years ago I thought myself a rich man, now I am poor, as you see. 
 All this is the result of the reckless folly of other men, for whose 
 faults I have suftered. You talk of patriotism and love for your 
 country, do you ever think of the misery your wild schemes may 
 bring upon others ? The day I landed at Carracassix men, of whom 
 four had been the friends of my youth, were put to a shameful death, 
 hung, drawn, and quartered ; when I asked why, they spoke to me of 
 my brother, and because my name was Miranda they thrust me into 
 a dungeon, loaded me with irons, and would doubtless have taken my 
 life also, but that I was rich and could bribe my gaolers. I know 
 nothing of my brother, and of your schemes I will know nothing either, 
 can you not leave me to enjoy in peace the little that is left to me ? " 
 
 As Don Alfonso spoke, jerking out his words in abrupt sentences, 
 his face became nearly livid, and his hands trembled so that he could 
 hardly grasp the arms of his chair as he sat down again. Marcelino 
 covered his face with his hands, and Evaha sat motionless biting his 
 moustache, which was a way he had when he was angry. Magdalen 
 looked from one to the other with an expression of deep pain on her 
 face ; then as her father sat down she drew out a low stool from under 
 the table, and placing it beside his chair she seated herself upon it, 
 and taking his hand in hers patted it softly, caressing him as one 
 would soothe a child when in trouble. 
 
 Then Marcelino took another chair in front of the fire, and strove 
 to change the current of their thoughts by cheerful talk, but Evaha 
 replied only in monosyllables, and Don Alfonso spoke not at all, sitting 
 there moodily in his arm-chair ga&ing at the fire. Marcelino and 
 Magdalen talked together almost in whispers, speaking to each other 
 at random on any subject which came uppermost, Magdalen still 
 holding her father's 'hand in hers. Thus half an hour passed over, 
 when Evaha rose to his feet and said — ■ 
 
 " It is late, let us go." 
 
 " Remember what I have said," said Don Alfonso, " I wish to 
 know nothing of your schemes." 
 
 Then, without looking at either of them, he waved his hand and so 
 dismissed his two guests. 
 
 Magdalen accompanied them to the i)orch, looking wistfully out 
 into the night as they put on their cloaks and liats ; as they shook 
 hands with her she whispered softly to Marcelino — 
 
 " Something has happened to annoy papa, I knew it." 
 
 Marcelino and Don Carlos had their horses tied under the trees, 
 they mounted and rode slowly away. Until they were squares from 
 the quinta neither of them spoke. Then said Don Carlos in a nuis- 
 ing tone — 
 
 " See you how two men of the same birth and blood may differ?" 
 
 " Don Alfonso is certainly a very different man from his brother 
 as you have described him to me," replied Marcelino.
 
 230 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 " Originally he was of much tlie same character," said Evana ; 
 "but the easy life he led in England has enervated out of him the 
 stern energy which distinguishes Don Francisco, and his imprison- 
 ments here and at Carracas have completely cowed what spirit he 
 had left. He is a sample of the effects of Spanish tyranny, of which 
 I have seen many ; the good in him has been crushed out of him, and 
 he has become what you have seen to-night, a drivelling coward, and 
 at the same time he is dangerous, for he is both treacherous and 
 revengeful." 
 
 " Knowing what he has suffered, I think it was imwise of you, Car- 
 los, to say anything to him of the meeting last night. You could 
 not suppose that he would take any part with us." 
 
 " I did hope that he might, his name alone would be of great 
 service to us. and I spoke with a purpose. I have received a letter 
 from the General, 1 believe he has also written to Don AlfonsOj I 
 wanted him to tell me." 
 
 " What does the General say ? " 
 
 "Very little, and in very guarded words, but I know what he 
 means. He means that the time has come, and that after our 
 triumph of last year, Mexico, Venezuela, Chili, and Peru all look 
 to us to giye the signal. Your idea of giving us a queen in the 
 Princess Carlota will not find much favour from him if he ever hears 
 of it." 
 
 " But you will not oppose it?" 
 
 " I do not think I shall have any need to, it will fall through with- 
 out my interference. Look here, my brother, between us there must 
 be no secrets." 
 
 As he spoke Evaha edged his horse nearer to Marcelino, and laid 
 one hand on his shoulder. 
 
 " You have started the idea, be content, leave Belgrano to carry it 
 out if he can. As Miranda says, the time has come ; all that I have 
 done so far is preparative, now I am going to begin my work — join 
 me." 
 
 " And your object?" 
 
 "A republic." 
 
 " We are not yet ready for complete independence." 
 
 "So long as Spaniards rule over us we shall never be more ready 
 than we are now." 
 
 " How do you propose to begin ? " 
 
 " I wish to form a small secret committee of men who are ready 
 to dare everything for the accomplishment of our one object." 
 
 " Have you spoken to any one else of it? " 
 
 " You are the first." 
 
 " Then let me be the last also, Carlos. We are so strong that we 
 have no need of any secresy, what we want is publicity to educate the 
 people into a knowledge of their own rights and of their own power. 
 To form a committee as you suggest is the first step towards a con- 
 spiracy, and will give a pretext for forcible measures of repression, 
 which can only end in civil war. Let us openly demand that half 
 the seats in the Cabildo be given to Creoles, and that Creoles be 
 henceforth eligible for any post under government."
 
 THE DAWN OF FREEDOM. 23 1 
 
 " And then we will throw open our ports to the world and invite 
 the English to come and trade with us ? " 
 
 " Just so. With our own men in every corporation all necessary 
 reforms are possible." 
 
 " And Spaniards are going to give up their monopolies and let us 
 introduce all manner of innovations, and be brothers to us so long as 
 we let their flag fly at the fort, and shout ' Viva La Reina !' or ' Viva 
 el Rey ! ' which ever it may chance to be." 
 
 " They will submit to necessity." 
 
 " When they see it they will, but until we show it them they will 
 never see it. No, my brother, we must first assert, seize by force, 
 if necessary, the power of governing ourselves, we must first appoint 
 a government of our own, then we may safely welcome all Spaniards 
 who choose to join us, and give them equal rights with ourselves. If 
 we content ourselves with asking as privileges for what are our natural 
 rights, they may yield them to us now that they have no strength to 
 struggle against us, but it will only be to take them back again so soon 
 as they find themselves strong enough to do it." 
 
 While Don Alfonso and his two visitors were speaking in their way 
 of the meeting of the previous evening, the same subject was under 
 discussion from a very different point of view in the private apartments 
 of his Excellency the Viceroy. Marshal Liniers had also two visitors 
 that evening, Don Martin Alzaga and Don Roderigo Ponce de Leon. 
 
 The precautions taken by Don Gregorio Lopez had prevented un- 
 friendly intrusion, but had by no means sufficed to keep the meeting 
 itself a secret. Don Martin Alzaga had heard of it beforehand, and 
 had warned the Viceroy, counselling him to use his authority to pre- 
 vent it ; but Marshal Liniers had refused to interfere, saying that so 
 long as the citizens obeyed him and paid the taxes they might meet 
 as they liked in their own houses. Then Don Martin had sought the 
 aid of Don Roderigo, and between them they had devised means for 
 learning something of what should take place at this meeting. Now 
 they came together to visit the Viceroy, and to lay before him the 
 result of their enquiries. 
 
 " I think it strange of you, Don Roderigo, that you should move 
 in this matter," said the Viceroy, after they had conversed with him 
 for about an hour ; " your son, your father-in-law, and some of your 
 most intimate friends are those most deeply implicated." 
 
 An angry flush spread over Don Roderigo's face as he answered — 
 
 " Nothing has yet been done. I sui)])ose men have a right to speak 
 their opinions in their own houses, but it is always well for the author- 
 ities to know what are the ideas of the people." 
 
 " When these ideas are treason they have no right to give utterance 
 to them anywhere," said Don Martin Alzaga; "and I call upon you, 
 Don Santiago, to order the immediate arrest of Don Gregorio Lopez 
 for holding a seditious conference." 
 
 " I hope you will do no such thing," said Don Roderigo. 
 
 "Why not?" said Don Martin. 
 
 " The Patricios would mutiny at once, and we should hurry on a 
 catastrophe which it will re(iuire all our care to avoid."
 
 232 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 " An example is necessary," said Don Martin. " 
 
 " By due precautions we may avoid any such necessity, at any rate 
 until w^ are strong enough to act with safety to ourselves. I have 
 enquired into the particulars of this meeting simply as a precaution. 
 In this idea of offering the sovereignty of the Viceroyalty to the 
 Princess Carlota there is no danger whiUcver." 
 
 " I think it most dangerous," said the Viceroy. 
 
 " Where there is danger is in the growing arrogance of the Creoles," 
 said Don Roderigo. "The first thing that should be done is to dis- 
 arm the militia. We need them no longer, and so long as there exist 
 in the city entire regiments of Creoles, commanded by Creoles, the 
 arrest of any popular citizen would produce an outbreak." 
 
 " Which we would put down with our troops," said Don Martin 
 Alzaga. 
 
 " And bring on the catastrophe at once. I know these men better 
 than }'0u do, Don Martin, and my knowledge tells nie that we have 
 need of the greatest caution. Miranda has his agents everywhere in 
 South America." 
 
 " Evaha ! " said the Viceroy. " He is the one man whom I con- 
 sider dangerous. You did not mention him, Don Roderigo ; was he 
 not at that meeting last night ? " 
 
 " He was," said Don Roderigo ; " but he spoke against this plan of 
 inviting the Princess Carlota." 
 
 " He wants neither princess nor queen," said Liniers ; " he wants a 
 republic." 
 
 " Arrest him, then, and let him have a republic all to himself within 
 four walls," said Don Martin. 
 
 " I would advise your Excellency to avoid all extreme measures at 
 present," said Don Roderigo. " Our power is falling away from us ; 
 instead of exciting popular opposition, I think it will be necessary to 
 make some concessions. The most enticing bait offered by Beresford 
 when he came, was freedom of commerce. Let us grant it ; our 
 treasury is nearly empty, the English merchants will fill it for us, and 
 we shall take the most convincing argument out of the mouths of the 
 demagogues of the city." 
 
 "And tlie Consulado de las Indias, you forget them, Don Roderigo?" 
 said the Viceroy. 
 
 "The idea is perfectly inadmissible," said Don Martin Alzaga. 
 " The first thing to do is to disarm the militia, then we can repress by 
 force any attempt against our authority." 
 
 " The militia have done good service, and merit every considera- 
 tion," said the Viceroy, "and they cost far less than the Spanish 
 regiments." 
 
 " Then we are to do nothing, and let these Creoles conspire against 
 us until some day they set up a government of their own," replied 
 Don Martin, rising angrily from his seat. " Let us retire, Don 
 Roderigo ; it is late, and here we do nothing." 
 
 The Viceroy rose from his chair, and bowing stiffly to both, dis- 
 missed them. 
 
 "With this man we shall never do anything," said Don Martin to 
 Don Roderigo, as they crossed the Plaza de Los Perdices together.
 
 THE DAWN OF FREEDOM. 233 
 
 "Whilst he is Viceroy the Creoles will keep their militia, and will do 
 just what they wish. I should not be surprised some day to see them 
 demand a ' Cabildo Abierto.' "' 
 
 " Yes," replied Don Roderigo ; " unless they send us another Vice- 
 roy from Spain we shall soon find ourselves unable to govern at all." 
 
 " We have turned out one Viceroy ourselves, and the result was 
 good ; we will see if we cannot do it a second time." 
 
 " Beware, Don Martin ; the Patricios had more to do with the 
 appointment of Liniers than we had." 
 
 "What matter to me the Patricios? With musketry we will teach 
 them, if they want a lesson."
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 t 
 
 HOW THE SPANIARDS ALSO PROPOSED TO THEMSELVES A QUESTION, 
 AND HOW DON CARLOS EVANA PREPARED AN ANSWER. 
 
 Winter gave place to spring, spring ripened into summer, and 
 everything in Buenos Aires seemed to go on unchanged, but in seeming 
 only. As the suns of the spring-time covered the leafless trees with 
 verdure, as the buds developed themselves into flowers, tlie flowers 
 into fruit, so the thoughts of men developed themselves nito distinct 
 ideas, and these ideas, grew and flourished till they were ready to 
 become deeds. 
 
 Don Roderigo had spoken to his son, had told him that he knew 
 of the idea he had brought back with him from Brazil, told him that 
 it was folly, and counselled him to have nothing more to do with it. 
 
 " But, father," replied Marcelino, " can you not see why the idea 
 pleased me? Do not you see that native Argentines are no longer 
 the men they were two years ago, and that Spain is no longer the same 
 Spain either? How can we accept Viceroys and laws from Spain, 
 when Spain herself has no king, and when Frenchmen rule over half 
 the country? There are men among us who speak of a republic, but 
 most of us would be content with far less, ^^'ith a queen of our own 
 from the royal family of Spain, the government would remain in the 
 hands of men such as you, who are accustomed to govern, instead of 
 falling into the hands of inexperienced men, who would bring anarchy 
 upon us. 
 
 " I will not argue the question with you, Marcelino," replied Don 
 Roderigo, " but I merely warn you that so long as an armed French- 
 man treads the soil of Spain the integrity of the dominion of Spain 
 must be the first object with every true Spaniard." 
 
 Marcelino listened to his father unconvinced, yet stirred himself no 
 further in the matter, leaving it entirely in the hands of his friend Don 
 Manuel Belgrano, who, being a man of much greater experience and 
 of higher position than himself, was more likely to be able to bring it 
 to a successful issue. But he also refused to listen to the solicitations 
 of his friend Evana ; returning to his post at the Consulado, he passed 
 his days in the sedulous discharge of his duties, and his evenings in 
 study, or in pleasant social intercourse. At least one evening every 
 week he passed at the quinta of Don Alfonso, till Magdalen learned 
 to look for his visits as one of the pleasures of her monotonous life. 
 Sometimes Evana accompanied him, but never did either of them 
 speak a word to Don Alfonso on the politics of the day. He was 
 invariably civil to them, but to him their visits gave no pleasure, and 
 they could plainly see that it was often a relief to him when they took 
 their departure.
 
 THE DAWN OF FREEDOM. 235 
 
 To Evana these visits were as a penance undertaken for the sake of 
 his friend, but of Don Alfonso's increasing taciturnity Marcelino took 
 no note, there was one there always ready to talk to him, or to listen 
 to what he said, who took a deep interest in all his studies, and whose 
 large gray e)-es lighted up her plain features into a beauty all their own 
 as he spoke to her. To him the months passed quickly, and happy 
 in the present he gave but now and then a passing thought to the 
 future. 
 
 As for Don Carlos Evaiia, his thoughts were ever in the future, but 
 his hopes, his fears, and his projects he kept all to himself, working 
 continually with one object steadily in view, the overthrow of Spanish 
 rule, but working in a way whicli appeared to none to be work. His 
 estancia he but once visited all that spring, and then his visit was a 
 short one, nearly all his time he spent in the city. Don Cornelio 
 Saavedra, Colonel of the Patricios, offered him a commission in the 
 first battalion, the command of the company formerly led by Don 
 Isidro Lorea, Avhich he declined, yet he practised fencing every day, 
 and those of his books which treated of the art of war were those 
 most frequently studied by hini. 
 
 One battalion of the Patricios was known as that of the " Pardos y 
 Morenos," being composed entirely of men of colour, liberated slaves, 
 or the descendants of freedmen. At the head-quarters of this bat- 
 talion Evaha was a frequent visitor. Don Cornelio Saavedra met him 
 there one day and asked him somewhat scornfully whether he would 
 prefer a commission in this regiment to one in the arrps d'cliie, but to 
 him E\-aha answered that d.?,yd he had no wish to enter any regiment. 
 Don Cornelio noticed the accent on the word " yet," and replied — 
 
 " It would be difficult for even a philosopher to understand you, 
 Don Carlos ; for me, I confess that I understand you not at all." 
 
 But the free negroes and mulattos understood something about Don 
 Carlos, of which Don Cornelio knew nothing, which was, that if they 
 required favour or assistance in any way, none was so ready to help 
 them as Don Carlos Evana, and that the only way in which they could 
 repay him for any such service was to repeat to him all the tittle-tattle 
 and gossip they could collect among their women-folk concerning the 
 sayings and doings of certain of the chief men of the city who were 
 Spaniards. 
 
 Don Manuel Belgrano entered eagerly into a secret correspondence 
 with certain confidential friends of the Princess Carlota ; despatched 
 missives to trusty friends of his own throughout the provinces, advo- 
 cating her claims ; and kept alive the zeal of her friends in the city by 
 frecjuent secret conferences, which were held in the guise of dinner- 
 parties, or of excursions into die country, so baulking the vigilance of 
 Don Roderigo, or of any others unfriendly to the project. So passed 
 wiih him the spring very harmlessly, but his enthusiasm greatly sub- 
 sided as he learnt that even American air could not liberalize a 
 Bourbon of the royal house of Sj^ain. 
 
 Don Martin Alzaga was looked up to by every Spaniard as the 
 champion of what all Spaniards thought their birthright, the right 10
 
 -3'5 rONCE DE LEON. 
 
 rule after their own fashion and tlieir own will all the colonies of 
 Sfiain. Don Martin knew himself also that he was their champion, 
 and thought that he possessed every qualification necessary for a 
 leader in such a cause. Tall, stern-featured, and spare of flesh, with 
 a deep, harsh voice and an authoritative manner, his outward appear- 
 ance gave the exact index to the man within. The events i)assing 
 round him taught him nothing, the belief was innate in him that 
 Spaniards were the natural rulers of America. He believed also that 
 Napoleon was invincible, and that the Bourbons would never again 
 rule in Spain. Acting upon these beliefs of his, he conceived the idea 
 of erecting a new Spain in America, of which Buenos Aires should be 
 the capital, and of which the government should be entirely in the 
 hands of Spaniards, looking to Ferdinand VII. as their king, and 
 acknowledging the authority of the Junta Central of Spain so long as 
 any such Junta should exist. 
 
 Don Martin had devoted great attention after the defeat of White- 
 lock to enrolling and equipping an artillery corps composed entirely 
 of Spaniards. AVith this new corps and the Spanish infantry regiments 
 previously existing, he considered that he might safely set the Patricios 
 at defiance. So long as Liniers remained Viceroy, native influence was 
 paramount in the State, and nothing could be done towards recovering 
 the ground already lost. He took counsel with such of the leading 
 Spaniards as were in his confidence, among whom was Don Roderigo 
 Ponce de Leon. Together they wrote to the Junta Central of Spain, 
 then established at Seville, advising the recall of Marshal Liniers. 
 
 After the despatch of this letter, Don Roderigo counselled patience, 
 stating that with the arrival of a new Viceroy would come a fair 
 opportunity for the adoption of severe measures of repression. But 
 patience was by no means any part of the character of Don Martin 
 Alzaga, he chafed at the delay, and purposed within himself to take 
 the supreme authority into his own hands, until such time as a new 
 Viceroy should make his appearance, to whom he could surrender his 
 power intact. 
 
 Colonel Don Francisco Elio, at that time Governor of Monte Video, 
 was a man of the same stamp as Don Martin Alzaga. To him Don 
 Martin imparted his plans. The first result of their understanding 
 was that on the 24th September Colonel Elio, justifying his proceed- 
 ings by the friendly reception given by the Viceroy to the envoy of 
 Napoleon, which he stigmatized as treachery to Spain, arrested the 
 unfortunate envoy, who was then in Monte Video, and openly rebelled 
 against the authority of Marshal Liniers, whom he denounced as a 
 traitor. 
 
 Marshal Liniers took no steps whatever to crush this rebellion ; the 
 Spaniards of Buenos Aires hailed the event with joy, as a presage of 
 what they would presently do themselves, and native Argentines 
 were filled with well-grounded alarm. Don Martin Alzaga exulted at 
 the success of his first step, and steadily prepared to follow it up. 
 
 Yet among the Spaniards there was one who felt alarm at this first 
 success. Don Roderigo Ponce de Leon saw that the deposition of 
 the Viceroy would be a much more difficult matter to achieve in 
 Buenos Aires than it had been in Monte Video, and that any false
 
 THE DAWN OF FREEDOM. 237 
 
 step would bring on a collision with the people in which not only the 
 power of the Viceroy but Spanish rule altogether, might be overturned. 
 And among native Argentines there was one who for precisely the 
 same reason heard of the event with exultation. Don Carlos Evaha 
 hailed with joy any event which might bring his fellow-countrymen 
 into open collision with their rulers. 
 
 October passed over and nothing was done, so also November. 
 Towards the end of November, one warm afternoon on which the sun 
 shone down upon the city from a sky of intense blue, uncheckered by 
 one white cloud, when the white-washed houses cast a glare upon the 
 streets such that it was a torment to walk abroad, when steady-going 
 citizens were just rousing themselves from their siesta in the coolest 
 recesses of their houses, one man braved both the sun and the glare, 
 left his house and walked slowly along the deserted streets till he 
 reached the house of Don Fausto Velasquez. Entering by the open 
 doorway, lie crossed the first patio, passed through the zaguan into 
 the second, and paused to clap his hands. A mulatta girl issued from 
 one of the side rooms at his summons, smiled at him as she saw him, 
 and came up to him, saying — 
 
 " At your service, Don Carlos. What may be your pleasure ? " 
 
 "The Seiiora Doiia Josefina ; will it be possible for me to speak 
 with her?" rei)lied Don Carlos Evaha, for he it was who had thus 
 come to disturb the siesta of Doha Josefina. 
 
 " Certainly it will, Don Carlos," replied the mulatta. " It is late 
 already," she added, looking up at the sun. " If you will have the 
 goodness to pass to the sala, in one moment she will be with you." 
 
 Don Carlos passed to the sala as he was requested, but the one 
 moment had spun itself out to half an hour ere the folding doors 
 opened, and Doha Josefina glided into the room. She was dressed 
 in a flowing robe of some soft, white material, loosely girded below 
 her ample bosom ; the short, loose sleeves left nearly the whole of her 
 plump white arms visible ; the upper part of her dress was surmounted 
 by a stiff sort of ruft" about three inches deep, which rose from her 
 shoulders almost to the level of her ears, and the dress itself was open 
 in front to within three inches of the girdle. Her luxuriant black 
 hair was simply plaited and wound round her head till it formed a 
 sort of coronet, gold pendants hung from her ears, and in her hand 
 she carried a large fan with which she fanned herself gently as she 
 sailed down the large room to the obscure corner in which Don 
 Carlos had esconced himself. 
 
 Don Carlos, reclining lazily in a low cliair, was so absorbed in his 
 own thoughts that her noiseless approacli over the soft cari)et was 
 unpcrceived by him till she was close to him, when he started up 
 from his seat and bowed lowly to her without speaking. Then as she 
 stretched out her hand to him he raised it to his lips, an act of 
 homage which the lady received with perfect conii)lacency, after 
 which, leading her to a sofa, he seated himself on a chair near to her, 
 saying — 
 
 " With your permission, Sehora." 
 
 " It is yours, Don Carlos," rcphcd the lady, languidly leaning one
 
 238 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 arm upon a cushion, and with her head sh'ghtly inclined to one side, 
 turning her kistrous black eyes full upon him ; then as he returned 
 her glance she smiled and added — 
 
 " Do you know, Carlos, you are a perfect heretic. I was going to 
 deny myself, but when I heard it was you I knew it was no use, and 
 now your face is as solemn as if you were going to a funeral. I sup- 
 pose you have something that you think very important to tell me." 
 
 " I have, Senora, or I should not have disturbed you at this hour." ' 
 
 " Well, I only hope it is not to recommend to me some other 
 protege, for, frankly, he fatigues me, this Asneiros of yours. If you had 
 not come I was gomg to send for you before I went, to speak to you 
 about him." 
 
 "Before you went! then )ou are going? I only heard of it this 
 morning from Marcehno, and I have come at once to ask you not 
 to go." 
 
 " It is not quite settled yet, but I promised Constanciathat I would 
 tell her certainly this evening. Constancia goes the day after to- 
 morrow and wants me to go with her. Justito has not been well 
 lately and the country air would do him good, but Fausto wants me 
 to put off my visit until the new year, why, I don't know." 
 
 " And I too want you to put off your visit." 
 
 "You ! what interest can you have in keeping me in the city?" As 
 she spoke Doha Josefina leaned her head more to one side, and 
 waving her fan gently, cast a languishing glance above it, then suffered 
 the long lashes to fall over her eyes, veiling them. 
 
 " The interest is not mine, Senora, it is for the interest of the Patria 
 that I wish you to stop." 
 
 " Every one knows that to Don Carlos the interest of the Patria is 
 above every other consideration, so I suppose I must stop and suffer 
 another month or six weeks of this heat in the city. But what can 
 a poor thing like me do for the Patria, Carlos ? " 
 
 " One thing that I cannot do, and I know that the Patria is as dear 
 to you as it is-' to me, else I had not troubled you, Senora." 
 
 " Yes, Carlos," replied Doha Joseiina, straightening herself up, 
 dropping her hands into her lap, and in a moment throwing off her 
 usual languid manner; " yes, Carlos, the Patria is dear to me as you 
 say ; though you care nothing for me, you appreciate me rightly. 
 You havei' confided to me your hopes and plans, in what I can do 
 you will find that I am as good a patriot as you are. And I know 
 that there is trouble before us ; Fausto has told me that the Spaniards 
 will not be content until they have deposed the Viceroy here as they 
 have done in Monte Video. Deposed Liniers ! do you hear me, 
 Carlos ? These Spaniards are going to turn him out and send him to 
 Spain, perhaps in chains, because he is a Frenchman ! " 
 
 " If that were all, Senora, it would be little," replied Evafia, " that 
 is nothing but the first step ; the next will be to disarm the Patricios, 
 and then but it is not necessary to inquire what more." 
 
 " Disarm the Patricios ! never ! " replied Dofia Josefina, closing 
 her fan with a click, as though she had quite made up her mind on 
 that point. " If such are their ideas we must keep our Viceroy at 
 any cost. We must prevent the first step, and all the rest is safe."
 
 THE DAWN OF FREEDOM. 239 
 
 " Exactly so, Senora. I have spoken the same thing to many, but 
 you are the first to whom I have spoken who has seen as I do rhe 
 necessity of risking everything, of daring everything, rather than permit 
 the Spaniards to annul an appointment we originally made." 
 
 A pleased smile came onto the face of the lady as Evaha spoke, 
 then looking down at her hands as she twirled her fan between her 
 fingers, she said in a' low voice — 
 
 " We are agreed then, Carlos ; tell me, what can I do ? " 
 
 " When the Cabildo publishes a decree deposing Liniers, which they 
 are sure to do before long, they will rely upon the Spanish regiments 
 to enforce it if necessary. If Liniers calls upon the native regiments 
 they will come forward to a man to support him, but they are fewer in 
 number than the Spaniards and not so well organized, the result of a 
 struggle would be doubtful." 
 
 " Not at all, Carlos ! You know not those young men how enthusi- 
 astic they are, and Liniers they will follow to the death." 
 
 " Liniers will never call upon the Patricios to support him unless he 
 feels certain of success ; he will yield without fighting. Now if we 
 can get one regiment of the Spanish troops to join us we shall then 
 have the superiority in numbers." 
 
 " And Gregorio's dragoons ? " 
 
 " Also I shall have them at hand when the day comes, and the 
 hussars of Don Martin Rodriguez, all the cavalry is ours. Have no 
 fear, Senora, with one of the Spanish regiments of infantry, our superi- 
 ority in numbers and enthusiasm will secure us the victory. In the 
 Andaluz regiment nearly all the men are native Argentines, if one 
 officer pronounce in our favour the whole regiment will turn over 
 to us." 
 
 Here Evaha paused and looked steadily at Doha Josefina. 
 
 " Asneiros ! " ejaculated that lady, with a look of annoyance, then 
 leaning back again upon her cushions she commenced fanning herself. 
 
 " Yes, Senora, Asneiros. Among all the Spaniards there is no better 
 officer than Asneiros, and you can bring him over to us when the day 
 comes. I am sorry if he has given you any annoyance, but the kind- 
 ness you have shown him for these months past will prove a great 
 service to the Patria." 
 
 " There is one can do much more with Asneiros than I can, Carlos," 
 replied Dona Josefina, looking away from him with a fresh flourish of 
 her fan. 
 
 " Impossible, Senora," replied Evaha ; " any one to whom you show 
 favour is at once your slave." 
 
 " How the men are blind," replied the lady, turning her eyes again 
 upon Evaha. " Always that Dolores comes to see me then comes 
 Asneiros, and whilst she is here he has no eyes for any one else." 
 
 " Dolores ! " exclaimed Evaha, with a sudden start. 
 
 " Dolores ! yes, Dolores, Sehor Don Carlos. Does it appear to you 
 strange that that barbarian of a Spaniard shoukl think more of Dolores 
 than of me ? " 
 
 "But Dolores! And she?" 
 
 " What matters to you Dolores? " 
 
 Then as Evaha leaned back in his chair with a frown on his face
 
 240 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 without answering, Dona Josefina bent forward and tapped liim on 
 the knee with her fan, saying — 
 
 " Ah ! Carlos ! you are a great pohtician, and very wise and very 
 secret, but we ladies have our eyes and know how to use them. You 
 are very astute, and think you can hide from us what you ho])e and 
 wisli for, but there are certain things that we know, and when the oc- 
 casion comes, we discover them. But we, we are friends, Carlos ; 
 have no fear, there is one I know, for whose little finger Dolores cares 
 more than for the whole body of that Asneiros." 
 
 Again leaning back upon her cushions, she turned her lustrous 
 black eyes upon him, gently fanning herself the while. 
 
 "All the more necessary, then, for you to remain in town," said 
 Evana, after a pause. " Doha Constancia goes to the quinta the day 
 after to-morrow, but she does not like Asneiros, she will not ask him 
 to the quinta, but if you go he will visit you there, and he will be 
 away when we want him, for we cannot tell when the cbay will 
 come." 
 
 " Look you, Carlos," said Doha Josefina, interrupting him ; " I had 
 a plan for that Asneiros which would have suited us all very well. 
 Every Wednesday I have two visitors, Dolores and Magdalen Miranda. 
 They come to see each other, and are great friends. You have met 
 them here on \Vednesdays. Who you came to see you have never 
 told me, but I am not one to whom it is necessary to tell things. I 
 asked Asneiros to come that he might meet Magdalen, but when you 
 are not there to make Dolores talk to you this gentleman can talk 
 only to her, and for the Inglesita he has not one glance. Then when 
 Marcelino can manage it, he comes always for at least one hour on 
 Wednesdays, and has neither eyes nor words for any one but for 
 Magdalen. These Wednesdays, which were to me a pleasure, are 
 now the bane of my life, everything goes contrary, and I counted 
 that by going out with Constancia I should put an end to them." 
 
 " You intended Magdalen for this Spaniard?" 
 
 " Precisely so, and she thinks nothing of him, and watches the door 
 with all her eyes till Marcelino comes. That Marcelino should amuse 
 himself with her is well enough, so long as it pass not amusement. 
 Young men are not all like you, Carlos; they must have amusement, 
 and with each new face they see they think they are in love. I wanted 
 Elisa to come also on Wednesdays, and slie came in the winter, but 
 after Marcelino came back from Brazil she comes only in the even- 
 ings. That is all through Magdalen, the insignificant little creature ; 
 I begin to lose patnence with her." 
 
 " Magdalen is a great deal too good for Asneiros," said Evaha. 
 
 " What an idea ! Even he is good enough for that snub-nosed 
 litde thing. Think you what is her father? A miserable, without 
 soul. And what has he ? Just enough to live on. Not even pre- 
 sental)le would Magdalen be but that we had befriended her." 
 
 " Possibly not, Sehora ; you have been very kind to her. But do 
 not afflict yourself, let aftairs arrange themselves. For Dolores there 
 is not the slightest fear. She is kind to Asneiros, for he rings praises 
 of Marcelino in her ear, and that is always music to Dolores ; but 
 more there is nothing."
 
 THE DAWN OF FREEDOM. 24I 
 
 " Ah 1 Carlos ! with what confidence you speak," said Dona Jose- 
 fina, with a toss of her head, and smihng. 
 
 " Let us leave that, Senora. What matters to us at present is that 
 you keep, and increase if you can, your influence over Asneiros. 
 How to do it you know much better than I can tell you." 
 
 " Do you want me to make love to him on my own account ? " 
 asked the lady, with a supplicating glance. 
 
 "Far be it from me to indicate the 'how.' One thing only I ask 
 of you to promise me, which is that you do not leave the city at pre- 
 sent." 
 
 " And when then will your lordship give me permission to go ? " 
 
 " When we have tried our strength with the Spaniards, and have 
 beaten them." 
 
 " Let it be so. I give you my promise." 
 
 " And the Patria will some day thank you, and know you as one of 
 her most faithful children," replied Evana, rising from his chair. 
 
 " Sit down, Carlos ; do not go yet. Have you nothing more to say 
 to me ? " 
 
 " The object of my visit is accomplished." 
 
 "And already you go? Sit down again, Carlos. The Patria is 
 your first love, and we are going to do what we can for her ; but after 
 her there is another love, come and talk to me of that." 
 
 " I have but one love, Senora," replied Evaha, standing before her, 
 and twirling his hat round with his long, white fingers. 
 
 " Sit down, Carlos, and I will talk to you of Dolores," said Dona 
 Josefina, with a full glance of her speaking eyes, before which his 
 stern eyes sank abaslied. 
 
 " Not now, Senora," replied Don Carlos, in a voice in which there 
 was so clear an accent of pain that Dona Josefina, after looking at 
 him for a moment in perplexity, insisted no longer upon his remaining, 
 but rose herself from the sofa, and walked with him to the large 
 folding-door which gave exit to the patio. 
 
 " Lose all fear, Carlos," said she to him, as he stepped out into the 
 sunshine ; " between the two of us we will arrange this barbarian of 
 a Si)aniard, and turn him into a patriot." 
 
 " That I fear we can never do," replied Evaiia ; " but if he serve 
 us as we wish him the rest is no matter." 
 
 " If he serve us well we will give him the Inglesita as his reward," 
 said Dona Josefina; then adding, with a laugh, "and a well-matched 
 couple they will be." 
 
 To this Evana made no answer, but with a low bow took his de- 
 piarturc. 
 
 R
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 HOW THE VICEROY TOOK COUNCIL WITH DON 
 
 RODERIGO. 
 
 Weeks passed till it was the third week in December. One evening 
 in that week Don Carlos Evaha mounted his horse and galloped out 
 to the Quinta de Ponce. The next morning at dawn he was again in 
 the saddle, galloping over the level plains southwards to the estancia of 
 Don Francisco Viana, where he purposed passing the noon-tide heat, 
 and thereafter in the cool of the evening pursuing his way without 
 halting till he should reach his own estancia. 
 
 While Don Carlos Evaha so rested at mid-day, Don Roderigo Ponce 
 de Leon sat conversing with the Viceroy in his private room at the 
 fort. Marshal Liniers had sent for him, telling liim that there was 
 matter of great moment on which he wished to consult him. Don 
 Roderigo sat with an open letter in his hand, which he had just been 
 reading; his face was very thoughtful, he seemed to be anxiously 
 debating within himself how he should answer the Viceroy, who was 
 speaking rapidly, and whose face showed evident marks of excitement 
 and something of indignation. 
 
 "Do you know who he is, this Don Saturnino Rodriguez Peha?" 
 asked the Viceroy. 
 
 " Perfectly. He is a brother of Don Nicolas," replied Don Rode- 
 rigo. " He is the man who put that folly into the head of my son, of 
 which I told you some months ago." 
 
 " But you have since told me that it remained there, and that 
 nothing was done ? " 
 
 " And so far as my son is concerned I know that nothing has been 
 done." 
 
 " But she speaks most plainly of a conspiracy against me ? I shall 
 write to the Prince-regent and demand the arrest of this Don 
 Saturnino." 
 
 " If there be any such conspiracy, the publication of tliis letter, 
 written to you by the Princess herself, would at once put an end to it." 
 
 " The Princess Carlota warns me of a conspiracy, so there must be 
 something." 
 
 " It may be ; I too have heard rumours, but take little note of 
 them. Your appointment as Viceroy can only be legally annulled by 
 the Junta of Seville, and, failing that, your great popularity secures 
 your authority." 
 
 " My popularity while it exists ; but if the people themselves
 
 THE DA\YN OF FREEDOM. 243 
 
 pronounce against me ? Think you that I will uphold my authority by 
 force against the will of the people ? " 
 
 " Your popularity would vanish at once were you to do so." 
 
 " If because I was born in France the people trust me no longer, 
 let them say so." 
 
 " Then if the people speak clearly their distrust of you, you will 
 resign ? " 
 
 To this Liniers did not answer, passing his hand across his forehead, 
 leaning back in his chair with an air of great discontent, and Don 
 Roderigo continued — 
 
 " Permit me to tell you, Don Santiago, that if you yield at once to a 
 popular cry you sap the basis of all authority. If the people, applying 
 through the corporations of the city, should request you to resign, I 
 think you may take the matter into serious consideration, but not 
 sooner." 
 
 " There is some secret conspiracy going forward ; am I to take no 
 steps to prevent it ripening into a rebellion? " 
 
 " Wait till we have more certain information, the Cabildo will 
 advise you at once if there be danger of any attempt against your 
 authority." 
 
 '• How can I tell that the Cabildo itself is not in the conspiracy?" 
 replied the Viceroy, looking sternly at Don Roderigo ; " all are 
 Spaniards. Elio and those who su])port him in Monte Video are all 
 Spaniards. I distrust the Cabildo more tlian I do the people." 
 
 " You may have your reasons of which I know nothing," said Don 
 Roderigo ; " but the Cabildo would never venture upon any steps 
 against you unless they were perfectly secure of the general acquies- 
 cence of the city." 
 
 "Then you acknowledge that you Spaniards would depose me if 
 you were able to do so ? " 
 
 " In the present state of affairs in the mother-country it is natural 
 that a Frenchman be looked upon with jealousy, not only by Spaniards 
 but by the Creoles also. The people murmured greatly at the friendly 
 reception you gave to the envoy sent by Napoleon last August." 
 
 " But the people at any rate were satisfied when I ordered the 
 proclamation of Ferdinand VII. ? " 
 
 " It was on that very day that some of them discussed together the 
 propriety of setting him aside in favour of his sister the Princess 
 Carlota." 
 
 " True. I did badly in passing over that affair without notice. In 
 that affair the first to move was your son, and because he was your son 
 I consented to pass it over. See now your gratitude ; without doubt, 
 if there be a conspiracy he and iiis friend Don Carlos Evana are 
 the prime movers in it, and depend upon your concurrence and that 
 of all tile Spaniards." 
 
 " If there be any conspiracy I feel quite sure that neither my son 
 nor Don Carlos Evaha have any part in it." 
 
 " I have heard Don Carlos speak freely his ideas years ago, and I 
 have not forgotten it ; I tell you that this Evaha is by nature a con- 
 spirator, and where he goes there goes Don Marcelino also." 
 
 " In this you are mistaken, I can assure you," replied Dun Roderigo
 
 244 PONCE DE LEON 
 
 •warmly. " Don Carlos left the city yesterday for his estancia, saying 
 that it was uncertain when he would return, and Marcelino thinks of 
 nothing but of his duties at the Consulado." 
 
 " But he has his ideas, which require checking. If it were not that 
 he is your son I should arrest him and search his pajjcrs to discover 
 ■what correspondence he has carried on with this Don Saturnino 
 Rodriguez Peha, who has certainly, as you will have seen by that 
 letter, some regular corresi)ondents in this city." 
 
 Don Roderigo rose from his chair and walked several times thought- 
 fully up and dow-n the room, then re-seating himself, he said — - 
 
 " Do not let any regard for me keep you from any step which may 
 be necessary for the vindication of your authority. 1 have months 
 since spoken to my son, and I know that he has done nothing in this 
 matter of the Princess Carlota since he first mooted it. Still his arrest 
 may serve him as a warning not to meddle in affairs beyond his 
 proper sphere." 
 
 " Thanks, Don Roderigo," replied the Viceroy widi effusion. 
 " This is a great sacrifice you make to me. I shall order his arrest 
 at once, but to show you that I am actuated by no unfriendly feeling 
 towards yourself I will entrust the examination of his papers to you 
 together with my private secretary." 
 
 " That I must beg to decline. I can leave the examination of his 
 papers with entire confidence to any one whom you may appoint." 
 So saying Don Roderigo took up his hat from a chair near him and 
 rose to go, then adding, " In anything that I can serve you always 
 count upon me, Don Santiago," he went his way. 
 
 As Don Roderigo sat alone in his own room that evening, the door 
 opened, and in walked Don Martin Alzaga. 
 
 "Now what do you say about our Viceroy, this Liniers?" said he. 
 
 "What has he done now?" asked Don Roderigo. 
 
 " Do not you know ? He has arrested Don Marcelino and seized 
 his papers." 
 
 " I knew it," said Don Roderigo quite calmly. 
 
 "You know it, and you sit there as if it were a matter of no import- 
 ance ! The news has spread through the city and has caused general 
 indignation." 
 
 "So much the better, that was just what I wanted." 
 
 " The better ! I'hen you are agreeable that this Frenchman shall 
 do what he likes in our city, and put any one in prison as he chooses 
 without consulting us ? " 
 
 " He consulted me about it this morning, and I see that he has 
 done perfectly well fo7' us. To Marcelino a few days' imprisonment 
 will do no harm. Marcelino is young, and has his ideas ; in case of 
 any important event happening within the next few days he might be 
 tempted to some course which would prejudice his future." 
 
 "I begin to understand you," said Don Martin thoughtfully. 
 " Marcelino is very partial to the Viceroy, and some event may occur 
 within a l<t\v days with which it is well for him that he should have 
 nothing to do. You have asked the Viceroy to arrest him, what 
 was your pretext ? "
 
 THE DAWN OF FREEDOM. 245 
 
 " You mistake ; the idea came from tlie Viceroy himself. He has 
 some erroneous ideas in his head, and has acted upon them. If we 
 make good use of this event it may jDroduce some popular demonstra- 
 tion. Liniers values more than anything else his popularity, if we can 
 persuade the people to cry out against him he will resign, and there 
 will be no necessity for any Pronunciamiento." 
 
 " I see you always wish to go your own way about it. You want to 
 turn the militia agauist him. We]!, do what you can, but in this I 
 cannot help you ; more dangerous than Liniers to us, is the pride of 
 these Patricios." 
 
 " All that we have to do is to persuade the militia to keep quiet. 
 Until the new Viceroy arrive I warn you, Don Martin, that any 
 attempt at coercion will bring on a struggle with them which we must 
 avoid at any cost." 
 
 " You always fear those Patricios," said Don Martin impatiently. 
 " I came to speak to you about your son, but as you do not object to 
 his imprisonment I see that it is a false step of this liniers of which 
 it is for us to take due advantage." 
 
 Later on that same evening, at the house of Don Fausto Velasquez, 
 Don Roderigo complained bitterly of the insult he had received in 
 the unwarrantable imprisonment of his eldest son. 
 
 Don Carlos Evaha did not make a long stay at his estancia this 
 time, on the fifth evening from the day he left the city he was again 
 at the Quinta de Ponce. Short as had been his absence, he had 
 managed to spend one day at Las Barrancas with Colonel Lopez, 
 and the very day that he left him, the Colonel sent out messengers 
 right and left summoning his men to meet at the Barrancas on the 
 25th December for a fortnight's drill. 
 
 On the eventide of this day on which Don Carlos again visited the 
 Quinta de Ponce, Dolores was seated under the front veranda of the 
 house, holding on her knee a stout little boy, her cousin Justiniano 
 Velasquez, who had been entrusted to her care by his mother until 
 such time as she should leave the city and resume care of him herself 
 Dolores was very fond of her cousin, and was pleased to have the 
 care of him. Her affection was fully reciprocated by the little fellow, 
 who teased her and coaxed her to let him have his own wilful way in 
 everything, was an all day long trouble to her, and rewarded her by 
 an unlimited amount of caresses, and by screaming with all his might 
 if he lost sight of her for an instant when he was awake. She called 
 him the plague of her life, and was never so happy as when she was 
 ministering to his manifold wants. 
 
 On this evening Dolores was somewhat pale and less cheerful than 
 was her wont, yet as Don Carlos stepped into the veranda to salute 
 her he thought he had never before seen her looking so beautiful. 
 There was a pen.sive thoughtfulness on her face not often seen there, 
 which added an indescribable chnrm to the smile of welcome she 
 bestowed upon him. 
 
 "How so(jn you are back," she said; "as you said your stay at 
 your estancia was uncertain we did not expect vou for a month."
 
 246 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 " What has happened to you ? You look triste, does that little 
 rogue plague you ? " 
 
 " Ah ! Don Carlos, you do not know," replied Dolores, bending 
 over the boy, and with difficulty keeping back her tears ; " Marcelino 
 is in prison, three days ago he was arrested by an order from the 
 Viceroy and is in ])rison." 
 
 " Marcelino in prison ! " exclaimed Evana. " On what charge ? 
 what has he done ? " 
 
 " Nothing. We know nothing of why he is in prison. Papa was 
 here yesterday, you may imagine how angry he was, and he says all 
 the city is indignant about it. But why he is put in prison no one 
 knows. They went to our house and searched his room, and took 
 away all his papers. Poor mamma, she wanted to go back to the 
 city to see him, but papa would not let us go, and there he is with 
 no one to speak to him, and he will think we care nothing about it." 
 
 " No, that he will not think, he knows you better." 
 
 " What a pity that you were away. Papa says that if you had been 
 there you would have stirred up some demonstrations, and the Vice- 
 roy would have been forced to set him at liberty." 
 
 " Where is he imprisoned ? " 
 
 " At the Cabildo. He is not in a dungeon ; papa says he is only 
 under arrest, but no one is allowed to speak to him. One has 
 been very active and offered to papa to break into the Cabildo and 
 rescue him by force — Captain Asneiros ; his Andaluces would follow 
 him anywhere, and there are some of Marcelino's Morenos in one 
 battalion of the Patricios, who, he says, would dare anything for their 
 old chief. But pajoa would not let him ; he says that the indignation 
 of the whole city will force Marshal Liniers to set him free. Ah ! if 
 you were only theie, Don Carlos, you would do more than Captain 
 Asneiros, and even than papa, for Don Cornelio Saavedra and the 
 Patricios would all listen to you, and without them the Viceroy is 
 nothing, papa told me so." 
 
 " Asneiros ! " said Evana to himself, rising from his seat and walk- 
 ing up and down the veranda, " Asneiros ! I begin to unilerstand. 
 This is a trap, and if we are careless we will run our necks into the 
 noose." 
 
 Then again he paused in front of Dolores and asked her — 
 
 " But nothmg lias been done, he remains in prison, and no one 
 has spoken to him, not even Don Roderigo ? " 
 
 " No one. Not even papa is allowed to speak to him, and nothing 
 has been done, but to-morrow you will be there, and somethmg will 
 be done," said Dolores, looking up at Evana with a flush on her 
 cheek, and a trustful look in her gray eyes. 
 
 "Not tomorrow, but to-night I will go in, but I do not tell 
 you that I will do anything to set Marcelino at liberty. Believe me, 
 it may be best for him to remain where he is just at present, but not 
 for long, not for long. This affair will not have the end which they 
 think it will." 
 
 " Don Carlos ! " exclaimed Dolores ; " best for him to remain in 
 prison ! What has he done, Don Carlos? You know something." 
 
 " He has done nothing to deserve imprisonment, yet for other
 
 THE DAWN OF FREEDOM. 247 
 
 reasons it may be best for him to remain where he is for a few da3-s. 
 He is innocent and therefore he is in no danger." 
 
 "Innocent ! of course he is, and yet you would let them treat him 
 as a criminal, and will do nothing to help him. Are you not my 
 friend, Don Carlos ? Are you not his brother ? " 
 
 " I am your friend, he is my brother. Trust me, he shall not re- 
 main in prison longer than is necessary." 
 
 Up to this time little Justiniano had sat quietly on Dolores' knee 
 listening to their talk, but at the word friend he started up, saying — 
 
 " You are Lola's friend ? I have no brother, but I have a friend 
 too. Tell me, Lola, again, where is my friend ? Talk to me about 
 my friend the Englishman." 
 
 A deep flush spread over Dolores' face as she clasped the boy in 
 her arms kissing him. 
 
 " He is away over the sea, Justito, fighting the French for England 
 and for Spain," she said. 
 
 " He is a soldier," said Justito. " When I am big I will be a sol- 
 dier, and will go and fight the French for him, so that he may come 
 back. He said he would come back, didn't he. Lola ? " 
 
 " Yes, dear ; and some day he will come," said Dolores, again kiss- 
 ing the boy and bending over him so as to hide her face from Evaha. 
 
 " Then you must not be triste, Lola ; it makes me feel bad to see you 
 triste, Lola ; yesterday you were crying, and it made Justito sad to 
 see you," said the boy, patting her cheeks with his two little hands. 
 " Some day when I am big, then I will go and bring back my friend 
 from away over the sea. Is it far to go, Lola ? " 
 
 " Yes, dear, hundreds and hundreds of leagues, and all water, with 
 the waves going up and down and tossing the ships about." 
 
 " AVhy did he go so far, Lola ? " 
 
 "He had to go where the King of England sent him, for he is a 
 soldier." 
 
 " Poor Lola," said the boy, again patting her cheeks, " again you 
 are crying, Lola ; who makes you triste, Lola ? " 
 
 " A wicked man who has put IVIarcelino in prison. You love 
 Marcelino, don't you, Justito ? " 
 
 " Yes, oh so much ! When is he coming again, Lola ? Days that 
 he has not been here." 
 
 But Dolores could prattle to the boy no more, her sobs choked her 
 speech, and he threw his arms round her neck, kissing her and look- 
 ing angrily back at Don Carlos, as if he thought he was the cause of 
 all her sorrow. 
 
 " Come to me, Justito, and I will tell you about Marcelino, and 
 about your friend," said Don Carlos, bending with one knee to the 
 pavement and holding out his arms to the boy. 
 
 " No, no, go away," said Justito. "Are you the wicked man who 
 has made Lola cry ? " 
 
 " No, no, Justito, Don Carlos is not wicked ; he is going to take 
 Marcelino out of the prison, and then Lola won't cry any more," said 
 Dolores. 
 
 Then Justito jumped from Dolores' arms and ran to Don Carlos 
 Evana.
 
 248 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 " You will go, won't you, and bring Marcelino back with you, it 
 makes Justito bad to see Lola cry?" said he. 
 
 " 1 will go, and will not come here again till I bring Marcelino 
 with me," said Don Carlos, raising the boy up in his arms and kiss- 
 ing him. 
 
 Dolores rose from her seat with a smile on her face as Evaha spoke. 
 
 " Always my friend and his brother," said she, then taking the boy 
 from him she led him away with her into the house. 
 
 Don Carlos Evaha only remained long enough at the quinta to 
 speak a few words to Doha Constancia, and to learn from her all she 
 knew concerning the imprisonment of his friend Marcelino. Then, 
 declining her urgent invitation to pass the night at the quinta, he re- 
 mounted his horse and galloped away through the darkness for the 
 city.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE EVE OF A GREAT EVENT, 
 
 It was nine o'clock Avhen Don Carlos Evana reached the city. 
 Without stopping either to change his dress or to take food, he had 
 no sooner dismounted than he went straight to the house of Don 
 Gregorio Lopez. In the first patio he met Valentin. 
 
 " Don Carlos ! Back already, I am so glad," said Valentin. " You 
 know what has happened ? " 
 
 " Marcelino has been imprisoned, that I know. Is there any- 
 thing else ? " 
 
 " That is enough, I think," replied Valentin. " He has been three 
 days in prison, and nothing has been done. It is scandalous, but we 
 will soon do something. There are some men here this evening in 
 consultation with my father, pass forward, you will find them in the 
 dining-room." 
 
 "Then nothing has been done? " 
 
 " Nothing." 
 
 " I am glad of it. There is more in this than you know of, my 
 young friend, be content yet for a few days to do nothing." 
 
 So saying, Evana passed on to the dining-room, where he found 
 Don Gregorio Lopez in consultation with Don Fausto Velasquez, Don 
 Cornelio Saavedra, Don Manuel Belgrano, and four others. Evana 
 joined them, and for an hour they remained talking earnestly together, 
 then, as some of them rose to go, Don Manuel Belgrano said — • 
 
 " Yet after all I do not like the idea of leaving my young friend in 
 prison, when, if that be the crime charged against him, I am the real 
 culprit." 
 
 " For many reasons I agree with Don Carlos," said Don Gregorio, 
 "that it is the wisest course." 
 
 " Above all things it is necessary that they take the initiative," said 
 Don Cornelio Saavedra. "The Sehor Don Santiago Liniers is a man 
 of no decision, and in order that he put full confidence in us we must 
 show our acquiescence in any measure that he may thmk fit to adopt." 
 
 " We all know well what Liniers is," said Don Gregorio. " If we 
 arouse in any way his suspicions, Don Martin and the bishop, be- 
 tween them, will persuade him to resign." 
 
 " If he resign we shall have in his place a Junta of Spaniards, and 
 we all know what that means," said Iwaha. 
 
 " I for my part assure you that we will have no Junta," said Don 
 Cornelio. " Do you know, Sehor Evana, that if you had not foi'lun- 
 ately returned so soon from your cstancia I think we should luive
 
 2 50 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 made some false step. Don Roderigo has infected us all with his own 
 indignation ; we must not forget tliat Don Roderigo is a Spaniard, and 
 in these days it is not well to take everything that a Spaniard says, 
 quite for what the words mean." 
 
 " Then let it be so," said Belgrano. " If Don Roderigo does not 
 release him without our help he must yet remain some days in prison. 
 Afterwards we will explain everything to him." 
 
 " I am sorry for him," said Don Fausto. " To pass these hot 
 summer days shut up in a small room would kill me very soon, but 
 when Don Gregorio and Don Carlos Evaha both say it is for the best, 
 I say no more." 
 
 " One word more, Don Cornelio," said Evaha. " Elave you not 
 yet any idea when the Pronunciamiento is likely to take place ? " 
 
 " It may take place any day," replied Don Cornelio. " But if 
 nothing occurs to hurry it on, I expect we shall see something on the 
 occasion of the municipal elections on the ist January." 
 
 "The ist January leaves not many days to wait now, and we are 
 ready. In future years we shall look back upon that day as a great 
 epoch in the history of the Argentine people. Upon you, Don Cornelio, 
 depends the present welfare and the future greatness of a young nation ; 
 to you our country entrusts her destinies in the most critical moment 
 of her existence." So saying, and looking fixedly upon Don Cornelio 
 Saavedra, Evaha bowed to him with great solemnity and retired. 
 
 " The ideas of the Senor Evaha," said Don Fausto Velasquez, 
 laughing. " When shall we see the end of them ? " 
 
 " In this the Sehor Evaha is not mistaken," said Don Gregorio 
 Lopez. " May God help you, Don Cornelio, and remember that 
 where you go you have an entire people behind you, who have placed 
 their destinies in your hands." 
 
 Three days after this, as Captain Asneiros returned to his quarters 
 after an early drill and inspection, he found a young slave waiting for 
 him with a message from Dona Josefina Viana, who requested him to 
 call upon her that evening without fail. The swarthy face of the 
 Spaniard brightened with pleasure as he listened to the words of the 
 little negro, but — 
 
 " It is well, you can go," was all his answer. 
 
 In the evening twilight Doha Josefina, dressed in a graceful 
 ne2:lia;e'e fashion well suited to the season, sat in a low chair beside 
 one of the windows of her sala, which was thrown wide open, gazmg 
 out into the street. Young men as they passed doffed their hats, 
 bowing lowly, and many of them paused, hoping that the graceful 
 head which answered their salute with a gentle inclination might bend 
 yet further forward and speak, and so give them an excuse for loitering 
 there leaning against the iron bars, and talking for a few minutes. If 
 any such favour had been granted to any of them they would have 
 strutted off after exchanging a few conventional phrases, with the 
 feeling that a great honour had been bestowed upon them, of which 
 they miglit speak with great access of personal dignity in whatever 
 social circle they might spend the rest of the evening. Men of 
 mature years who passed that window were even more eager and
 
 THE DAWN OF FREEDOM. 25 I 
 
 obsequious than the young men in their manner of salutation, but 
 after one glance at the figure reclining there behind the iron reja, 
 enveloped in clouds of gauzy muslin, half shaded from view by the 
 light curtains which draped the window, they passed on without any 
 pause, perchance muttering to themselves — 
 
 " She awaits some one, our queen of the saloons, who may that 
 fortunate be ? " 
 
 To the salutations of both young and old Doha Josefina had but 
 one stereotyped answer, a slight lowering of her fan, and a still 
 slighter inclination of the head, with half-closed eyes. Thus she sat 
 for about half an hour, when a man of medium stature, slightly built, 
 but with square shoulders and very erect bearing, paused before the 
 window. He was dressed in a coat of dark crimson velvet, em- 
 broidered with gold lace ; his waistcoat, also richly embroidered, came 
 well down over his thighs ; his small-clothes were of black satin, and 
 he wore black silk stockings and jewelled buckles in his shoes. The 
 frill of his shirt-front and the ruffles at his wrists were of the finest 
 lace. His hair was gathered together behind, tied with a ribbon, and 
 powdered. In one hand he carried a thick golden-headed cane, and 
 in the other his three-cornered hat, which he had removed as he 
 performed an elaborate salute before the window. By his dress he 
 was a dandy of the first water, but of rather an antiquated fashion, 
 but his face and carriage were those of a stern soldier. 
 
 The large black eyes of Doha Josefina dilated with surprise and 
 with something of amusement, as she looked at this finely-dressed 
 gentleman who had paused before her window ; for a moment she held 
 her fan before her face to conceal the smile which played upon her 
 lips, then bending forward she returned his salutation with great 
 affability and said — 
 
 "Come in, Don Ciriaco, the hours that I have been watching for you." 
 
 " Then with your permission, Sehora,"' replied Asneiros with 
 another bow as he moved away towards the door of the house. 
 
 Springing lightly to her feet, Doha Josefina drew forward an easy- 
 chair and placed it at the other side of the window opposite to her, 
 in such a position that such daylight as yet remained should fall full 
 upon the face of any one seated in it, and that he should be plainly 
 visible to any one passing in the street, then she pushed her own 
 chair further back so that her face should be quite shaded by the 
 window-curtain, and a portion of her dress only should be visible to 
 any one who might glance in at the window. Hardly had she 
 reseated herself ere Asneiros entered the sala. Somewhat awkwardly 
 he took her hand in his as she held it out to him in welcome ; for a 
 moment she feared he was going to raise it to his lips, however, he 
 refrained, and seated himself in the easy-chair she had placed ready 
 for him. 
 
 "How is this, Senor Capitan?" said the lady. "In moments .so 
 critical as the present can the Viceroy spare even for one day the 
 services of one of his most trusted officers ? " 
 
 " You advert to my gallop out to the Quinta de Ponce yesterday, 
 Sehora ? " replied Asneiros. " Have then my movements so much 
 interest for you ? "
 
 253 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 "You saw then my little Justiniano?" replied Dona Josefina, 
 performing; meantime some elaborate movements with her fon. 
 
 " Yes, Sehora, I saw him, and he sends to you many expressions of 
 his love. Better he could not be." 
 
 " Cruel ! And you could remain a whole night in the city and yet 
 not come to tell me of him ! " 
 
 "It was late, Sehora, when I returned, but even without your 
 message I should have been bold enough to have presented myself 
 to you this evening." 
 
 "And my good Constancia and Dolores?" 
 
 " Well, Sehora, but sad, as you may believe, whilst the son and the 
 brother suffers unmerited imprisonment." 
 
 " You went to speak to them of him, and to tell them what you 
 are doing for him ? " 
 
 " To speak to them of him, yes, Sehora, without that I would never 
 have had the temerity to present myself there. But yesterday Dona 
 Constancia was all that the amiable can be, and the beautiful Sehorita 
 was if possible more of an angel than ever. Sehora, yesterday I felt 
 myself in Paradise, for the first time in my life I found myself 
 admitted to the confidence of two angelic creatures, who wept as they 
 spoke to me of their sorrow, and who looked to me with confidence 
 and with smiles when I assured them that my own life should pay 
 the forfeit for his liberty, if it were not otherwise to be achieved." 
 
 " And are they the only women who have ever treated you with 
 confidence ? " 
 
 " Ah ! forgive me, Sehora, but when I think of them and their 
 sorrow I can think of nothing else. And it was sorrow to me that I 
 could not tell them that I had done anything for him, I could only 
 tell them what I wished to do." 
 
 " What did you wish to do ? " 
 
 " Sehora, you are cruel to me ! Did not I offer to break into 
 the prison at night with my own men and set him free, at any risk to 
 myself?" 
 
 " You did, and I told you to do nothing till I had enquired further 
 into the matter. You have done well to listen to me, for there is 
 more in this imprisonment of Marcelino than I well understand even 
 yet. Any ill-considered violence might have resulted in great disaster 
 to us all, which Marcelino himself would have been the first to 
 deplore. Now I have sent for you to know if you are yet ready to 
 risk everything for your old chief?" 
 
 " Sehora, you give me back my life, for I can obey you no longer 
 if you tell me yet to do nothing. When I saw that angelical creature 
 in tears for the sake of her brother, I could restrain myself no longer. 
 I laid my hand on my heart, and swore to her that I would never see 
 her more till her brother was free. Sehora, I have listened to you and 
 to Don Roderigo, and as yet have done nothing, but now I must do 
 something. I have begun to-day. I have spoken to several of my 
 m.en, all of whom will follow me. This night, if you wish it, I will 
 seize the Cabildo, but I had planned to leave it for one day longer, 
 as I have not yet spoken to any of my brother ofiicers, and if they 
 do not join me I must secure them."
 
 THE DAWN OF FREEDOM. 253 
 
 As Asneiros spoke of Dolores, Doiia Josefina leaned back in her 
 chair, pressing her fan to her forehead, and so completely hiding her 
 fiice. When he paused she still kept her face concealed, and did not 
 answer. There was silence between them for a minute, then Asneiros 
 resumed — 
 
 " You do not like to speak, Seiiora ; there is no necessity that you 
 should. It is not needful that you should know anything further of 
 my plan. If possible I shall achieve the rescue without bloodshed. 
 There is great excitement among the troops. I do not know if you 
 are aware of it, but if I shout ' Down with the Viceroy ' there is no 
 Spaniard will raise his musket against me.' 
 
 Then Doha Josefina renewed her manoeuvres with her fan, opening 
 it and fanning herself gently, then shutting it again with a click. A 
 girl entered the ante-sala with a lighted lamp, which she placed upon 
 a small table in a corner, and then retired. Doha Josefina looked 
 round at her as she moved about. Then, as she closed the door be- 
 hind her, slie again leaned back in her chair, gave two or three 
 flourishes with her fan, and with a low sigh said — 
 
 " You think very much of my little niece, Sehor Capitan ? " 
 
 " How is it possible for any one to know a creature so amiable and 
 not think much of her?" replied Asneiros. 
 
 " Then because she, an ignorant little girl, asks you to do some- 
 thing for her you will do it, even though I request you not ? " 
 
 " Seiiora, what is this that you say to me ? She has not asked me 
 to do anything, but she weeps for her brother who is in prison, and I 
 have sworn that I will rescue him. You have asked me if I am ready, 
 do you yet want me to delay ? " 
 
 " I want you to be ready, but to do nothing till I give you the 
 signal. Now listen. You say they have placed confidence in you by 
 telling you of their sorrows, I am going to put more confidence yet^ 
 in you, for I am going to tell you my reasons, of which they know 
 nothing. You think that it is the Viceroy who has put Marcelino 
 into prison, and you are ready to shout ' Down with the Niceroy ! ' " 
 
 "And so is every Spaniard." 
 
 " And yet you know that the Viceroy and Marcelino have always 
 been the best of friends. There is a conspiracy on foot. There are 
 men here who dream of a republic. They have tried to implicate 
 iMarcelino, and make him one of their leaders. He is rash and hot- 
 headed, as you know. The Viceroy has put him in prison until the 
 danger has passed over, then he will let him go, and the real culprits 
 will take his place. In this Marshal Liniers has shown himself a true 
 friend to Marcelino." 
 
 " I know that there is some conspiracy, but I understood that we 
 were to put down this Frenchman and name a Junta, as has been 
 done in Monte Video." 
 
 " Tliat they say to deceive you. While the troo])s remain faithful 
 to the Viceroy these rebels can do nothing. The first step is to e.xcite 
 the troops to mutiny against the Viceroy. If they are successful all 
 is lost, and we shall have a government of the Lord knows who." 
 
 "And Don Marcelino knows of this?" 
 
 " He does. Dun Ruderigo pretends to be angry at his arrest, but
 
 254 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 he is well content that he sliould be out of this conspiracy. Who has 
 more intluence with Marshal Liniers than Don Rodcrigo ? One word 
 from him and Liniers would set Marcelino at liberty, for as yet he has 
 taken no part in the conspiracy, and is quite innocent. The Viceroy 
 ex])ected to find some clue to the conspiracy among his papers, but I 
 believe nothing has been found, and he would Ix' set free to-morrow 
 if Don Roderigo wished it. Now what I want you to do is to take 
 care that these revolutionists do not tamper with your men, and wlicn 
 the Viceroy calls upon you, join him at once with all your battalion, 
 then you can demand the liberty of my nephew, and all of us will 
 thank you for the great service you have done." 
 
 " But, Sehora, it may be days yet before they attempt this re- 
 bellion. What will the Sehorita Dolores say if all these days I do 
 nothing?" 
 
 " Dolores herself shall diank you ; I will tell her what you have 
 
 done for her sake." 
 
 " Why does not the Viceroy arrest the conspirators if he knows of 
 the conspiracy ? " 
 
 " As yet he knows but little. He wants to make sure of the leaders 
 before he arrests any of them." 
 
 " I could put my hand upon one of them to-day," said Asneiros 
 fiercely ; " and here he comes," he added, in a low tone, as Don 
 Carlos Evana entered the sala. 
 
 Behind Evaha came Don Fausto Velasquez, who saluted the infantry 
 captain with great cordiality, but Evaha, merely bestowing upon him 
 a nod of recognition, seated himself beside Doha Josefina. Soon 
 after, others dropped in. Among them came Don Juan Martin 
 Puyrredon and his sister Doha Juana, the Sehora de Sahez-Valiente, 
 a tall, stately lady of very affable manners, who was an intimate friend 
 of Doha josefina. With her also came a younger sister, shorter in 
 stature than Doha Juana, with large, dark eyes, luxuriant hair, brilliant 
 complexion, and a face and figure said at that time to be unrivalled 
 for beauty even in Buenos Aires, Elisa Puyrredon. 
 
 Among these, Asneiros would have felt himself strangely out of 
 place, but Doha Josefina watched over him, and exerted herself so 
 successfully to set him at ease, encouraging him to talk, that when, 
 after a couple of hours, he rose to go, he felt as though lie had never 
 passed so pleasant an evening in his life, and was resolved that come 
 what might he would let himself be guided by Doha Josefina, though 
 he was too astute to believe all that she had told him concernmg the 
 conspiracy against the Viceroy. 
 
 Doha Josefina accompanied him to the patio as he went out, and 
 
 said to him — 
 
 " Pass by my window every evening at sundown, I will call you 
 in if I have anything to say to you. When you have anything to tell 
 me come at any hour." 
 
 "What it is to give oneself to politics," said Elisa Puyrredon, as 
 Dcjha Josefina returned to the sala. " Have you many paroquets like 
 that to show us, Doha Josefina ? " 
 
 " Picara ! " said Doha Josefina ; " this Asneiros was the Lieutenant 
 of the ' Morenos de Ponce.' "
 
 THE DAWN OF FREEDOM. 255 
 
 " I did not know that," said Elisa. " And this poor MarceHno, when 
 will they let him go ? " 
 
 " That is just what this Asneiros came to ask me," replied Dona 
 Josefina. 
 
 " Asneiros makes no secret of his wish to break open the prison-door 
 himself at the head of a party of grenadiers," said Don Juan Martin. 
 
 " Why does he not do it then ? " asked Elisa. 
 
 " He would do badly to do so," said Don Fausto. 
 
 Ever}'^ day for more than week Asneiros strolled at sundown past 
 the window of Doha. Josefina Viana, every day he found her sitting 
 there watching for him. Sometimes she would rise from her seat and, 
 leaning against the reja, would stand there for some minutes talking 
 with him ; sometimes she would invite him in, when if alone together 
 she would listen in patience to his praises of Dolores and encourage 
 him to think that he alone should have the credit of the release of 
 Marcelino from prison ; while every evening he had something to 
 tell her of the progress he had made in re-establishing the waning 
 popularity of Marshal Liniers, not only in his own regiment but also 
 in the artillery corps which was supposed to be completely under the 
 influence of Don Martin Alzaga. 
 
 So the days passed over till the morning of the 31st December, 
 when he called at the house, and being admitted at once, was shown 
 into the sewing-room of Doha Josefina, where she never received any 
 but her most confidential friends. Nearly an hour he remained there 
 talking with her, being on this occasion dressed in uniform, and speak- 
 ing in a sharp, decisive manner which Doha Josefina had never be- 
 fore observed in him. 
 
 " Sehora," said he, as he withdrew, " I know not whether you have 
 been deceived, but I will delay no longer, and if Don Marcelino is 
 not out of prison by this hour to-morrow I myself will head a mutiny 
 against the Viceroy, in which case I can assure )0u that the whole of 
 the garrison of the city will join me." 
 
 When he had gone Doha Josefina sat for some minutes very 
 thoughtful, apparently far from pleased with the result of the interview, 
 till with a start she exclaimed — 
 
 " To-morrow ! that is the new year. It is done, he will be too late ; now 
 Carlos will acknowledge that I also have done something for the Patria." 
 
 Half an hour later Don Carlos Evaha was with her, sunnaioned 
 to a consultation by an urgent message. 
 
 Meantime, while Marcelino's friends were thus interesting themselves 
 in his fate, there was one who was dearer to him than any other, who 
 spoke of him not at all, but who thought of him every hour in the day, 
 and wept for him and prayed for him in the solitude of her own room 
 at night. A young girl who lived in great (juiet with her father at his 
 quinta at the Miserere. To her parent she had spoken of him, but he 
 had chid her roughly, telling her that doubtless he deserved his pun- 
 ishment, and that she was not to sjjcak of him any more. On one 
 Wednesday only during this time had she paid her usual visit to Doha 
 Josefina, who had laughed at her when she hud timidly asked news of 
 Marcelino, saying —
 
 256 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 " What matters it to you ?" 
 
 But as she sat sewing in Dona Josefina's own room there came in 
 another lady, young and of radiant beauty, wlio spoke much of Mar- 
 celino, and to her Dona Josefina talked unreservedly, and spoke con- 
 fidently of his speedy release. When she had gone — • 
 
 " ^^■hat think you of my friend Elisa ? " said Doha Josefina ; " Lola 
 is very fond of her, but you and she seem hardly ever to speak to each 
 other." 
 
 " She is very beautiful," replied Magdalen. 
 
 " Marceliiio says she is the most beautiful girl in Buenos Aires," 
 said the elder lady ; " and he also so handsome. They are well 
 matched, I do not know why they delay so long ; Marcelino wants to 
 amuse himself a little longer I suppose, young men are like that, and 
 Elisa is not impatient, but if I were she, I should be jealous." 
 
 After this there was yet one Wednesday in December, but Magdalen 
 told her father that she had a headache and would not visit the city 
 that day. 
 
 During the last days of December there was much excitement 
 throughout the city. Spaniards openly exulted in the speedy down- 
 fall of the Viceroy, under whose rule their monopoly of power was 
 slowly but steadily slipping away from them. Quiet citizens, who 
 troubled not their heads about politics, were tormented by vague 
 apprehensions for which they could give I'.o reason. Argentines of all 
 ranks and ages, who had learned during the past two years to look 
 upon their country as their own, fiercely determined that come what 
 might, the leader they had chosen for themselves should not be thrust 
 from his position if he would but call upon them for support. 
 
 Two men only fully appreciated the danger of the crisis, Don 
 Roderigo Ponce de Leon and Don Carlos Evaha; each of these in 
 his own way prepared to meet it. 
 
 On the morning of the 27th December, Don Carlos Evaha called 
 his servant into his private room, and after a short conversation with 
 him took up a sealed letter from his writing-table, which he gave to 
 him. This letter was addressed — 
 
 Al Senor Coronel 
 
 Don Gregorio Lopez, 
 Comandante de los Dragones de Las Barrancas, 
 
 Su Estancia. 
 
 " Now away you go," said Don Carlos, " and neither rest nor sleep 
 till you have delivered that letter." 
 
 " Before sunrise to-morrow he shall have it, Senor Don Carlos," 
 replied the man. 
 
 On the morning of the 31st December, Colonel Lopez arrived at 
 the Quinta de Ponce ; he was dressed in uniform, and had two order- 
 lies with him. lie listened to all that Doha Constancia and Dolores 
 had to tell him, but was very taciturn himself, and they were some- 
 what hurt at the small sympathy he expressed for his nephew in his 
 imprisonment. 
 
 At sundown Evaristo reached the quinta, saying that Don Roderigo
 
 THE DAWN OF FREEDOM. 2$/ 
 
 was not coming out that day, and that he himself was to remain there 
 till Monday. 
 
 " ^VQ shall have plenty of room for you to-night, Gregorio," said 
 Doha Constancia. " We have generally a house full on a Saturday 
 evening, but it appears we are to have no visitors this week. Even 
 Don Carlos has not been out to see us since he came in from his 
 estancia." 
 
 " I shall not stop the night here," replied Don Gregorio ; " I am 
 going on after dark." 
 
 At ten o'clock Don Gregorio Avas still there, though he had ordered 
 his horse to be saddled. They were seated under the veranda, looking 
 out into the quiet night, talking little, for each one had his or her own 
 thoughts, and none of these thoughts were cheerful. Evaristo was the 
 most talkative, and his talk was of his brother or of the Viceroy, 
 Marshal Liniers, and of whichever he spoke his words were words of 
 anger. Suddenly he staited to his feet. 
 
 " Hush ! " he said. " Listen ! who are these that come at this hour 
 of the night ? " 
 
 They stepped out into the garden, and from the south, through 
 the thick foliage of the trees, and near at hand, there came the 
 sound of the trampling of hoofs as of a multitude of horses at a quiet 
 trot. Mingled with this sound came the jingling of sabres in steel 
 scabbards, and the hum of many voices. 
 
 " Who are those, Gregorio ? " said Doha Constancia, as a gruff voice 
 shouted "halt," and the trampling and the jingling ceased. "They 
 have stopped at the tranquera." 
 
 "' They are my dragoons," replied the Colonel. " Sleep tranquil, 
 Marcelino will not be many hours longer in prison." 
 
 " My God ! " exclaimed Dona Constancia, clasping her hands ; 
 " what is it that you are going to do ? " 
 
 " Who sent for you ? " asked Dolores. 
 
 " Evana," replied the Colonel ; then kissing both of them he looked 
 round to bid good-night to his nephew, but Evaristo was not to be seen. 
 
 Five minutes later Don Gregorio Lopez, at the head of a well- 
 appointed squadron of dragoons, trotted down the road past the 
 quinta gate, where Doha Constancia and Dolores stood watching them 
 in silence. Beside him rode one who was not in uniform and carried 
 no arms ; this horseman, who was but a youth, turned in his saddle 
 as they passed the gate and shouted — 
 
 " Goofl-night, mamita ! good-night, Lola ! to-morrow I will come 
 back with Marcelino."
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE 1ST JANUARY, 1809. 
 
 It seems to be a very old custom in Spanish-speaking countries to 
 hold elections on the first day of the week, the day set apart by all 
 Christian people as a day of rest. In these countries tlie right of all 
 free-born men to choose their own rulers is not considered to be work, 
 it is looked upon more as an amusement ; the consequences of so look- 
 ing upon one of the most important duties of a citizen are frequently 
 disastrous. 
 
 This day, Sunday, the ist January, 1809, was the day appointed 
 for the election of the municipal officers of the city. The citizens of 
 Buenos Aires on this occasion made no claim whatever to be admitted 
 to some share in the election, being content that these officials should 
 be selected, as they always had been, by the Cabildo, their attention 
 being entirely engrossed by a subject to them much more momentous. 
 
 At sunrise on this Sunday morning the whole city was astir. Steady- 
 going householders donned their uniforms and marched off to the 
 barracks of the several miHtia corps, the Patricios and Arribehos. 
 Shopmen, artificers, and peons left their homes all with one destin- 
 ation. Ardent young patriots of the more wealthy families buckled 
 on their swords and proceeded to the head-quarters of their regiments. 
 All were animated by one enthusiastic determination — to suppress by 
 force, if necessary, any attempt against the authority of the Viceroy 
 they themselves had chosen. All looked to Don Cornelio Saavedra 
 as their leader. 
 
 At the same time, to the west of the city, on the wide, open space 
 known as the Plaza Miserere, the suburban cavalry, composed of the 
 butchers and quinteros who supplied the city markets, assembled 
 under the orders of Don Martin Rodriguez, who had with him Don 
 Juan Ramon Balcarce as his second in command. Most of these 
 men had taken part in the defence of the city against Whitelock, the 
 name of General Liniers was to them as a tower of strength. 
 
 The dragoons from Las Barrancas had passed the night encamped 
 near to the Puente Calves, at dawn Don Carlos Evahawas with them. 
 Calling the officers together he spoke earnestly to them, commending 
 the appearance of the men and the condition of their horses, telling 
 them that they had not been sent for without deep necessity, that 
 their country had need of them, and looked to them to vindicate her 
 rights against the domination of foreigners. 
 
 " Have no fear, Don Carlos," said Don Gregorio. " My men will 
 do their duty."
 
 THE DAWN OF FREEDOM. 259 
 
 " What you or Don Cornelio Saavedra tell us, that we will do," said 
 the others. 
 
 Among these dragoons there was one troop which excelled in 
 efficiency and appearance, the horses all of one colour, dark bays, the 
 men most of them of one family, brothers, cousins, or nephews of the 
 wife of Don Francisco Viana. This troop was under the command 
 of Venceslao Viana, all the horses were the property of Don Carlos 
 Evana. After speaking to the officers, Don Carlos addressed him- 
 self to the men of this troop, speaking to them one by one, and 
 asking after their families, then he drew Venceslao Viana to one side 
 and spoke to him alone. As Venceslao listened, his face showed 
 signs of great perplexity. 
 
 " Without orders from the Colonel ? " asked he. 
 
 " More than a year ago you promised me " 
 
 " Say no more," said Venceslao ; " I ask for no reasons. Give me 
 the signal, and I see no other chief than you." 
 
 " U all goes well I shall not give it, then you have nothing to do 
 but to obey the Colonel. But remember, if to-day pass without blood- 
 shed everything is to begin again." 
 
 " Decidedly this Don Carlos is a man of few scruples," said Ven- 
 ceslao to himself as Evana galloped away for the city. " But if he 
 says it, it must be done ; by the faith of a Viana, to-day we will do for 
 him some service." 
 
 Soon after sunrise the trumpets sounded to saddle and mount, and 
 defiling over the Puente Calves, the regiment marched by the wide, 
 sandy road to the city, passed the suburbs, and halted on an open 
 space of ground near to the Residencia. 
 
 The Spanish troops were also early under arms, each corps in its 
 own barracks, among them also there was much enthusiasm. In 
 every quarter of the city armed men were collected together, and 
 peaceably-disposed citizens shut themselves in their houses, fearful that 
 the day would not pass without some great catastrophe. 
 
 At an early hour the members of the Cabildo met together, and 
 were not long in deciding upon the list of municipal officers for the 
 ensuing year. Having drawn up this list, a deputation from them, 
 headed by Don Martin Alzaga, proceeded across the Plaza Mayor 
 and the Plaza de Los Perdices to the fort, where they presented 
 this list to the Viceroy. Few words passed between them and the 
 deputation retired. In both Plazas hundreds of the citizens were 
 walking to and fro, or stood conversing in groups, all anxiously wait- 
 ing for what the day might bring forth. As the deputation left the 
 fort after their interview with the Viceroy, passing through these 
 groups of men, who gazed upon them in silence as though they would 
 read their purpose in their faces, several of these Spaniards took off 
 their hats, waving them in the air and shouting — 
 
 "Junta! Junta! como la de la Espana ! Abajo el Frances 
 Liniers ! " ^ 
 
 Among the people this shout found no echo. Then began the 
 church-bells to clang and the drums beat to arms in tlie streets. 
 
 * "Junta ! Junta ! like that of Spain ! Down with Liuicrs tlic Frenchman."
 
 260 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 Three corps of the Spanish troops left their quarters with their arms 
 and ammunition, and marching liurriedly to the Plaza Mayor drew 
 up on the west side the Plaza with their bac:ks to the Cabildo, shout- 
 ing as their leaders had already instructed them — 
 
 "jLUita! Junta! como la de la Espaha ! Abajo el Frances 
 Liniers ! " 
 
 As the bells rang out their peal, Marshal Liniers sent off a messen- 
 ger to Don Cornelio Saavedra reciuesting him to garrison the fort. 
 As the Spanish troops entered the Plaza Mayor, the first battalion of 
 the Patricios marched through the Plaza de Los Perdices, crossed the 
 drawbridge of the fort, and occupied all the defences of this strong- 
 hold. At the same time Don Carlos Evaha, with a drawn sabre in his 
 hand, at the head of a strong party of armed citizens, entered the fort 
 by a postern gate, and placed himself and his followers at the orders 
 of the Viceroy. 
 
 ]\Lirshal Liniers in full uniform stood at the foot of the flag-staff on 
 the parade-ground, looking anxiously out towards the city, listening 
 to the clangour of the bells and the shouts of the troops in the fur- 
 ther Plaza, when a Spanish officer in uniform and with his sword in 
 its sheath stood before him and saluted him. 
 
 " Asneiros ! you here ! " said Marshal Liniers. 
 
 " Yes, your Excellency," replied Asneiros, " I am here ; my Anda- 
 luces are also close at hand, the Spanish artillery have not left their 
 barracks. It appears that there is some conspiracy against you ; I, 
 my Andaluces, and the Spanish artillery all put ourselves under 
 your orders if you grant me at once a favour that I require of you." 
 
 " Speak," said Marshal Liniers. 
 
 " You have imprisoned an honourable gentleman, Don Marcelino 
 Ponce de Leon ; I demand his immediate release." 
 
 " He is in the Cabildo," replied Marshal Liniers. " If to-day at 
 sundown I am Viceroy I will set him free." 
 
 " A thousand thanks, your Excellency ; not to-day only, but many 
 days you will yet see yourself Viceroy." 
 
 Then as he turned away Asneiros looked around him, and his eye 
 fell upon Evana, who, with his drawn sabre in his hand, was talking 
 eagerly with a number of militia officers. 
 
 "He here and armed!" said Asneiros to himself; "he then is 
 not of the conspiracy. Fool that I am, I have let myself be deceived 
 by the soft voice of a woman. But it is not too late yet ; if I go and 
 shout for the Junta over there Don Martin will set him free for me." 
 
 But as he crossed the drawbridge, and looked to where he had left 
 his men, he saw a mounted officer sitting in his saddle in front of 
 them speaking to them. As he ceased, the men took off their round 
 caps and tossed them in the air shouting — 
 
 " i Viva Don Cornelio ! " Then as Don Cornelio, raising his hand 
 for silence, again spoke, they shouted even louder than before— 
 
 " i Viva el Virey Don Santiago Liniers ! Viva ! ! " 
 
 It was too late ; to turn back now was impossible ; he had nothing 
 left to do but to follow the lead of Don Cornelio and to trust to the 
 Viceroy. 
 
 During all this excitement one man stood quietly on the balcony
 
 THE DAWN OF FREEDOM. 26 1 
 
 of the Cabildo, watching everything, but since the selection of the 
 municipal officers taking no part in anything, Don Roderigo Ponce 
 de Leon. From his position he could see the sheen of the bayonets 
 as the Patricios marched into the fort ; he looked down into the Plaza 
 below him upon the troops there assembled, he noted at once the 
 absence of the artillery corps and of the Andaluces. None of his 
 colleagues were with him, they had proceeded from the fort to the 
 house of the Bishop of Buenos Aires, Monseiror Lue, who, with Don 
 Martin Alzaga, was at the head of the conspiracy against the Viceroy. 
 Unless some measures were immediately adopted to allay the excite- 
 ment a struggle seemed inevitable ; to this struggle Don Roderigo 
 could see but one end, the total overthrow of Spanish authority. 
 Hastily he descended from the balcony and walked to the house of 
 the Bishop. His report considerably damped the enthusiasm of the 
 conspirators ; the Bishop consented to go alone to the fort to en- 
 deavour to prevail upon the Viceroy to dismiss the militia to their 
 homes. 
 
 " Promise him anything," said Don Roderigo ; but Don Martin 
 Alzaga saw him depart without speaking, and with the rest of the 
 conclave returned to the Cabildo. 
 
 As the Bishop presented himself to Marshal Liniers he was con- 
 fronted by Don Cornelio Saavedra, and between these two there 
 ensued a hot discussion. The Bishop protested that his only wish 
 was to prevent bloodshed, and promised that if the Patricios would 
 retire, the Spanish troops in the Plaza Mayor should be sent back to 
 their barracks. To him Liniers seemed disposed to yield, whereupon 
 Don Cornelio, still protesting against any attempt on the part of the 
 Spaniards to depose the Viceroy, consented to retire from the fort 
 with his troops, but declared that he should keep them under arms 
 until such time as the Spanish troops had evacuated the Plaza Mayor. 
 
 Out over the drawbridge marched the Patricios in perfect order, 
 the sun shining on the bright barrels of their muskets and upon 
 their glistening bayonets. In one long column they crossed the Plaza 
 de los Perdices, passed through the wide arch of the Recoba Vieja, 
 and in imposing array marched straight for the artillery barracks, where 
 the chosen Spaniards of Don Martin Alzaga joined them with acclam- 
 ations, and with loud shouts of — 
 
 " i Viva Don Santiago Liniers ! \ Viva el Virey ! " 
 
 Then came the second battalion of the Patricios, the " Pardos y 
 Morenos," and the Arribeho regiment. Mounted messengers were 
 despatched at speed to the Residencia and to the Plaza Miserere. 
 The swarthy troopers, tired with long waiting in the hot summer sun, 
 received the summons with joy, and noon was not long passed ere 
 Don Cornelio Saavedra found himself at the head of a force nearly 
 double in number to the entire force the Spaniards could bring against 
 him, even should the Andaluz regiment, which remained under arms 
 in the Plaza de los Perdices, ultimately declare for them. 
 
 Meantime Don Martin Alzaga and his colleagues, save one (Don 
 Roderigo Ponce de Leon held himself aloof from them), determined 
 upon a direct appeal to the people. Again the bells rang out their 
 cking of alarm, and the royal flag of Spain, brought out from its
 
 262 POxNfCE DE LEON. 
 
 seclusion, was displayed on the ])alcony of the Cabildo. Vain hope 
 to excite loyalty to Spain in the breasts of men who already knew 
 that they were Argentines. Few citizens responded to the appeal. 
 Don Martin had none upon whom he could depend, save upon those 
 three Spanish infantry corps which were still drawn up in the Plaza 
 Mayor, underneath the balcony on whicli waved the proud Hag of 
 Spain, the symbol of tlie contjuest. 
 
 Yet one other course was oj^en to him. Sundry citizens wlio were 
 well-affected to their Spanish rulers were summoned to the Cabildo, 
 and incorporated with tliat august body, thus forming what was called 
 in those days a " Cabildo Abierto," a corporation in which both 
 Spaniards and Argentines were represented, and which might be thus 
 supposed to embody the wishes of the people. 
 
 Then a deed of resignation was drawn up, by which the Viceroy 
 resigned his office, and authorized the formation of a Junta, in which 
 his powers should be invested. With this deed the whole of the 
 members of the Cabildo, both Spaniards and Argentines, with the 
 exception of that one man who still held aloof, crossed over to the 
 fort and presented it to the Viceroy, notifying him that it was the will 
 of the people that he should resign his office. 
 
 Liniers looked around him in surprise. All the ruling corporations 
 of the city were represented in this group of men who presented this 
 deed to him for signature. Among them were also several well-known 
 citizens, Argentines by birth, and men of intluence among their fellow- 
 countrymen. It seemed to him that the voice of the people called 
 upon him to resign ; he took his pen and signed the document. 
 
 As Liniers gave his assent, and ere he had yet signed the deed of 
 abdication, a messenger was sent across the two Plazas to the Cabildo, 
 to the Spaniards who had remained there, telling them that their 
 cause was won. Eager hands seized upon the flag of Spain, waving 
 it triumpliantly ; eager voices shouted the prean of victory, yet still 
 Don Ruderigo Ponce de Leon held aloof, leaning on the rails of the 
 balcony and gazing out upon the Plaza, watching ever, but neither by 
 voice nor sign showing that he had any part in the triumph. 
 
 Then from the Calle Defensa, memorable for the repulse and cap- 
 ture of General Crauford on the 5th July, 1S07, issued into the open 
 Plaza the firm array of the citizen-soldiers of Buenos Aires, with their 
 trusted leader, Don Cornelio Saavedra, at their head. First came the 
 Patricios, who ever claimed the post of danger, the post of honour ; 
 then came the Arribenos, the artiller)', the Pardos y Morenos, and 
 the Andaluces, who had last of all made up their minds to join the 
 ranks of the patriots. The infantry with bayonets fixed, the artillery 
 bringing their cannon with them, the gunners marching with the 
 matches lighted in their hands. These drew up on the east side the 
 Plaza in dense ranks, with the Recoba Vieja behind them, facing to- 
 wards the Cabildo, where the three Spanish corps ceased their cries 
 and jubilation as they gazed upon the formidable array so unex- 
 pectedly marshalled against them. 
 
 Behind the infantry and artillery there came yet two other corps, 
 two squadrons of cavalry, the hussars of Don Martin Rodriguez, and 
 the dragoons from Las Barrancas, dark-featured, long-haired men, who
 
 THE DAWN OF FREEDOM. 263 
 
 sat their horses as though they were parts of them, and whose bright 
 sabres were held by brawny hands, wielding them as though they were 
 toys. These two squadrons of cavalry, with the Andaluces, were drawn 
 up behind the Recoba in reserve, but at the cross streets and at the 
 central arch, spaces were left in the long line of infantry through 
 which the cavalry might advance were there occasion for their 
 services. 
 
 When all his arrangements were complete, Don Cornelio .Saavedra 
 glanced proudly over the serried files of men who obeyed his word, 
 glanced indignantly across the Plaza at the troops still there in spite 
 of the promise given him by the Bishop, then, deputing the command 
 to Major Viamont, away he galloped to the fort. Followed by a group 
 of his principal officers, he walked into the saloon of audience, in 
 which the deed of resignation had just been signed. 
 
 The assembled grandees were struck mute at this unexpected intru- 
 sion. Monsehor Lue was the tirst to speak ; turning to Saavedra 
 he said — 
 
 " Thanks be to God, all is finished. His Excellency loves the 
 people, and does not desire that there be bloodshed for his sake. He 
 has agreed to abdicate." 
 
 " Who has given his Excellency the power to resign the command 
 legally conferred upon him ? " asked Saavedra in reply. 
 
 " Sehor Comandante," replied the Bishop, in a supplicating tone, 
 " do you wish to involve this people in blood ? " 
 
 " Neither I nor my comrades," answered the Commandant of the 
 Patricios, " have caused this revolution. I have said, and I repeat it, 
 that there is no cause for this violence." 
 
 Then hearing the Bishop say that it was the will of the people that 
 the Viceroy should resign, Saavedra interrupted him, saying — • 
 
 " That is a falsehood. In proof of it, let the Sehor Liniers come 
 with us, let him present himself to the people ; if the people refuse 
 him, and will not that he continue in command, then I and my 
 comrades will sign the deed of abdication." 
 
 Then he and Don ISlartin Rodriguez took the Viceroy by the arm, 
 saying to him — 
 
 " Descend with us, your Excellency, and hear from the mouth of 
 the people what is their will." 
 
 It was already sunset when Liniers, surrounded by Argentine 
 citizens and officers of the militia, crossed the drawbridge of the fort. 
 The Plaza de los Perdices was full of people, beyond them were drawn 
 up the dense ranks of the native troops. From all these there burst 
 loud cheers and shouts of " j Viva Don Santiago Liniers ! We will 
 have no other to rule over us." ^ 
 
 Negro slaves, tearing off their clothes, strewed them on the ground 
 before the Viceroy as he walked forth, so that he might not soil his 
 feet with the dust. Behind this group came the discomfited members 
 of the Cabildo, among whom walked the secretary of the Cabildo, 
 carrying in his hand the deed of abdication. As he crossed the draw- 
 bridge, Don Carlos Evana, who was close to Liniers, turned back, ran 
 
 ' For this scene see " La Ilistoria de Bclgr.ino, " by General Mitre.
 
 264 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 to the secretary, and snatching the deed from him tore it into pieces, 
 and threw the fragments contemptuously into the air, at which sight 
 the exultant populace burst out again with shouts of triumph. 
 
 Meanwhile, at the first shouts of the people, the Spanish ofificers in 
 the further Plaza gave orders to their men to load with ball cartridge. 
 Don Roderigo Ponce de Leon, who still stood on the balcony of the 
 Cabildo, heard the order given. Descending at once to the Plaza, he 
 ran along the front of the line of soldiery, shouting — 
 
 " To your barracks, Gallegos and Viscainos ! To your barracks, 
 Catalanes !" 
 
 At the same time an aide-de-camp from Marshal Liniers came to 
 them with an order from the Viceroy to lay down their arms. Con- 
 tradictory orders of all sorts were given by the officers, all was confu- 
 sion ; some of the men wheeled round and marched away, others 
 grasped their muskets and glared defiance across the Plaza at the 
 steady ranks of the citizen soldiers drawn up in defiant array in front 
 of them. 
 
 At this moment Don Carlos Evana, standing under the arch of 
 the Recoba, shouted to the cavalry sitting motionless on their horses, 
 with sabres drawn in the Plaza de los Perdices — 
 
 " To me, muchachos ! now is the moment ! " at the same time 
 pointmg with his sabre to the confused groups of soldiery who 
 occupied the far side the Plaza Mayor. 
 
 " Follow me, muchachos ! " shouted Venceslao Viana, driving in 
 his spurs and dashing at full speed through the arch of the Recoba. 
 
 His troop followed him pell-mell, and the rest of the cavalry, sup- 
 posing that some order had been given, charged through every opening 
 into the Plaza Mayor. 
 
 Don Roderigo ran frantically along the ranks of the Spanish infantry, 
 tearing the muskets from the hands of the men and shouting — 
 " To your barracks ! to your barracks ! Espaiioles ! " 
 All was confusion and wild panic ; the Spaniards broke their ranks, 
 and in headlong flight ran off up the streets abutting on the west side 
 the Plaza, throwing away their arms, many of them seeking refuge in 
 the open doorways of the houses as they passed. After them came 
 the fierce horsemen of the Pampas, striking at them furiously with 
 their sabres, trampling them under-foot if they made any attempt to 
 resist. Few of them reached their barracks, all over the city they 
 were dispersed, and the power of Spain was broken for ever in Buenos 
 Aires. 
 
 Then the royal flag of Spain, which had fluttered so proudly all the 
 afternoon on the balcony of the Cabildo, was withdrawn, never more 
 to see the light as an emblem of conquest and subjugation ; -when 
 again it was brought forth it was to grace some festival of a free people. 
 As the horsemen poured tumultuously into the Plaza, the native 
 infantry looked eagerly to Don Cornelio for a signal, but Don Cornelio 
 riding along the line called upon them to ground arms and not to 
 move ; all obeyed, watching in silence the discomfiture of their 
 enemies, except a small party on the left flank where the " Pardos y 
 Ivlorenos" were stationed. 
 
 During the whole day a slim youth of small stature, who by his
 
 THE DAWN OF FREEDOM. 265 
 
 dress evidently belonged to one of the principal families of the city, 
 had hovered about under the arcade of the Recoba Nueva, absent 
 occasionally for a short time while the patriot troops were concentrating 
 under the orders of Don Cornelio Saavedra, returning with them to 
 the Plaza, and resuming his former station under the arcade. As the 
 horsemen dashed through the arch of the Recoba Vieja this youth 
 ran towards the " Pardos y Morenos," waving his hat and shouting — 
 " Now, IMorenitos ! now ! " 
 
 About a score of negroes obeyed his call, left their ranks, and, 
 mingled with the horsemen, rushed across the Plaza straight for the 
 main entrance to the Cab Ido. The wide gateway and the courtyard 
 beyond were crowded with panic-stricken soldiery, whose terror the 
 sudden rush of the negroes yet further increased so that they fled 
 before their levelled bayonets and left the way open to the main 
 staircase. Up this staircase the youth, who was Evaristo Ponce de 
 Leon, led the way towards a corridor where a sentry stood on 
 guard. 
 
 " Back ! back ! " shouted Evaristo to this man as he levelled his 
 musket. The negroes crowding up behind him gave a fierce yell ; he 
 dropped his weapon and fled. 
 
 " The key ! " shouted Evaristo after him as he ran. 
 " The key ! " said a stalwart negro, " I have key sufficient. " And 
 seizing the barrel of his musket with both hands he struck the side 
 panel of the door as strongly as he could with the butt. The lock 
 gave way and the door flew open. 
 
 Marcelino, pale with his confinement, and listening anxiously to the 
 cries and shouts which he could plainly hear, but of the cause of 
 which he knew nothing, stood in the centre of a well-furnished room 
 as the door flew open. He gazed in wonder upon the joyful faces of 
 the negroes, and the next moment was clasped in the arms of his 
 brother. 
 
 " I have saved you, Marcelino, now you are free," said Evaristo, and 
 without further explanation he snatched a hat from a peg, and a light 
 poncho from a chair, saying — 
 
 " Put these on and come. It is sundown already, and I promised 
 mamma and Lola that I would go back with you to-day." 
 
 Marcelino asked no questions, but put on the hat and poncho, and 
 taking his brother by the hand went forth along the corridor, down 
 the staircase, across the court-yard, and so out into the open Plaza. 
 Here groups of excited men were talking and gesticulating together, 
 troops were manoeuvring on the open space in the centre, all the ground 
 in front of the Cabildo was strewn with muskets and accoutrements, a 
 body of horsemen with drawn sabres were stationed in front of the 
 cathedral, and a party of the Patricios came along the side-walk, under 
 the upper story of the Cabildo, carrying on their crossed muskets two 
 men in the uniform of the Catalan regiment, whose heads were bound 
 up with blood-stained handkerchiefs. Around him and behind him 
 came the negroes who had Inirst open his prison door, their black faces 
 shining with delight, and their white teeth gleaming between their 
 thick brown lips. 
 
 " What has happened ? " said Marcelino. " There is my uncle
 
 266 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 Gregorio with a party of his dragoons ! There has been a fight ! What 
 has happened, Evaristo ? " 
 
 " Never mind now, come along quick, presently I will tell you all," 
 said Evaristo, hurrying him on past the cathedral and round the next 
 corner. 
 
 Here Marcelino's own servant, the negro Manuel, stood holding 
 two saddled horses by the bridles. The two brothers mounted at once. 
 
 "Now I am free!" said Marcclino with a shout of joy as he 
 setded himself in the saddle. " I shall not forget this service which you 
 have done me, Morenos." 
 
 The negroes answered him with a loud shout, " ; Viva el Comandante 
 Ponce ! " and drawn up in line presented arms. 
 
 Both brothers touched their hats in acknowledgment of this salute, 
 and then, slacking their reins, galloped away. Neither spoke till they 
 had left the sul)urbs behind them. 
 
 " Tell me now what has happened, Evaristo ? " said Marcelino. 
 
 " I knew there was going to be something," replied Evaristo, " for 
 Tata sent me out to the quinta yesterday and would not go himself. 
 I found Uncle Gregorio there, and his dragoons came, Evaha had sent 
 for them, and uncle said you would be set free to-day, so I came 
 back. First thing this morning I went to the barracks of the Pardos 
 y Morenos, there were some of your men there and they were glad 
 enough to promise me. All day I waited but there was never a chance, 
 there were the Catalanes and Gallegos right in front of the Cabildo. 
 Suddenly the arch of the Recoba appeared a volcano vomiting dra- 
 goons with drawn sabres, the Spaniards were all in confusion, I saw 
 that the moment had come. I called to the Morenos, they followed 
 me like ' guapos ' and here we are." 
 
 " Yes, here we are, thank God, but why were the Spaniards there 
 and the Patricios ? " 
 
 " It appears that the Senores the Spaniards took it into their heads 
 to depose the Viceroy. That did not please Don Cornelio Saavedra, 
 and the dragoons of Uncle Gregorio have trampled on them some little 
 I warrant' you."
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 evana's dream. 
 
 It was long past nightfall ere the Viceroy, wearied with the day's 
 anxieties, returned to his official residence at the fort. As he crossed 
 the drawbridge he was joined by Don Roderigo Ponce de Leon. 
 
 " I come to congratulate you, Don Santiago, on the happy result 
 of the day," said Don Roderigo. 
 
 " Ah ! Don Roderigo, is it you ? " said the Viceroy. " I have 
 looked for you several times to-day. How is it that you never came 
 with the other members of the Cabildo ? " 
 
 " I knew what they purposed doing and chose to take no part in 
 it. I like not these popular, demonstrations." 
 
 "But the people were with me entirely." 
 
 " By good fortune, and owing to the firmness of Don Cornelio. 
 But after all we have only just escaped a great catastrophe." 
 
 '■ A catastrophe ! Well, yes, if the Spanish regiments had stood 
 firm there would have been bloodshed, but the end would have been 
 as it is." 
 
 " If the artillery and the Andaluces had been against you to-day, 
 you could only have crushed the conspiracy by great sacrifice of life, 
 and the danger is merely postponed." 
 
 " I shall disarm all the Spanish regiments," 
 
 " Disarm the Spanish regiments ! If you do that you are lost, you 
 put yourself entirely in the power of these Creoles." 
 
 " The militia or the troops, I must choose between them," said 
 Liniers. 
 
 " You do not see the danger from which both you and we have 
 escaped to-day. Why did the cavalry charge the troops when all was 
 over? I will tell you. There is a strong revolutionary feeling abroad 
 in the city ; there are many among the Creoles who supported you 
 to-day wlio did so simply for the furtherance of their own schemes. 
 They supported you for the sake of destroying the authority of the 
 Cabildo, their next step will be to depose you. They seek to take 
 advantage of the misfortunes of Spain to establish here a republic." 
 
 " Evaha? " said the Viceroy. 
 
 " I mention no names," replied Don Roderigo, " but I warn you 
 that in the Cabildo only can you find a loyal and steady support to 
 your authority." 
 
 "As I have seen today." 
 
 " To-day has been a foolish outbreak of Spanish pride and jealousy, 
 of which I had forewarned you, but, as you know, all Spaniards did 
 nut go with Don Martin Alzaga. The artillery passed over at once 
 when the Patricios went to them shouting ' Viva el Rcconquistador.'
 
 268 rONCE DE LEON. 
 
 We Spaniards have not forgotten the 12th August and the 5th and 
 6th July. Whilst you hold your power by legitimate appointment 
 from the supreme government of Spain we look to you as our chief 
 and as our defence against revolution, there are not many of us who 
 are hot-headed fools like Don Martin Alzaga. Beware of the revo- 
 lutionary parly, they are the men who are really dangerous. There 
 has been bloodshed to-day, happily not much, not enough to satisfy 
 those reckless revolutionists. The cavalry charged without orders 
 from Don Cornelio, it was the last effort of the revolutionists to force 
 on a conflict for the purpose of plunging us into anarchy and so 
 making an opportunity for themselves." 
 
 The Viceroy listened attentively to Don Roderigo, but merely 
 answered by inviting him to supper with him, and several others 
 being present they had no more confidential talk together. As he 
 rose to go Don Roderigo said — 
 
 " I think I have done your Excellency good service to-day, one 
 boon I ask you in return, the liberty of my son." 
 
 " Pues ! " said the Viceroy, with a look of surprise ; "he is free 
 hours ago." 
 
 " I did not know it," said Don Roderigo, " but I give you a 
 thousand thanks, and also for the leniency with which he has been 
 treated during his arrest." 
 
 "Then you knew nothing of it? I thought you had taken advan- 
 tage of the confusion to release him yourself. When the troops 
 dispersed, a party of negroes burst into the Cabildo and set him free 
 by force, I thought you had sent them." 
 
 " This is the first I hear of it," said Don Roderigo. 
 
 " I am glad of that," said the Viceroy, " for this violence was quite 
 unnecessary ; I promised Captain Asneiros this morning that I would 
 release him at sundown. To-morrow I will send you a formal order 
 for his release, and his books and papers shall be returned to you." 
 
 Don Roderigo bowed and retired, feehng greatly disappointed, for 
 he had planned to himself to end the day by bearing the order for his 
 son's release, himself to the Cabildo, and by being himself the first to 
 congratulate him on his liberation. 
 
 While Don Roderigo and the Viceroy sat at supper, the command- 
 ant of the dragoons from Las Barrancas and Don Carlos Evaha had 
 a stormy altercation together at the house of the latter gentleman. 
 They were in a large, plainl3'-furnished apartment, Don Gregorio 
 seated in an arm-chair with his hat on, and his left hand resting upon 
 the hilt of his sabre, Don Carlos walking excitedly up and down the 
 room, while near the door stood Venceslao Viana, bare-headed and 
 unarmed, his sword-belt and sabre lying on a side-table, near to 
 which the Colonel was seated. 
 
 " Without doubt you are to blame, Don Carlos," said Don Gregorio, 
 " but that in no way excuses the conduct of Venceslao. My officers 
 are not to receive orders from any one but me, if they do they incur 
 the extreme penalty of martial law. Your act, Venceslao, has cost 
 the lives of six men, and there are some two score wounded ; your act 
 was in disobedience to my express orders, and your life is forfeit for 
 the vindication of military discipline."
 
 THE DAWN OF FREEDOM. 269 
 
 " To Don Carlos I owe my life," said Venceslao calmly. " If I 
 lose it in his service, I do no more than pay my debt." 
 
 " Then that debt is paid," replied Don Gregorio. " If the Viceroy 
 pass over this aff:iir without enquiry I shall say no more about it. 
 Take up your sabre and go." 
 
 Without the slightest change of countenance Venceslao buckled 
 on his sabre, then with a low bow to both the others replaced his hat 
 and left the room. In the patio outside the door of this room stood 
 two dismounted troopers with their carbines ; in the street outside half 
 a troop were seated in their saddles with drawn sabres ; one of these 
 men held Venceslao's horse by the bridle, he mounted and trotted 
 slowly away. 
 
 " It appears that I am to be a great warrior," said he to himself, as 
 he trotted through the suburbs ; " I am always just going to be killed, 
 and away I go without a scratch. When I heard the order for my 
 arrest I said to myself, ' Of a certainty he will shoot me,' I deserved 
 it without doubt, yet here I am." 
 
 Without giving more thought to the matter he then commenced 
 singing one of the monotonous songs of the paisanos, and so trotted 
 on to a quinta beyond the suburbs where his regiment was encamped. 
 
 "Sit down, Carlos," said Don Gregorio, as Venceslao closed the 
 door behind him. " Explain to me your ideas. Why did you seek 
 to force on a conflict when all had ended as we wished it ? " 
 
 " Because all has not ended as we wished it," replied Evaha, 
 throwing himself upon a sofa. "We wished to break for ever the 
 power of the Spaniards over us. What we have done is to secure the 
 power of one who will maintain everything as it has been. I wished 
 to force him into open collision with the Spaniards, as it is he has 
 half the Spaniards with him. If I had succeeded he would have been 
 forced to depend in everything upon native Argentines ; until the 
 government is in every department in the hands of Creoles we are 
 not a free people, and that is the end to which you, I, and every true 
 Argentine aspires." 
 
 " Truly it is so, but I like not your way of going to work. Liberty 
 without strict discipline is anarchy, discipline is more necessary 
 amuiig a free people than among slaves." 
 
 Then there was silence for a space between them, till Evaiia sprang 
 from his sofa saying — 
 
 " Yet it is possible that we may do something. Promise me that 
 you will return slowly, and not go further than the casa-teja till I see 
 you or write to you." 
 
 " You have some fresh scheme in your head ? " 
 
 "I have, and I may need your assistance." 
 
 " For three days I will wait, but no longer. Do what you can, 
 and count upon me." 
 
 '• I am going at once to see Liniers, to try what can be done with 
 him. lie must see by now what he can expect from the Spaniards. 
 li he will but declare for us our cause is won." 
 
 Darkness shrouded the city which during the day had been the 
 scene of to much tumult. It wanted but an hour of midnight, the 
 moon had not yet risen, and the stars shining calmly tlown from tlie 
 blue vault where they kept their stations, were the only lights which
 
 2/0 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 illumined the patli of a tall man, enveloped in a large cloak, who 
 picked his way carefully across the Plaza (le los Perdices. He walked 
 up to the drawbridge which crossed the dry ditch surrounding the fort 
 on the land side. The bridge was down, but the gate beyond was 
 closed, and on the bridge a sentry of the Patricios kept watch and ward. 
 
 " Good night, friend," said the tall man to the sentry. 
 
 " Keep back, whoever you are," said the sentry, bringing down his 
 musket to the charge. 
 
 " Do not alarm yourself, Pancho, I am no enemy," said the other. 
 " Who is the officer of the guard ? " 
 
 " Back ! rejilied the sentry. " Who are you ? How do you know 
 that my name is Pancho ? " 
 
 But the tall man came still nearer, taking off his hat, and throwing 
 back his cloak. 
 
 " Don Carlos Evana !" exclaimed the sentry, recovering his musket. 
 " What would you at this hour ? Have you not the word ? " 
 
 " No. But who is the officer of the guard ? " 
 
 " The Senor Lieutenant Lopez y Viana." 
 
 " Valentin ! " exclaimed Evana ; " it could not be better. Do me the 
 favour to knock at the gate, and ask him to come out and speak to me." 
 
 The sentry walked back across the bridge and knocked at the gate. 
 After a lengthened parley a sergeant stepped out through a wicket, 
 and requested Don Carlos to come forward and step inside. Don 
 Carlos walked across the bridge, passed the wicket, and found himself 
 in the midst of an armed party of the Patricios, one of whom held up 
 a lantern to his face. 
 
 *' Ah ! It is you, Don Carlos," said a young officer, stepping forward. 
 " Excuse the delay, but after the affair of to-day no precaution is too 
 much." 
 
 " You do perfectly right, Valentin," replied Don Carlos ; then 
 passing his arm over the shoulder of the young officer he whispered 
 some few words in his ear. 
 
 Five minutes later Don Carlos was seated in the private apartment 
 of the Viceroy, and with him held earnest converse for nearly an hour. 
 
 " Then your Excellency entirely rejects my proposal," said Evana. 
 
 " I do," replied the Viceroy. " I hold my authority from the Court 
 of Spain, and will suffer no innovations without consulting the supreme 
 authorities, whoever they may happen to be." 
 
 " Think well what you do, Don Santiago. Such an opportunity as 
 the present may never offer itself to you again. The people have to- 
 day for the third time shown their power. Twice have they repulsed 
 invasions of the English, to-day they have humbled the arrogance of 
 the Spaniards. Put yourself at the head of this new power which 
 has risen up in America, and a new career of greatness and of glory 
 will open up before you. Attempt to arrest the progress of the people, 
 and they themselves, who to-day have offered their lives for you, will 
 crush you to the dust." 
 
 " You threaten me," exclaimed the Viceroy. 
 
 " I do not threaten you, I merely warn you. If I stand forth my- 
 self and proclaim the liberty of the people they will rise as one man 
 to demand their rights. Who is there that shall say them nay ? " 
 
 " The people would not listen to you," replied the Viceroy.
 
 THE DAWN OF FREEDOM. 27 1 
 
 " I wish to avoid bloodshed and contention, therefore I ask you, 
 who hold the power in your hands, to put yourself at the head of the 
 people. Under your leadership there will be no contention, no blood- 
 shed." 
 
 " Know you not that this is treason which you propose to me ? 
 What hinders me from ordering your immediate arrest as a conspirator 
 against Spain ? " 
 
 " Do it," said Evaha, rising. " Call in your guards, order them 
 to arrest me. Doubtless they will obey you, but to-morrow's sun will 
 see the last day of your authority in Buenos Aires. Shoot me if you 
 like. I should die joyfully, for I know that my blood would purchase 
 the hberty of my own people." 
 
 " No. You have come here unarmed and alone. I respect the 
 trust you have placed in me, but give some attention to my words. I 
 have long had my eye upon you as a man of dangerous ideas — ideas 
 which you have now disclosed to me. Look well what you do, for 
 whilst I hold authority as Viceroy I will maintain that authority intact, 
 and will punish any revolutionary attempt with the extremest rigour of 
 the law." 
 
 "And how much longer will you hold this authority?" asked Evana. 
 " Have not the Spaniards to-day shown you how little they respect it? 
 I know it, if you do not, that months ago they sent to Spain for 
 a successor to you, who may come at any time. What becomes then 
 of your authority ? Wliy should you submit to be deposed by the 
 Junta of Seville ? They did not appoint you. Your authority was 
 bestowed upon you by the people ; you retain it now solely by their 
 will. I say no more, but I give you three days to consider of the 
 proposal I have made to you. If at the expiration of that time you 
 are silent, then I shall know that you have chosen your own course, 
 and shall abandon you to your fate ; but again I warn you, beware 
 how you oppose the progress of the people. You, who are to-day 
 their favourite, will be the first victim of their rage in the day when 
 they rise up in their strength and seize those rights which you have 
 conspired to keep from them." 
 
 As Evaha spoke he raised himself to his full height, looking with a 
 stern, threatening gaze upon the Viceroy, who answered him not a 
 word, but sat motionless in his chair, while the colour faded from his 
 face and lips, and the sweat stood in great beads upon his brow. He 
 forgot that he was in Buenos Aires, he forgot that he was Viceroy ; 
 in memory he stood again in the streets of Paris as he stood in his 
 youth ; again before his eyes there rushed a furious, half-starved mob, 
 brandishing strange weapons and shouting fiercely in hoarse voices 
 the refrain of that deadly song — 
 
 " ^a ira ! Lcs Aristocrats k la lanteme." 
 
 Evaiia saw the pallor in his cheeks, saw the vacant stare in his 
 terror-stricken eyes, and waited for him to speak, half hopeful yet; 
 but no words came, slowly the eyes recovered their usual expression 
 and turned upon himself, their expression then becoming one of fierce 
 anger. The Viceroy started from his chair, laying his hand upon 
 the hilt of his sword, for one moment he stood irresolute, then his 
 eyes shrank beneath the stern, threatening gaze of those dark eyes
 
 2/2 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 which confronted his so unflinchinc;ly ; once more he sank back into 
 his chair coverine; his face with his hands. 
 
 Evana, taking up his hat and cloak, made a low bow to the uncon- 
 scious Viceroy and left him to himself In the ante-room he met 
 young Valentin, with whom he spoke for a few minutes ; crossing tlie 
 parade-ground, where the guard drawn up presented arms to him as 
 he passed, he stept out through the wicket, and folding his cloak 
 closely round him went forth over the drawbridge and with long, 
 rapid strides walked swiftly away for his own home. 
 
 His servant had supper waiting for him as he arrived ; he tried to 
 eat, but it seemed to him as though his food would choke him ; he 
 poured out a goblet of wine, drank it at one draught, and retired to 
 his own room. 
 
 " Only six killed, and they men of whom no one diinks twice," said 
 he to himself, as he paced up and down. " To-morrow it will be all 
 forgotten, and we shall be as good friends as ever with our lords the 
 Spaniards. That fool Liniers ! I have given him three days, but I 
 know it will be all in vain ; to-morrow he will have some one else at 
 his ear, he will do nothing. But can I do nothing ? He said they 
 would not listen to me ; but many would, and lose themselves with 
 me perchance. No, patience, patience yet, my day will come." 
 
 So he laid himself down to sleep, and in the visions of the night 
 there came to him a dream. 
 
 Legions of red-coated soldiery obeyed his orders, encompassing 
 his native city on all sides, assailing it with storms of shot and shell, 
 laying the suburbs in ruins and advancing through streets of burning 
 houses, slaying all who opposed them, till the city was won. I'hen 
 he himself led the attack upon the fort ; forcing his way across the 
 drawbridge, encumbered with heaps of corpses, he rushed to the tall 
 flag-staff on which fluttered the standard of Spain. With his own 
 hands he tore down this standard and set up another. Then as this 
 new standard gave itself to the winds, floating high in air amidst 
 smoke and dust, he turned, pointed to it with his drawn sword, and 
 called ujion his countrymen to acknowledge him as their liberator. 
 
 But when he looked around him he was alone, and there was none 
 to answer him. Then from afar off there came to him an answer 
 from the city. From amidst the crumbling walls and burning houses 
 there reached him through the murky air the wailing voices of women 
 and the piteous cries of children. 
 
 Then was he perplexed, and his heart smote him that he had done 
 unwisely ; and as he thought of the desolation he had accomplished 
 there rose up before him from a yjile of mangled corpses one ghastly 
 figure, covered with blood and wounds, which, frowning angrily upon 
 him, rushed upon him with a dagger to stab him to the heart. Fiercely 
 he struck at this phantom with his sword ; as he struck, another figure 
 rushed in between them, the figure of a woman, whose long, dishevelled 
 hair enveloped her with a radiance as of molten gold. His sword 
 buried itself in her breast ; wildly she threw up her arms, gazing upon 
 him out of a pair of large gray eyes, full of terror and reproach. 
 
 " Always my friend, whatever happens ! " she shrieked out, then 
 threw herself at his feet to die. It was Dolores. 
 
 With a loud cry Evana started from his couch and woke
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE DAY AFTER. 
 
 Mother and sister received the rescued prisoner with open arms. 
 Far into the night they sat together talking over tlie events of the last 
 three weeks, while of the day itself the events were detailed to them 
 by Evaristo after a fashion somewhat hard of comprehension. 
 
 When they separated, Marcelino retired to his couch with a heavy 
 heart. During his imprisonment and since, he had learned sufficient 
 to tell him that his father, though professing the greatest indignation at 
 his arrest, had taken no one step towards his deliverance, and had 
 rather hindered the plans of those who had interested themselves for 
 him. During his imprisonment he had been subjected once only to 
 a cursory examination, when the questions put to him showed him 
 that the cause of his imprisonment Avas the scheme for inviting the 
 Princess Carlota to Buenos Aires, which he had been the first to 
 enunciate. In this scheme he had taken no further part, yielding to 
 the wish of his father, though he still looked upon it as the only means 
 of achieving independence without plunging the country into civil war. 
 
 That his father knew the cause of his imprisonment, and could have 
 procured his release at any moment, he felt certain, yet he had neither 
 written to him nor had been once to see him. The Viceroy would 
 hardly have ventured upon such a step without consulting him, he 
 must at least have consented to, perhaps even suggested, his imprison- 
 ment. So Marcelino pondered within himself, lying on his couch 
 sleepless through the night until the dawn of another day, his mind 
 filled with bitter thoughts and his heart with anger. 
 
 The next day Venceslao Viana, passing the quinta with the dragoons 
 on the march outside, left a note from Colonel Lopez to Doha Con- 
 stancia, telling her that if Marcelino was with her he need be umlcr 
 no fear of arrest, for the Viceroy had sent an order for his liberation 
 to the Cabildo on the preceding evening. 
 
 The great heat of the day was past, the sun was already dipping 
 towards the tree-tops, and the shadows were beginning to stretch them- 
 selves out over the broad walks of the Quinta de Don Alfonso. The 
 wide porch, covered with honeysuckle, passion-flowers, and other 
 creepers, was at this time of the day the coolest jiart of the house, 
 here Magdalen sat alone in a low chair, sewing. She was dressed 
 in a plain gown of dove-coloured muslin, fitting closely round the base 
 of her neck, leaving her throat uncovered, girded round the waist with 
 a belt of blue velvet, fastened by a silver buckle. Narrow straight 
 
 T
 
 274 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 sleeves covered her arms down to the wrists, where tliey were confined 
 by bands of bUie velvet and terminated in Httle white frills. Her 
 glossy brown hair was bound round lier head by a fillet of blue silk, 
 from which sundry stray locks had escaped, and lay in broad curls 
 upon her neck and shoulders. She was not very diligently at work, 
 every now and then she would pause, and laying down her task gazed 
 with dreamy, far-looking eyes, out through the bright sunshine and 
 through the foliage of the trees upon the white towers and domes of 
 the city, so near to look upon, and yet to her so far off. For she 
 knew hardly anything of what had happened there for two weeks past, 
 she herself having never left the quinta and her father but once all 
 that time, while the only visitor who had been with them was Don 
 Fausto Velasquez. Since his visit h^r father had been very anxious 
 and troubled, but of his trouble he had told her nothing. That 
 morning his face had brightened, and he had gone into the city, from 
 which he had not yet returned. 
 
 So she sat alternately stitching and gazing, watching the lengthening 
 shadows of the trees, eagerly looking at any who passed on the 
 adjacent road, listening to the sound of any footstep that came near 
 her, waiting and thinking. ^Vaiting for her father, who came not, 
 thinking of many things. Waiting for her fLither, who had told her 
 when he went that he hoped to bring her good news on his return ; 
 thinking of what these news would be, yet doubting much that the 
 news which would most please her would be but of small import 
 to him. 
 
 As she sat thus she heard a footstep close to her, a footstep which 
 she knew well, coming up the garden walk, close to the house. This 
 footstep, light and quick, she had learned to know, for it had brought 
 her joy many times, and now her heart bounded with a wild delight, 
 and she whispered to herself — 
 
 " He is free." 
 
 Then a sudden pang shot through her and quenched her joy. The 
 blood which had rushed to her face at the first sound of that footstep 
 fled back again to her heart, and left her with pale cheeks and a nervous 
 contraction of the lips, as she thought of some words which had been 
 said to her days before by Doha Josefina, and of a girl of radiant 
 beauty of whom he had spoken in terms of Avarm admiration. 
 
 The footsteps ceased, a figure stood in the entrance of the porch, 
 and a low voice spoke to her in tender accents, one word only^ 
 
 " Magdalen." 
 
 As she heard that voice, and that one word so tenderly spoken, the 
 tremor of her heart ceased, the blood rushed back to her face, suffus- 
 ing cheeks and brow, she started to her feet, stretching out her hand 
 and trying to speak some word of welcome, but no word came. 
 Marcelino took her hand in his own and raised it to his lips, then 
 leading her back to her chair he seated himself beside her on a low 
 stool, still holding her hand in his. So sat they silently for some 
 moments, Magdalen was the first to speak. 
 
 " Papa is not at home," she said, drawing away her hand ; " all 
 day he has been in the city." 
 
 " It is three weeks since I have seen you," replied Marcelino.
 
 THE DAWN OF FREEDOM. 2/5 
 
 " They have been to me like three years. I have been in prison, I 
 have been thinking of you all the time and wondering whether you 
 would miss me. Have you been much in the city since I saw you 
 last ? " 
 
 " No, only once," said Magdalen. " Dona Josefina said that you 
 would soon be free." 
 
 " I escaped last night, and am free, yet in great trouble ; I cannot 
 live here any longer, I must go, but I could not go without seeing 
 you first." 
 
 " Going ! Where are you going ? Don Fausto said that it was a 
 mistake, and that you had done nothing." 
 
 " Yes, I had done something, I had dared to love my country, and 
 had dared to speak of a scheme which would free her from tyranny. 
 To love one's country is a crime in the eyes of our lords the Spaniards, 
 and my father is a Spaniard." 
 
 Then again there was silence between them for a space, till Mag- 
 dalen spoke. 
 
 " Yesterday morning there was a squadron of horse here in the 
 Plaza," she said; "all the morning they were there. Papa was very 
 anxious and kept watching them, till in the siesta they marched away 
 into the city. What happened there ? " 
 
 " At sundown there was a fight in the Plaza Mayor. Evaristo with 
 some Morenos of mine burst into the Cabildo and set me free. It 
 appears that the Spaniards made a revolt against Liniers and failed. 
 More I know not, but this is the beginning I hoped to have avoided, 
 now I have to choose between my father and my country." 
 
 " Your father ! But he was a great friend of the Viceroy, he would 
 not join a revolt against him." 
 
 " My father is a Spaniard, what Spaniards do is always well done 
 in his eyes, and without doubt he was with them." 
 
 " But you say they have failed ; he may be in danger. When did 
 you leave the city? What have you heard?" 
 
 " I left the city last night, and I have heard nothing more than I 
 have told you." 
 
 " And all the day where have you been ? " said Magdalen, looking 
 at him in surprise. 
 
 " I have been all day at the quinta, I have just come from there. 
 I could not pass the first day of my freedom without seeing you." 
 
 " And your father in danger ! Oh, that is wrong, it is so unlike you." 
 
 "In danger of what? a prison? I liave just escaped from the 
 jjrison where he jjut me." 
 
 " He put you ! It was the Viceroy put you in prison, and Don 
 Roderigo was very angry about it ; Don I'austo said so." 
 
 " I'he Viceroy does nothing of himself, he always consults some 
 one, none more than my father. My father warned me of this con- 
 spiracy, and I told him that if the Spaniards here pronounced against 
 Liniers, as Elio did in Monte Video, all Argentines would sup])ort the 
 Viceroy against them. He wanted me to promise him tliat I would 
 take no part either one way or other. I refused, and a few days 
 after I was in prison. Do not you think tliat one word from my 
 father would have set me free ? That word he never spoke. None
 
 2/6 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 knew better than he that in the afi:iir of the Princess Carlota nothing 
 could be proved against me, and I fear that he himself suggested my 
 imprisonment." 
 
 " Even if it be so it was for your sake he did it. If you had been 
 with the Viceroy, and the Spaniards had been successful, no one knows 
 what perils you would have run, in prison you were safe from all risk.'"' 
 " Am I a boy, that my father must lock me up to keep me out of 
 mischief? I gave up my scheme to please him, and see now how he 
 trusts me." 
 
 " Oh ! do not speak so, do not speak so, quarrels between Argen- 
 tines and Spaniards are bad enough, but between father and son they 
 are far worse. Your father has done this out of his care for you ; 
 perhaps he is now in danger. You must forgive him and help him." 
 
 " What can I do if he joins himself with the enemies of my country ? 
 Am I to be a traitor to my country for his sake ? " 
 
 " Nevertheless he is your lather. Where is he ? Perhaps in prison." 
 " I wished to avoid this, he stopped me, and said my scheme was 
 folly. They have commenced it, and now we shall have civil war here 
 in America, with my father on one side, I on the other. I see nothing 
 but misery in the future." 
 
 " Have you no faith in God ? Mr. Gordon told me that you used 
 to study the Bible, yet you seem to despair ; he who has faith in God 
 can never despair." 
 
 " For months I have not opened the Bible. I begin to believe that 
 there is no God." 
 
 " But you did believe there was a God once. You read the Bible 
 and learned lessons of faith from it, have you forgotten them already ? 
 When the English came you did your duty, though you said yourself 
 that there was no hope of beating them. Have you less courage now 
 than then ? Can you not do your duty and leave the result to God ? " 
 Then Marcelino looked up at Magdalen in surprise, he had never 
 heard her speak so before ; her voice was low, and there was a sweet 
 tremulousness in her tones which showed that there was a deep 
 earnestness in what she said. Again he took her hand in his, leaning 
 upon the arm of her chair. 
 
 " Do you ever read the Bible ? " he asked. 
 
 " Every day ; my mother taught me when I was quite a Httle girl in 
 England, and papa promised her that I should always read it. When 
 I came here to live with papa he told me what he had promised my 
 mother for me, and he gave me her Bible which he had kept for me. 
 Every day I read it now." 
 
 " When I was at Chascomus with my Morenos I read the Bible 
 every day." 
 
 " And when you read the Bible what did you learn from it ? " 
 " Once Gordon told me that the great lesson of the Bible was faith, 
 faith in God. I love my father, till now he has always been to me the 
 best of friends, now we are separated for ever. Think you that I can 
 have faith in God when my father becomes my worst enemy ? " 
 
 " You have not read the Bible well or you would know that that is 
 impossible. If you have faith in God you will do your duty now as 
 you did before. You will help your fether if he is in danger."
 
 THE DAWN OF FREEDOM. 277 
 
 " I have to choose between my father and my country. Tell me, 
 what is my duty ? " 
 
 Alagdalen was silent, and a troubled expression came over her face. 
 She had admired the eager patriotism she had seen in Marcelino and 
 in others, but of this sentiment she herself knew nothing, she had but 
 one duty that she knew of in her life, her duty to her father, and she 
 could not understand how any other duty could clash with that. 
 
 " Tell me, what is my duty ? " said Alarcelino again, looking earn- 
 estly at her. 
 
 " Where your father is, yo.u will learn your duty," replied she. 
 
 Then there was silence between them for several minutes, and when 
 they spoke again it was on other subjects, about Doha Josefina, about 
 Lola, about Don Alfonso, but of whatever they talked both thought of 
 Don Roderigo, though of him they spoke no more. 
 
 As the shadows deepened on the garden walks there came another 
 footstep through the quinta towards the porch, a footstep very different 
 from the one that had come before, a heavy, plodviing footstep, as of 
 one out of whose life the light and strength had departed, but Mag- 
 dalen started up as she heard it, a smile beaming out from her eyes. 
 That step, though so heavy, was lighter than she had heard it for 
 many a long day, it was her father's step, and he was bringing her the 
 good news of which he had spoken to her. She ran out to meet him 
 with a flush of pleasure on her face. 
 
 " Ah ! Chica," said he gaily ; " how has the long day passed with 
 you?" 
 
 And when he'saw Marcelino, who stood on the step of the porch 
 waiting for him, he stretched out his hand to him with greater cor- 
 diality than was his Avont. 
 
 " Felicidades ! " he said. " In the city every one is asking for you. 
 The general idea is that you are with your mother at the quinta." 
 
 " I went there last night," replied Marcelino. " But what has 
 happened ? I hardly know anything." 
 
 " Then you had better return to the quinta, there you will learn all. 
 A large party has gone out there this evening in search of you. 
 Don't be frightened, Chica," he added, as Magdalen started while 
 she clung to his arm, " all are now friends, and Don Martin Alzaga 
 is in prison." 
 
 " And my father, what of him ? " asked Marcelino. 
 
 At this {[uestion Don Alfonso frowned, but he answered gravely — 
 
 " Your father is more astute than I thought him ; he has managed 
 in some way to keep well with all parties." 
 
 "Did not I tell you so?" said Magdalen, with a bright smile. 
 " Don Roderigo would never join a conspiracy against the Viceroy. 
 Don Fausto said that he was his best friend." 
 
 " In the friendship of some men there is more danger than in the 
 enmity of others," said Don Alfonso gruffly. Then leading his 
 daughter into the porch, he added, turning to Marcelino — 
 
 " At the Quinta de Ponce there are many who wait for you." 
 
 Marcelino wished much to ask more, but after this he could remain 
 no longer. Bowing in silence he took his leave of them both, some- 
 what repaid for the gruffness of the father by the sympathy which
 
 2/8 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 looked upon him from Magdalen's gray eyes. He had left his horse 
 tieil umlcr the trees at the back of the quinta, thoughtfully he walked 
 from the house to where he had left him, mounted, and gal]oi)ed away. 
 
 " How long has he been here ? " said Don Alfonso to his daughter, 
 when Marcelino was beyond hearing. 
 
 " Nearly an hour," replied Magdalen. " He said there was fighting 
 yesterday in the city. Something good has happened, I can tell that 
 from your face, Tatita." 
 
 " Yes, I can breathe freely at last, the danger has passed over, and 
 in no way am I compromised. But listen, Chica, I like not that this 
 Don Marcelino come here so often. The Sehor Evaha is a friend of 
 mine, and for friends of his my door is open, but with the family of 
 Don Roderigo I want no friendship. Dona Josefina told me to-day 
 that you had frequently met his daughter at her house, this is bad. 
 Do not forget that such friendships are not convenient."
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 AMERICA FOR THE AMERICANS. 
 
 That evening Dona Constancia could not complain of being lonely 
 at her quinta. At sundown Don Fausto Velasquez arrived in his 
 carriage, bringing his whole family with him, and attended by Don 
 Manuel Belgrano and Captain Asneiros, who rode. Soon after them 
 came Don Roderigo and Colonel Lopez. Don Roderigo asked at 
 once for Marcelino, and was greatly chagrined when he heard that he 
 had left in the afternoon for the city, as he had seen nothing of him 
 there, but his annoyance was not of long continuance ; before it was 
 quite dark two more horsemen passed along the road by the quinta 
 gate to the stables, and Evaristo, who had been on the watch, came 
 running back to the veranda, announcing them to be his brother and 
 Don Carlos Evana. 
 
 As these two came up to the house after dismounting, both of them 
 looked grave ; on Marcelino's face there was even a deep shade Oi 
 sadness. But Don Roderigo was in exuberant spirits, and warmly 
 embraced his son. 
 
 " Evaristo was too quick for me," he said. " I had planned to set 
 you free myself as the crown to the day's work. But you are free, 
 and I have arranged it all ; you will receive no more annoyance on 
 that subject." 
 
 Then he gave his hand cordially to Evaha, saying — 
 
 " Ah ! Carlos, at last you have emerged from your seclusion. I 
 welcome you amongst us, we men of experience need the help of 
 younger men like you. AVe will work together and between us raise 
 up a new Spain in America, with laws and customs fitted to a new 
 world, now that the old Spain is tottering to her fall." 
 
 Then Evana, looking upon the smiling face, listening to the cordial 
 words of Don Roderigo, felt for the first time doubt of the practica- 
 bility of his own schemes, fear for the success of his darling project, a 
 Republic of Argentines. 
 
 "A new Spain in America, with laws and customs fitted to a new 
 world!" said he to himself, "what is this? Can Spaniards be free- 
 men ? Can Spaniards and Argentines live together as equals under the 
 free laws of a new Spain ? " 
 
 His heart was troubled ; he walked away by himself under the trees, 
 turning this matter over and over in his mind, and finding no solu- 
 tion to this fresh |)roblem wliich was bnsedupon the, to him, new idea, 
 that tyranny and injustice were not essential ingredients in the charac-
 
 2S0 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 ter of a Spaniard. As he walked to and fro in the dim twih'ght a 
 small hand was laid upon his arm, and a voice he loved to hear, spoke 
 to him in words soft and low. 
 
 *' Don Carlos, what are you doing here all alone ? You have not 
 been inside even to speak to us, and I have so much to say, so much 
 to thank you for, and mamma too, she has been asking for you. How 
 nobly you have kept your promise. We have heard all about it now, 
 Don Fausto and the Seiior Belgrano have told us what you did 
 yesterday." 
 
 To all that she said Evana answered not one word, but he took 
 her hand in his and side by side they walked together under the trees 
 in the dim twilight, she talking on, telling of her joy at seeing her 
 brother once more free, and of her certainty that now all would go 
 well, and that there would be no more talk of quarrels between 
 Spaniards and Creoles. Had not her father said so ? And to Dolores 
 that which her father said was truth unquestioned. As Evana listened 
 to her, her voice was to him as the rippling of waters, a music sooth- 
 ing the trouble of his soul, yet of what she said he knew nothing, 
 for his thoughts were far away peering into the dark future, Avhich 
 seemed darker than ever from the veil which had been thrown over 
 it by the words of Don Roderigo. 
 
 As Evana walked away Don Roderigo took his son by the hand 
 and led him inside, where his mother embraced him, chiding him 
 tenderly for having left her, and the others crowded round, over- 
 whelming him with congratulations. 
 
 Eagerly they talked together recounting the events of the day past 
 and of the day now closing, of most of which Marcelino was entirely 
 ignorant. As they talked to him his sadness and his anxiety van- 
 ished, his face flushed with a proud joy, it seemed to him that the 
 work was already accomplished, that he was already a free citizen of 
 a free people, that the power of Spain was broken for ever in Buenos 
 Aires, that the bonds of Spanish rule were burst asunder, never more 
 to fetter the energies of a young nation. 
 
 Then as he looked upon his father, whose face and Avords were 
 joyous as those of the others, and to whom all ascribed the credit of 
 having by his foresight and intrepidity prevented a murderous struggle, 
 his heart smote him that he had been unjust towards him. His heart 
 yearned towards him, prompting him to confess his mistake and to 
 beg forgiveness. He rose from his seat beside his mother and went 
 to him, taking him by the arm and leading him out from the brilliantly- 
 lighted sala to the veranda. 
 
 "Forgive me, Tata," he said; "I have been unjust to you in my 
 thoughts. I looked ujDon you as one of them and you are one of us. 
 I even thought that it was to you tliat I owed my imprisonment, and 
 accused you of cruelty to me and want of confidence. Forgive me." 
 
 " Right willingly I forgive you, my son," replied Don Roderigo ; 
 "your fault is nothing more than the inexperience of youth. I did 
 not imprison you, but I could have procured your release sooner had 
 I been able to trust in your discretion. You are an enthusiastic 
 partisan of Don Santiago Liniers, and if affairs had gone badly you 
 might have seriously compromised yourself for his sake, and all to no
 
 THE DAWN OF FREEDOM. 281 
 
 purpose. I warn you that this Liniers is not the man you think him, 
 but I tell you he will not rule much longer. The failure of this 
 conspiracy will greatly increase my influence, and I trust that native 
 Argentines will so support me that that influence may be exercised 
 for the welfare of us all. We who are Spaniards must give up our 
 old traditions of conquest and domination, and young Argentines must 
 indulge no more in senseless dreams of republican equality. So, all 
 may yet go well with us, and we may form a free and united people." 
 
 "Ah ! father, that is just my wish, as I have said to you long ago," 
 rejoined INIarcelino. " If the Princess Carlota " 
 
 " Do not speak to me of her," said Don Roderigo, interrupting 
 him ; " that scheme is quite inadmissible. Ferdinand VII., though 
 in a French prison, is King of Spain and the Indies." 
 
 As Don Roderigo spoke his eye fell upon his daughter and Don 
 Carlos Evaha, who passed near them walking side by side, the low 
 murmur of the girl's voice falling indistinctly upon his ear. 
 
 " See," said he, " there is the master spirit of the new generation. 
 He is your dearest friend, may he not also be to me a son ? With 
 two such sons to help me I have no fear of the future." 
 
 Then Don Roderigo laid his hand upon his son's shoulder leaning 
 upon him, and Marcelino followed with his eyes those two forms 
 w^hich glided slowly along side by side under the trees, seen only by 
 the light of the stars of heaven which twinkled down upon them 
 through the overarching foliage. On the face of Don Roderigo 
 there was hope and confidence, but on his son's there was doubt. 
 His thoughts carried him back to an evening months gone by, when 
 he had stood with Evaha and his sister at the end of the long avenue 
 of the poplar trees, watching the setting of the sun, an evening on 
 which he had seen sorrow and pity in his sister's face as she had 
 looked upon his friend, an evening on which that friend had called 
 him " brother." 
 
 As they stood there watching, Dolores saw them and, leaving 
 Evaiia, ran gaily towards them. Her father opened his arms to her, 
 and kissing her fondly led her with him back to the sala, while Mar- 
 celino walked away and joined his friend under the trees. Passing 
 his arm through his — ■ 
 
 " Are you my brother ? " he asked him. 
 
 " Most certainly I am," replied Evafia. 
 
 " And his son ? " 
 
 " Never." 
 
 It was past midnight, most of the household lay asleep, but in one 
 inner room lights were still burning, and the window and the door 
 thrown wide open let in a constant draught of the cool niglit air, 
 causing the lights to blaze unsteadily, and filling the room with flick- 
 ering shadows. Here four men sat at a small table talking together 
 in low tones. On the table stood a tall glass jug half full of claret, 
 and several goblets. 
 
 " I knew nothing of it," said Don Carlos Evana. 
 
 " Where have you been all day that at this hour you come to learn 
 what is old news to all the cily?" .said Colonel Lopez.
 
 282 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 " I remained in my room all day, and saw no one till Marcelino 
 came." 
 
 " And the idea of last night, what came of it ? " 
 
 " Nothing. It was a dream, and as a dream it vanished. I thought 
 to do something with Liniers. I proposed to him to join us. With 
 his great popularity to secure union among us, we might at once have 
 declared our independence, and have achieved it without a struggle. 
 He refused, and the victory of yesterday is sterile." 
 
 " From him we can hope nothing," said Marcelino. " Even my 
 father says so, and my father says more yet — he says that his power 
 is nearly at an end." 
 
 " Your father does not speak without knowledge," said Don INIanuel 
 Belgrano, who was the fourth man present; "without doubt they will 
 send us a new Viceroy from Seville." 
 
 " The power is in our hands now," said Marcelino ; " what we have 
 to study is the means of keeping it. Such Spaniards as Don Martin 
 Alzaga we can look upon in no other way than as enemies, but all 
 Spaniards are not as he. Spaniards there are who would willingly 
 join us in building up a new Spain, where the will of the people shall 
 be the law of the State, and the welfare of the people the first object 
 of government." 
 
 '' Dreams ! " said Evana. 
 
 "A dream as yet, but it may become a reality," rejoined Marcelino. 
 " To conciliate such Spaniards we nuist maintain our connexion with 
 the Old World, and we must abstain from startling novelties and from 
 rash experiments which may lead us no one knows where." 
 
 " Your love for your father blinds you to the truth," said Evana. 
 •' If in all the Viceroyalty there were to be found six Spaniards like 
 Don Roderigo I would support you. The Spaniards who come here, 
 come with but one object, to amass wealth by any means in their 
 power, and then to go back. For us Creoles or for our welfare they 
 care nothing." 
 
 " You say true," said Colonel Lopez, bringing his fist down upon 
 the table with a force which made the glasses clatter together. 
 " Whilst Spaniards govern, we are slaves. Out with the Spaniards, 
 and all is possible for men who know that their country is their own." 
 
 Marcelino looked up in surprise at his uncle ; never before had he 
 heard him speak thus. But Evana smiled, and from him Marcelino 
 turned away his eyes, for that smile was not one pleasant to look 
 upon — there was no mirth, no joy, in it, nothing but fierce resolve. 
 
 " My correspondence with Rio Janeiro has not inspired me with 
 any great hope of good from the Princess Carlota," said Belgrano, 
 " but I would willingly make great sacrifices to keep among us such 
 men as Don Roderigo, and I do not agree with Evana that there are 
 no other Spaniards like him, I believe there are many." 
 
 " There is but one sacrifice necessary," said Marcelino. " Some of 
 us dream of an independent republic, we must give that up. When 
 you write again to Rio state positively that we demand a ' Cabildo 
 Abierto.' If the Princess yield that, all is possible. We shall have 
 a new Spain, in which the majority of the citizens and all the 
 troops will be Argentines. What would you more, Carlos ? We
 
 THE DAWN OF FREEDOM. 283 
 
 shall have the liberty of a republic and keep the stability of an ancient 
 nation." 
 
 " Dreams ! " said Evana. " The Princess is a Spaniard, her ad- 
 visers are Spaniards and priests." 
 
 " We want no Spaniards and no Bourbons," said Colonel Lopez, 
 "■vve want a government of our own. Spaniards such as Don 
 Roderigo, who have married into our families, and have property 
 here instead of sending it to Spain, are of us, concerning them there 
 is no question. But Spaniards who come from Spain to rule over us 
 and plunder us, what know they of us, or what care we for them ? 
 Out with them ! We are no longer slaves that we should obey them !" 
 
 " As I have said already," said Evaha, " the triumph of yesterday 
 is sterile, and we have need of all our vigilance to prevent the loss of 
 everything we have gained since the victory of the 12th of August." 
 
 " Let us watch then," said Marcelino, " and from time to time let 
 us meet together to consult upon the events as they fall out." 
 
 " At last then you see the necessity of adopting my idea," said 
 Evaha, " a secret committee." 
 
 " I did not say so," said Marcelino. 
 
 " Nevertheless it is necessary, my friend," said Don Manuel Bel- 
 gran o. 
 
 " If it has come to that it is time that I retire," said the Colonel ; 
 " with secret societies I will have nothing to do. But remember, pre- 
 pare you everything, and when the day comes leave the work to us, 
 we want no civilians interfering with the troops." 
 
 So saying the Colonel poured himself out a goblet of water and left 
 the room. 
 
 " He says right," said Marcelino, as he went out ; " it is for us to 
 prepare the work, for others to do it." 
 
 " We must not only prepare, but much we must do also," said Bel- 
 grano. 
 
 " Without doubt," said Evana. " The people are accustomed to 
 look to one central power, we will destroy the Spanish power, but we 
 must put another in its place, a central power ruling by the will of the 
 peojjle. This power we must guide ourselves, but we must also hold 
 ourselves ready to act at times as its instruments." 
 
 " If we are not careful we shall but substitute one despotism for 
 another," said Marcelino. 
 
 " Without danger nothing is done," replied Evaha. " To discuss 
 fully all these points, and to provide as far as we can against all these 
 dangers, it is necessary that we form a secret committee. A secret 
 conmiittee is irresponsible, and its members are pledged to nothing, 
 we will have but one tie between us, that of nationality, we must 
 all be Argentines. Each man will give account to the others of all 
 that he does for the common cause, will consult with them as to 
 what he may purpose to do, and will know where to look for aid in 
 any event that may befall in which the co-operation of others is 
 requisite." 
 
 " Who do you propose to invite to join us ? " asked Belgrano. 
 
 "If you will both join me the committee is formed at once, then 
 we may consult together as to whom we shall invite."
 
 284 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 " I refuse no longer, I see that it is necessary," said Marcelino. 
 
 " I will join you also," said Belgrano. 
 
 " The first I propose to invite," said Evaha, " are Nicolas Rodri- 
 guez Peha, Francisco Passo, and Berruti." 
 
 "And Dr. Vieytes," said Belgrano; "his house will be a good 
 point of reunion for us." 
 
 "And I propose Juan Jose Passo, Donado, and Miguel Yrigoyen," 
 said Marcelino. 
 
 " I think all those will join us," said Evaiia. 
 
 "All of them think as we do," said Marcelino ; " all demand the 
 liberation of our country from foreign domination ; but even among 
 so few there are many opinions as to the means of doing it. What 
 plan of action do you propose in which we may all combine ? " 
 
 " I propose nothing, the time has not yet come," replied Evaha. 
 " One idea unites us, America for the Americans, let that suffice us 
 for the present." 
 
 " America for the Americans," said Belgrano ; " let that be our 
 watchword." 
 
 Then tlie three stood up joining hands across the table, repeating 
 together that watchword which expressed more fully than any other 
 words could do, the crude plans and ill-defined aspirations of the new 
 generation — 
 
 " America for the Americans."
 
 BOOK V. 
 THE DAWN OF FREEDOM. 
 
 PART 11. 
 
 THE MISTS OF THE EARLY MORN.
 
 PROLOGUE. 
 
 The vacillations of a youth are by no means a sign of instability. 
 An unknown world opens up before him, at every step he meets 
 some object, to him, full of novelty. When a prize seems within his 
 grasp he draws back his hand and turns away to enquire into the 
 substance of some fleeting shadow, which seems to him to have all 
 tha solidity of a grave reality. Disappointments fall upon him, and he 
 loses much that was easily attainable in the pursuit of intangible 
 myths. Yet are these disappointments no loss, they are the lessons 
 by which his ignorance is cleared away, and he grows in knowledge as 
 he grows in years. These disappointments are experience, without 
 which no lesson is perfect. 
 
 When the beams of the yet invisible sun brighten the sky in the 
 east, men know that ihe day is at hand. Yet do these beams often 
 raise up mists from earth, moist with the dews of night, which cover 
 their brilliance g,s with a veil, throwing out a new shadow of darkness ; 
 but that darkness is not of the night, it is the herald of tlie day. 
 Behind that veil rises up the sun, soon to dissipate those shadows, 
 bathing the earth in the full effulgence of his glory.
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE TWO VICEROYS. 
 
 The Senor Don Ciriaco Asneiros was far from satisfied with the 
 part he had taken in the affair of the ist January. To him there 
 remained no doubt that he had been the dupe of Doha Josefina. On 
 the evening of the 2nd January he rode out to the Quinta de Ponce, 
 determined to come to some explanation with her. She, confident in 
 her own power of fascination, was ready enough to give him the inter- 
 view he sought, and soon succeeded in soothing his resentment. As 
 they sat under the veranda together she spoke to him of Magdalen. 
 
 "Why do you not marry, Don Ciriaco?" said she to him; "if you 
 were to marry your position would be secure." 
 
 " Sehora, you know well " 
 
 "Of folly I wish to know nothing, Don Ciriaco ; be wise and listen 
 to nie. What you require is a rich wife ; I can get you one. What 
 think you of Magdalen Miranda?" 
 
 " The Inglesita ! " 
 
 " \\' hy not ? " 
 
 " Think you that I have no eyes, Senora ? For Don Marcelino 
 there is no other in the world." 
 
 " Marcelino ! " exclaimed Doha Josefina, interrupting him. " Have 
 you also that folly in your head ? Even though Marcelino worships 
 the ground she steps on he can never marry her. I know you have 
 great regard for Marcelino ; believe me you would be doing him a 
 service if you would help to cure him of that folly." 
 
 " You said to me, Sehora, a rich wife ; the old medico is as poor as 
 a rat." 
 
 "So they say," replied Doha Josefina, "but I know that when 
 Don Alfonso came here he was rich ; it is only a few days since that 
 Fausto told me so. You must not mention this to any one, but when 
 his daughter marries, it will be found out what he has done with his 
 wealth." 
 
 "The medico would not have me for a son-in-law, he hates 
 Spaniards," said Don Ciriaco. 
 
 "Don Alfonso fears evcrytliing; every one who can protect him is 
 his friend. \VIio can protect him better that the lavourite of the 
 Viceroy ? Leave that to me." So saying Doha Josefina rose from her 
 chair, and tapping her protcgd on the head with her fan glided away. 
 
 Don Ciriaco gave but a passing thought to this proposition of Doha 
 Josefina. The man in whose opinion he wished to stand high was 
 Don Rfjdcrigo Ponce de Leon. He knew him to be a bitter enemy 
 of Don Alfonso; no alliance with the medico could thus be thought 
 of for one moment. As he so pondered, sitting alone under the 
 
 U
 
 290 PONCE DE LEON, 
 
 veranda, Don Roderigo came out from the house, and, seating him- 
 self in the chair lately vacated by Dona Josefma, entered into con- 
 versation with him. 
 
 " His Excellency the Viceroy has told me," said Don Roderigo, 
 " that you led the Andaluces to his support solely for the purpose of 
 procuring the release of my son." 
 
 " It is true," replied Asneiros. 
 
 " It was a mistake," said Don Roderigo ; " but we will say no more 
 of it. 1 do not doubt your loyalty to S[jain, and I have come to put 
 it to the proof. I have heard from Doha Josefina that you are on 
 intimate terms with the family of Don Alfonso Miranda. Are you 
 aware who he is ? " 
 
 " I know nothing of him, Don Roderigo," replied Asneiros ; " I 
 have met him sometimes at the house of Don Fausto, that is all." 
 
 " I have been misinformed then, and I am sorry : your acquaint- 
 ance with him might have been of great service to me." 
 
 " How? I will do anything I can to be of service to you, as you 
 know, Don Roderigo." 
 
 " You can be of service only if you are intimate with him, and visit 
 frequently at his quinta." 
 
 lliis conversation was prolonged far into the night, and resulted in 
 the establishment of a complete understanding between the grandee and 
 the soldier, one immediate result of which was, that Don Ciriaco Asnei- 
 ros received his commission as major before a week had elapsed. 
 
 Don Carlos Evaha had received the congratulations of Don 
 Roderigo Ponce de Leon upon his debut as a politican with great 
 coldness. He seemed to have no wish to distinguish himself further 
 in that way, but he surprised many of his friends by adopting a new 
 pursuit, one for which he had in former years shown great distaste : 
 he became a sportsman. 
 
 The one business of his life seemed to be to plan excursions into 
 the country for shooting or fishing. On these expeditions he never 
 went alone, Marcelino Ponce de Leon was frequently with him, Don 
 Manuel Belgrano more frequently still, and there were others, such 
 as the Passos, Don Juan Jose and Don Francisco, Don Nicolas 
 Rodriguez Peha, Don Miguel Yrigoyen, Don Antonio Beruti, and 
 Don Agustin Donado, some of whom were always of the party. 
 Their favourite point of meeting when starting on these expeditions 
 was at the house of Dr. Vieytes in the Calle Venezuela. 
 
 Often during the heat of the day when on these expeditions did 
 they seek shelter under the hospitable roof of Don Roderigo at the 
 Quinta de Ponce ; not unfrequently, as the season advanced and 
 partridge and snipe flocked to the " bahados de Flores," which are 
 situate about two leagues west of the city, they would spend an hour 
 or two on their return at the quinta of Don Alfonso Miranda. 
 
 These excursions seemed to afford to them all great pleasure, they 
 looked forward to them and spoke of them with eagerness, as though 
 they were events of the greatest importance, yet withal the trophies 
 of their prowess were but meagre, and it was no unfrequent chance 
 for them to return with empty bags. Partridges whirred up in front
 
 THE MISTS OF THE EARLY MORN. 29 1 
 
 of them, the snipe piped his shrill cry and hovered before tliem, then 
 {]e\v away unharmed. If they went fishing it not rarely happened 
 that some unlucky fish would hook and have full leisure^ to unhook 
 himself again, ere the careless fisherman found that the bait was gone. 
 They were but poor sportsmen after all, though so enthusiastic. 
 
 Dolores had many a laugh at them, telling them that she feared 
 they would tare but badly if they had to depend for food upon their 
 own exertions. And one day when Don Carlos took Magdalen a 
 brace of snipe, after a long day's sjiort in the bahados, she held them 
 up, one in each hand, saying merrily — 
 
 " Poor little things, how clever you must be ! It took six men 
 with guns all day long to catch you ! " 
 
 In fact, during these excursions the shooting and the fishing occu- 
 pied but a very small portion of their time, most of it was taken up 
 in conversation. In knots of two or three, or all in one group, they 
 would sit for hours by the side of a stream or under the shade of 
 some clump of trees, talking together. Their talk was of the events 
 of the day, and of the influence of these events upon the future. 
 These friendly sportsmen formed in reality a secret committee ; one 
 watchword they had among them — ■ 
 
 " America for the Americans ! " 
 
 But of the meaning of this phrase there were as many opinions 
 among them as there were speakers. 
 
 During the year 1809, to the end of which these sporting excursions 
 continued, events succeeded each other with great rapidity. Each 
 event as it fell out was followed by an excursion, during which all its 
 bearings were discussed under the free air of heaven ; if any acquaint- 
 ance chanced to join them, discussion ceased, and their talk was solely 
 of their sport. 
 
 Don Manuel Belgrano had taken a very prominent part in the affair 
 of the 1st January, his conduct gained him the confidence of the 
 Viceroy, who after that day began to consult him on many occasions. 
 One of the chief difficulties of the Viceroy was the empty state of the 
 treasury, the consequence of his lavish expenditure. For this Don 
 Manuel Belgrano set himself to work to devise a remedy, and found it 
 in free trade. 
 
 The restrictions imposed upon commerce by the Spanish colonial 
 system paralyzed the productive industries of her colonies. Their 
 trade was restricted to certain channels, marked out by the Consulado 
 of Cadiz. The ports of Monte Video and Buenos Aires were closed 
 to foreign merchants and to foreign ships. 
 
 Belgrano proposed to throw open the port of Buenos Aires to English 
 shijjs and to invite English merchants to settle there, satisfied that a 
 t)risk trade would soon spring uj), upon which a revenue might be levied 
 ample for all the purposes of Government. With the approval of the 
 Viceroy, he proceeded to draw up an extensive memorial on the subject. 
 Previous to submitting it to the Viceroy himself, he wished to discuss 
 it in detail with tlie members of tiie secret committee. In A[)ril a 
 shooting excursion was planned to the neighl)Ourhood of Quilmes ; Don 
 Manuel Belgrano was of the i)arly, carrying his memorial with him.
 
 292 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 It was evening, most of the sportsmen had returned to the city, but 
 two of them, Don Carlos Evana and Don Manuel Belgrano, rode oft 
 together to the Quinta de Ponce. 
 
 " Marcelino was not with you to-day," said Dona Constancia, as she 
 sat with her two guests under the veranda. 
 
 " No, he could not leave the city," replied Don Carlos ; " I shall 
 see him to-morrow, have you any message for him ? " 
 
 " You will not have to wait till to-morrow, for here he comes," said 
 Dolores, junii)ing up from her chair as a horseman passed along the 
 road, and walking away to greet him as he dismounted. 
 
 " Is Carlos here ? " asked Marcelino, as he walked with his sister to 
 the house after giving up his horse to a slave. 
 
 " Yes, and Don Manuel Belgrano," said Dolores ; " they did not 
 expect you, they said you were too busy to leave the city." 
 
 " I have news. I could not have slept to-night if I had not seen 
 Carlos to tell him." 
 
 "It is good news, I can see that by your face. Is Juan Carlos 
 coming back ? " 
 
 " No, but some one has come." 
 
 " Who ? " 
 
 " Guess." 
 
 " The Princess Carlota ? " 
 
 "No such luck. But what do you know of the Princess Carlota?" 
 
 " Oh ! I know things. I know more than you think." 
 
 " Then as you are so wise I will tell you. A new Viceroy has 
 come out from Spain." 
 
 " A new Viceroy ! " exclaimed Dolores ; then breaking from him 
 she ran before him to the veranda. 
 
 " Mamma ! " said she, " great news, there is a new Viceroy, who 
 has come out from Spain. Now we shall be all quiet again, there will 
 be no more quarrels, papa said so, don't you remember ? " 
 
 As she spoke, Don Carlos started to his feet, and Don Manuel 
 Belgrano, biting his lip, pressed his hand upon the breast of his coat, 
 in the pocket of which there was a thick roll of paper. 
 
 Marcelino, bending over his mother, kissed her, and then turned to 
 shake hands with his two friends, who stood silent, waiting for him to 
 speak. 
 
 " It is true," he said, as he held their hands in his. " Last week 
 Don Baltazar Hidalgo de Cisneros arrived in Monte Video, bringmg 
 his appointment by the Junta of Seville as Viceroy of Buenos Aires. 
 When I tell you that Don Martin Alzaga is already his confidential 
 friend I tell you all." 
 
 " Don Martin Alzaga ! But he is in Patagones," said Dona 
 Constancia. 
 
 " He was, mamita," said Marcelino ; " but his exile was short. 
 Elio sent an armed vessel to rescue him and the others ; he has been 
 living at his ease in Monte Video for nearly a month now." 
 
 " My God ! Is there then war between us and Monte Video ? " 
 
 " Not now, Sehora," said Evaha. " This new Viceroy of ours 
 will doubtless soon bring us all to order and make us all good friends 
 again."
 
 THE MISTS OF THE EARLY MORN. 293 
 
 As he spoke, another horseman came up the road, and, dismounting 
 at the gate, threw his reins over a post, and walked up the narrow 
 pathway to the house. It was Don Roderigo. 
 
 The three younger men stood in silence waiting for him, their 
 anxiety visible in their faces. 
 
 " Ah ! Marcelino has been before me," said Don Roderigo cheer- 
 fully. " You know the news already." 
 
 " Yes," replied Don Manuel Belgrano. " How long has this new 
 Viceroy been in Monte Video ? " 
 
 " A week. The north winds have kept the news from us till now. 
 He was expected in Colonia to-day." 
 
 " Then to-morrow, or the next day, we may expect him here," said 
 Evana. 
 
 " And the Junta of Monte Video?" asked Belgrano. 
 
 " It is dissolved." 
 
 " And the members imprisoned for their rebellion against the legal 
 authority?" asked Belgrano. 
 
 " No," replied Don Roderigo slowly ; " they have not been im- 
 prisoned. Their proceedings were ill-judged, but they were actuated 
 by a regard for the interests of their country, they cannot be con- 
 sidered as criminals." 
 
 " And now they will be the counsellors of our new Viceroy," said 
 Marcelino. " That may not be, Liniers will not give up his authority 
 to men who have shown themselves to be his enemies." 
 
 " Quietly, my son," said Don Roderigo, as Doha Constancia looked 
 up in alarm at JNIarcelino's indignant words. " Liniers is a loyal 
 servant of Spain, though he is a Frenchman ; he will yield at once 
 his authority to a successor legally appointed by the Junta Central." 
 
 " Liniers holds his authority from the King of Spain; when the Junta 
 Central have re-established the King, then the King may cancel an 
 appointment which the King made," said Marcelino. 
 
 " The appointment of Liniers came from the people," said Evaha. 
 " Are the people to have no voice in this matter? " 
 
 " Liniers has told me of the memorial in favour of free trade, which 
 you had promised to draw up for him," said Don Rocierigo, turning to 
 Belgrano, " it will now be useless so far as he is concerned, but if you 
 will oblige me with a copy of it I will take care that it be submitted 
 to the attention of the new Viceroy." 
 
 "With much pleasure, Don Roderigo," said Belgrano. "Within 
 two days you shall have a copy, and believe me, that if this Don Bal- 
 tazar de Cisneros seeks the real welfare of the country, he cannot inau- 
 gurate his rule better than by opening our ports to foreign trade." 
 
 " I am perfectly of your opinion, Don Manuel," replied Don Rode- 
 rigo ; "and with a Spanish Viceroy, reforms are possible which could 
 not be entertained under the rule of a foreigner." 
 
 " You have probably seen Don Santiago Liniers to-day," said 
 Evaha. " Does he himself announce his intention of yielding his 
 authority into the hands of this new Viceroy?" 
 
 "He does. Of that there could be no question," replied Don 
 Roderigo. 
 
 After some furtlier conversation Don Roderigo and Doha Con-
 
 294 rONCE DE LEON. 
 
 stancia retired into the hoiise, and the three friends walked away from 
 the veranda to the gate, where they i)aused, looking up and down the 
 road and around them, to make sure tlxit no one was witliin hearing. 
 Evaiia was the first to speak. 
 
 " America for the Americans ! " said he. " Now has come the time, 
 my friends, for us to put our principles to the test. If this Spaniard 
 lands, we shall lose every advantage we have gained." 
 
 " I am not surprised that Liniers should declare his intention of 
 yielding at once," said Belgrano. " He always yields to the first 
 counsellor who gains his ear. He has shown great confidence in me 
 for several months past, I will go to him to-morrow, and I think I can 
 persuade him to put himself at the head of the people." 
 
 " You are aware that he rejected a similar proposal/rom me ? " said 
 Evana. 
 
 "If he yield to Cisneros he signs his own death-warrant," said Mar- 
 celino. " He was in no such danger then." 
 
 " I shall show him his danger," said Belgrano, " and we must also 
 devise means to prove to him that the people and the troops will 
 support him." 
 
 " I can manage that easily, by a popular demonstration," said Evaha. 
 
 " I have also another piece of news to tell you, of which my father 
 knows nothing," said Marcelino. " A gendeman, who is nominally 
 travelling for amusement, has to-day arrived from Rio Janeiro, he has 
 brought me a letter from Don Saturnino, his name is Don Felipe 
 Contucci. He brings for you, Belgrano, an autograph letter from the 
 Princess Carlota, he is in reahty an emissary of hers." 
 
 " Bah ! " exclaimed Evana. " Unless we concentrate all our ener- 
 gies upon one object, we lose everything." 
 
 But Marcelino and Belgrano looked at each other, and each read 
 the thought of the other in his glance. There was hope yet of recon- 
 ciling all differences, and of founding a new Spain in America. 
 
 The news of the appointment and arrival of a new Viceroy spread 
 rapidly through Buenos Aires, rousing in the Spaniards hope that their 
 dominion had not yet passed away from them ; awakening in the 
 breasts of native Argentines something of fear, for the glamour of 
 centuries is not to be effaced by a year or two of light. 
 
 Days of doubt and hesitation succeeded; the new Viceroy ap- 
 proached Buenos Aires with the greatest caution, sending emissaries 
 before him to prepare the people for his coming, and to sound the 
 disposition of the leading citizens and of the troops. When he at last 
 reached Colonia it was with such an escort, as would have befitted a 
 general advancing upon the capital of an enemy. Then Liniers 
 declared openly that he had not the slightest intention of opposing in 
 any way the will of the Junta of Seville and would himself aid the new 
 Viceroy to establish his authority. These words of the Reconquis- 
 tador were sedulously spread about the city and roused the indignation 
 of the people. They thronged the street in which stood the private 
 residence of their chosen leader, shouting that they would have none 
 other than him to rule over them, and calling upon him to come forth 
 and speak to them.
 
 THE MISTS OF THE EARLY MORN. 295 
 
 "You hear the shouts of the mob?" said Don Roderigo Ponce de 
 Leon, who was at that moment with the Viceroy. " As loud as that 
 will they shout ' ; Viva Cisneros ! ' when Don Baltazar thinks fit to 
 cross the river." 
 
 Then went out Don Santiago Liniers onto his balcony and spoke 
 to the people such words as seemed fittest to quiet them, caring 
 nothing what pledges he might take in their esteem, thinking nothing 
 of the trust they placed in him. To him they listened, and as he con- 
 cluded by requesting them to disperse, they tossed their hats in the 
 air, shouting again — 
 
 " i Viva Don Santiago Liniers ! No queremos otro Virey. Viva ! " 
 
 Then acceding to his request, each man retired to his own home. 
 
 Marshal Don Santiago Liniers standing on his balcony, looking at 
 them as they slowly dispersed, listening to their shouts and cries of 
 confidence and trust, words which he was never more to hear, was 
 aware of a tall man leaning against a door-post some fifty yards off, 
 watching him intently. From this man he could not withdraw his eyes, 
 he felt attracted to him by some deadly fascination for which he could 
 not account, yet there was nothing peculiar in the attitude of this man. 
 
 " Don Roderigo," said the Viceroy, stepping back into the room 
 behind him, " look here one moment, tell me if you know this man?" 
 
 Don Roderigo stepped onto the balcony and looked over into the 
 street, but the man had left his post and was walking slowly away 
 with his back towards them. 
 
 " Is not that Evana ? " said the Viceroy. 
 
 "Evaha? impossible!" replied Don Roderigo. " There is nothing 
 for which Evaha has greater contempt than for the shouts of a mob." 
 And so saying he went back and looked no more. 
 
 But Liniers lingered on the balcony, still fascinated by the slowly 
 receding figure of the tall man who had looked at him so intently. 
 He watched him till he reached a corner, turned it, and vanished 
 from sight. But it seemed to the Viceroy that, as he vanished, he 
 turned once more to look at him, and raised his hand in angry 
 menace toward the evening sky. 
 
 Still borne on the evening air from neighbouring streets came the 
 shouts of the citizens slowly dispersing to their homes — 
 
 " ; Viva Don Santiago Liniers ! No queremos otro Virey. Viva! " 
 
 Listening to these shouts, the Viceroy then turned his gaze to the 
 evening sky toward which that figure had raised its threatening hand. 
 To the west, where the sun had sunk below the horizon, the sky was 
 covered by broad bands of scarlet and yellow, two of scarlet with one 
 of yellow between them, and over these there hung a dark, black 
 cloud, sinking lower and lower, till the crimson glories of the sunset 
 faded away into the darkness. Over that dark cloud the sky was of 
 the purest blue, and straight before him in the midst of it there shone 
 one brilliant star. 
 
 Chilching the rail of the balcony with both hands, the Viceroy 
 gazed upon this star, and as he gazed, again through the evening air 
 there came the sound of voices shouting from far off, in accents clear 
 and distinct, his own name. He thouglit of what he was about to do ; 
 again he thought of the people who had placetl their destinies in his
 
 296 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 hands, and a sort of dreamy hallucination fell upon ; he forgot that he 
 was in Buenos Aires, he forgot that he was Viceroy, again in memory 
 he stood ill tlie streets of Paris as he had stood in his fyouth, and the 
 shouts changed from acclamations to yells of deadly menace — 
 
 " ^a ira ! Les aristocrats a la lanterne. " 
 
 He shivered, an unknown terror seized upon him, he averted his rapt 
 gaze and turned back quickly into the room. Walking to a side table, 
 he filled a goblet with wine and drained it at a draught. As he filled the 
 goblet, his hand trembled so that he spilled some of the wine upon the 
 table, wdience it flowed upon the uncarpeted floor; the rays of a lamp 
 falling over the spot lighted up the drops of wine as they trickled 
 slowly from the table, falling upon the floor in great red splashes like 
 drops of blood. Liniers started back covering his face with his hands. 
 
 " What is the matter with you, Don Santiago?" said a friendly voice 
 in his ear. " Let us dine, for all is ready and we have no time to lose." 
 
 Two hours after nightfall three men, muffled in large cloaks, left the 
 fort by the postern gate, and walked away towards the beach, where a 
 boat awaited them. He who walked in the centre was Don San- 
 tiago Liniers ; they who attended him were Don Roderigo Ponce de 
 Leon and Don Martin Rodriguez, confidential friends, who had 
 counselled him to set at nought the will of the people, who had made 
 him Viceroy. The three men reached the boat without molestation, 
 stepped into it, and were rowed to a small armed vessel, which imme- 
 diately weighed anchor, spread her sails to the wind, and steered for 
 Colonia. 
 
 The next morning, as Don Baltazar de Cisneros, in a loose dressing- 
 gown, was imbibing his morning cup of coffee, an aide-de-camp came 
 hurriedly into the room, announcing the approach of the Sehor 
 Mariscal ])on Santiago Liniers. Cisneros started up from his chair, 
 in his alarm dropping his cup onto the floor. 
 
 " Liniers ! " exclaimed he, " with what force ? " 
 
 " Two friends are with him," replied the aide-de-camp. 
 
 The next moment Liniers stood in the doorway, a smile curled his 
 lip as he saw the agitation of his rival, and the broken cup lying on 
 the floor at his feet. For a minute the two Viceroys stood looking 
 intently one at the other, then they mutually advanced, and opening 
 their arms embraced like brothers. 
 
 Some hours later Don Baltazar de Cisneros walked on the azotea of 
 his house in earnest conversation with Don Roderigo Ponce de Leon. 
 
 " I have been informed that 1 can place implicit confidence in 
 you," said Don Baltazar, " and that your counsel may be of great 
 service to me." 
 
 Don Roderigo bowed and replied — 
 
 " I trust I may merit your confidence, Don Baltazar, and it is not 
 unlikely that I may be of service to you. I have lived half my life in 
 Buenos Aires, and am intimately acquainted with most of the leading 
 citizens. In any way in which I can aid you, you may securely count 
 upon me." 
 
 " So 1 was given to understand before I left Spain," answered Don 
 Baltazar. " I will give you a proof of my confidence by telling you
 
 THE xMISTS OF THE EARLY MORN. 297 
 
 my secret instructions and asking your advice as to how I can carry 
 them out. In the first place I am instructed to send Liniers under 
 arrest to Spain, and to disarm the native miUtia of Buenos Aires. I 
 see great difficulties in the way of accomplishing either of these two 
 clauses in my instructions." 
 
 " They are neither of them to be thought of at present," said Don 
 Roderigo. " Don Santiago Liniers is immensely popular, not only in 
 Buenos Aires, but throughout the provinces ; his arrest would pro- 
 voke an open rebellion against which we should be powerless. You 
 must make use of his popularity to establish your own authority, and 
 at the same time seize every opportunity of undermining that popu- 
 larity, which is a great source of danger to us. To disarm the militia 
 is at present a simple impossibility, thanks to the thick-headedness of 
 Don Martin iVlzaga." 
 
 " What steps would you then advise me to take ? You say that 
 the excitement of the populace in Buenos Aires is so great that it 
 would hardly be safe for me to cross the river? " 
 
 " Your presence in Buenos Aires would ruin everything. I would 
 advise you to send a delegate in your name to take command of the 
 troops, and leave the nominal authority for a time in the hands of 
 Don Santiago Liniers. In a month or two, when this excitement has 
 cooled down, you may safely come to us, and you will find everything 
 jjrepared for your reception." 
 
 " Ha ! Don Santiago," said Cisneros, as Liniers ascended to the 
 azotea and came towards them, " I have been talking Avith Don 
 Roderigo, and find that his opinion is the same as yours, that it would 
 be unsafe for me to cross over to Buenos Aires as yet." 
 
 " Your Excellency may have perfect confidence in the wisdom of 
 any advice given you by Don Roderigo," said Liniers. 
 
 " Not less confidence than I have in your experience and loyalty, 
 Don Santiago," replied Cisneros. " Your services are highly ajjpre- 
 ciated in Spain, and it will be a fresh claim upon the liberality of the 
 Junta if you will consent to retain your office for a month or two 
 longer, by which time you will be able to smooth matters sufficiently 
 for me to assume the reins of government myself." 
 
 " I fear your Excellency overrates my influence with the citizens of 
 Buenos Aires." 
 
 " Not in the least, Don Santiago," said Don Roderigo ; " I have 
 explained the matter to his Excellency, and we have both the fullest 
 confidence in you. It is to you alone that the Junta can look for the 
 establishment of its authority in Buenos Aires." 
 
 " The Junta will have no cause to find their confidence misplaced," 
 replied Liniers. 
 
 Two days after this, Don Santiago Liniers returned to Buenos Aires, 
 taking with him General Nieto, who held a commission from tiie new 
 Viceroy as commandant-general of all the forces of Spain in the vice- 
 royalty of Buenos Aires. 
 
 The two Viceroys separated with great cordiality on both sides, and 
 with mutual expressions of esteem and confidence.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE TERTULIA AT THE HOUSE OF MY LADY JOSEFINA. 
 
 The return of Marshal Linicrs to Tiuenos Aires, quieted the excite- 
 ment of the people, which had risen to a dangerous pitch, but did 
 nothing to allay the distrust of Liniers which was felt by the members 
 of the secret committee. 
 
 A shooting excursion was at once planned by Don Carlos Evaiia to 
 the banados of Flores. On this occasion not one member of the 
 committee was absent. Seated under a clump of trees close to a 
 deserted rancho, their guns unloaded, their dogs lying lazily stretched 
 out in the sunshine, they discussed the topic of the day, the avowed 
 intention of Marshal Liniers to surrender his power into the hands of 
 Don Baltazar de Cisneros, the assumption by General Nieto of the 
 command of the native troops. 
 
 The sun was sinking towards the horizon, when their dogs became 
 uneasy, and, leaving them, went up to the deserted rancho, snuffing 
 round the walls, some of them barking furiously. 
 
 "What is the matter with the dogs?" said Evana impatiently. 
 
 " An opossum or a skunk, or some such beast," said Belgrano. 
 
 " I'll have a look," said Beruti, starting to his feet. 
 
 Round the rancho he walked but could see nothing, while the dogs 
 became more furious in their clamour. He tried the door but it was 
 fast shut,, and he could find no means of opening it. 
 
 " That door was open," said Marcelino, " when we came, for I went 
 in and looked through the rancho, and it was empty." 
 
 " Let us go," said Dr. Vieytes. " It is late already, and I think we 
 have decided that we can do nothing until we have secured the 
 troops." 
 
 " I will first see what is in that rancho," said Evana, taking up his 
 gun. 
 
 Walking up to the door of the rancho he tried it, as Beruti had 
 done before him. He could not open it, it was evidently fastened on 
 the inside. He raised his gun in both hands and struck a furious 
 blow with the butt upon the side-panel of the door. The stock of 
 the gun broke short off, leaving a useless iron tube in his hands, but 
 the door remained uninjured. 
 
 Perhaps it was as well for you, Don Carlos Evana, that you did not 
 succeed in bursting open that door. Behind it, in darkness, stood a 
 man who held a cocked pistol in each hand. Had you crossed the 
 threshold of that door, }'ou would never have recrossed it alive.
 
 THE MISTS OF THE EARLY MORN. 299 
 
 " What are you doing, Carlos ? " said Marcelino, seizing him by the 
 arm. " Come, we have delayed here too long already." 
 
 " Come ! come, Evaha ! " shouted the others ; " we may yet shoot a 
 few birds as we go back." 
 
 "And we have need of special caution just now lest we excite sus- 
 picion," said Marcelino. 
 
 Evana stooped, picked up the broken stock, and walked slowly 
 away after the others, every now and then looking back upon the 
 rancho, and never losing sight of it till they were free from the bafiado 
 and on the high road for the city. 
 
 " Do not let us go on to town yet ; let us go to the quinta and see 
 Magdalen," said Evana to Marcelino, as they reached the Plaza Mise- 
 rere. " I have forgotten how the tea tastes out of her porcelain cups." 
 
 " Let us go," rejoined Marcelino ; yet his eye did not brighten as 
 he acceded to the proposition of his friend, and something very like 
 a sigh issued from his lips. 
 
 " My brother, you are sad," said Evaha, stretching out his hand 
 and laying it upon his shoulder. " Do Magdalen's gray eyes look less 
 kindly upon you than they did formerly ? " 
 
 " Magdalen's gray eyes never look upon me now, Carlos. She 
 shuns me; all our old intimacy is at an end. What I have done to 
 offend her I do not know, for I have spoken to her and she refuses 
 me any explanation." 
 
 " Let us follow the others," said Ev'aha. 
 
 " No, let us go on," replied Marcelino ; " she will talk to you, and 
 her voice is music to me still." 
 
 They found Magdalen alone, seated by the fireside, busily sewing. 
 Her eyes brightened for a moment as they fell upon Don Carlos 
 Evaha, who was the first to enter the room, but the light in them died 
 away as she saw Marcelino enter behind him. In silence she stretched 
 out her hand to each of them, without rising from her chair. 
 
 " Papa is in the quinta," she said, as they seated themselves without 
 invitation. " Or perhaps he may have walked up the road to meet 
 Don Ciriaco, who said he would be back before dark." 
 
 " Don Ciriaco comes very often to see you now," said Marcelino. 
 
 " He is more constant in his friendships than some gentlemen I 
 know," replied Magdalen. " It is months since you were last here, 
 Don Carlos." 
 
 " Not months, Sehorita," replied Evaha, " but weeks ; when I have 
 been here I have generally met Don Ciriaco, who is a gentleman 
 whose friendship I have no wish to cultivate." 
 
 '• Papa and Doiia Josefina think very highly of him, and they know 
 liini better than you do, Don Carlos. You have been out shooting 
 to-day in the bahados, have you not? What did you shoot ?" 
 
 " Nothing ; I broke my gun, but the others have some birds in 
 tlicir bags." 
 
 " I was on the azotea, and saw you passing this morning. Did you- 
 not meet Don Ciriaco? " 
 
 " No. Did he go out shooting too ? " 
 
 " Not when you did, but he came here in tlie afternoon, and when 
 I told him I had seen you pass he said he would go and join you,
 
 300 rOXCE DE LEON. 
 
 but how lie is to shoot without a gun I do not know. Papa offered 
 to lend him his, but he went without it, and alone on foot." 
 
 To this F-vaha answered nothing;, but sat biting the ends of his 
 moustache, while Marcelino twirled his hat round between his fingers, 
 looking upon the ground in silence. 
 
 " If you had let nie break o])en the door of that rancho we should 
 have found a skunk inside," said Evana. 
 
 "It is quite possible," replied Marcelino. 
 
 "A skunk!" said Magdalen. " And in a rancho ! If you had found 
 one what would you have done with it ? " 
 
 " Shot him," replied Evaha. 
 
 Don Alfonso Miranda had walked up the road, l)ut he returned 
 alone, and Magdalen made tea for them in her porcelain cups. All 
 the evening Marcelino and Evaha waited, at every sound they looked 
 towards the door, and there was a constraint over them all, but Don 
 Ciriaco did not come back, at which Magdalen expressed her surprise, 
 but her father said nothing. 
 
 \Vhen their guests had at last taken their departure, Don Alfonso 
 called to IMagdalen to come and sit by him. She seated herself in 
 her favourite low chair, and recommenced her sewing without making 
 any remark. Presently her father spoke to her. 
 
 " This Don Marcelino does not often now trouble us with his 
 presence, Chica," he said ; then he paused as though he expected a 
 reply, but none came, and he continued — 
 
 " He seems almost as keen a sportsman as our friend Don Carlos, 
 and when he is not shooting birds I suppose he has all his time pretty 
 well taken up paying court to the fair Elisa. When a man chooses 
 the prettiest girl in the city for his lady-love he does well to keep a 
 strict watch on all rivals." 
 
 " Are they to be married soon ? " asked Magdalen, with the greatest 
 composure. 
 
 " I know nothing about it, I never trouble my head with such 
 matters," replied Don Alfonso. " Who told you that they were to be 
 married ? " 
 
 " No one ; but Dona Josefina said one day 1 don't know Avhat 
 
 she said, something, but what does it matter?" 
 
 " It is about time for me to think of finding a husband for you, 
 Chica." 
 
 '' Oh ! don't say that, please don't, papa," said Magdalen, for the 
 first time that evening showing any animation, " I don't want to marry." 
 
 " All girls say that," repUed Don Alfonso, " but the most of them 
 do marry for all that." 
 
 " Some don't," said Magdalen. 
 
 " And some find husbands for themselves, without waiting for their 
 fathers to find them for them, as they ought to do. There is a gentle- 
 man comes here very often who does not come to see me. \Vhat do 
 you think he comes here for, Chica ? " said Don Alfonso, with some- 
 thing of tenderness in his tone. 
 
 " I don't know what you mean, papa," said Magdalen, flushing 
 scarlet. 
 
 " Ah ha ! Chica ! You think that we old folks have not our eyes
 
 THE MISTS OF THE EARLY MORN. 3OI 
 
 about us. You know who I mean, you need not tremble, for I am 
 not angry, for he is a gallant soldier, and if you would like him for a 
 husband I should be proud to call him my son. You must not 
 expect me to get a rich husband for you, for I am poor, very poor." 
 
 " But, papa, he does not often come here now, and — — " here 
 Magdalen stopped in confusion for she hardly knew what she was 
 saying. 
 
 " Not come here often ! " said Don Alfonso, laughing ; " why he 
 was here three times last week and again to-day. Do you want him 
 to come every day, Chica ? " 
 
 " Who are you talking about, papa ? Here to-day ! and three times 
 last week, no one comes here so often but Don Ciriaco Asneiros." 
 
 " Don Ciriaco, the gallant major, who is winning his way up from 
 grade to grade, who is the conlidential friend of Marshal Liniers, and 
 who will soon be one of the most powerful men in Buenos Aires. 
 Of whom else should I speak but of him ? Why does he come here 
 so often if it is not to see you, and who is there that talks to you so 
 much as he does ? " 
 
 " Don Ciriaco ! " exclaimed Magdalen, and she hung her head in 
 bewilderment. It was true, as her father said, that he came very often, 
 true also that when others were there he almost monopolized her 
 conversation, but he had never given her the slightest reason to 
 believe that he had any tender feeling for her, in fact he made no 
 secret to her of his boundless admiration for her friend Dolores Ponce 
 de Leon, and she had felt pity for him, and had sliown it to him in 
 many ways, for she saw that he had small hope that his love would 
 ever be returned, and she thought herself that it Avas utterly impossible 
 that it should be. So she had felt pity for him, and had shown him 
 great sympathy and consideration, for was not she also indulging in 
 a hopeless love. Now her father spoke to her of him as a possible 
 husband. She thought of some jesting words which Dona Josefina 
 had said to her not many weeks ago, concerning the success of a 
 gallant soldier who both in war and in love carried everything before 
 Iram. These words had dyed her own cheeks crimson, as she thought 
 of a soldier who was to her the impersonation of all that was brave 
 and noble, but could it be possible that Doha Josefina had meant 
 quite another man, no other than this Don Ciriaco? Then she began 
 to hate this Don Ciriaco, and to think of the awkward manners and 
 of tlie rude speech which had made him a laughing-stock to the 
 polished youth among whom she had first met him at the house of 
 Doha Josefina. 
 
 Don Alfonso waited for a space to see what answer his daughter 
 would give him, luit as he got no further rej)ly than that one exclama- 
 tion, Don Ciriaco ! he spoke again. 
 
 " And why not Don Ciriaco ? " said he. " Why have you encouraged 
 him to come here so often to see you if you arc to be frightened 
 when I speak about him ? " 
 
 " Don Ciriaco, papa ! Don Ciriaco never came here to sec me. 
 If no one else is here he always talks to you, and if he comes when 
 you are (jut he always waits till you come back. He comes to see 
 you, papa, li^ thinks much about you, he talks more to me about you
 
 302 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 than about anything else. He seems never to be tired of listening 
 when I talk to him a!)out you." 
 
 "About me !" exclaimed Don Alfonso, startled. "What can you 
 find to tell him about me?" 
 
 " Hundreds of things, papa. You have no idea what strange 
 questions he asks me at times." 
 
 " What questions ? Tell me what questions he asks you ? " 
 
 " If you are away he always asks me where you have gone to, and 
 how long you have been away, and when you will be back. And he 
 always wants to know all about every one who comes to see you, 
 especially about Don Carlos Evana, and what he comes to see you 
 for, and what he talks to you about. Several times he has asked 
 me if you get any letters from Europe or from Rio Janeiro. I think 
 he is very rude to ask me such questions, I have told him so more 
 than once and have refused to answer him, but he will ask them, I 
 suppose he knows no better. Some of the young men at Dona 
 Josefina's used to call him the barbarian." 
 
 " And does he never speak to you about — about — does he never 
 talk love nonsense to you ? " 
 
 " Never, papa, I assure you. If he had, I should have known 
 better than to listen to him." 
 
 Then Don Alfonso bowed his head on his hands and spoke no 
 more to his daughter, sitting motionless in his chair for more than an 
 hour, and when he at last raised his head, and rose from his seat to 
 retire to his own room, Magdalen saw again on his face that old 
 shadow of care and anxiety which had vanished from it during the 
 last few months. 
 
 " If not a tyrant, then a traitor, so is every Spaniard," said Don Al- 
 fonso, as Magdalen lifted up her face to his for a kiss before retiring. 
 
 As Magdalen lay down to rest, she buried her face in her pillow, 
 longing to cry, but the tears would not come. Her sleep was 
 troubled ; in the morning she rose unrefreshed with a vague fear of 
 something dreadful impending. The day passed quietly, just as other 
 days did, and in the evening came Don Ciriaco, who was received 
 by Don Alfonso with more than usual cordiality, but Magdalen 
 pleaded a headache and hardly spoke to him at all. 
 
 A week after this, Doiia Josefina Viana de Velasquez had one 
 evening a numerous company in her sala. The occasion was a 
 tertulia, an undress ball, given in welcome to her niece Constancia 
 who had returned to the city after spending the summer at her quinta. 
 At least such was the pretext announced for the tertulia, but Dona 
 Josefina and her husband Don Fausto were fond of indulging their 
 hospitable tastes and delighted to fill their rooms with young people, 
 and to give due scope to the flirting propensities of their friends, 
 flirtation being in the opinicn of the lady the most important business 
 of life. 
 
 Some few days before this tertulia, she had paid a visit to Don 
 Alfonso Miranda at his quinta, and noticing that Magdalen looked 
 I)ale and out of spirits, had taken her back with her to spend some 
 days in the city.
 
 THE MISTS OF THE EARLY MORN, 303 
 
 This day of the tertuHa was also the day for one of the shooting 
 excursions of the secret committee, and Dona Constancia told her 
 aunt that she did not think Marcelino would be there that evening. 
 But Marcelino heard that day from Evana that Magdalen was staying 
 with Doha Josefina ; he hurried back to town, determined not to lose 
 such an opportunity of conversing at his ease with lier, away from the 
 watchful eyes and often sneering words of her father. For months 
 he had missed the smile of welcome with which she had been wont 
 to greet him, and report had told him that the heart which he had 
 once fondly thought was his, had been given to another. He resolved 
 to know all that evening, at the house of his aunt Josefina. 
 
 It was late when he entered the sala, the first person he met as he 
 went in was Elisa Puyrredon. He and the fair Elisa had been play- 
 mates together when they were children ; his little playmate was now a 
 beautiful woman, with whom romping games were things of the far-off 
 past. Yet the frank cordiality of her friendship for him had left him 
 nothing to regret. 
 
 One jesting compliment Marcelino exchanged with the fair Elisa, 
 and then went up to salute his aunt. 
 
 " How cruel of you to leave Elisa to herself," said Doha Josefina ; 
 " do not you see they are just going to dance ?" 
 
 " I have been shooting all day, aunt, I had rather talk to you than 
 dance." 
 
 " Stupid ! " said she. 
 
 But Marcelino hardly heard the remark, looking eagerly all round 
 the large saloon for a face that he could not see, yet Magdalen, for 
 whom he was looking, was close to him. She had seen him enter the 
 room, seen him speak to Elisa Puyrredon, and had then retired into 
 the deep recess of a window as he approached to speak with Doha 
 Josefina. 
 
 " For whom are you looking ? She is there where you left her," 
 said Doha Josefina. 
 
 " Yes, I see she is, aunt, but she is going to dance with Valentin." 
 " With Valentin ! I will soon arrange that for you. Give me your 
 arm, I have been looking for Valentin all evening." 
 
 So Marcelino was walked off by his aunt, and presently found 
 himself dancing with Elisa Puyrredon. 
 
 Don Ciriaco Asneiros liad taken so much trouble to ingratiate him- 
 self with Don Alfonso Miranda, and had succeeded so well by the as- 
 sistance of Doha Josefina, that that lady made sure one of her schemes 
 would end successfully. She was therefore greatly chagrined when 
 she learned from Don Alfonso, on the occasion of her last visit to the 
 Miserere, that her plan of marrying her protege to Magdalen was likely 
 to fall through. Don Alfonso had spoken to her vaguely of a certain 
 distrust of the motives of Don Ciriaco for his repeated visits to the 
 quinta, but Doha Josefina had found no great difficulty in laughing 
 him out of his suspicions, she herself had no doubt whatever of the 
 reasons which took that gallant officer so often to the Plaza Miserere. 
 She had twitted him once or twice upon the subject, and all his 
 answers had tended to j)rove to her, that he had quite given up any 
 hopes he might ever have formed of winning the love of her niece
 
 304 rONCE DK T,KON. 
 
 Dolores, and now thought only of Magdalen, 'rhus slie treated him 
 with greater favour than ever and began to take some real interest in him, 
 for his manners had greatly improved under her tuition. He was high 
 in favour with Marshal Liniers and with Don Roderigo Ponce de Leon, 
 and General Nieto seemed to place great confidence in him ; lier 
 pupil was evidently a man who would do her credit. 
 
 Of all this Dona Josefinawas thinking to herself as she watched her 
 nephew dancing with Elisa Puyrredon, flattering herself that she was 
 managing very well for the hap])iness of all concerned. 
 
 " Once we dispose of Magdalen, all will come right," said she to 
 herself; "even of Carlos I do not despair, though I confess both he 
 and Dolores are a puzzle to me." 
 
 When this dance was over Marcelino left his fair partner and re- 
 newed his search for Magdalen, whom he found seated by herself, 
 looking with lustreless eyes upon the gay scene about her, as though 
 her thoughts were far away. His cordial words of greeting brought 
 no smile to her face, to his questions she answered only in monosyl- 
 lables, and when he asked her to dance she declined, saying that slie 
 was too tired. As he seated himself beside her, she rose, saying 
 something about Doha Josefina, and went to where that lady was sitting 
 and spoke to her. 
 
 " What nonsense, Nina," said Doha Josefina. " I did not bring you 
 into town to mope by yourself in your room, you can do that at the 
 quinta. Come, I know what you want, you have hardly danced at all, if 
 you won't dance to please yourself you must dance to please me. Here 
 is a great favourite of mine coming, I don't dance, you will dance with 
 him for me, won't you ? " 
 
 Before Magdalen could answer, Don Ciriaco Asneiros stood before 
 her, bowing low and asking for her company in the next dance. Doha 
 Josefina answered for her, and she felt obliged to go. As they took 
 their place Don Ciriaco began talking to her of Dolores, a subject on 
 which she was ever ready to listen, and more so now than ever, for 
 she had not seen Dolores for months till that evening, and when she 
 had met her, Dolores seemed strangely cold to her and had hardly 
 spoken to her three words. 
 
 Marcelino remained in the dancing-saloon for some minutes ex- 
 changing salutations and compliments with such of his acquaintance 
 as passed near him, but keeping his eye constantly upon one couple 
 who were in earnest conversation together. He saw the dull, vacant 
 look disappear from Magdalen's face, a faint colour came into her 
 
 cheeks, and he waited to see no more, he bowed his head as though 
 
 in answer to some unspoken question, and with lips firmly pressed to- 
 gether left the room. 
 
 While the more youthful friends of Doha Josefina were amusing 
 themselves by dancing, Don Fausto and some more particular 
 friends of his, had retired to the dining-room. The large table run- 
 ning down the centre of this room was covered with salvers and 
 dishes of sweetmeats, and with trays on which stood tall water-jars, 
 surrounded by glass goblets of very varied design. Such was the 
 refreshment i)rovided by the abstemious Portehos fo.r their friends on 
 such an occasion as the present. In the intervals between the dances,
 
 THE MISTS OF THE EARLY MORN. 305 
 
 servants waited upon the dancers, handing round these sweetmeats, 
 which they eat from small plates with spoons, then other servants 
 followed with the trays covered with goblets of water. Doha Josefina 
 pressed the sweetmeats upon her friends, telling them that after eating 
 they might drink water with safety. At one time during the even- 
 ing chocolate was handed round, but there were no edibles of more 
 solid description. On the dining-room table there were also jugs of 
 claret, and bottles of the more fiery wines of Spain, but these were 
 reserved for the use of such friends of Don Fausto as cared not for 
 dancing. 
 
 ^^'hen Marcelino entered the dining-room, Don Fausto with several 
 of his friends were collected in a small knot at the end of the room ; 
 all looked round as he entered, and their conversation ceased. 
 
 " I give you welcome, Marcelino," said Don Fausto. " Shut the 
 door and come here." 
 
 Don Fausto stood leaning against the table, in front of him sat Don 
 Gregorio Lopez, beside him stood his son the Colonel, several 
 others stood around. Don Juan Martin Puyrredon was speaking as 
 Marcelino entered, and resumed as soon as the door was again closed. 
 
 " It comes to this," said he ; "the excitement of the people has 
 warned off our new Viceroy for a time, but that will pass. With the 
 troops under the command of General Nieto, the influence of Marshal 
 Liniers will be slowly undermined. Liniers himself has been cajoled 
 by promises, the disorders in the interior will afford a pretext for the 
 reorganization of Spanish troops. What say you, Sehores ? Are we 
 to welcome this Cisneros amongst us, and give ourselves up again to. 
 the rule of such men as Elio and Don Martin Alzaga?" 
 
 " We have had enough of them," said Colonel Lopez. " Now has 
 come the time for us to demand our due share in the administration, 
 \\'hat want we with Viceroys who are sent from Spain ? There are 
 men amongst us who know well how to lead us if Don Santiago per- 
 sists in retiring." 
 
 " Quietly, my son," said Don Gregorio, " without Spaniards there 
 is no organization among us. Let us seek by every means in our 
 power to conciliate such Spaniards as are friendly to us." 
 
 " We can do well enough without a Viceroy," said Don Juan ]\Lar- 
 tin ; " but we want experienced soldiers for our security, of whom 
 there are many among the Spaniards ; and we want a governing 
 Junta, in which Spaniards of experience would naturally form the 
 majority, but that the Junta of Seville should choose a Viceroy for us 
 is, in my opinion, degradation to us." 
 
 "A Junta!" exclaimed Marcelino; "that was the idea of Don 
 Martin Alzaga." 
 
 " And the idea was not a bad one if we had had no Viceroy, but at 
 that time we had one," replied Don Juan Martin. " Don Santiago 
 Liniers was then the legally-appointed representative of the King of 
 Spain ; but there is now no King in Spain. Each province in Spain 
 has its Junta, we have an equal right to have a Junta of our own." 
 
 "Now that Liniers deserts us we remain without a legal head to the 
 government," said Don Gregorio. 
 
 " li\ all the year of the English invasion we were in the same posi- 
 
 X
 
 306 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 tion, and it appears to me tliat we were none the worse for it," said 
 Colonel Lopez. 
 
 Then others entered the room, and the conversation became more 
 guartlcd. 
 
 AMien Marcelino returned to the sala he found his friend Evana, 
 wlio had told him that he was not going to the tertulia, standing in a 
 doorway, strangely excited. 
 
 " I have been looking for you, I could not see you anywhere. 
 Come with me, I have news for you, which I am afraid will pain you 
 greatly, but I could not keej) it from you." So saying Evaha led the 
 way into a small ante-room where they could talk undisturbed. 
 
 " What was the name of the vessel in which our friend Gordon was 
 about to sail for Lisbon, when he last wrote you ? " asked Evana. 
 
 " The sloop-of-war ' Petrel,'" replied Marcelino. 
 
 " I thought I was correct," said Evaha ; then drawing an English 
 newspaper from his pocket he added — 
 
 " I have just received this, read." 
 
 Marcelino took the paper and read the paragraph to which Evana 
 had pointed ; as he read his eyes glazed over. He read an account of 
 how H. B. M. sloop-of-war ' Petrel,' with a detachment of troops on 
 board for the army then assembling at Lisbon, and with several 
 officers, who were on their way to rejoin their regiments, had been 
 totally lost on the coast of Galicia, two boats' crews only escaping. 
 To this was appended a list of the names of the survivors. Eagerly 
 Marcelino scanned that list, but the name of his friend Gordon was 
 not among them. A strange calmness came over him ; half an hour 
 before he had felt wild and reckless under the pressure of a sorrow of 
 his own, now he thought only of the sorrow this news would give to 
 another, and that other, his own dearly-loved sister. 
 
 " Do not let any one see this paper, do not mention it to any one, it 
 may not be true after all, he may have escaped." 
 
 Evana tore the paragraph from the paper, and twisting it up, burned 
 it in the flame of a taper. 
 
 Li the ante-room Marcelino remained alone, moodily thinking of 
 what he had heard and seen that evening ; but Evaha returned to the 
 sala, and seeking out Dolores was especially attentive to her, even 
 once to her great surprise dancing with her. When he spoke to her 
 his voice had a soft tenderness in it which she had never heard before. 
 Don Gregorio Lopez and several others came and spoke with him, 
 whispering to him that they had matter of much moment to impart to 
 him, but he resisted all their attempts to draw him from her side. His 
 thoughts were far from i^olitics, far from all that had been hitherto the 
 business of his life, he had given himself up to an intoxicating dream 
 of love, he was a prey to the glamour of hope.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 LA JUNTA DE LOS COMANDANTES. 
 
 The affair of the ist January liad resulted in giving Don Manuel 
 Belgrano so much else to think of, that he left the project of inviting 
 the Princess Carlota to Buenos Aires, very much in abeyance during 
 the early months of the year, until the arrival of Don Felipe Contucci 
 aroused' his dormant zeal. He introduced Don Felipe to many of the 
 leading citizens, and to such of them as were in his confidence, he 
 unfolded the purpose of his visit. Above all he considered that it was 
 necessary to gain the concurrence of Don Cornelio Saavedra, whose 
 position at that time gave him an influence in Buenos Aires, second 
 only to that of Marshal Liniers. 
 
 Many conferences had Belgrano and Saavedra together, in which 
 the ideas of the latter underwent a gradual change, till Don Manuel 
 became sanguine of ultimate success. 
 
 One evening in June Don Manuel Belgrano sat alone in his study, 
 anxiously awaiting a visit from Don Cornelio, and prepared to concert 
 with him some decisive step. His servant threw open the door, 
 announcing — 
 
 " El Seiior Don Juan Martin Puyrredon." 
 
 It was not he whom he expected, and his disappointment showed 
 itself in his face. 
 
 " You are waiting for some one ? " said Don Juan Martin. 
 
 " Yes, Don Cornelio Saavedra promised to visit me this evening," 
 replied Belgrano. " I think I have at length persuaded him that the 
 best solution of our differences will be to invite the Princess Carlota 
 to take the supreme government of the Viceroyalty into her hands." 
 
 " I'here is no longer any question of the Princess," said Puyrredon. 
 " At eleven o'clock this evening all the military commandants of the 
 city, both Spanish and native, will meet at my house. It appears 
 tliat this Cisneros will not much longer put off his arrival, Liniers 
 will do nothing to hinder him. But he shall not come here, we have 
 had enough of these Viceroys from Spain. To-night we meet to 
 concert measures for a totally new order of affairs." 
 
 Belgrano started to his feet, his face glowing with animation. If 
 the leaders of the troops were only united, there was no longer any 
 impediment to the immediate assertion of independence. 
 
 " You invite me to join you ?" he asked. 
 
 " I do. Your military rank entitles you to a place among us, and 
 it is not sufficient that we have the soldiery with us, we also wish the
 
 308 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 concurrence of the people, in this you may give us most powerful aid. 
 Marcelino Ponce de Leon has also promised to be with us." 
 
 " And Don Carlos Evaha, will he be there ? " 
 
 " No, I have not asked him. There are many Spaniards with us, 
 and Don Carlos will never agree cordially with any plan m which 
 Sjianiards are included." 
 
 Then the enthusiasm of Don Manuel cooled down considerably, yet 
 he promised Don Juan Martin that he would be at his house at the 
 hour lie had named. 
 
 Puyrredon departed, and Belgrano was again alone, and so he 
 remained, until it wanted little more than an hour of midnight, ])onder- 
 ing deeply within himself. Native chiefs and Spanish soldiers, Evana, 
 who was as the soul of the fiery youth of Buenos Aires, shut out from 
 the conference ; from this what could result ? Nevertheless, Belgrano 
 had faith in the future of his own country, and having faith he hoped, 
 and hoping he put on his hat and cloak and sallied forth through the 
 darkness to the house of Don Juan Martin Puyrredon, who, as com- 
 mandant of the cavalry on the 12th August, 1806, had won for himself 
 a place in the first rank of the military leaders of Buenos Aires. 
 
 All the commandants of the city militia, many commandants of the 
 cavalry of the campaha, several of the chiefs of the Spanish troops, 
 which had been disbanded in January, and several of the leading 
 citizens were there assembled ;. as also some whose only claim to be 
 there was the distinction they had won during the two invasions of the 
 English. Among these men were Don Marcelino Ponce de Leon, and 
 his former lieutenant, Don Ciriaco Asneiros. 
 
 The presence of such Spaniards as Don Ciriaco introduced at once 
 an element of discord into the conference. These men were ready to 
 support any project, however extravagant, that might be proposed, 
 but to the welfare of the country they gave not a moment's considera- 
 tion ; they thought only of their own advancement, and welcomed the 
 idea of a civil war, in which they might sell their services to the 
 highest bidder. 
 
 The conference had lasted two hours, and it seemed impossible for 
 them to come to any understanding together, when Don Ciriaco stepped 
 forward, and placing himself in front of Don Juan Martin Puyrredon 
 said — 
 
 " Promise me the post of Inspector-general of arms, and I will 
 guarantee to raise 2000 men in a week; I will cross.over into the Banda 
 Oriental, seize Monte Video, and will shoot Cisneros and Elio for you 
 in the Plaza, then you can make whatever government you like." 
 
 Don Juan Martin started back as though he had been struck, and 
 consternation was visible upon the faces of most of the native Argen- 
 tines, but several of the Spaniards laughed. 
 
 " Traitor ! " exclaimed Marcelino, seizing Don Ciriaco by the collar 
 and drawing him back, "think you that we are assassins?" 
 
 The Si)anish major laid his hand on his sword, but Don Manuel 
 Belgrano stepped in between them. 
 
 " See you not, Marcelino," said he, " that this is a joke? This good 
 gentleman wishes to show us that all the plans that have been pro- 
 posed are aUke impossible of fulfilment."
 
 THE MISTS OF THE EARLY MORN. 309 
 
 " A joke ! " said Asneiros, turning sullenly away. 
 
 After this there was no more discussion, the conference broke up, 
 and by twos or singly the members separated to their own homes. 
 
 Marcelino and Don Manuel Belgrano walked away together. 
 
 " If Evana had been present we might have arrived at some resolu- 
 tion," said Marcelino ; " but with these men of the sword it is useless 
 to discuss anything." 
 
 " With Evaha it would have been impossible to come to any 
 arrangement with the Spanish officers, and without their concurrence 
 any plan we might devise would almost certainly entail a civil war," 
 replied Belgrano. 
 
 " We might have striven to conciliate them, but to admit them to 
 our conference was folly," said Marcelino. " What ideas have they 
 but such as Don Ciriaco was bold enough to proclaim ? " 
 
 " That was absurd ; that was nothing but a joke," said Belgrano. 
 
 " A joke ! " said Marcelino ; " I fear me much some of us may find 
 the whole affair something more than a joke." 
 
 When Don Ciriaco Asneiros left the conference he walked quietly 
 away to his own quarters, but before sunrise, in the dress of a private 
 soldier, he stood at the bedside of General Nieto. 
 
 The following afternoon Don Juan IMartin Puyrredon was arrested 
 in his own house and taken to the barracks of the Patricios, where he 
 was placed in solitary confinement, and no one was allowed to visit him. 
 
 The news of this arrest spread consternation through the city, and 
 brought sorrow and fear into many a household ; to none more than 
 into the household of the Sehor Saenz- Valiente, whose wife, Dona 
 Juana, was the sister of Don Juan Martin. That night and the next 
 morning Marshal Liniers was besieged on all sides by applications for 
 him to interfere and procure the release of the prisoner, but to all 
 alike he turned a deaf ear. Even to Don Roderigo Ponce de Leon, who 
 represented to him that he was likely to bring odium upon the rule of 
 the new Viceroy, and so endanger the very existence of Spanish 
 authority, he had but one answer, that the affair was none of his, and 
 that doubtless General Nieto had sufficient reasons for what he had 
 done, and would in due time declare them. 
 
 It was about two hours past noon when Don Roderigo left the 
 Viceroy. Instead of going himself to tell Doha Juana of the non- 
 success of his mission, he sought out his son, and commissioned him 
 to tell her of it. 
 
 Marcelino found Doha Juana and her sister, with Doha Josefina 
 and Dona Constancia, who had spent all the morning with them, 
 sympathizing and encouraging their hopes, though every hour brought 
 intelligence of some fresh failure. When Marcelino announced his 
 message, their last ray of hope vanished, for if Don Roderigo could 
 not prevail upon Marshal Liniers to interfere, they well knew that 
 all other intercession was useless. 
 
 Elisa Puyrredon burst into tears, and Doha Constancia, bending 
 over her, endeavoured in vain to soothe her, tears trickling down 
 from her own eyes also, in sympathy. Doha Josefina clas]jed her 
 hands tightly together, and composed herself into a most fascinating
 
 310 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 attitude of despair, but Dona Juana listened as Marcelino spoke, in 
 tearless silence, as he paused she rose from her seat, tossing back 
 her head, and drawing up her stately figure to its full height. 
 
 " Now that the men can do nothing," said she, " it remains for us 
 to do what we can, and in our way. Will you accompany me, Mar- 
 celino ? " 
 
 " With pleasure, Sehora ; it will be an honour for me to attend you 
 wherever you may choose to lead me." 
 
 Five minutes afterwards Doha Juana and Marcelino left the house 
 together. Three squares they walked in silence towards the Plaza 
 Mayor, then Marcelino made as though he would turn a corner, 
 saying — 
 
 " This way, Senora, is the shortest." 
 
 " No," replied the lady, "let us keep straight on." 
 
 " Are you not going to the fort ? " said Marcelino. 
 
 " No, to the barracks of the Patricios." 
 
 The courtyard of the barracks was crowded with soldiers. In 
 addition to the detachment ordinarily on guard, nearly all the officers 
 of the regiment, and many officers from other native regiments, had 
 met there that afternoon to talk over the affair of the arrest, which 
 was the engrossing topic throughout the city. They were soldiers, 
 and were accustomed to obey orders without question. They had 
 lodged their prisoner in a strong room, posting sentries and guarding 
 him securely, nevertheless they liked not that their barracks should be 
 turned into a prison, and that they should be appointed gaolers over 
 one of the most distinguished of their fellow-citizens. 
 
 As they talked together, there stood in their midst a stately lady, 
 who looked round upon them with an air of great disdain. They 
 doffed their hats to her, and looked upon lier with sympathizing eyes, 
 for many of them recognized her as the sister of the prisoner they 
 held in durance. But she still looked haughtily upon them and re- 
 turned not their salutation, merely waving her hand to them to keep 
 silence. 
 
 " Fellow-citizens ! " said she, " I have come among you to know if 
 that be true which men have told me of you. Men tell me that you 
 are no longer the gallant soldiers who in the day of danger stood fore- 
 most of all to confront the onset of a mighty foe, shedding your blood 
 and offering up your lives willingly in the defence of your homes and 
 fatherland. Men tell me that you are no longer the heroes on whom 
 your country can look with pride, to whom she may look with con- 
 fidence for the securing of her rights and liberties. Men tell me that 
 you are now no more than the trained minions of a despot, and are 
 the gaolers of such of your fellow-citizens as dare to entertain the 
 thought of the complete liberation of their country. Can this be true ? 
 
 " I look around me and I see in your faces the answer. You are 
 the same gallant soldiers that you were two years ago, you are not the 
 men to whom a despot can entrust the execution of his tyrannical 
 designs ? You are Argentines, and are as ready as ever you were to 
 shed your blood in defence of the country which is equally dear to us 
 all. You are citizens as well as soldiers, and the rights and liberties of 
 your country are as dear to you as they are to any.
 
 THE MISTS OF THE EARLY MORN. 31I 
 
 " IIow is it, then, that you allow your barracks to be turned into a 
 prison ? How is it that you, who are gallant soldiers, constitute your- 
 selves the gaolers of the most noble amongst you all ? 
 
 " He is your friend and your fellow-countryman, he whom you keep 
 shut up within four walls, with barred windows shutting out from him 
 the light of heaven, with a locked door and armed sentries shutting 
 him out from all communication with those who love him. He is 
 your friend and fellow-countryman, I say, whom here you keep locked 
 up, over whom you keep watch and ward as though he were a danger- 
 ous enemy ; he who in the day of danger was as forward as the bravest 
 amongst you ! 
 
 " AMiat accusation, what charge has been brought against him ? None 
 that I know of, save that he has dared to love his country, and to plan 
 how best to secure to you those liberties which you have won with your 
 blood, and which are the inborn right of every freeman. Yet for this 
 he is imprisoned, for this he may be brought up to judgment and 
 sentenced to some fearful punishment, such as is reserved for those 
 who are traitors. 
 
 " Citizens, will you consent to this ? "Will you consent that he, your 
 friend, your fellow-countryman, be sacrificed to the cruel injustice of a 
 despotic ruler ? 
 
 " No, Patricios ! I know you better, you will not permit that this 
 eternal shame fall upon you. You will let my brother escape, so shall 
 you preserve unstained those laurels which you have so nobly won." 
 
 Doiia Juana paused and looked round her ; no man spoke, but 
 in the eyes turned upon her from all sides, in sympathy and in 
 admiration, she read their answer, and knew that her brother was saved. 
 She clasped her hands together in mute thanks, bowed her head 
 courtesying lowly to them, then turned, and passing her arm through 
 Marcelino's, walked swiftly away. 
 
 The tears stood in Marcelino's eyes, but he spoke not one word till 
 he had conducted Doha Juana back to the shelter of her own roof, 
 then as she, speechless also, stretched out her hand to take leave of 
 him, he knelt down on one knee before her and raised that hand to 
 his lips, paying homage to her as he might have done to a queen. 
 
 From the house of the Sehor Saenz- Valiente, Marcelino went straight 
 to that of Don Manuel Belgrano, and with him speedily concerted 
 means for securing the safety of Don Juan Martin in case he should 
 effect his escape. 
 
 Shortly before sundown that evening, tlie door of the room in which 
 Don Juan Martin was confined, opened, and an officer walking in, told 
 him that he was required to change his quarters. Don Juan Martin 
 rose and followed the officer, wlio was attended by a guard with fixed 
 bayonets, to another chamber far less comfortably furnished than the 
 one he had previously occupied. He had no sooner entered than 
 the door was closed and locked, and he heard tlie usual formuLa of 
 the posting of a sentry outside. He glanced around the room some- 
 what discontentedly, hardly able to discern what was in it in the 
 dim light, for the window-shutter was nearly closed. He walked to 
 the window and set the shutter wide open, when to his surprise he
 
 312 rONXE DE LEUN. 
 
 saw that the window had no bars to it. He looked out and saw a 
 small courtyard surrounded by High walls, in one of which there was 
 a wooden door. The courtyartl was deserted, there was not even 
 a window in the blank walls which rose straight up before him and 
 on either hand. He stepped out of the window and walked across 
 the courtyard to that door which he saw in the further wall, it was 
 only closed with a latch, he opened it, and looking cautiously out, 
 saw a quiet street. Just then a young officer of the Patricios came 
 sauntering carelessly along, he recognized him as Valentin Lopez y 
 Viana, and made as though he would speak with him. 
 
 " Not yet, wait till dark," said the young officer, laying a finger on 
 his lip and passing quietly on, as though he had never noticed that 
 the door was open. 
 
 Then Don Juan Martin knew that he was free, and gently reclosing 
 the door he went back through the window to his prison-chamber and 
 waited, looking upward at the evening sky and watching the shadow 
 as it mounted higher and higher up the eastern wall, till there was no 
 flicker of sunshine left to tell him that it was yet day save from the 
 far-off reflection of the clouds. Then he watched the clouds till their 
 pink tints faded into one dull gray, then they disappeared, no longer 
 to be distinguished in the ever-increasing darkness from the deep blue 
 sky under which they floated. Then the stars came out, faintly shining 
 with their own pure light, and waxing brighter and brighter as their 
 great rival the sun sank further and further, down below the verge of 
 the black horizon. 
 
 When the stars twinkled brightly, Don Juan Martin stepped forth 
 again from his window, crossed the courtyard, and opened the 
 door. No one was near ; he walked out, closing the door behind him. 
 At the first corner he met two officers of the Patricios, who passed 
 him without a word ; further on he met two more, who, after he had 
 passed them, turned and walked slowly after him, but presently, as he 
 looked back, they were no longer visible; unmolested and unquestioned 
 he reached the house of a trusty friend. 
 
 Three days afterwards he had said farewell to his native country, 
 and was on board a vessel bound for Rio Janeiro, bearing credentials 
 to the Princess Carlota, and charged by Belgrano and others to do 
 his utmost to prevail upon her to come at once to Buenos Aires, 
 where the advent of a Princess of the house of Bourbon was looked 
 upon by many ardent patriots as the only means of delivering their 
 country from the thraldom of Spanish domination.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HOW DON CARLOS EVANA ATTACKED THE WILD-DUCK, AND ROUTED 
 THEM WITH GREAT SLAUGHTER. 
 
 Marshal Don Santiago Liniers felt his power and his popularity 
 slipping away from him. The arrest of Don Juan Martin Puyrredon 
 had injured the latter, his escape was a proof of the former. This 
 escape was hailed by the citizens of Buenos Aires as a great triumph, 
 but among their rulers it created consternation. A hasty council was 
 convened, and General Nieto sent for Major Asneiros, whose evidence 
 had caused the arrest of the Sehor Puyrredon. 
 
 " As I told you before, my general," said Don Ciriaco, after his 
 examination had lasted some time, " there is one man much more 
 dangerous than the Senor Puyrredon, whom you refused to arrest, 
 and whose arrest would not have occasioned such excitement in the 
 city." 
 
 " You speak of the Sehor Don Carlos Evaha ? " said General 
 Nieto ; then as Don Ciriaco simply answered by an inclination of the 
 head, he continued, " I have received from the Sehor Don Roderigo 
 the most positive assurance of the loyalty of the Sehor Evaha." 
 
 " I have told you what I have heard and seen," replied Don Ciriaco, 
 carefully avoiding the eye of Don Roderigo, who was looking at him 
 intently. 
 
 " I know not what reasons the Sehor Don Roderigo may have for 
 placing such confidence in the Sehor Evaha," said Marshal Liniers, 
 " but I know him to be a man of the most dangerous ideas, and ad- 
 vise his immediate arrest," 
 
 " Without any specific accusation against him?" said Don Roderigo. 
 
 " Repeat the words you heard him say," said General Nieto. 
 
 " We can do nothing until we have secured the troops." 
 
 " And was that all you overheard of their conversation ? " asked 
 Don Roderigo. 
 
 " I heard nothing more," replied Don Ciriaco. " I had great 
 difficulty in reaching the rancho unobserved, and had no sooner 
 entered than their dogs began barking round the place." 
 
 " Did you recognize none of them except the Senor Evana," asked 
 Marshal Liniers. 
 
 " There was another came up to the rancho with the Sehor Evaha 
 wliorn I should recognize if I saw him again, but I do not know who 
 he is." 
 
 " Don Marcel ino Ponce de Leon very probably," said Marshal 
 Liniers, with a distrustful glance at Don Roderigo.
 
 314 rONCE DE LEON. 
 
 " T nm quite certain he was not Don Marcelino, I should recognize 
 him at double the distance," repHed Asneiros. 
 
 " Then the only thing certain is that a number of sportsmen ceased 
 their sport to discuss politics," said Cieneral Nieto, " that this Sehor 
 Evana was one of them, and that he made use of words which prove 
 that lie at least is engaged in some treasonable conspiracy, in which 
 doubtless the next step was the meeting of the Comandantes at the 
 house of the Seiior Puyrredon." 
 
 Other members of the council concurred in this view of the case, 
 and some spoke of Evaha as a dangerous man, against whose machin- 
 ations every precaution should be taken. 
 
 " We need discuss the matter no further at present," said Marshal 
 Liniers. " I shall at once order the arrest of the Seiior Evana. You 
 will acknowledge the necessity of this measure, Don Roderigo?" 
 
 Don Roderigo made no answer and the council broke up. Loiter- 
 ing in an ante-room some few minutes later, Don Ciriaco Asneiros 
 was joined by Don Roderigo, who drew him into the recess of a 
 window and said — 
 
 " My son Don Marcelino was with that shooting party in the 
 banados, are you sure you did not see him ? " 
 
 " See him ! Perfectly, as well as I see you now, but if you think I 
 would bear witness against your son you do not know me, Don 
 Roderigo," answered Don Ciriaco. 
 
 "The Senor Evana is almost as a son to me, might it not be some 
 other who said those words which you have reported ? " 
 
 " I am positive that it was he said them," answered Don Ciriaco. 
 " He is at the head of a conspiracy, his arrest will jnit an end to all 
 danger, but so long as he is at liberty it will never be safe for his 
 Excellency Don Baltazar to come here." 
 
 " There is disaffection, but there is no conspiracy," said Don 
 Roderigo. " His arrest will cause great sorrow to many of us and 
 may occasion an outbreak, it must in some way be avoided, and I 
 look to you to help me, Don Ciriaco. I cannot interfere myself to 
 prevent the execution of an order issued by Marshal Liniers, but I 
 wish you to inform Marcelino at once of it, he will warn Don Carlos 
 to keep out of the way for a few days and so give me time to arrange 
 the affair." 
 
 While Marshal Liniers and General Nieto so took counsel with 
 their advisers, several members of the secret committee met at the 
 house of Dr. Vieytes. Evaiia had proposed to them some time before 
 that the assumption of power by Don Baltazar de Cisneros should be 
 resisted by force ; few of them were convinced of the necessity for any 
 such extreme measure, but the excitement caused by the arrest and 
 escape of Don Juan Martin Puyrredon was an opportunity not to be 
 lost of making some popular demonstration which might deter the 
 new Viceroy from crossing the river. Summoned by Dr. Vieytes, 
 they met to consult upon this matter, when to the surprise of most of 
 them, Evaha, who was commonly the most reckless of them all, now 
 counselled moderation. 
 
 " We have the troops with us, what need we fear?" said Beruti.
 
 THE MISTS OF THE EARLY MORN. 315 
 
 " I think also that we should do notliing at present," said Don 
 Manuel Belgrano. " Liniers deserts us, we have no settled plan ; 
 unless the Princess" Carlota makes up her mind to come at once, we 
 have no visible head for any government we may establish." 
 
 " We want no princess or king," said Evana ; " what we do want is 
 the co-operation of men already experienced in government, which 
 we shall lose if we make any open demonstration against the new 
 Viceroy. With the co-operation of such men as Don Roderigo 
 Ponce de Leon, Don Baltazar will be forced to yield to our demand 
 for a complete reform of the administration, and even under a Spanish 
 Viceroy we shall establish a pojuilar government." 
 
 Never before had Evaha been heard to speak such words as these, 
 the listeners looked upon him with wonder, but further discussion was 
 prevented by the sudden entrance of Marcelino Ponce de Leon, who 
 walked hurriedly up to Evana and laid his hand upon his arm. 
 
 " Carlos," said he, " Don Santiago Liniers has issued an order for 
 your immediate arrest." 
 
 " Another prisoner for the Patricios," said Yrigoyen, laughing. 
 
 " No," said Marcelino. " It is a picket of the escort has the order, 
 and his prison will be in the fort. There is no time to lose ; hide 
 somewhere, Carlos, till night, then we will get you away." 
 
 " Who told you this ? " asked Evaiia. 
 
 " Asneiros ; my father sent him to me." 
 
 " Ha ! " replied Evana, taking up his hat ; " I will enquire further 
 into this." 
 
 "Where are you going, Carlos? The troops will be already at 
 your house." 
 
 " Come with me, I will consult your father." 
 
 As Marcelino and Evaha went off together, the rest looked at each 
 other in silence, then said Beruti — 
 
 " I cannot make out what has come over Evaiia, I never saw such 
 a change in a man as I have seen in him during the last two or three 
 weeks. How has lie come to have such faith in the liberal principles 
 of Don Roderigo?" 
 
 " Don Roderigo is very astute, and has persuaded him that between 
 them they can work out a pacific reform," said Dr. Passo. 
 
 " If an angel had told me I would not have believed Evaha 
 capable of yielding to such counsel from a Spaniard," said Beruti. 
 
 "An angel has more to do with it than you thmk," said Belgrano 
 musingly. " Let us go, we shall see no more of Evaha to-day, and 
 without him we can do nothing." 
 
 " 'I'hey may arrest Evaha but they won't keep him long a prisoner," 
 said Beruti. 
 
 Don Roderigo returned to his house after the council at the fort, 
 very thoughtful and somewhat sad. As he crossed the patio he was 
 met by Dolores, who, noting the sadness on his face, leaned upon his 
 arm praying him to tell her what had hapi)ened. 
 
 " I fear a serious misfortune has befallen a great friend of ours, 
 Lola," said he. 
 
 " Have they caught Don Juan Martin ? " asked Dolores, in alarm.
 
 3l6 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 " No, it is another wlio is in danger, one who is very dear to me, 
 Lola, ahiiost as a son to me." 
 
 " Don Carlos ? " saitl Dolores, in a faltering voice. 
 
 " Yes, Lola ; Don Santiago Liniers has issued an order for his 
 arrest." 
 
 " But, papa, what has he done ? Tell me, he was not at that meet- 
 ing, for he told me so." 
 
 "I believe he has done nothing, 'Lola, to merit imprisonment, but 
 he has extravagant ideas, and sometimes he speaks them too freely." 
 
 " Ideas ! so has Marcelino, you said so, papa; but you told me — 
 Oh, papa ! you will not let them keep him in prison." 
 
 As Don Roderigo entered his wife's morning-room, he had the same 
 tale to tell over again to her, and looking upon them he saw wife and 
 daughter gaze upon him with reproachful eyes, as though they thought 
 that he could have prevented this great sorrow which was about 
 to fall upon them. His heart sank within him, and he painfully 
 revolved in his mind all the danger to his rapidly increasing power 
 and influence, which would result from any open interference on be- 
 half of a native Argentine charged with conspiracy against rulers of 
 whom he himself was one. On the other hand, the power of Marshal 
 Liniers was passing away, the post held by General Nieto was a mere 
 temporary appointment, it was to the assistance of Evaiia and such 
 as he, that he looked, when he proposed to himself to obtain such in- 
 fluence over the new Viceroy as should leave the real power in his 
 own hands. More still ; he had said that he looked upon Evaha 
 almost as a son, and such was the fact. Evaha's devotion to Dolores 
 was no secret to any of them, and he waited in joyful anticipation for 
 the day when he should ask him for his daughter and become his son 
 in reality. The frank friendship which Dolores professed for Evaha, 
 and her open admiration of his great talents, prevented him from 
 feeling any doubt of what her answer would be, when he should pro- 
 pose the alliance to her ; and the happiness of his daughter was as 
 dear to his heart as his own ambition. 
 
 As these thoughts passed rapidly through his mind, sitting in silence, 
 he saw Dolores hide her face from him on her mother's breast, while 
 Doha Constancia bent over her soothing her, she was evidently weep- 
 ing. He could bear it no longer, he started to his feet, resolving 
 within himself to risk everything for the sake of the man whom his 
 daughter loved. He was about to speak, when the door opened and 
 gave entrance to Marcelino and the man of whom he was thinking. 
 
 " Don Carlos," said he, going to meet him with both hands 
 stretched out in welcome, " never was I more glad to see you. La 
 my house you are safe from arrest, and I know you can remove these 
 unjust suspicions which have fallen upon you." 
 
 " I am perfectly ready to meet any accusation which may be 
 brought against me," replied Evana, placing his hands in those of 
 Don Roderigo, but looking over his shoulder at Dolores, who had 
 started to her feet on his entrance, and on whose face the traces of 
 recent tears were but too evident. 
 
 " Come with me," said Don Roderigo, drawing him away, " we will 
 talk over this matter quietly together."
 
 THE MISTS OF THE EARLY MORN. 317 
 
 In his own study Don Roderigo talked long and earnestly with his 
 guest, but on neither side was there perfect frankness. Evaha did 
 not deny that there had been talk of resisting the assumption of power 
 by the new Viceroy, but he asserted that it had been merely spoken 
 of in casual conversation, and that no one had the faintest idea of 
 getting up a conspiracy for that purpose. He also denied that he 
 had ever made use of the words which had been given in evidence 
 against him, and had made no attempt whatever to secure the adhe- 
 sion of the troops, which was partly true and partly false. On his 
 side Don Roderigo refused to give up the name of the accuser, but 
 Evaha learnt sufficient to confirm his suspicion, that he and his com- 
 rades of the secret committee had been watched, and their conversation 
 partly overheard by Don Ciriaco Asneiros on the occasion of their 
 expedition to the bahados of Flores. He learnt also that Don Rode- 
 rigo was sincerely anxious to secure his co-operation in forcing gradual 
 measures of reform upon the new Viceroy, but would resist to the 
 utmost any attempt to dispute his authority. 
 
 Evaha was in a frame of mind which rendered him only too ready 
 to give full weight to the specious arguments by which Don Roderigo 
 sought to convince him that popular institutions might be established 
 without severing the bond which bound her colonies to Spain ; his 
 heart for the time overpowered his reason, and made him willing to 
 grasp at any chance which might permit him to work in concert with 
 Don Roderigo for one end, the liberation of the Argentine people 
 from the colonial system of Spain. This chance seemed now within 
 his grasp, Spain might send Viceroys, but she was powerless to coerce 
 her colonies ; with the aid of such men as Don Roderigo the gradual 
 introduction of salutary reforms was feasible, the ultimate end of such 
 reforms would be the establishment of the Argentine Republic. 
 
 Evana yielded, quieting his reason by saying to himself that he 
 only rendered more certain of success the great work of his life by 
 postponing for a time the execution of his designs. 
 
 All the time he passed listening to the arguments of Don Roderigo 
 there floated before his eyes a fair vision, a sweet face looking upon 
 him in tender sympathy; through all his reasonings there ran one 
 thought, may not that gaze be yet turned upon me not in friendship 
 but in love. So dear was this hope to him that he felt that for one 
 glance of real love from those eyes, which that day had looked upon 
 him in pity and in sympathy alone, he could even give up that pur- 
 pose which had been the work of his life so far, and for the accom- 
 plishment of which, life itself had seemed to him but a small sacrifice. 
 Evaha yielded, and grasping the willing hand of Don Roderigo 
 assured him of his aid and sympathy in every measure he might bring 
 forward for the welfare of the fTeople. 
 
 Night closed m ere their conversation came to an end, and dark- 
 ness brought Marcelino, who announced to his friend that his house 
 was occupied by a party of grenadiers under the command of Major 
 Asneiros, and that it was reported in the city that he himself had fled 
 to the campaha, where all knew that his safety was secure. 
 
 There were many anxious faces as they sat down to dinner that 
 evening at the house of Don Roderigo, but Don Roderigo himself
 
 3l8 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 was very cheerful, speaking of the danger to their friend as passed 
 over, while Evana was in excellent spirits, talking much more gaily 
 than was his wont, surprising Dolores into many a laugh by his sayings, 
 but withal occasioning her some undefined uneasiness by the unusual 
 tenderness he threw into his manner when addressing her. As they 
 rose from table he said — 
 
 " Now, Don Roderigo, come with me. Let us go and visit this ex- 
 Viceroy, and I will ask him myself his reasons for sending a picket of 
 infontry to occupy my house. If Don Ciriaco Asneiros wishes to 
 inspect my papers in search of proofs of some Conspiracy he is wel- 
 come to do so, but I should prefer to be present, he may mistake 
 a treatise on algebra for the records of some secret society. 
 
 " Now ! " exclaimed Don Roderigo ; " wait till to-morrow, then I 
 will see him myself, and I assure you I can arrange everything. I have 
 secret powers from Don Baltazar which I can use on an emergency. I 
 am even authorized to arrest Don Santiago and depose him if I find it 
 necessary." 
 
 " No, let us go at once," replied Evaiia. " I intend to sleep under 
 my own roof to-night." 
 
 " The Senor Evaha has left the city." 
 
 Chafing angrily within himself at the trammels which bound him on 
 every side, trammels from which he might have freed himself by one 
 vigorous effort, which would have placed him at the head of a free 
 people ; chafing angrily at his waning popularity, evidences of which 
 met him at every turn, the ex- Viceroy heard these words, telling him 
 that the man he dreaded had escaped him. Leaving his house he 
 returned to the fort to consult with his colleague General Nieto. 
 
 It was nine o'clock, steps were heard in the ante-room, the door 
 opened, the next minute Evana stood before him. With head erect, 
 and dark flashing eyes, Evaha stood before him, demanding in stern 
 words the reason of the order which had been sent forth for his arrest. 
 
 " Two file of grenadiers and a priest, that would be my answer," said 
 General Nieto, springing angrily from his chair and laying his hand 
 upon a small bell which stood on the table. 
 
 Don Roderigo laid a hand upon his arm and drew him away. 
 
 " Sehor Mariscal, I repeat my question," said Evana. " Upon what 
 grounds have you issued an order for my arrest." 
 
 Still the ex-Viceroy answered not, but sat in his chair staring at him, 
 a strange fascination slowly creeping over him. Who was this man 
 who came again to him in the darkness of the night, as he had come 
 once before ? A conspirator, whose life was forfeit, and who totally 
 reckless of danger again stood before him, looking down upon him 
 with fierce dark eyes. Who was this mftn that he should so persistently 
 defy him, and before whose gaze his own bold spirit quailed? 
 
 " Two file of grenadiers and a priest," said Evaha. " That butcher 
 who sat beside you just now, has repeated the sentence which 
 Spanish jealousy would pass upon yourself, but that they fear the 
 Argentine people, who are your friends ; yes, Don Santiago, even 
 yet your friends. It is not too late, even yet you may save yourself 
 from the fate which looms over you. Choose now at once, will you
 
 THE MISTS OF THE EARLY MORN. 319 
 
 put 3'ourself at the head of the people, or will you fall their victim. 
 Choose now, for the time is short ; two file of grenadiers and a priest, 
 such is your fate from Spanish jealousy or from the indignation of the 
 people you have betrayed. That fate may yet be averted, but the 
 time is short. What say you ? " added Evaha, stepping up to the ex- 
 Viceroy and laying his hand on his shoulder. 
 
 That touch broke the spell ; Liniers sprang from his chair, pushed 
 Evaha from him with such violence that he reeled backwards for 
 several paces ere he could recover his balance, and seizing the bell 
 ranc it. For a minute there was silence ; to this summons there was no 
 
 O ... 
 
 response, and Evaha, foldmg his arms across his chest, stood motion- 
 less in the centre of the room with a fierce glare in his dark eyes. 
 Liniers strove to meet that glance with one of defiance, but his own 
 eyes fell before it ; again he rang the bell, then as there was still no 
 answer he walked to a door, opened it, and shouted — 
 
 " Ofticer of the guard ! " 
 
 In the ante-room all was darkness, no one was there ; he went on, 
 opened another door, and found himself face to face with Don Roderigo. 
 
 " Did you call, Don Santiago ? " said Don Roderigo. 
 
 " The ofticer of the guard ; where is he ? " 
 
 " Beyond," said General Nieto. 
 
 " You do not want him," said Don Roderigo in a sharp voice, then 
 taking Liniers by the arm he led him back to the further room, while 
 General Nieto followed, closing the doors behind them. 
 
 In the further room stood Evaha, motionless, just as Liniers had 
 left him. 
 
 Without a word Don Roderigo seated himself at a table, drew a 
 sheet of paper towards him, and writing a few lines handed it to 
 Marshal Liniers for his signature. 
 
 Liniers read the paper, it was an order to Major Asneiros to with- 
 draw his men from the house of Don Carlos Evaha, and cancelling 
 the order of arrest issued against that gentleman. Liniers looked in 
 perplexity from one to the other, but General Nieto refused to meet 
 his glance, and in the resolute countenance of Don Roderigo there 
 seemed a consciousness of power to enforce his will which awed him 
 into compliance. He took up a pen and signed the paper, feeling as 
 he did so that he abdicated the last remnant of his authority. 
 
 General Nieto countersigned the order without a w^ord, then Don 
 Roderigo folded it up, put it into the breast-pocket of his coat, and 
 turning to Evaha said — ■ 
 
 " Let us go." 
 
 Evaha walked up to the ex-Viceroy, bent over him and whispered 
 in his ear — 
 
 " Beware the day we meet again." 
 
 The next minute Liniers was alone, and alone he remained till near 
 midnight, buried in gloomy reverie, when shaking himself free from 
 his thoughts he rose to go to his own house. 
 
 " Two file of grenadiers and a priest, such is the reward of S])ain 
 for those who have served her too well," he muttered to himself as he 
 threw his cloak over his shoulders.
 
 320 FONCE DE LEON. 
 
 On the 3otli June, Don Baltazar Hidalgo de Cisneros, General of 
 the Spanish navy, by the will of the Junta Central of Spain and by the 
 tacit acquiescence of the Argentine people, Viceroy of Buenos Aires, 
 arrived at the capital city of his Viceroyalty, landed and entered into 
 the full exercise of his authority. The people of Buenos Aires, both 
 natives and Spaniards, received him with acclamations, the Spaniards 
 rejoicing that their former predominance would now be restored to 
 them, the natives anxious to conciliate the good-will of their new ruler. 
 
 Many men looked on as he landed, who took no part in these accla- 
 mations, among them two fast friends stood side by side listening to 
 the shouts of the people in far differing mood, Marceiino Ponce de 
 Leon and Don Carlos Evana. Marcelino's face was clouded over, he 
 saw the last chance of freedom slipping away, he saw in Don Baltazar 
 de Cisneros a triumphant agent of that ruthless despotism which had 
 for so long crushed the young energies of his country, he saw in his 
 enthusiastic reception the ruin of those high hopes he had dared 
 to entertain. But on the face of Don Carlos Evaha there was no 
 trouble or despondency, he looked upon it all as a pageant, meaning 
 nothing. Marceiino looked at him in surprise as he saw the smile 
 upon his lip. 
 
 " How can you smile, Carlos," said he, " when this man comes, to 
 undo all that we have gained during three years ? " 
 
 " He will undo nothing," replied Don Carlos. " He comes to 
 give stability to what we have already gained, and to help us on in 
 our career of progress." 
 
 " He, Carlos ! he is a Spaniard, and the nominee of Spain ! " 
 
 " Don Roderigo is a Spaniard. Your father is his chosen counsellor," 
 replied Don Carlos ; Marceiino was silenced and spoke no more. 
 
 Then Don Roderigo, who was in close attendance upon the new 
 Viceroy, perceived them and came up to speak with them. 
 
 " Ah, Carlos," said he, " those who stood forward in defence of the 
 law on the ist January have to-day reason to rejoice. Natives and 
 Spaniards join to welcome our new ruler. There is now no longer 
 division amongst us, once more we are a united people." 
 
 " And you know how our present union may be preserved," replied 
 Don Carlos. 
 
 " I do, and I look to you both to assist me. Many reforms in the 
 administration are of urgent necessity and are now possible, but of 
 this we will talk later. At one o'clock his Excellency Don Baltazar 
 will give a reception in the saloon of audience, I shall expect to see 
 you there, and shall have the pleasure of introducing you." 
 
 Both the younger men promised to attend, and Don Roderigo left 
 them. 
 
 " But, Carlos," said Marceiino, as his father walked away, " we 
 must discuss this matter with our friends, from this, no one can tell 
 what will result. If my father maintains his influence with the Viceroy, 
 and has the real direction of affairs, all will go well, but his power 
 depends upon the caprice of a man of whom we know nothing, and it 
 may cease any day ; we are in ignorance of the secret intentions of this 
 Don Baltazar. There will be many wild-duck on the marshes now, let 
 us go and shoot."
 
 THE MISTS OF THE EARLY MORN. 32 1 
 
 " With all my heart," said Evafia. " Whatever day will suit you, I 
 will make convenient to me." 
 
 Marcelino soon found a day convenient, and a party which comprised 
 all the members of the secret committee, sallied forth betimes to the 
 banados in the neighbourhood of Quilmes, where wild-duck swarmed 
 by thousands. All looked to Evaha to fix upon some spot for a gen- 
 eral halt ; the name of the new Viceroy had as yet not been mentioned 
 among them. But Evaha, instead of seeking out some secluded spot 
 and establishing himself there as was his wont on such occasions, 
 split the party up into knots of twos and threes, which he despatched 
 in different directions about the swampy plain, with instructions to con- 
 centrate towards one central point and to fire at any duck flying away 
 from this point. His comrades looked at him in surprise, to reach 
 this point would occupy the greater part of the day. 
 
 " They laugh at us, do our friends in the city," said Don Carlos ; 
 " they say that such sportsmen as we are a disgrace to them, let us 
 show them that we can do something besides talk of sporting. I think 
 we have been sportsmen long enough to know how to shoot straight." 
 
 Then the same thought came to them all, their empty bags might 
 well have excited suspicion that it was not for simple sport that these 
 excursions were arranged, especially as they never took any servants 
 with them ; the new Viceroy might well be suspected of special vigil- 
 ance, after the caution he had shown in taking possession of his post ; 
 it would be well, therefore, that they should do something to merit the 
 name of sportsmen. 
 
 No man made any further observation, but each one went to his post 
 as directed, and spent the entire day wading through swamps, scrambling 
 across watercourses, crawling on hands and knees through the long 
 grass to get within shot of their game. Of them all none was more 
 indefatigable than Don Carlos Evaha. He had kept Marcelino with 
 him, and rejected all his attempts to converse on any other subject 
 than the sport on which they were engaged. 
 
 An hour before sundown the whole party met again at the place 
 which had been fixed upon for concentration, with their clothes wet 
 and covered with mud, their ])owder-horns and shot-belts empty, but 
 their bags and pockets full of duck, teal, and snipe, and also with a kw 
 wood-pigeons, which Evaha had gone out of his way to shoot in a 
 small plantation. Fatigued as they were, they yet found spirits to 
 laugh at each other's draggled appearance, and to recount the misfor- 
 tunes which had befallen them by falling into water-holes and so forth. 
 
 " But," said Marcelino, " there is yet an hour of sunshine, we have 
 yet time to learn the opinions " 
 
 "' For my part, .Sehorcs," said Evaha, interrupting him, " I have but 
 one opinion, which is not washed out of me by that last banado, I 
 never thought it was so deep or I would have gone round it ; my 
 opinion is, that the sooner I reach home and change my clothes the 
 belter I shall feel to-morrow, and I think it is an opinion that you all 
 share with me." 
 
 " At least it is also mine," said Don Miguel Yrigoyen. 
 
 "They can laugh at us no longer," said Don Manuel P.elgrano. 
 " We have earned our laurels to-day, let us be content wuh that, for the 
 
 Y
 
 322 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 rest there is no great hurry. We have a new Viceroy, and it appears 
 to me we shall have some years yet in which we may discuss his 
 qualities. As for the Princess Carlota, 1 wash my hands of her." 
 
 " She has let the opportunity pass, and it will never return," said 
 Marcelino. 
 
 Without further ado the horses were saddled, each draggled sports- 
 man bestowing as best he could the unwonted trojjhies of his skill, 
 and away they went for town, discussing among themselves no more 
 serious subject than the weight of their respective bags. 
 
 That day's work quite redeeme 1 the reputation of these friendly 
 sportsmen, and was for long after a theme on which they were wont 
 to descant with immense gratification to themselves. 
 
 In spite of his exertions Don Carlos Evaha was not too tired to 
 spend the evening at the house of Don Roderigo Ponce de Leon, 
 which had of late been his great resort in leisure moments, and where 
 he was alwavs welcome. But before he even changed his clothes, he 
 selected the finest birds from his bag and sent them by a servant to 
 Doha Constancia. 
 
 " Now, Sehorita, what do you say ?" said he, as he sat near Dolores 
 that evening. " Yesterday you laughed when I told you that Marce- 
 lino and I were going out shooting." 
 
 " I am sorry for the poor birds," said Dolores, " and I won't laugh 
 again." 
 
 Months passed before Dolores had another chance of laughing at 
 Don Carlos for his bad success as a sportsman. The wild-duck had 
 flown back to their haunts in the icy south, and partridges were sitting 
 on their dark-brown eggs, in nests hidden by the long spring grass, 
 ere Don Carlos Evaha again shouldered his gun and went forth shoot- 
 ing with the members of the secret committee.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 HOW THE VICEROY PLACED A SWORD IN THE; HANDS OF 
 THE ENEMIES OF SPAIN, 
 
 The first great dlfiiculties which beset the new Viceroy arose from 
 the same cause which had so greatly hampered his predecessor, the 
 empty state of the treasury. The revenues of government from all 
 sources little exceeded .$100,000 a month, the expenditure was more 
 than double, in addition to which there was a heavy debt incurred in 
 repelling the second invasion of the English. 
 
 The Viceroy applied, in the first place, to the Spanish residents for 
 a loan, his request was refused-; in his perplexity he turned for counsel 
 to Don Roderigo Ponce de Leon, who in reply laid before him the 
 memorial on free trade, which had been drawn up by Don Manuel 
 Belgrano. 
 
 " You think that by opening our ports to the English we shall 
 increase the revenue sufficiently to meet all the expenditure ? " said 
 the Viceroy. 
 
 " I feel sure of it," replied Don Roderigo. 
 
 " It is in direct contradiction to my instructions," said the Viceroy. 
 
 " I believe the main purport of your instructions is, that you put an 
 end to these disorders that have broken out, and re-establish the full 
 authority of government." 
 
 " Yes, and how I am to do it with native troops who release their 
 prisoners and can't be punished, and without money, is to me a 
 mystery. You see what has happened at Chuquisaca, the Audencia 
 quarrelled with the President, and appealed to the people. The 
 Creoles have set up a Junta of their own, now this Junta of Creoles 
 overrides the decisions of all the Spanish corporations, and neither 
 the President nor the Audencia has any power left. What is to be 
 the end of all this ? Before long we may have a Junta of Creoles 
 here in Buenos Aires." 
 
 " Your Excellency does not overrate the danger," replied Don 
 Roderigo. " You want money ; open the ports to the English and 
 you will have it. You want troops ; by establishing free trade ^ you 
 will win the confidence of the people, and I engage that the Patricios 
 themselves shall put down this Junta at Chuquisaca for you." 
 
 " I will think of it," said the Viceroy. 
 
 What the Viceroy did was to submit the memorial to the Cabildo 
 
 1 This is a translation of the then popular cry, " Libertad dc Comercio ! " and 
 has not the thorough meaning of the English expression. It simply implies an 
 open port.
 
 324 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 and to the Consulado, both of which corporations were composed 
 exclusively of Spaniards. Both returned the same answer, that the 
 project was inadmissible. 
 
 Marcelino Ponce de Leon, as secretary to the Consulado, had the 
 mortification of having to draw up the reply of that body himself, a 
 work which clashed so completely with his own convictions that he 
 was only prevented from throwing up his post by the earnest entreaties 
 of his lather. 
 
 To relieve his mind he organized a shooting expedition, in which 
 the sport gave but a poor result in birds, but i)roduced an idea which 
 was carried out with great zeal by the various members of the secret 
 committee. All the wealthy landowners were forthwith subjected to 
 a vigorous canvass in favour of the project of free trade, and their 
 interests were so plainly sacrificed to Spanish greed under the present 
 system, that they were with no great difficulty prevailed upon to unite 
 in support of the scheme of Don Manuel Eelgrano. A number of 
 them met at tlie house of Don Gregorio Lopez, and selected Dr. Don 
 Mariano Moreno as their advocate to combat for them the arguments 
 of the Spanish corporations. 
 
 The result was that Dr. Moreno drew up another memorial, dated 
 30th September, 1809, and entitled "La Representacion de Los 
 Hacendados," in which occur the following remarkable words — 
 
 " The Sovereign did not confer upon Y. E. the high dignity of 
 Viceroy of these provinces in order that you might watch over the 
 interests of the merchants of Cadiz, but over our interests. It is a 
 tyranny, that monopoly which the merchants of Cadiz have usurped, 
 and the remonstrances of this city are echoed everywhere in bitter 
 complaints, which are heard there only with contempt, expressive of 
 the shamelessness with which they seize upon the wealth of a people 
 in no way inferior to themselves. Y. E. rules over a great people, 
 protect, then, with vigorous justice the development of the great 
 wealth of which nature has been prodigal to us." 
 
 " At last, we begin to understand the meaning of the words, ' America 
 for the Americans,' " said Don Carlos Evaha, as he read a copy of this 
 memorial which Marcelino had procured for the secret committee. 
 
 In October the ports of Buenos Aires and Monte Video were 
 opened to English ships, English merchants soon made their appear- 
 ance, the empty coffers of the Viceroy were rapidly replenished, trade 
 was developed to an extent never before known, and the increased 
 value of their products doubled and trebled the wealth of the native 
 hacendados. 
 
 Having resolved this matter, the Viceroy next turned his attention 
 to the revolts in the interior. A strong detachment of the Patricios 
 formed the nucleus of an expedition which, under the command of 
 General Nieto, marched to Chuquisaca. With this expedition went 
 as a volunteer Evaristo Ponce de Leon, the youngest officer in the 
 regiment of the Patricios. 
 
 So under the rule of the new Viceroy, winter passed into spring and 
 
 spring into summer, and the men of Buenos Aires saw the jiower 
 
 which they had thought of as their own slowly slip]:)ing away from them. 
 
 But Don Baltazar de Cisneros distrusted their apparent apathy, he
 
 THE MISTS OF THE EARLY MORN. 325 
 
 knew that any untoward circumstance might arouse the dormant spirit 
 of revolution of which Liniers had warned him. Again he turned to 
 Don Roderigo for counsel, and the result was that he determined to 
 extend his influence over the people by means of an official newspaper. 
 
 This was not the first newspaper which had ever been published in 
 Buenos Aires. In the first year of the century was published the 
 " Telegrafo Mercantil," which was succeeded in the following year by 
 the " Semanario." The English also, during their occupation of 
 Monte Video, there published a newspaper, entided " La Estrella del 
 Sur," which was printed partly in Spanish, and partly in English ; both 
 this paper and the " Semanario " ceased to appear during the confusion 
 occasioned by Whitelock's invasion of Buenos Aires. 
 
 The editorship of the new newspaper was entrusted by the Viceroy 
 to Don Manuel Belgrano, who at once convened a meeting of the 
 secret committee at his own house. 
 
 " Senores," said he, when all were present, " there is no longer 
 necessity for secresy ; I have invited you here to-day to assist me in 
 conducting a newspaper, which his Excellency the Viceroy has com- 
 missioned me to publish, in order to teach the people by the writings of 
 men of education and experience, the due appreciation of their rights 
 and privileges. Every article before publication will have to be sub- 
 mitted to his Excellency for approval, the teachings of the newspaper 
 will thus have official sanction and authority. The subject to which 
 he desires me more particularly to direct attention is the necessity for 
 union and public spirit. I think we may on these subjects easily 
 devise such articles as may merit his approval, and at the same time 
 may teach our fellow-citizens that the prosperity of our country depends 
 upon our own union for the assertion of those rights which are most 
 wrongfully withheld from us by Spain." 
 
 Before the end of January, in the year 18 10, the prospectus of the 
 new " Diario del Comercio " was published in Buenos Aires, and 
 extensively circulated by viceregal authority throughout the provinces. 
 
 Through the summer and autumn the newspaper appeared at regu- 
 lar intervals, and in every number there was at least one article which 
 in covert language was an attack upon the colonial system of Spairu 
 
 Long and weary Avere these months to Marcelino Ponce de Leon, 
 the sweet voice of Magdalen Miranda no longer cheered him in his 
 troubles, in vain he looked for sympathy into her deep gi-ay eyes ; he 
 seldom saw her at all, when he did there was a cold constraint in her 
 manner to him, which more effectually kept him at a distance from 
 her than would any outspoken anger. And of one great trouble he 
 dared not speak even to her. Since the day when Evana had shown 
 him that fatal newspaper paragraph recording the loss of the " Petrel" 
 he had heard no further tidings of his friend Gordon ; he had written 
 to England, but communication was slow and uncertain in those days, 
 he had received no an.swer to his letter, the fate of his English friend 
 was yet in suspense, and suspense is more wearing than the most 
 dreadful certainty. Sorrowing over the loss of the first love of his 
 life, alternately hoping and fearing as the days wore on, the colour 
 faded from his cheeks, and even faint lines of care began to show
 
 
 
 26 rONCE DE LEON. 
 
 themselves upon his smooth forehead. In vain liis mother and Dolores 
 strove to cheer him, knowing nothing of the cause of his grief, or if 
 Dolores suspected somewhat of the cause, she kept it to herself and 
 never spoke to him of Magdalen Miranda. 
 
 Of his trouble he could not speak even to his friend Evana, who 
 was to him as a brother, for Evaha had spoken to him scornfully of 
 Don Alfonso Miranda, and slightingly of her who was to him the one 
 pearl among women. And in tlie face of his friend he had seen hope 
 and love softening the harshness of his features and infusing a gentle 
 tenderness into his dark eyes, he knew that the loss of that other friend 
 was to him great gain, he could not look to him for sympathy. 
 
 To Evaiia this time had passed as one long holiday. As month 
 after month went by, and there came no news of Gordon, the thought 
 that he had perished in the wreck of the " Petrel " became to him a 
 certainty, yet of this certainty he spoke to no one, he dreaded what 
 the effect of the intelligence might be upon the girl he loved ; he 
 knew the firm constancy of her nature, firm even in faults, steady 
 with a steadiness which he had learned to look upon as a most un- 
 usual trait in the character of a woman. Her constancy was itself 
 one source of the admiration he felt for her, even though her love were 
 lavished on another. While Gordon lived he knew that her heart 
 would never swerve from its allegiance, and he disdained the thought 
 of seeking for himself the love of a heart which owned another master. 
 But if his rival no longer lived, then he thought that it might be his to 
 soothe the pain of a fearful wound and to win that heart wholly to 
 himself 
 
 Yet he dreaded the day when this intelligence should reach her, he 
 knew that the pain would be all the more severe from the stern courage 
 with which she would hide it in her own bosom ; he loved her, and 
 her suffering, however bravely it might be concealed, would, he knew, 
 rend his own heart with fearful agony. He dreaded the arrival of 
 every ship from Europe, yet every letter he opened, every letter he 
 saw opened by his friend Marcelino, awaked within him a wild hope 
 that his suspense was ended. 
 
 This time had been to him one long holiday, but a holiday to the 
 full as replete with alternate, hope and fear, as it had been to him he 
 called his brother. As the months passed on, hope grew stronger and 
 stronger within him, and as hope grew stronger so his love waxed 
 bolder, till he began to say to himself that he had no longer any living 
 rival whom he need fear, and that he miglit venture to seek for him- 
 self the love of a heart that might yet be his. 
 
 He talked much of the uncertainty of a soldier's life, spoke much of 
 the desperate fighting in the Peninsula, of which each ship from 
 Europe brought them fresh details, but as he did so, his heart often 
 smote him with bitter anguish as he looked upon the face of Lola 
 Ponce ; in the tightly-compressed lips and watching eyes he saw a 
 question which she never asked him ; he saw her ask herself, was there 
 any meaning to her in these words of his beyond such meaning as 
 they had to all. 
 
 The long summer days began to draw in, the wheat was garnered, 
 apricots glowed temptingly on the trees like balls of frosted gold,
 
 THE MISTS OF THE EARLY MORN. ll'J 
 
 graphs hung from the espaliers in great purple bunches, inviting the 
 despoiler, and the peaches, losing their dull-green hue, began to deck 
 themselves in scarlet and yellow, toned down with an exquisite bloom. 
 The Quinta de Ponce looked more like an oasis than ever, the dark- 
 green leaves of the trees contrasting strongly with the dry yellow grass 
 of the Pampa, and with the arid hardness of the dusty roads, as 
 Ivlarcelino and his friend Evaha rode up to it, one evening in February. 
 Evaha had been unusually silent on the way out ; he had resolved that 
 the time had come, for him to break as gently as he could the news 
 to Dolores of the great loss she had suffered, and he had resolved to 
 do it himself, for, as he thought, none but Marcelino and himself had 
 penetrated her secret, and he sought to shield her as he could, even 
 at the risk of bitter sorrow to himself. 
 
 Dolores came to meet them as they walked under the trees together, 
 but no longer welcomed them with buoyant cheerfulness, there was a 
 listlessness about her, as though she were a prey to some secret care. 
 She laid her hand on Marcelino's arm and walked beside him, but her 
 eyes looked searchingly into the face of Don Carlos Evaha. Few 
 words they spoke together; as they neared the house Marcelino 
 left the other two, and went himself to speak with his mother. Back- 
 wards and forwards paced the two under the trees side by side, saying 
 little, but each with furtive glance watching the other. Evaha had 
 said to himself that the time was come, but now that Dolores walked 
 beside him he knew not how to commence, he knew not with what 
 words he should prepare her and strengthen her, so that he might 
 lessen the shock of the truth he had resolved to tell her. 
 
 " We have been friends a long time now, Dolores," said he, " and 
 our friendship has met with no interruption such as I once feared." 
 
 " I do not know why it should," replied Dolores. 
 
 " At one time I feared much that there was great danger of an 
 interruption to it, but the danger has passed over, and there is now no 
 cloud between us. Shall I tell you what the danger was?" 
 
 " I know," said Dolores, " I have asked papa, and he has told me. 
 Papa says that you learned many extravagant ideas when you were in 
 Paris, ideas which miglit have been your ruin, but since then you have 
 learned better, and papa says there is no other in whom he has such 
 confidence as he has in you." 
 
 " Not only that," said Evaha, " Don Roderigo is now, next to Don 
 Ealtazar de Cisneros, the most powerful man in the city, and the 
 system of government is comi:iJetely changed. We Creoles can cheer- 
 fully submit to be ruled by men such as he, who will educate the 
 people, till some day they will know how to rule themselves." 
 
 " Tliat can never be," rei)lied Dolores. 
 
 Don Carlos paused, the abruptness of the answer somewhat startled 
 him ; again they walked for a space in silence under the sheltering 
 trees, again Evaha spoke — 
 
 " Your father lias a hard task before him, Dolores," said he. " In 
 some things I have been able to aid him ; it has been a pleasure to 
 me to aid him in any way, for my help to him brings me nearer to you." 
 
 " You come to see us much more frequently now than you used to 
 do," said Dolore.s.
 
 328 rOXCE DE LEON, 
 
 (( 
 
 I should like to come more frequently still ; I should like to see 
 you every day," replied Kvafia. 
 
 "I fear the new 'Diario' would not have much help from you if 
 you came galloping out to see us every day, Don Carlos," said 
 Dolores, with a faint attempt at a laugh. 
 
 Again Don Carlos was silent, for this mention of the " Diario " 
 brought a recent slight to his recollection, under which his proud 
 spirit chafed. With great care he had written an article for the first 
 issue of the " Diario," previous to sending it in he had shown it to 
 Don Roderigo. Don Roderigo had read it carefully, and after draw- 
 ing his j)en through one sentence, saying but one word, "uiadmissible,'' 
 had handed it back to him without comment. This sentence contained 
 the pith of the whole article, but Evana had submitted ; mutilated as 
 it was, this article had appeared in the " Diario," and he never thought 
 of it but with secret shame. 
 
 Again they walked on in silence, side by side, till Dolores asked 
 abruptly — 
 
 " ^\'hat is the matter with Marcelino ? " 
 
 " I fear he is not well," replied Evana. 
 
 " I am sure he is not," said Dolores. " But 3'ou see more of him 
 than we do, what is to do Avith him ? " 
 
 " I fear he is not happy," replied Evana. 
 
 " I know he is not," said Dolores. " When any ship arrives from 
 Europe he is miseral)le for days after." 
 
 "The news from Spain is continually worse," replied Evana. 
 " Even the English appear to be unable to do anything to stop the 
 progress of the French armies." 
 
 " He has had no letter for months," said Dolores. 
 
 " Not from Gordon," replied Evaiia. " But Gordon can have little 
 time for writing if he is with the army." 
 
 " If! you say if; is he not with the army?" 
 
 " He was on his way when Marcelino last heard from him." 
 
 "But that is long ago," said Dolores sadly, then turning from 
 Evaiia, she left him and went into the house. 
 
 Evana followed her, entered the sala, but found it vacant, seated 
 himself, thinking over what he had said to Dolores, and telling himself 
 that he had not said one word of what he wished to say, but had 
 aroused in her mind vague suspicions of evil which in no way advanced 
 his own cause. He had wished to tell her plainly of his own love 
 first, asking nothing in return, but hoping everything, then gradually 
 breaking the truth to her to make her feel the need of the sympathy 
 he yearned to offer. 
 
 As he thus tortured himself, saying to himself that he had let the 
 chance go by, Dolores entered the room. Evana rose to meet her, 
 but stopped as he saw the extraordinary pallor on her face, every 
 shade of colour had vanished from it, even her lips were white and 
 were firmly pressed together, while her eyes, looking straight into his, 
 had a peering, anxious expression in them which caused his heart to 
 cease for a moment its beating, too well he divined the reason of the 
 change in her. She walked up to him and laid a hand upon his arm. 
 
 " I have been talking with Marcelino," she said, in slow, measured
 
 THE MISTS OF THE EARLY MORN. 329 
 
 words. " What is this that you are hiding from me ? He will tell 
 me nothing." 
 
 " Hiding from you ! " said Evaiia ; " Marcelino has no secrets from 
 you." 
 
 "Are you not my friend, Don Carlos? Do you think I have no 
 couragQ ? Do you fear that I shall disgrace ray name ? Tell me, 
 what is this that you are hiding from me ? " 
 
 " Be sure that if we had any secret between us you should share 
 it, were there any necessity that you should do." 
 
 Then the hand which lay upon Evana's arm closed upon it with 
 such force that the finger-ends buried themselves in his flesh, causing 
 him severe pain, but he hardly noticed it, so fascinated was he by the 
 determined eagerness of those gray eyes which so near to him seemed 
 to defy him. The white lips parted once more,, and through the half- 
 closed teeth there came low but distinctly the question he dreaded 
 to hear — 
 
 ' Is he dead ? " 
 
 For one moment there was ^^^ld conflict in Evana's soul. He 
 dared not tell the simple truth, though he had come there that evening 
 to tell it, he dared not look upon the despair which that truth told 
 bluntly would bring into the face he loved to look upon, he dreaded 
 to see in that despair the ruin of his own hopes. But as he gazed 
 down into the gray eyes which looked into his own defying him to 
 attempt a falsehood, he could no longer pretend ignorance, and he 
 answered rapidly — 
 
 " He has been in great danger, but the worst is over." 
 
 The next moment he would have given worlds to have retracted 
 his words, but it was too late, she had believed him, the fierce grasp 
 upon his arm relaxed, the defiant look of sorrow in those eyes melted 
 into one of grateful hope, and Evaha learnt then what be would well- 
 nigh have given his life to have never known, that in life or in death 
 she had given her heart to one only, and that no other could supplant 
 him even though fathoms deep under the sea. 
 
 " Always my friend," she said, then turning from him glided with 
 slow step away. 
 
 Evaiia saw Dolores no more that evening, Dona Constancia said 
 she was unwell and had retired to her own room. 
 
 Long after nightfall, when the household had gone to rest, he paced 
 in solitude to and fro under those trees, whose branches had over- 
 shadowed him and Dolores as. they had walked and talked together 
 but a few hours before. But a few hours and yet how everything was 
 changed to him ! then with a heart full of hope and tenderness he had 
 sought to tell her of the great blow that had fallen upon her, hoping 
 that she might then turn to him for consolation, and that in the deep 
 devotion of his love for her she might find solace, till her heart 
 turning to him might forget its old allegiance and become entirely his. 
 She iiad given him the chance he had sought, one word from him 
 might have destroyed at once that hope in which her heart lived, that 
 hope which was the barrier to his own happiness, for she trusted him 
 so completely, she had never doubted him for one moment. And 
 that word was the simple truth, " dead," yet he had not dared to
 
 330 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 speak it. He had bid her hope yet, when there was no hope, he had 
 betrayed the confidence she had placed in him, he had shown doubt 
 of her courage and strengtli of mind, some day she would learn the 
 truth, then her confidence and her trust in him were gone for ever. 
 And even though it were not so, had he not read in the grateful 
 thanks which had beamed upon him from those gray eyes the 
 baselessness of all his hopes. 
 
 " In life or in death, his only," he muttered to himself. 
 
 Then he thought of how he had sacrificed all for her, how he had 
 sacrificed the creed which had been so far the guiding principle of . 
 his life, and had united himself with those who could never be other 
 than the tyrants of his country, how he had sacrificed his ambition, 
 perchance even the future of his country ; for, as he now said to himself, 
 the power of a man such as Don Roderigo could be hut transient. 
 He thought of the sentence in his article for the " Diario," through 
 which Don Roderigo had drawn his pen, the only sentence in the 
 whole paper which spoke plainly of the right of all men to think for 
 themselves, which spoke plainly of some future day of freedom. 
 
 As he thought of all this, he asked himself why he had so forsaken 
 his old creed, why he had forced himself to think that a republic of 
 Argentines was a dream, practicable only in some remote future, in 
 which he could have no part. To these questions his heart answered 
 for him, that he had done it for her sake. 
 
 Then he pictured to himself what would have followed had he and 
 his friends boldly resisted the assumption of power by Don Baltazar 
 de Cisneros. He saw the country rent by civil war, himself and Don 
 Roderigo, leaders on different sides ; he pictured to himself this 
 deadly strife, and as he did so his thoughts flew back to an evening 
 on which he had dreamed a dream, a dream full of presage of future 
 woe, a dream so bitter that its memory had been present with him 
 ever since, a dream in which Dolores had fallen dead at his feet, 
 stricken to the death by his own hand. 
 
 " It cannot be, it cannot be," he said to himself. "That fair young 
 life sacrificed to a memory that is gone. Fool that I was not to tell 
 her the truth at once ! " 
 
 As he said this he struck himself fiercely on the breast with his 
 clenched fist, and a sharp pang shot through his arm. Drawing up 
 the cuff of his coat and unbuttoning the wristband of his shirt he 
 turned up the sleeve ; there on his arm, where her hand had rested, 
 were four black marks corresponding to the four fingers of the tiny 
 hand of Lola Ponce, four bruises inflicted by the pressure of those 
 small fingers. Evaha walked into the moonlight and gazed long 
 upon these four black marks, then raising his arm he pressed his lips 
 upon them, muttering to himself with a deep sigh — 
 
 " In life or in death, his only."
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 i CADUCO LA ESPANA ! 
 
 The expedition to Chuquisaca met with no effective opposition. 
 The Spanish authorities were reinstated, and many of the principal 
 citizens of that far-off city were tried by court-martial and banished to 
 Peru, there to languish in the stifling casemates of Callao. An expe- 
 dition from Peru against La Paz, under General Goyeneche, was more 
 stubbornly resisted. But the insurgents, badly organized and half 
 armed, were routed with great slaughter. La Paz was taken by assault, 
 many of the leaders perished on the gibbet, and their dismembered 
 bodies were nailed on the sign-posts which marked out the public 
 roads in Upper Peru. 
 
 The Patricios returned to Buenos Aires, but they cared not to speak 
 of their exploits. Then men began to rouse themselves from their 
 apathy and to murmur indignant words, whispering to one anotlier 
 with bated breath that Spain was ever the same Spain, that there was 
 one law for Spaniards and quite another law for Americans. Elio and 
 Alzaga and their companions, who had revolted against a Viceroy 
 holding his appointment from the regal Court of Aranjuez, were held 
 high in favour by the new ruler, who held his appointment only from 
 the Junta of Seville. For Americans who had dared to revolt, there 
 was the gibbet and the garotte, or imprisonment in a dreary dungeon. 
 
 The war in the Peninsula in the year 1809 was one long series of 
 disasters to Si)ain, broken only by one or two insignificant triumphs, 
 relieved only from utter disgrace by the heroic defence of Saragossa 
 and that of Gerona, both alike unavailing. 
 
 The Sierra de la Morena stood as a huge, natural rampart around 
 the ancient kingdom of Boabdil. Andalusia was as yet unsullied by 
 the footstep of the invader, but to the north of the sierra, all organized 
 resistance had ceased, the honour of Spain was upheld only by scat- 
 tered bands of guerillas. Even the British allies of Si)ain, after their 
 bloody but fruitless victory at Talavera de la Reyna, had retired to 
 the frontiers of Portugal. Joseph reigned tranquilly at Madrid. All 
 Spain, save that last stronghold of the Moors, lay prostrate at the feet 
 of Napoleon. 
 
 Then the Junta of Seville determined upon one last desperate .effort. 
 Early in November an army of 50,000 men, with 7000 horse and sixty 
 guns, issued from the defiles of the Sierra de la Morena, and marched 
 upon Madrid. On the 12th November, on the wide plains of New 
 Castile, they encountered their enemy at Ocana, All that personal
 
 332 PONXE DE LEON. 
 
 bravery could accomplish was done, but military skill and discipline 
 were stronger than patriotism and fanaticism combined. The last 
 army of Spain was completely routed — 20,000 Spaniards breathed 
 their last on that fatal field. The Sierra de la Morena remained, almost 
 undefended, the last bulwark of Spanish nationality. 
 
 Don Baltazar de Cisneros did all he could to prevent the extent of 
 this disaster from being known in Buenos Aires, but it was impossible 
 to keep it long concealed. In February, 18 10, the minds of men, 
 already excited by the news from the interior, became still further 
 excited as they learned the full extent of the great defeat at Ocaha. 
 
 Men, no longer fearful of Spanish tyranny, thronged in the streets, 
 walking about in groups unchallenged, shouting boldly one to the other — 
 
 " Spain has fallen ! " 
 
 One day in the last week of February Don Carlos Evaha received 
 a letter, by private hand from General Miranda, who was at that time 
 resident in London, and who was more active than ever in his revo- 
 lutionary projects, as he saw Spain daily sinking lower and lower in her 
 strusde aeainst France. Enclosed in this letter came another for Don 
 Alfonso Miranda. Don Carlos had not been near the Miserere tor 
 months, but on the evening of this day he walked out there. He 
 found Don Alfonso and Magdalen seated in the porch together. Don 
 Alfonso received him very cordially, and Magdalen, smiling upon him, 
 reproached him for his desertion of them. 
 
 " It is so many months since I have seen you, Don Carlos," she 
 said, " that I have almost forgotten the sound of your voice ; but I 
 \vent to see Doha Josefina last week, and she told me about you. 
 You have been spending these last months very pleasantly, no wonder 
 you forgot us. I did not think we should ever see you again." 
 
 "What nonsense are you talking, Chica?" said Don Alfonso. 
 
 But Don Carlos did not seem to think it nonsense, and smiled 
 pleasantly upon her. 
 
 " There is some one who often speaks to me of you," he said. 
 Then noticing that Magdalen looked troubled at this, he turned to 
 Don Alfonso and s}x»ke to him. 
 
 " To-day I received a letter from your brother the General," he 
 said. " Every letter is more sanguine than the one before. He sends 
 me an enclosure for you, which ■" 
 
 " Go and walk in the garden, Chica," said Don Alfonso, interrupting 
 him. Then as Magdalen left them he signed to Don Carlos to follow 
 him to the sala, the door of which he closed before he spoke again. 
 
 Magdalen had not walked long in the garden before the gate opened 
 and Don Ciriaco Asneiros entered. She received him with much less 
 cordiality than she had formerly shown him. Even the name of 
 Dolores failed to arouse her to animation, but for some minutes she 
 walked beside him, listlessly attending to what he said, and answering 
 his questions at random. 
 
 " And the old man ? " said Don Ciriaco, tiring at length of this one- 
 sided conversation. 
 
 " He is in the sala," replied Magdalen. 
 
 " Let us go and talk to him." 
 
 " No, do not go in yet, he has a visitor with him."
 
 THE MISTS OF THE EARLY MORN. 333 
 
 "Who is it?" 
 
 " The Sehor Evana is with him.'' 
 
 Then Don Ciriaco, leaving her, walked softly up to the sala window, 
 which was wide open, and bent down, apparently intent upon the 
 examination of the flowers growing beneath it. 
 
 " Don Ciriaco ! " called Magdalen, " come here, there are some 
 much finer roses at the other side." 
 
 " The time has now come. The people that has not now the cour- 
 age to strike for freedom is unworthy to become a nation." 
 
 Don Ciriaco had heard the rustling of paper, he had heard the 
 above words read in a low voice by Don Alfonso. It was enough, he 
 left the window and went back to Magdalen. 
 
 " Your uncle, Don Francisco, when do you expect him here ? " he 
 asked her bruskly. 
 
 Magdalen turned pale, looked at him with frightened eyes, and then 
 said hurriedly — 
 
 " My uncle ! I did not know he was coming. Papa never told me. 
 My uncle never writes to papa." 
 
 "What is that you tell me?" replied Asneiros. " He is now read- 
 ing to the Sehor Evaha the letter he received to-day." 
 
 " You are mistaken," said Magdalen. " It is the Sehor Evaha who 
 has received a letter from my uncle. They sent me out here, I do not 
 know anvthincf of it." 
 
 Then twining her hands together and with tears of vexation in her 
 eyes, as she saw him smile at her trouble, she turned from him and 
 sought refuge in her own room. 
 
 Nearly a week after this, Don Carlos Evaha passing along one of 
 the streets abutting upon the Plaza Mayor, paused to look upon a 
 group of men who, standing in the open street in front of a large 
 almacen, were discussing excitedly together, the latest news from 
 Europe. 
 
 " I have said to myself that my work is all in vain," he said within 
 himself. " In all that I have done I have done nothing, men have 
 laughed at my words, and have scoffed at my ideas as at those of a 
 dreamer. But has it been all in vain ? who has given these men 
 courage to speak such words as I hear now, in the open street ? has 
 not the day already come to put an end to this absurd farce of allegiance 
 to Spain ? " 
 
 As he so mused a hand was laid upon his arm, he turned and found 
 himself face to face with Marcelino Ponce de Leon. In the face of 
 his friend there beamed a look of pleasure such as he had not seen 
 there for many months. 
 
 " You have heard the news of which those men talk," said Evana, 
 "and you are glad." 
 
 The smile faded from Marcelino's face, and passing his arm 
 through Evana's he led him away up the street. Turning iiis face 
 from him and speaking in low tones he .said^ 
 
 " 1 have news which did make me very joyful, yet now I feci sad. 
 Look " 
 
 Putting his hand into his pocket, he drew out a letter and
 
 334 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 showed it to Evaiia. The letter bore an English postmark, the addre.^s 
 was in a bold hand which Evana recognized at once. For a moment 
 his firm step faltered, and a deadly pallor overspread his cheek, but it 
 was for a moment only, the next he asked calmly — 
 
 " How did he escape?" 
 
 " He never sailed in the ' Petrel,' " replied Marcelino. 
 
 For a minute or two they walked on in silence, then Evana spoke 
 again. 
 
 " But you have not answered my question," he said. " Is not the 
 day at hand? are we not already a free people?" 
 
 " Alas ! it is too true. Spain has fallen," said Marcelino. 
 
 Again they walked on in silence ; again Evana was the first to 
 speak. 
 
 " I have been idle," said he, " but the work has been done for me, 
 while I have been asleep, dreaming. The day has arisen, the dreams 
 of the night have passed from me." 
 
 Then seizing the hand of his friend he pressed it fiercely in his pwn, 
 and turning from him strode rapidly away towards his own dwelling. 
 
 For two days Don Carlos Evana shut his door to every visitor, on 
 the third day he sallied forth and took his way to the house of Don 
 Manuel Belgrano. He found Don Manuel in his study, and drawing 
 a roll of papers from his pocket he handed it to him. 
 
 Don Manuel spread open the roll on his desk, and glanced over the 
 papers. They consisted of a aeries of political articles for the " Diario." 
 
 " It is too soon," said he, as he turned the last sheet and looked up. 
 
 " Tliey would not meet the approval of his Excellency Don Bal- 
 tazar?" 
 
 " I dare not even submit them to his inspection." 
 
 " The day is at hand when the editor of the ' Diario ' will scorn 
 the approval of the nominee of Spain," replied Evana. 
 
 Don Roderigo Ponce de Leon, walking through the streets of Buenos 
 Aires, heard the careless comments of the people on the disasters 
 which had befallen Spain, heard them as Don Carlos Evana had heard 
 them, but their effect upon him was far difterent. 
 
 " I have sought to raise this people from their ignorance," said he 
 to himself ; " I have studied their interests and welfare in every 
 measure which I have adopted ; I have even sought the aid of some 
 of the most intelligent among them in the hope of inspiring them 
 with the true spirit of patriotism, yet they can rejoice at the misfor- 
 tunes which have fallen on my country, upon the country to which 
 they owe the love and reverence of children to a parent." 
 
 So musing bitterly to himself he took his way to the fort. As he 
 passed through the ante-room leading to the official apartments of the 
 Viceroy, the door opened of a room in which Don Baltazar de Cisne- 
 ros was accustomed to give private audience to such as were most in 
 his confidence ; from this room came forth Don Alfonso Miranda. 
 Don Roderigo started, an angry frown spread over his features, he 
 returned the obsequious bow of the medico with a haughty stare, and 
 passed on into the presence of the Viceroy. 
 
 " Your Excellency is perhaps not aware of the character of the man
 
 THE MISTS OF THE EARLY MORN. 335 
 
 who has just left you," said he to Don Baltazar, as he closed the door 
 behind him. 
 
 "You speak of the Sehor Miranda?" replied Don Baltazar. 
 
 " I do," said Don Roderigo. " I have just passed through the city, 
 I have listened to the comments of the Creoles upon the disasters 
 which have fallen upon Spain, I have come to warn your Excellency 
 that we are on the eve of a catastrophe." 
 
 "And what has that to do with the Sehor Miranda?" 
 
 " In admitting such a man to your confidence your Excellency runs 
 great danger, if he visits you, he comes as a spy." 
 
 " Yes, but as my spy," replied Don Baltazar. 
 
 " You are acquainted then with his character, and employ him ? " 
 
 " I seek to do so, for, before I left Spain, he was named to me as a 
 man who might be serviceable in procuring for me secret information. 
 I am as well aware as you that there are dangerous ideas abroad in 
 the city, and there are some men upon whom I wish to keep watch. 
 The Senor Miranda visited me at my own request." 
 
 " And what has he told you ? " 
 
 " Nothing ; but he has promised to report to me upon the move- 
 ments of one man, of whom Marshal Liniers entertained great sus- 
 picions, the Sehor Evaha. If this excitement of the people should 
 culminate in any outbreak against my authority, I am assured that the 
 Sehor Evaha will be at the head of it." 
 
 " Do you know that the Sehor Miranda is brother to Francisco 
 Miranda of Venezuela? " 
 
 " Of Francisco Miranda ! No, I did not know that." 
 
 "Your Excellency should enquire more carefully into the antecedents 
 of the men you trust," said Don Roderigo, with something of contempt 
 in his tone. 
 
 " I was informed that about ten years ago the Sehor Miranda gave 
 timely information to the Consulado of some conspiracy which was 
 thus averted." 
 
 " Of a conspiracy invented in his own brain," replied Don Roderigo 
 angrily ; " his information averted no conspiracy, for there was none, 
 but cast suspicion upon some most loyal Spaniards, and drove some of 
 the best servants of Spain from her service. I was one of the con- 
 spirators he denounced ; think you that I am a less trusty servant of 
 Spain than a Miranda from Venezuela ? " 
 
 " Yet you have your ideas," replied Don Baltazar softly, " and you 
 ]iad not then the experience you have now." 
 
 " The experience I have now, teaches me that tlie ideas I entertained 
 ten years ago were correct. You have removed the restrictions upon 
 trade, you admit Creoles to your counsels, such were tlie steps which 
 I advocated in the year '98 ; for this I was denounced by your friend 
 the Doctor Miranda to the Consulado of Cadiz, and lost my scat in 
 the yVudencia Real." 
 
 " You introduced the Sehor Evaha to me on my arrival, he is an 
 intimate friend of yours, but I believe him to be a most dangerous man." 
 
 " He is a man who may be of great service to us," replied Don 
 Roderigo ; " I have sought his friendship in order to wean him from 
 the extravagant ideas he learned during his residence in Europe."
 
 336 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 " I am informed that he is about to marry your daughter. You 
 would not give your daughter to any man suspected of disloyalty ? " 
 
 " Your Excellency is well informed," said Don Roderigo, smiling. 
 
 " Then I will accept your guarantee for the loyalty of the Sehor 
 Evana, Init General Miranda has agents in this city and I suspect that 
 the Senor P^vana is in correspondence with him." 
 
 " The principal correspondent of General Miranda is his brother," 
 replied Don Roderigo, " that I can prove to you by the testimony of 
 Major Asneiros, who has been commissioned by me to keep watch on 
 this medico. Major Asneiros surprised him not a week ago reading to 
 the Senor Evana a letter from the General, doubtless with the inten- 
 tion of drawing him into some conspiracy. If your Excellency were 
 to order the arrest of Don Alfonso, we should certainly learn from his 
 papers the real nature of the projects of Don Francisco." 
 
 After some further conversation, Don Roderigo took his leave, 
 and an hour later Major Asneiros, sent by him, sought an interview 
 with the Viceroy. The Major laughed heartily when he heard of the 
 suspicions of Don Alfonso which Don Roderigo had excited in the 
 mind of Don Baltazar. 
 
 " There is one man much more dangerous than the old medico ever 
 can be," said Asneiros, " the Sehor Evana. He is the correspondent 
 of General Miranda, that Don Roderigo knows well enough, and he 
 overrates his influence with him if he thinks he can prevent him from 
 engaging in any conspiracy against your authority." 
 
 " I have been frequently warned against the Sehor Evana," replied 
 the Viceroy, " but without proofs of the existence of some conspiracy 
 I dare take no steps against him, his arrest would only end in a iiasco 
 like that of Puyrredon. How did you discover that he is in corre- 
 spondence with Don Francisco?" 
 
 Then Asneiros recounted to Don Baltazar how he had surprised a 
 confession of this fact from Magdalen Miranda, and continued — 
 
 " When she left me I went in after her and walked straight to the 
 sala. Don Alfonso had an open letter in his hand which he crumpled 
 up and thrust into his pocket. The Sehor Evana looked at me as 
 though I were a wild beast, and soon afterwards put on his hat and 
 went, but Don Alfonso kept the letter, and has it yet I don't doubt, 
 for I know he has some secret hiding-place in his house. If we could 
 get that letter we might iind some proof against the Sehor Evana." 
 
 " I agree with you, in spite of the assurances of Don Roderigo, that 
 Evana is a most dangerous man," replied the Viceroy, " but I have 
 every confidence in Don Roderigo himself, and shall entrust the 
 management of this affair to him ; if he instructs you to arrest Don 
 Alfonso, do so, but remember, that what I want is a proof that the 
 Seiior Evana is engaged in some conspiracy — proof such as I can show 
 to Don Roderigo and to the Audencia Real, then I can proceed against 
 the Sehor Evana without danger of having my orders set at defiance." 
 
 That evening Don Ciriaco set off alone on foot, for the Plaza 
 Miserere. He reached the Quinta de Don Alfonso, opened the gate 
 very cautiously, and walking to the sala window looked in. The medico 
 was alone, seated in his arm-chair, buried apparently in deep thought.
 
 THE MISTS OF THE EARLY MORN. 337 
 
 a shaded lamp burning on the table at his elbow. Don Ciriaco went 
 back to the porch, and finding the house door open, entered very 
 quietly and went on to the sala, treading softly and laying his finger 
 on his lip. Don Alfonso started up with a faint cry, then sank down 
 again into his chair, pale and trembling, as he recognized his untimely 
 visitor. Asneiros went up to him, laid one hand on his arm, and 
 whispered into his ear — 
 
 "Silence ! all is discovered; but I have arranged a way for you to 
 save yourself" 
 
 " ^Vhat is discovered ? I assure you I know nothing of it," an- 
 swered Don Alfonso. 
 
 " I have come with the intention of helping you. If you wish me 
 to be of any service to you, you must give me your entire confid- 
 ence." 
 
 " But I assure you I refused to have anything to do with it, and 
 would not listen to what he wished to tell me." 
 
 " The Sehor Evaha spent the evening with you ? " 
 
 " Yes, he did, but I kept my daughter with me, he could not speak 
 with me." 
 
 " And the letter from your brother, did you return it to him ? " 
 
 " What letter ? " 
 
 "The letter he brought to show you last week." 
 
 " Mi Dios ! Why should I return it to him ? Why should I give 
 him my letters ? I burned it." 
 
 " You did badly, and you should have listened to the Sehor Evana 
 this evening, he had something important to tell you." 
 
 " What matters to me that newspaper or the education of the people?" 
 
 " Look you, Don Alfonso, I did not come here to talk nonsense 
 about newspapers or education. If you refuse me your confidence, I 
 cannot help you. Your name is in the list of the suspected, but the 
 head of the conspiracy is this Seiior Evaha. Give me all the papers 
 he has given you to keep for him, and I have a promise from the 
 Viceroy that you shall not be molested in any way." 
 
 " The Sehor Evaha has never given me any paper of his." 
 
 " Then I cannot help you at all," said Asneiros, rising from the chair 
 on which he had seated himself " Sleep well to-night in your own 
 bed, to-morrow night you will sleep in the calabozo." 
 
 " Dios mio ! Don Ciriaco," said Don Alfonso, seizing him by the 
 arm, " what have I done ? Why should they put me in the calabozo? 
 I would not even listen to the Sehor Evana when he wished to speak 
 to me of things." 
 
 " You did wrong not to listen, 3-ou might have learned something, 
 and your evidence against Evaha would have saved yourself. But 
 perhaps it is not too late, I will give you three days, after that I can- 
 not protect you any longer; you will be arrested, your house searched, 
 and all your effects confiscated." 
 
 " But, Don Ciriaco, do not leave me. Why do you say such things ? 
 You say there is some conspiracy, if there is I know nothing of it. 
 The Sehor Evaha has never spoken of it to me, how can I give evi- 
 dence against him ? Don Baltazar asked me " 
 
 " A conspiracy there is, and we will know all about it very soon. 
 
 z
 
 338 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 Don Baltazar de Cisneros is not like that Frenchman Liniers, the 
 least punisliment the conspirators may expect will be imprisonment 
 and confiscation. Take care of yourself, yon do not appear very rich, 
 but everything you have will be confiscated." 
 
 Don Alfonso fell back in his cliair with a groan. 
 
 " I am not a conspirator, and I am very poor. God help me ! " he 
 said. " But, Don Ciriaco, you have always been a good friend to me, 
 even yet you may do something for me; even if they put me in prison 
 you will not let them search the house, you will prevent that. Why 
 should tliey, I have nothing worth the trouble of carrying away." 
 
 " You can prevent it yourself; if you have no papers belonging to 
 the Senor Evaha, you can find them." 
 
 Just then the door opened and Magdalen entered the room. See- 
 ing the miserable state of her father she ran to him. 
 
 "Papa! papa!" she said, throwing herself on his breast, "what 
 has this man been saying to you ? Do not believe a word he says, I 
 know tliat he comes here as your friend to do some treachery to you. 
 Pay no attention to him." 
 
 " Look you, Don Alfonso," said Asneiros, " I give you three days 
 to find those papers. If you do not find them you will explain to the 
 Viceroy, and not to me, why you have secret hiding-places cut in the 
 walls of your house." 
 
 At that, Don Alfonso thrust his daughter from him, and gazing with 
 terror-stricken eyes at Asneiros tried in vain to speak, but Asneiros, 
 turning from him, went out through the door and through the porch 
 and walked rapidly away. 
 
 Don Alfonso passed a sleepless night sitting in his arm-chair moan- 
 ing and lamenting, Magdalen doing all she could to comfort him, till 
 he sternly bade her leave him, saying that she had brought all this 
 trouble upon him by attracting Asneiros to the quinta. 
 
 The next day Don Alfonso walked into the city, went straight to 
 the house of Don Carlos Evaha, and told him everything that had 
 occurred on the previous night, after he had left the quinta. Evaha 
 listened somewhat scornfully, but looking at the haggard cheeks and 
 blood-shot eyes of the old man, he felt pity for him. 
 
 " He wants proofs of a conspiracy? Pues ! He shall have them. 
 Here is all the conspiracy that there is," said he, taking up a copy of 
 the " Diario " which lay upon the table, " and his Excellency the 
 Viceroy is at the head of us. We are conspiring to educate the 
 people, and I fully believe that the Sehor Asneiros is correct in think- 
 ing that it imperils the existence of Spanish rule among us." 
 
 Don Alfonso looked helplessly at him, and answered— 
 
 " He spoke of a letter from my brother, how has he come to know 
 of that ? The letter you gave me from him I have burned, I kept it 
 two days, then I burned it. I always do, I want no letters from 
 Francisco. What matter to me his plans, all that I want is to live in 
 peace. Cannot you help me in some way? You told me that the 
 time of arrests and confiscations was gone, and I lived without fear, 
 but it appears that all is to begin again." 
 
 " You think so ! I can assure you that those times are gone, never 
 to return."
 
 THE MISTS OF THE EARLY MORN. 339 
 
 " And he assures me that in three days I shall be put into the 
 calabozo." 
 
 " That will not do you any great damage, and may help the cause 
 of the people. It would be a scandal, for nothing can be even alleged 
 against you, and we shall soon get you out again. Now that I think 
 of it, it is well that you be arrested, the city is very quiet, and an 
 arbitrary arrest might arouse a little excitement." 
 
 " Don Carlos ! " exclaimed Don Alfonso, " what is this you say to 
 me ? They will search my house and rob me." 
 
 " Rob you ! unless you have some treasure buried away under the 
 flooring I don't think they will rob you of much." 
 
 " No, Don Carlos, no 1 I assure you I have no treasure. You 
 know how poor I am. What can I have to bury under the floor ? " 
 
 Don Carlos looked at him attentively one moment, then taking up 
 the " Diario " he folded it carefully into a small oblong packet, wrapi>ed 
 it in a sheet of paper, which he carefully sealed with three seals, and 
 drawing an inkstand towards him, endorsed it — 
 
 Proofs of the Jiefarious Conspiracy against the People of Buenos 
 Aires, entertained by H. E. Don Baltazar de Cisneros, tuith 
 the aid of Don Carlos EvaTia and various others. 
 
 " I cannot compliment you on your choice of friends, Don Alfonso," 
 he said, handing him the packet^ "but when this distinguished major, 
 the Sehor Asneiros, next visits you, you can give him this as a proof 
 of my treason. If after that he wishes to arrest me let him come, I 
 am ready for him." 
 
 " But, Senor Don Carlos," said Don Alfonso, holding the packet at 
 arm's length, " if I give him this he will say that I am mocking him, 
 and then they will arrest me, and " 
 
 " When do you expect him to visit you ? " 
 
 " The day after to-morrow, in the evening." 
 
 " Then the day after to-morrow in the evening he shall meet me. 
 If he should visit you in the mean time you can easily put him 
 ofl"." 
 
 The second day after this, about sundown, Don Carlos Evaha and 
 Marcelino Ponce de Leon rode side by side through the suburbs 
 towards the Miserere. • 
 
 "You have judged rightly, Carlos," said Marcelino. "Any mis- 
 fortune that might befall the old man would cause her great sorrow, 
 and I thank you for asking me to assist you in anything that may keep 
 a sorrow from her." 
 
 " Yet she has treated you very badly," said Don Carlos. " She led 
 you to feel sure of her love, and then transferred her affections with 
 the greatest ease to that traitor of a Spaniard." 
 
 " I do not think so, she loved me once. But her father wishes it, 
 he never liked me, and she submits." 
 
 " It is strange, I always thought her a girl of much strength of 
 character. Did you ever tell her that you loved her ?" 
 
 " Not in so many words, but she knew it ; an avowal of love needs 
 no words. But it is now more than a year since I have had a chance 
 ot sjjcaking with her, she shuns me. When we meet she will not
 
 340 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 let me pay her tlie simi)lest attention. She has not forgotten me, but 
 she is trying to forget me." 
 
 " Perhaps we have been mistaken all the time." 
 
 " Oh no, I made sure, I asked my aunt Josefina, and she told me 
 that they were only waiting till Asneiros got some settled employ 
 which the Viceroy had promised him." 
 
 " That -will all be at an end now." 
 
 " I suppose it will, but it will make no difference to me, her father 
 will find another husband for her. When a girl once gives up her own 
 choice at her father's command it matters very little to her whom she 
 marries. You and I have seen many instances of that." 
 
 " Too many," replied Evana. 
 
 After this they rode on in silence till they reached the quinta, where 
 they dismounted, tying their horses under the trees behind the house. 
 
 In the porch they found Magdalen, sitting alone, with her face 
 buried in her hands, weeping bitterly. From inside the house came 
 the sound of a voice raised high in anger. 
 
 " Do not weep, Magdalen," said Marcelino, bending over her. 
 " Don Alfonso has two fast friends here, who will see that no injustice 
 is done him." 
 
 Magdalen's tears ceased instantly at the sound of that voice, and a 
 thrill of joy shot through her as she looked up and met the glance of 
 the dark eyes bent upon her in tender sympathy. 
 
 " Oh, help papa ! " she said. " Do not let them take him, he has 
 done nothing." 
 
 " I will remain with Magdalen," said Don Carlos, seating himself 
 beside her. " You are more likely to arrange the matter amicably 
 than I am, he always shows great respect for you. Go you and see 
 what this is all about." 
 
 Marcelino went instantly to the sala, and, opening the door, saw 
 Don Alfonso, hardly able to stand, clinging to the back of a chair, 
 while Asneiros, standing in the centre of the room, was speaking 
 to him. 
 
 " You are mocking me," he said. " I know where to find these 
 proofs if I choose to look. If that letter is burned you can procure 
 another, or you can make a declaration, which will do as well. I 
 wished to give ycTu the chance of setting yourself right with the 
 authorities. You refuse ; well go your own way, and do not blame me 
 if your house is robbed while you are in gaol." 
 
 " Senor Asneiros," said Marcelino, stepping forward, " this is not 
 the tone in which you should speak to a man whose hairs are white 
 with age. Permit me, Don Alfonso," he added, turning a chair round 
 and assisting the medico to seat himself. 
 
 " Senor Don Marcelino," said Asneiros, softening his tone consider- 
 ably, "it is a fortunate chance that has sent you here." 
 
 " It is no chance at all, Senor Asneiros," replied Marcelino ; " I 
 heard that you were threatening Don Alfonso with imprisonment for 
 complicity in some conspiracy which exists only in your own imagina- 
 tion. What may be your real purpose I do not care to enquire, but I 
 insist upon it that you leave this house immediately." 
 
 " Senor Don Marcelino, I assure you that I am only acting under
 
 THE MISTS OF THE EARLY MORN. 34 1 
 
 orders, and am actuated by the most friendly motives to Don Alfonso. 
 There are grave causes of suspicion against him, and I have shown 
 him the means by which he can set himself right with the authorities." 
 
 " You wish him to save himself by bringing a false accusation 
 against some one else. Enough of that, Sehor Asneiros. Don 
 Alfonso knows nothing of any conspiracy, and can in no way assist you." 
 
 " You speak well, you speak well, Don Marcelino," said Don Al- 
 fonso, still in great perturbation ; " there is no conspiracy, but do 
 not speak harshly to this gentleman. He has been a good friend to 
 me on many occasions, and will protect me. Is it not so, Don 
 Ciriaco ? You will tell his Excellency that you have made every en- 
 quiry, and have found that there is no truth in the accusations that 
 have been laid against me." 
 
 " I shall have the honour of reporting to his Excellency what you 
 have told me, but I hope that further consideration may induce you 
 to take a wiser course." 
 
 So saying, Asneiros took up his hat, and with a low bow to Mar- 
 celino left the room. 
 
 In the porch he was somewhat startled to find Don Carlos Evaha 
 in earnest conversation with Magdalen, but passed them without a 
 word and walked away. 
 
 " He knows nothing, and cannot assist me in any way," he mut- 
 tered to himself, as he slowly crossed the Plaza Miserere ; " but I 
 should like to have the inspection of that black coffer of his, he has 
 some reason for keeping it so secret. Don Roderigo would be glad 
 of any pretext for putting him in prison and looking through his 
 papers. I'll give him one, who knows but I may do myself a service 
 too ? " 
 
 Don Carlos and Marcelino remained for two hours longer at the 
 quinta, and had the pleasure of drinking tea once more from the 
 porcelain cups of Magdalen Miranda, but the evening was not a pleas- 
 ant one to any of them — there was a general feeling of constraint. 
 Don Alfonso trembled at every noise, and was more than usually 
 taciturn ; Magdalen seemed confused, and spoke only in whispers. 
 
 As the two friends rode back to the city together through the dark- 
 ness, Don Carlos spoke. 
 
 " I told her of the reports that are in circulation concerning her 
 and this Sefior Asneiros," he said. " It may be her father's wish but 
 it is not hers, nor does she think that the major has any idea of it. 
 She says that he has been a constant spy upon her father for more 
 than a year past, and that she warned her father of him, but that he 
 refused to listen to her." 
 
 " Poor girl ! " said Marcelino, and then rode on in moody silence, 
 hardly hearing a word of what Evaiia said after that, till they reached 
 the centre of the city and separated. 
 
 When Asneiros left the Miserere he walked straight to the house of 
 Don Roderigo Ponce de Leon, with whom he had a long interview, 
 the result of which was, that at midnight a party of soldiers, under the 
 command of the major, ])roceeded to the Quinta de Don Alfonso, 
 woke up the inmates by knocking at the door, and shouted to them
 
 342 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 to " open in the name of the law." Don Alfonso was arrested and 
 his private room rigorously searched, but for some time nothing worthy 
 of notice was found, till Asneiros, prodding the wall behind the bed- 
 stead with his sword, discovered a hollow carefully concealed by the 
 •wainscot. Not knowing how to open it, he ordered a panel to be 
 wrenched away, and disclosed a small cofter of black oak, bound with 
 brass and very heavy, which he took away with him, together with 
 all the letters and written papers he could find, while Don Alfonso, 
 more dead than alive, was lifted into a small cart and driven away to 
 the Cal)ildo, where he was imprisoned in the same apartment which 
 had formerly been occupied by Marcelino Ponce de Leon. 
 
 During the examination of Don Alfonso's room all the inmates of 
 the quinta had been, by the major's command, imprisoned in the sala. 
 When he had secured the black coffer he prosecuted the search no 
 further, but proceeding to the sala, ordered Don Alfonso to come out 
 alone, saying that he merely wished to speak with him for a minute. 
 Magdalen appeared with her father, clinging to him, when Asneiros 
 rudely pushed her back into the room and shut the door, placing a 
 guard there with instructions to allow no one to leave the house before 
 sunrise. 
 
 On the morning following this arrest Don Fausto Velasquez, who 
 was an early riser, was walking about in his patio, wrapped in a loose 
 dressing-gown, when a girl, enveloped from head to foot in a large 
 shawl, came hurriedly in through the open doorway, and, throwing 
 herself upon her knees at his feet, caught his hand in both her own, 
 crying — 
 
 " Papa ! Don Fausto, papa ! They have taken him ! Don 
 Ciriaco " 
 
 She could say no more, and would have fallen on her face, but Don 
 Fausto, taking her in his arms, raised her up and saw it was Mag- 
 dalen. He carried her inside into his wife's room, where she pre- 
 sently recovered sufficiently to give a clear account of what had hap- 
 pened, but it was a long time before Don Fausto could persuade her 
 that her father was in no danger, and would very soon be set at 
 liberty. 
 
 Don Alfonso was but little known in the city, and those who did 
 know him had but small respect for him, yet in the then excited state 
 of the public mind, a very slight circumstance was sufficient to create 
 great agitation. Men enquired eagerly one of another who was this 
 Don Alfonso Miranda, and what was the cause of his imprisonment ; 
 and when they learned that he was the brother of General Miranda, 
 whose exploits in Venezuela had caused him to be looked upon as 
 the champion of liberty by all Spanish Americans, his crime became 
 clear to them at once — he had dared to devise some scheme for liber- 
 ating them from Spanish tyranny, and in their eyes he rose to be a 
 hero and a martyr. 
 
 Groups of men paraded the Plaza Mayor and the principal streets, 
 as they met they asked one another in loud voices — 
 
 " How long shall these things be ? " 
 
 And as some Spaniard high in office passed them, frowning angrily 
 and chafing within himself at his impotence to put a stop to such
 
 THE MISTS OF THE EARLY MORN. 343 
 
 disorderly assemblages, they would turn and shout after him as he 
 went — ■ 
 
 " Spain has fallen ! " 
 
 Don Carlos Evana, strolling through the streets of the city, heard 
 these shouts and smiled, saying to himself — 
 
 " The day is at hand." 
 
 Marcelino Ponce de Leon, busy at his desk in the office of the 
 Consulado, heard these shouts, and passed his fingers through his 
 curly, black hair, saying resignedly — 
 
 " It is too late, America must be for Americans alone." 
 
 Don Manuel Belgrano, revising the proofs of his " Diario," heard 
 these shouts, and turned over with his fingers the sheets of a series of 
 fiery articles he had received some days before, saying to himself — 
 
 " I might almost venture them now ; they do but say what men 
 now shout aloud at the street corners." 
 
 Don Roderigo Ponce de Leon, in the quiet of his own study, heard 
 these sliouts and said nothing, for his heart was heavy with a fore- 
 boding care. 
 
 To the Viceroy, surrounded by his guards and sentries, came these 
 shouts, and he shrugged his shoulders and thought nothing of them. 
 To him they were but as the utterance of a fact, and conveyed no 
 warning. 
 
 " Spain has fallen ! " said old men, joining hands together, and 
 reading each in the face of the other the realization of a hope long 
 deferred. 
 
 " Spain has fallen ! " shouted men in the vigour of life, throwing 
 back their heads proudly, and striding through the streets of their 
 OA\Ti city, treading the soil of their own country with a joyful sense of 
 freedom. 
 
 " Spain has fallen ! " shouted young men, as they saw the world 
 opening up before them with prospects of which their fathers had 
 known nothing, and who saw themselves the centre of proud hopes, 
 as yet but dimly discerned through the mists of the unknown future. 
 
 " Spain has fallen ! " So throughout the great, straggling city was 
 heard the voice of the people, asking nothing, demanding nothing, 
 proclaiming only a fact known to all. 
 
 Yet was this voice both a warning and a menace to those who 
 sought to rule the people for their own ends. Buenos Aires had 
 looked to Spain as to a mother, yet in this voice there was no pity. 
 Buenos Aires still looked upon Spain as a tyrant, yet in this voice 
 there was no fear. 
 
 The hatred of an enslaved people against their tyrants, the jealousy 
 of a dependent race against the race which has dominated over them 
 for centuries, were both expressed in that one shout, which had in it 
 nothing of love, nothing of fear — 
 
 " Spain has fallen ! "
 
 BOOK VI. 
 LIBERTY.
 
 PROLOGUE. 
 
 The division of youth from manhood is marked by no fixed Hne 
 estabHshed by law or custom. To each youth there comes a day 
 when, without aid or counsel, he has to decide upon some important 
 step which shall influence the whole course of his future life. Accord- 
 ing to the bias of his nature he ponders long upon this step, or he 
 comes rapidly to some decision. The day he so decides, marks for 
 him the end of his youth, the commencement of his manhood. 
 
 When a youth so steps into manhood, he meets the world face to 
 face, and braces himself for the encounter. Hope, which is the dowry 
 of youth, attends upon him ; he puts forth all his energies, never 
 doubting of success, and achieves that which is deemed impossible. 
 
 Buenos Aires, long impatient of Spanish tyranny, saw her tyrant 
 helpless ; she saw a continent around her, groaning with the slavery of 
 centuries ; she felt within herself the strength of a young nation, and 
 asked herself whether the task were not hers to give liberty to these 
 enslaved peoples, to achieve it for herself 
 
 Long she pondered over this question, doubting within herself 
 whether the day were come. Having decided, with resolute hand she 
 cast aside the trammels which bound her, broke through the subter- 
 fuges of those who still sought to impose upon her ignorance, and 
 stood forth, free herself, and the champion of freedom for all Spanish 
 America. 
 
 As the sun, bursting through a veil of clouds, dissipates the mists of 
 the early morn, rousing men from the slumbers of night to the active 
 work of day, so Buenos Aires, bursting through the traditions of 
 centuries, dissipated for ever the mists of ignorance, under which 
 slumbered in ignoble servitude the colonies of Spain. 
 
 The sun of May, emblem of Buenos Aires, shone forth over the 
 New World, rousing enslaved peoples to the bold assertion of their 
 rights as men. In the struggle which followed, this emblem was ever 
 in the fore-front of the battle, the rallying-point of a band of heroes, 
 whose swords achieved the liberation of an entire continent. 
 
 Buenos Aires, free herself, became at once the apostle and champion 
 of freedom for all Spanish America.
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 HOW THE LAST TIE WAS BROKEN. 
 
 Spain has fallen ! These words echoed through the city from end 
 to end, but to the majority of men they were simply the proclamation 
 of an acknowledged fact, an outburst of that jealousy of Spain, that 
 fretfulness of Spanish domination, which had for years been growing 
 up in Buenos Aires. But there was a minority in Buenos Aires, a 
 minority ever increasing, a minority of men of cultivated minds, of 
 men of far-seeing intelligence ; to these men these words taught a 
 lesson, in them they inspired a hope. 
 
 At the head of this minority were Don Carlos Evaha, Don INIar- 
 celino Ponce de Leon, and the other members of the secret committee. 
 They consulted among themselves, asking one another, " Has not the 
 day come ? " " What shall we do ? " 
 
 Then, true to their principle of keeping themselves as much as 
 possible in the background, they decided upon requesting Don 
 Gregorio Lopez to call again together a meeting of the chiefs of the 
 militia and of the leading citizens, and to propound to them these 
 questions, to which they themselves purposed to find an answer. 
 
 Yet March passed over and nothing was done, and all this time 
 Don Alfonso Miranda lay in prison, and his daughter, who was not 
 allowed to visit him, found shelter under the roof of Don Fausto 
 Velasquez. Many efforts were made by Don Fausto and by Don 
 Gregorio Lopez to procure his release, but in vain, and their enquiries 
 as to the cause of his detention were met by evasive answers. Then 
 as they insisted that they should at least have liberty to speak with 
 him, the Viceroy referred them to Don Roderigo Ponce de Leon. 
 
 Don Roderigo answered liis father-in-law and Don Fausto with 
 great brevity, saying that he had long suspected Don Alfonso of 
 treasonal)le designs, and had only acted upon receipt of positive 
 information. 
 
 '" Have you discovered anything in his papers to criminate him ? " 
 asked Don Fausto. 
 
 " Nothmg. He either keeps his correspondence well concealed or 
 has destroyed it." 
 
 "Then upon what pretext do you keep him in prison?" 
 
 " His examination is not yet concluded," replied Don Roderigo. 
 
 " And you still refuse us permission to visit him ? " said Don 
 Fausto. 
 
 " I can allow him to have no communication with any one. In
 
 
 
 CO PONCE DE LEON, 
 
 the present excited state of the city it would be unsafe to permit him 
 any chance of communicating witli his accompHces." 
 
 " I compHment you upon your pohcy," rephed Don Fausto. " It 
 may cause the death of a harmless old man, and can only tend to 
 increase the popular excitement, of which you seem somewhat appre- 
 hensive." 
 
 " His daughter spoke to me of a black coffer which was discovered 
 in his room, and by which Don Alfonso seemed to set great store," 
 said Don Gregorio ; "do you know what has become of it?" 
 
 "All his effects are in the hands of Major Asneiros, who had 
 charge of the examination of his papers," replied Don Roderigo. 
 
 "Asneiros has behaved like a brute," said Don Fausto. 
 
 "The Senor Major Asneiros has small sympathy for traitors," 
 replied Don Roderigo. 
 
 Don Gregorio and Don Fausto returned to the house of the latter 
 gentleman but little pleased with the result of their interview. In 
 the ante-sala they found Dona Josefina with Magdalen and Elisa 
 Pu>Tredon ; to them they recounted the ill-success of their errand. 
 
 " It is a barbarity," said Elisa Puyrredon. " Where are we going 
 to stop ? Wait till my brother comes back, I cannot understand it 
 at all." 
 
 " Nor I," said Doha Josefina. " This Asneiros has not come to 
 see me for a month, why do you not go to see him, Fausto? He will 
 tell you more than Don Roderigo. Magdalen says it is all owing to 
 him that her father was arrested, and he was so great a friend of Don 
 Alfonso." 
 
 As Dona Josefina said this she looked sharply at Magdalen, who 
 flushed scarlet, and said — 
 
 " I do not think the Senor Asneiros was ever a friend to papa, he 
 was a spy." 
 
 " I know he did not go to the quinta so often to see Don Alfonso," 
 said Dona Josefina. 
 
 At this moment Marcelino Ponce de Leon walked in at the open 
 door. His entrance caused no surprise for he had been a frequent 
 visitor at his aunt's house for a month past, but Magdalen rose from 
 her seat immediately and left the room. 
 
 " She is always so," said Doha Josefina, shrugging her plump, white 
 shoulders. " If any gentleman pays her any attention, from that 
 moment she abhors him. I can remember when Marcelino and she 
 were the best of friends, now see how she treats him, she will not 
 remain a minute in the room if he comes in. Without doubt it has 
 been the same with this Asneiros, you heard how she spoke of him 
 just now. He has resented her treatment of him, we have the old 
 man in prison, and the daughter — ■ — " here came another shrug of the 
 plump, white shoulders, then turning to Marcelino she asked — 
 
 " Are all English girls like that, Marcelino ? The Senor Gordon at 
 any rate knew how to behave himself." 
 
 " The Senor Gordon was as polished as a Porteno," said Elisa 
 Puyrredon. "You thought he was drowned, Marcelino, and never 
 said a word of it for so many months. But I saw you were triste 
 about something."
 
 LIBERTY. ' 351 
 
 " Where is he now ? " asked Don Gregorio. 
 
 " He was on Marshal Beresford's staff," repHed MarceUno ; " but, 
 as he can talk Spanish, he says they have set him to drill the Portu- 
 guese, from the idea that he can make them understand him." 
 
 "Well, Fausto, if you intend to see Don Ciriaco I think the 
 sooner you see him the better," said Doha Josefina. 
 
 " We will go at once," said Don Gregorio. 
 
 When the two elder gentlemen had gone, Dona Josefina rose from 
 her seat and went through the folding-doors into the sala. 
 
 "You are triste yet," said Elisa Puyrredon, drawing her chair 
 nearer to Marcelino. " Have you some other sorrow than the sup- 
 posed loss of your friend? You might tell me." 
 
 " Think you it is no sorrow to me to see that when my father has 
 the power he is a tyrant, the same as any other Spaniard ? In this 
 imprisonment of Don Alfonso he has committed a great injustice. I 
 have been told that years ago this Don Alfonso did him some injury ; 
 now that he can he revenges himself, like a Spaniard. I thought him 
 both too good-hearted and too politic to have taken such a false step 
 in times so critical as the present." 
 
 " You take great interest in all concerns Don Alfonso ? " 
 
 " I think of mv father and do not like to hear him accused of 
 tyranny, and to be able to say no word in his defence." 
 
 " Magdalen is very unhappy. Have you no sorrow for her. As 
 Dona Josefina said just now, once you were the best of friends 
 together." 
 
 " Naturally I am sorry for her, I have done all I can for Don 
 Alfonso for her sake." 
 
 " What have you done ? " 
 
 " I have used all my influence with Asneiros, who has the charge of 
 examinmg Don Alfonso's papers, to prevail upon him to declare at 
 once what he has found. But he refuses to examine them and says 
 he has simply sealed them up until further orders." 
 
 " Have you not spoken to Don Roderigo ? " 
 
 " How can I go to my father and accuse him to his face of in- 
 justice? " 
 
 " I thought that when men loved they would dare anything, even 
 the anger of their father, for the sake of the one they loved." 
 
 " But if that love is slighted, and thrown aside as a thing of no 
 value, why should I risk what is next in value to me for the sake of 
 what is lost ? " 
 
 " Are you sure it is lost ? I have heard say that when a girl once 
 loves she loves for ever. You once thought that you were loved." 
 
 " I more than thought so, I was sure of it. I have been told that 
 girls easily love and easily forget. It is their nature to love some- 
 thing, but it is very little matter to them what they love." 
 
 " You heretic ! You never deserve that any one should love you, 
 never." 
 
 " I do not care now if no one ever does love me. I am content 
 
 with such love as I have. I love my mother and Lola, and I would 
 
 give my life to preserve to its end my love and respect for my father." 
 
 " Don't tell me that, I know better. The love of father and mother
 
 Ci 
 
 352 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 ami sister is never enough for any man. A man is not a man until 
 he have some other love." 
 
 " And if he win another love, such a love as he has dreamed about, 
 such a love as would make his life complete, only to lose it, what 
 then ? " 
 
 " The grave," said Elisa, in a very solemn voice, then bursting 
 into a merry laugh she clapped her hands. " Mi Dios ! " she ex- 
 claimed, " you have the face of a hero of tragedy." 
 
 " You have never loved or you would not laugh at me," said Mar- 
 celino. 
 
 " I never loved ! I have been in love fifty times. Why the first 
 time I ever met that Asneiros I fell in love with him at once. He 
 was dressed in a gorgeous coat of crimson velvet, and had diamond 
 buckles in his shoes ; it was those buckles that captured me, the first 
 glance at them." 
 
 Again she laughed, and this time Marcelino laughed with her. 
 
 " But I can tell you one thing I should not like," she said, after a 
 pause ; " if I were very much in love with any one I should not like 
 to see him ve>y friendly wath some one very much prettier than I am." 
 
 " You need never fear that. Most men say that there is no one in 
 Buenos Aires prettier than you are." 
 
 " Traitor ! Is not the girl you love fairer to you than any one else 
 in the world ? " 
 
 " Dearer, yes. But beauty is to be admired, not loved. It is not 
 essential to love that the loved one be beautiful." 
 
 "Yet the loved one is always fair?" 
 
 " Always." 
 
 " Even when she turns her back upon you and leaves you and 
 smiles on some one else ? " 
 
 " Even then." 
 
 " Then I retract my statement that I have been in love fifty times. 
 I suppose I have never been in love, not even with the Senor Don 
 Ciriaco Asneiros. I could never forgive a lover who was rude to me 
 and had smiles for some one else — never." 
 
 " The love of women diff"ers from that of men, it is more exacting," 
 said Marcelino. 
 
 " I suppose it is," said Elisa, with something of weariness in her 
 tone. " You and I have been always very good friends, do you know 
 that there are people who say that there is more than friendship be- 
 tween us ? " 
 
 " What matters it what people say ? " 
 
 " Nothing to us, but if any one has said so to Magdalen it may 
 matter much to her." Then Elisa looked down confusedly, twining 
 her fingers together, and with a flush on her fair face. 
 
 Marcelino rose from his chair and went into the sala, where Dona 
 Josefina was sitting out of sight, but within hearing of them. 
 
 " Aunt," said he, sitting down beside her, " was there any truth in 
 what you told me, that Magdalen was going to marry Don Ciriaco ? " 
 
 " I thought there was," repHed Doha Josefina quietly. " I know 
 Don Alfonso wished it, but Magdalen tells me it is quite false, and 
 now I suppose it is impossible."
 
 LIBERTY. 353 
 
 Marcelino remained talking with his aunt and EUsa Puyrredon for 
 nearly an hour, when Don Fausto returned alone, saying that Don 
 Ciriaco Asneiros could give them no help or information whatever, 
 alleging that he was merely acting under orders and knew nothing of 
 the cause of the arrest of Don Alfonso. 
 
 "You will speak to your father now, will you not?" said Elisa 
 Puyrredon to Marcelino, as he took up his hat to go. 
 
 " I am going at once," said Marcelino. 
 
 " At last I shall believe that there are some men who know how to 
 love," said she to him in a whisper. 
 
 It was late in the afternoon when Marcelino reached his father's 
 house. Don Roderigo had left half an hour before for the quinta, 
 where the family were then staying. He ordered his horse to be 
 saddled and sent after him to the house of Don Carlos Evaha, whither 
 he proceeded on foot. He found Don Carlos in his study, his table 
 covered with sheets of manuscript which he was revising. Marcelino 
 took up some of these sheets and glanced over them. 
 
 " If Don Ciriaco Asneiros still wants proofs of treason, you had 
 better send him a few of these, Carlos," said he. 
 
 " Treason, you say," replied Evaha, " wait a month or two and you 
 will call them patriotic." 
 
 " So soon ? " 
 
 " For what are we to wait ? Everything is now ready, it wants but 
 a spark and the mine explodes." 
 
 " Is this the spark ? " 
 
 " Scarcely so. This is the wind to keep the spark from going out." 
 
 " You seem to have done enough for to-day, a gallop would do you 
 good. I want you to help me with my father as I helped you with 
 Asneiros." 
 
 " You want him to set Don Alfonso at liberty. I tell you he will 
 refuse." 
 
 " I hope not, it is a gross injustice." 
 
 " Then Don Roderigo is at the quinta ? " 
 
 " Yes, and I had rather see him there than in the city. He will 
 not like my interference, and may say things which I should be sorry 
 if any but ourselves were to hear." 
 
 Two hours afterwards Don Roderigo was seated in his sala at the 
 quinta, his face was flushed as though something had angered him. 
 Near him sat Don Carlos Evana with a quiet smile playing upon his 
 lips. Marcelino stood leaning against the window-frame, evidently 
 suffering bitterly from some disappointment. Doha Constancia en- 
 tered the room, and seeing tlie sorrow in her son's face walked up to 
 him. 
 
 " Do you know, Constancia, what has brought these two young men 
 out here this evening? " said Don Roderigo. 
 
 " They have come to see us, I suppose," answered the lady. ■' Don 
 Carlos has been quite a stranger lately." 
 
 " Not at all ; they have come to ask me to set that traitor Miranda 
 at liberty." 
 
 A A
 
 354 rONCE DE LEON. 
 
 " I can excuse Marcelino for that," said Dona Constancia. " Don 
 Alfonso was very good to him when he was wounded." 
 
 " Don Alfonso is a physician, and found good practice in his broken 
 ribs. He was Avell paid for his trouble." 
 
 " I did not know tliat you paid him," said Marcelino ; " he refused 
 any acknowledgment from me." 
 
 " You cannot think that I would accept a favour from a man like 
 him. I can assure you he was ready enough to take my gold." 
 
 " I have no doubt he deserves his imprisonment or the Viceroy 
 would not have put him in prison, so do not trouble yourself any 
 more about him, Marcelino," said Dona Constancia. 
 
 " It is not about him that I trouble myself," replied Marcelino. 
 "If he were justly imprisoned I would not say a word for him, but 
 we have made enquiries and can hear of no accusation having been 
 brought against him, merely suspicions. And men say " 
 
 " Who are we that have made those enquiries ? " asked Don 
 Roderigo. 
 
 " My grandfather and Don Fausto as well as myself." 
 
 " They were with me to-day. In future you had better leave such 
 enquiries to them." 
 
 " But, father, have not you heard how people talk about it all over 
 the city ? It has brought discredit upon the Viceroy, and upon all 
 those who act with him. We all thought that the days of arbitrary 
 imprisonments were gone by." 
 
 " What matters it what the mob says ? You may be sure that the 
 Viceroy has good reasons for what he does." 
 
 " Then why does he not bring him to trial ? Why does he say that 
 he does not know anything of the charges against him, and refer those 
 who ask him to you ? " 
 
 " I have given you my answer, and I request that you never men- 
 tion the man's name to me again." So saying Don Roderigo rose from 
 his chair and left the room. 
 
 As Don Roderigo left the room by one door Dolores entered it 
 by another. 
 
 "What is to do?" said she. "Papa looked quite angry." 
 
 " There is this to do, my sister," said Marcelino ; " that the cause 
 of Spain is lost in America. There are many of us Creoles who would 
 have gladly joined the Spaniards in raising up in America a new 
 kingdom for King Ferdinand now that the French have taken his old 
 one, but we demand equal rights and equal laws for all, and the best 
 of the Spaniards will not yield that. There is one law for Spaniards 
 and another law for Americans." 
 
 " What nonsense you talk, Marcelino. King Ferdinand wall soon 
 win his own kingdom back again." 
 
 " By the help of the English ?" said Don Carlos. 
 
 " Yes, the English will help him. But what is it all about ? " said 
 Dolores. " Papa was angry." 
 
 " Marcelino wanted him to ask the Viceroy to pardon Don Alfonso 
 Miranda, and to let him go," said Doha Constancia. 
 
 " No wonder then, that papa was angry. How could you think of 
 making such a request, Marcelino ? "
 
 LIBERTY. 35 S 
 
 (I 
 
 I did not ask for pardon, my sister, I asked only for justice." 
 "Justice ! of course he will have justice, he will be well punished." 
 " For what, fair lady ? " said Don Carlos. 
 " They would not put him in prison unless he deserved it. I am 
 
 not a bit sorry for him, but I am for Magdalen. Is she stopping yet 
 
 with Aunt Josefina?" 
 
 " Yes," said Don Carlos, " the poor girl has nowhere else to go to." 
 " And I suppose the Senor Asneiros goes there every day to see 
 
 her?" 
 
 " He has not been near the house since she has been there." 
 " Then do you think it is all over between him and Magdalen ? " 
 "There never was anything between them. Magdalen merely 
 
 looked upon him as a friend of her father's, but now she says that he 
 
 only went to the quinta to spy upon him." 
 
 " That is strange ; but Aunt Josefina is always trying to get people 
 
 married who care nothing about each other. I thought it very strange 
 
 that Magdalen should care anything for a man like Major Asneiros." 
 " Then we shall have another laugh at Aunt Josefina, she is always 
 
 making mistakes of that sort, but she never tires of her amusement," 
 
 said Dona Constancia. 
 
 " I fear it will be no laughing matter for Don Alfonso," said Don 
 
 Carlos. 
 
 " I will tell you what I will do," said Dolores, going up to Marcelino 
 
 and leaning upon his arm. " In a few days I will ask papa to speak 
 
 to the Viceroy for Don Alfonso ; but not yet, he is angry now, and 
 
 no wonder, when you talk to him about justice." 
 
 Marcelino and Don Carlos remained that night at the quinta, the 
 next morning, as they rode together to the city, Marcelino said to his 
 friend — 
 
 " You think, then, that our errand has been successful ? " 
 
 " I think it has," said Evana. " Don Roderigo will yield to the 
 prayer of his daughter what he refused when you asked for justice." 
 
 " From my father I hoped better things than that." 
 
 " Do not blame Don Roderigo, it is the Spanish system which 
 makes such things possible. Unlimited power debases not only those 
 who are subject to it, but quite as much, or even more so, those who 
 exercise it. A few years of such power as he has at present, would 
 change your father from a most liberal-minded man to a despot." 
 
 " We can only put an end to this system by establishing a govern- 
 ment of our own," said Marcelino. 
 
 "Then let us do it at once. For what are we waiting? The people 
 and the troops all anticipate a change, they wait only for the leaders 
 to give the signal."
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 HOW DON GREGORIO LOPEZ FOR THE THIRD TIME SOUGHT AN 
 ANSWER TO THE QUESTION OF THE DAY. 
 
 Spain had fallen, but that made no difference to Buenos Aires, 
 all was apparently as it had ever been, Spaniards were the lords, 
 Americans were but vassals born to do their will. Yet in one respect 
 all was not as it had been, the troops who upheld the power of the 
 Spaniards were no longer Spaniards also, they were Americans. 
 
 Then was seen the anomaly of a small handful of men ruling over 
 an immense country, whose power was based neither upon the will of 
 the people nor upon brute force. Neither was there any external 
 power upon which they might fall back were their authority disputed, 
 their power rested solely upon an old tradition. They were men 
 born in the Old World, who upon this accident of birth based their 
 claim to rule in the New. 
 
 Again Marcelino Ponce de Leon urged upon his grandfather that 
 he should call together a meeting of the principal citizens, and ask 
 them this question which was in the mouths of every one — 
 
 "What shall we do?" 
 
 It was a calm night in April, when men, singly or in couples, wended 
 their way through the streets of the city as they had done on two 
 former occasions, and sought the house of Don Gregorio Lopez. 
 
 One password, " Libertad," admitted them to the house and to the 
 large inner room. 
 
 Valentin Lopez y Viana, who had a list of those who had been 
 invited, and who had accosted each man on his entrance, announced 
 to his father that all were present, whereupon Don Gregorio took his 
 place at the head of the table, and when his guests had arranged 
 themselves round the room, rose to his feet and spoke — ■ 
 
 " Sehores," said he, " the question which I have invited you here 
 this evening to discuss, is one which occupies the minds of all. We 
 have no king, for our king is in a French prison ; we have no longer 
 a mother-country, the fall of Spain has been proclaimed aloud in our 
 streets. How, then, shall w'e submit any longer to be ruled by a 
 handful of Spaniards, who derive their authority from a power which 
 no longer exists ? We in no way disown our allegiance to Ferdinand 
 our king, if we assert our right to provide ourselves for the govern- 
 ment of the country until such time as he may be able to re-assume 
 his authority over us. 
 
 " Sehores, the idea of choosing from amongst ourselves the men who
 
 LIBERTY. 357 
 
 shall rule over us is now no novelty amongst us. Spain herself has 
 set us the example. What we demand is a Junta. Among us there 
 can be no question of our right to demand a Junta, the question I 
 propose to you is this — " 
 
 " Has the day come for us to demand the appointment of this 
 Junta?" 
 
 " Yes, yes ! " shouted several of the younger men, as Don Gregorio 
 paused and looked round him. 
 
 " A Junta ! a Junta ! we are free," shouted the others. 
 
 Then rose up Don Carlos Evana from the chair on which he was 
 seated, half way down the room. 
 
 " Junta ! Junta ! like that of Spain," said he. " We are a free 
 people, therefore we must take example from a people who are not 
 free, and must have a Junta to rule over us. 
 
 " What are these words that I hear ? Have we not suffered long 
 enough from the tyranny of Spain ? Are we yet, when we cast from 
 us the domination of Spain, to set her up before us as an example ? 
 AVhy should we take Spain as our example ? We are a free people 
 and demand a government of our own, but why look to Spain for 
 a form of government suited to a free people. The history of 
 the whole world is open before us, there we may learn how in an- 
 cient days free men have chosen their own rulers, and have been at 
 once victorious abroad and prosperous at home. Let us not look to 
 Spain for any guidance in the path before us, the example of Spain 
 can be nothing more than a warning to us. Neither need we look far 
 back into the history of the world for an example we may follow ; in 
 our own days a great people has risen against its oppressors, has 
 stood forth as the champion of freedom to an entire continent, has 
 fought unaided against the united strength of many despots, has 
 triumphed over them and has given liberty to a multitude of peoples. 
 France, emulating the most glorious days of Greece and Rome, freed 
 herself from t)ranny, and, as a Republic, gave to all the world an ex- 
 ample of heroism such as even her enemies were fain to regard with 
 admiration. 
 
 " Sehores, let us talk no more of a Junta like that of Spain, or of a 
 king, but let us concert measures for calling together a representative 
 assembly of the people, and for proclaiming at once the Argentine 
 Republic." 
 
 Opposite to Don Carlos Evaiia sat Don Cornelio Saavedra, a 
 handsome man with somewhat stern features, dressed in an old- 
 fashioned uniform, and wearing his hair combed back and united in 
 one broad plait which fell on to his shoulders, which style of dressing 
 the hair was de rigi/er in the regiment of the Patricios, of which he was 
 commandant. His face flushed with anger, and as the speaker sat down, 
 he made as though he would rise at once, but Don Fausto Velasquez, 
 who sat next to him, laid his hand ujjon his arm, saying to him — 
 
 " Cosas de Evana ! What matters it ? " 
 
 Then several spoke one after the other, some saying a few words 
 without rising to their feet, others interrupting those who sfjoke with 
 contradictions, and there was much confusion. At length Don Gregorio 
 Lopez leaned over and whispered to Don ALanuel lielgrano —
 
 358 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 " Speak you something, to you they will listen." 
 Then Belgrano stood up and there was silence. 
 '' Sehores/' said he, " the idea of an Argentine Republic seems 
 new to many of you, to otlicrs of us it is not new. We have thought 
 of it years ago, but we thought of it tlicn and we think of it now as a 
 possibility, which may be considered of at some date far in the future. 
 It is not for the consideration of any such matter that we have been 
 invited to meet together this evening. We look upon ourselves 
 already as a free people, while our present government is composed 
 entirely, of Spaniards, who are responsible to no one. The means of 
 putting an end to this anomaly in the government of a free people 
 is obvious, and being of Spanish origin will therefore be the more 
 readily adopted by us ; the appointment of a Junta of government, 
 and the immediate abolition of the viceregal power. A Junta may 
 not be the most perfect form of government, but it is the form 
 which we can adopt at once, and which will secure to us opportunity 
 for the full discussion of plans for some superior form of government." 
 The words of Don Manuel Belgrano, spoken calmly and deliber- 
 ately, soothed at once the excitement which had been produced by 
 the speech of Don Carlos Evaiia; as he resumed his seat Don Marce- 
 lino Ponce de Leon rose. 
 
 " Sehores," said he, " the only measure which is possible for us as an 
 immediate step, is the substitution of a Junta named by the people for 
 a Viceroy named by Spain ; this I think even my friend Don Carlos 
 Evaha will admit. Now the question before us is, not whether we be 
 ruled by a Junta or an assembly, but whether we demand at once the 
 resignation of the Viceroy and the vesting of his powers in a Junta. 
 Shall we demand this at once, or shall we wait ? If we must yet wait, 
 how much longer are we to wait, and why? 
 
 " I say that the day has come, and that any longer delay in the 
 assertion of our rights exposes each one of us to suffer from arbitrary 
 acts against which there is no appeal." 
 
 As Marcelino sat down he was warmly applauded, and many 
 shouted — 
 
 "The day has come ! the day has come ! Junta ! No more of an 
 irresponsible government ; down with the Viceroy !" 
 
 Then Don Cornelio Saavedra rose to his feet and there was instant 
 silence. 
 
 " Sehores," he said, " it is not for us who are men of experience to 
 give heed to the dreams of an enthusiast ; let us look upon the pecu- 
 liar circumstances in which we are placed with the sober eyes of 
 mature reason. We are colonists of Spain, we are loyal subjects of 
 King Ferdinand VII., but it is very just that we should not obey irre- 
 sponsible rulers. If it were, as has been stated, a fact, that there 
 exists no power to whom our present rulers are responsible, I should 
 immediately concur with many here present in at once demandmg 
 the appointment of a governing Junta. But such a power does 
 exist ; so long as the Central Junta of Spain holds its position at 
 Seville, the second city of Spain, that Junta constitutes in the absence 
 of the king, the legal government of Spain and the Indies, and to its 
 commands we, as loyal subjects of King Ferdinand, are bound to
 
 LIBERTY. 359 
 
 submit. Some of you have cried out that the day has come for the 
 appointment of a Junta of our own ; I tell you that so long as the 
 Central Junta maintains itself at Seville, Spain has not fallen, and the 
 day has not come. When the French force the passes of the Sierra 
 de la Morena, when a French army chases the Junta from Seville, 
 then Spain will have fallen, then may we with justice demand a Junta 
 of our own, without violating our loyalty to our king. I pray to God 
 that that day may yet be far off, that it may never arrive, but if it come 
 then I will join you in demanding what will then be our right, a Junta 
 of our own." 
 
 Don Cornelio was listened to with deep attention, and when he sat 
 down men looked at each other, many seeming anxious to reply to 
 him, more looking towards Evaha, as though they expected him to 
 speak. Then Don Gregorio Lopez rose agam. 
 
 " Sehores," said he, " the question I have asked you has, I think, 
 been satisfactorily answered by Don Cornelio Saavedra. Let us do 
 nothing rashly ; in so important a step as this we have discussed, it is 
 of the first importance that we be all united. By many of us the 
 establishment of a Junta of government may be looked upon as a first 
 step only; be it so, but let them join us to accomplish this first step, 
 there will afterwards be time enough to discuss what further steps 
 the majority of us may think necessary. Let us await with patience 
 the day when Seville shall fall into the power of the French, then we 
 will look to Don Cornelio for that powerful assistance which will make 
 the establishment of a governing Junta a matter of no difficulty what- 
 ever." 
 
 Don Juan Martin Puyrredon, who had returned from exile two days 
 before, had sat near to the head of the table all the evening without 
 speaking. As the door was thrown open, and the meeting commenced 
 to disperse, he crossed the room and remained for some minutes 
 speaking in low tones to Don Cornelio Saavedra, after which they left 
 the house together. 
 
 Two days after this Don Juan Martin held another meeting in his 
 own house, to which none were invited save military officers, both 
 native and Spanish, above the rank of captain. To these he pro- 
 pounded the same question which had been proposed by Don Gre- 
 gorio Lopez to his friends. The native officers were almost unanimous 
 that the day was come for the deposition of the Viceroy and the 
 establishment of a Junta Gubernativa, but many of the Spanish officers 
 demurred, saying that they could see no present necessity for so 
 extreme a measure. 
 
 After much time had been expended in useless discussion, Don 
 Cornelio Saavedra rose and spoke to the same effect as he had spoken 
 at the house of Don Gregorio. His words carried weight with them, 
 and his proposal met with general acquiescence. 
 
 Throughout the city it soon became known that the principal citi- 
 zens and the military commandants, had agreed together that the fall 
 of Seville was to be the signal for the deposition of the Viceroy, and 
 the establishment of a Junta Ckibernativa, winch should rule in the 
 name of King Ferdinand over the whole Viceroyalty of Duenos Aires.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE OPENING OF THE MONTH OF MAY. 
 
 A'as the first week in May, the family of Don Roderigo Ponce de 
 ^^eon had returned to the city, Dolores had come to spend the day 
 with her aunt Josefina, and was sitting with her and Magdalen 
 Miranda in the ante-sala. The door opened, and in came Marcelino 
 and Don Carlos Evaiia. 
 
 Marcelino went at once to Magdalen and took her hand. 
 
 " I have come to bring you good news," he said, " Don Alfonso 
 will be set at liberty to-day. Don Fausto has gone with the order to 
 the Cabildo." 
 
 " Thanks, thanks," said Magdalen. " Poor papa ! at last ! " 
 
 " Do not thank me, thank Lola." 
 
 " I knew papa could, if he would only try," said Dolores. " The 
 Viceroy will do anything that papa asks him. I made him promise 
 me last night ; you know I told you I would not rest until I had made 
 him promise." 
 
 She could say no more, for Magdalen threw her arms round her 
 neck, kissing her, and the two girls wept together, speaking to each 
 other with many endearing words, till, becoming more composed, they 
 sat hand in hand beside each other, waiting ; Magdalen listening 
 with all her ears for the sound of a footstep in the patio. 
 
 Half an hour they waited ; then was heard the voice of Don Fausto. 
 Magdalen sprang from her chair, and ran out into the patio. An old, 
 old man, bowed with weakness, tottered towards her, leaning on the 
 arm of Don Fausto, so old, so bent, Magdalen could hardly believe 
 her eyes. With a cry she ran up to him, and threw her arms round 
 him, it was her father. 
 
 " Chica ! " said Don Alfonso, straightening himself a little, but he 
 said no more, suffering himself to be led into the house and seated on 
 a chair, where he looked round him with a bewildered gaze, apparently 
 deaf to the welcome of Dona Josefina and to the congratulations of 
 the others. 
 
 Magdalen drew a stool to his feet and seated herself upon it, leaning 
 upon his knees. 
 
 "Papa, won't you speak to me?" she said. "You are free now, 
 we will go back to the quinta and you will soon be quite strong again." 
 
 Don Alfonso laid his hand upon her head and smiled at her, then 
 looking up with an anxious gaze at Don Fausto he said — 
 
 " And my coffer, where is it ? Did not you tell me they would give 
 me everything back ? "
 
 LIBERTY. 361 
 
 "Yes, I have an order to Major Asneiros that he return to you 
 everything he took from your house on the night of your arrest." 
 
 " Give me the order," said MarceHno, "' I will go and get them 
 at once." 
 
 Don Fausto drew a folded paper from his pocket and gave it to 
 Marcelino, who immediately left the house. During his absence Don 
 Alfonso still sat in his chair with a vacant stare in his eyes, answering 
 nothing to the questions that were addressed to him, and resisting 
 every effort of Dona Josefina, who pressed him to eat something. 
 Dolores placed a basin of broth in his hands ; mechanically he took 
 the spoon and stirred it, but put it away from him untasted. 
 
 Marcelino was not long absent. When his footstep was heard in 
 the patio Don Alfonso pushed his daughter from him, and rising to 
 his feet walked to the room door to meet him, with a firmer step than 
 seemed possible from his former gait. Marcelino had with him two 
 peons, one of whom carried a large package of books and papers, the 
 other bore on his shoulder a small black coffer, bound with brass 
 bands and with a brass lock. To one of the handles of this coffer 
 hung a bunch of keys tied with a string. 
 
 •' Bring it in, bring it in," said Don Alfonso to the peon who carried 
 the coffer. 
 
 "Jesus ! but it is heavy," said the man. 
 
 Then as he set it down roughly on the floor there came from it a 
 jingling sound as of pieces of metal striking against one another. At 
 this sound Don Alfonso's eyes sparkled, and he rubbed his hands to- 
 gether; then, stooping, he took hold of the coffer by one of the 
 handles and tried to lift it, but it was too heavy for his wasted strength. 
 
 " Yes, it is heavy, it is heavy," he said, chuckling strangely to 
 himself and again rubbing his hands together. 
 
 After this he took up the basin of broth which he had refused, and 
 as he supped it he commenced talking, but when they questioned 
 him of the lonely days he had spent in prison he shuddered and 
 would answer nothing. 
 
 In the afternoon, Don Fausto took Don Alfonso and Magdalen out 
 again to the quinta in his carriage, Don Alfonso insisting ujjon having 
 the black coffer placed inside and sitting with his feet upon it. He 
 seemed to have recovered strength surprisingly since the morning. 
 Magdalen was in great spirits at finding everything at the quinta in 
 good order, and that many needful repairs had been made during 
 their absence, but she did not then know that this was owing to 
 MarceHno Ponce de Leon and Don Carlos Evaha, one or other of 
 whom had visited the place every day during the imprisonment of 
 Don Alfonso. 
 
 Don Fausto left them at sundown, feeling no anxiety for Don 
 Alfonso, whose prostration in the morning he attributed solely to the 
 effects of solitary confinement upon one who was accustomed to live 
 much in the open air. 
 
 Soon after dark Magdalen, who was setting out her tea-things, was 
 startled by a shrill cry which came from her father's room. Running 
 in she could see nothing, there being no light in the room, but she 
 could hear a low moaning. She called aloud for her father, but there
 
 3^2 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 was no answer. Attracted by her cries, the single maid-servant wlio 
 lived in the house with them came running with a lighted candle in 
 her hand, to know what was the cause of the alarm, tlien Magda- 
 len saw her father stretched, apparently lifeless, on the floor. JJeside 
 him stood the black coffer, open and with the lid thrown back ; on 
 the floor lay a small hand-lamp, broken ; strewn about lay a number 
 of silver coins, and under her father's hand there lay something which 
 had been wrapped in paper, but from which the paper was partly 
 torn away. 
 
 The two had great difliculty in raising Don Alfonso and laying him 
 upon his bed, and for long all their eftbrts to restore consciousness 
 were in vain. When at last he opened his eyes he gazed vacantly 
 round him, answering nothing to Magdalen's eager questions, till he 
 saw the black coffer which they had left untouched. Then he started 
 up, and struggling from their hands staggered to it, throwing himself 
 upon his knees before it, and groping with his hands inside of it. 
 He pulled out handfuls of silver coins, throwing them on the floor, 
 and several packages wrapped in paper, like the one Magdalen had 
 noticed lying on the floor when she had discovered her father's state. 
 From each of these packages he tore off' the wrapper as he took it 
 out and threw it from him. Each package as it fell upon the floor 
 gave a dull, heavy sound, as though it were a block of lead. As he 
 threw from him the last package, he started to his feet, clutching his 
 hair with both hands, and uttering a wild cry like that which had 
 brought Magdalen to him. 
 
 Then he burst out with foul curses and imprecations, grinding his 
 teeth and stamping his feet in his rage, while Magdalen and the maid 
 both looked upon him in terror, thinking he had gone mad. When 
 at last his rage subsided, he clasped his hands together and bent over 
 the coffer once more. 
 
 " Not one ! not one have they left me ! " he exclaimed. " Fool 
 that I was, ever to let a Spaniard inside my house ! " 
 
 With a hollow groan he fell forward over the coffer, striking his 
 head upon the floor. Again Magdalen and her maid lifted him up 
 and laid him upon his bed, where for hours he lay insensible, breath- 
 ing heavily, and when at last he began to speak it was in incoherent 
 words, mingled with curses, which made Magdalen shudder as she 
 listened. 
 
 So the weary night wore through, and with the day came more 
 efficient help, but days and days passed ere Don Alfonso knew 
 anything of what went on about him, or recognized his daughter. 
 These days were a fearful trial to Magdalen, yet there was one who 
 came to see her every day, whose loving words strengthened her and 
 encouraged her in her arduous duty. Not a day passed that Marce- 
 lino Ponce de Leon did not sit with her for at least an hour, by the 
 bedside of her unconscious father, telling her of all that was happen- 
 ing in those days, big with the desUny of a young nation, seeking 
 counsel and solace from her in the sore struggle which was going on 
 within himself Years before he had thought of the day when he 
 must decide between his father and his country, he had thought of it 
 with trembling and dismay, and pondered long and anxiously of how
 
 LIBERTY. 363 
 
 he might avert it. Now the day was come, his resokition was fixed, yet it 
 was none the less painful to him to array himself in direct opposition 
 to his father, that his resolve was the result of mature deliberation. 
 
 Magdalen fully sympatliized with him in his anxious \\ash, if it were 
 yet possible, so to arrange matters that Don Roderigo might yield a 
 tardy assent to a new order of affairs, and forget that he was a 
 Spaniard for the sake of his children, who were Americans. But as 
 she listened to the incoherent words and occasional curses which fell 
 from the lips of her own suffering father, her heart refused to let her 
 counsel Marcelino to give up one iota of what he considered his 
 rights as a free-born citizen of Buenos Aires, or to shrink from any 
 duty, however painful, which the assertion of those rights for himself 
 and others might entail upon liim. 
 
 And through all those days between these two there passed no 
 word of love, yet were their hearts open to one another, the most 
 simple words that all the world might hear, yet bore from one heart 
 to the other a message of love, the most common act of politeness 
 became a caress. 
 
 A week after the return of Don Alfonso to the Miserere, Don 
 Baltazar de Cisneros, the Viceroy, gave audience in one of his private 
 apartments, to two in whom he placed great confidence, Don Roderigo 
 Ponce de Leon and Don Ciriaco Asneiros. 
 
 " I have brought the Senor Asneiros that he himself give you an 
 account of this affair," said Don Eoderigo. 
 
 " You opened the coffer yourself?" said the Viceroy to the major. 
 " What was there in it ? " 
 
 '' Some few papers written in English which appeared to be bonds 
 or titles, about $400 in silver coins, and some heavy packets wrap- 
 ped in paper, what they were I did not look, I was searching for 
 documents," replied Asneiros. 
 
 " And did no one but yourself examine the coffer ? " 
 
 " No one. When I saw that there was nothing there of what I 
 expected to find, I relocked it, and kept the keys in my own posses- 
 sion, till I received an order, signed by your Excellency, to deliver it 
 and the other articles I had brought from the Miserere." 
 
 " But with false keys any one might have opened the coffer in your 
 absence ? " 
 
 In reply to this Asneiros merely shrugged his shoulders — 
 
 " And you did not open any of those heavy packages of which you 
 speak ? " said Don Roderigo. 
 
 " I pricked them with my knife and found them all solid metal, but 
 I did not open one of them. They say now that they are ingots of 
 lead, and that the medico expected to find them of gold and has gone 
 out of his mind. There are men who will believe anything, and there 
 are others who will say and do anything to throw discredit upon a 
 loyal Spaniard." 
 
 " It is a most unfortunate affair," said Don Roderigo. " The 
 people are in such an evil frame of mind at present that they lay 
 upon us the blame for any unfortunate accident that may befall." 
 
 " It were easy to cure thern," said ilsneiros.
 
 364 rON'CE DE LEON. 
 
 " How?" asked the Viceroy. 
 
 " Shoot half a dozen men that I can point out to you." 
 
 " And bring on a revokition," said Don Roderigo. 
 
 " When men talk treason in their houses without hindrance, a revo- 
 lution is not far off," said Asneiros. " Your Excellency thinks the 
 troops will not support you, and whilst they are officered as they are 
 at present they will not, but shut the troops in their barracks, arrest 
 all the Creole officers, and commission me to raise a regiment for 
 you, which I can do in two days, and I assure you these citizens will 
 think twice before they will fight." 
 
 The Viceroy looked from one to the other irresolute. Asneiros 
 was not the first Spaniard who had warned him of danger, and had 
 counselled extreme measures of repression ere it was too late. 
 
 " There is at least one regiment upon which I can rely," said he. 
 
 " The Tijo," said Asneiros ; " it is little better than a skeleton 
 regiment, but it would be easy to bring it up to the full complement, 
 and there is only one regiment from w^iich there is any danger, the 
 Patricios. In the other regiments all you have to do is to change the 
 officers, and they will serve you as well as the Tijo. There are scores 
 of Si)aniards unemployed, while these Creoles strut about the streets 
 in uniform as if the city were theirs." 
 
 " Any extreme measure will force them into revolt and then the 
 city will be theirs," said Don Roderigo. " Your Excellency would do 
 well to shut your ears to such counsel, our only chance lies in tem- 
 porizing. The misfortunes of our country have excited the most ex- 
 travagant hopes in these insolent Creoles ; as you know^ it has been 
 actually proposed among them to demand a Junta Gubernativa." 
 
 " That was the doing of your friend Don Juan Martin Puyrredon," 
 said the Viceroy. " It was false clemency on my part to listen to 
 your request and permit his return." 
 
 " I think not," said Don Roderigo ; " he was not alone in propos- 
 ing this Junta, and it is better that if any such revolutionary measure 
 be forced upon us, we should have men such as he to treat with, and 
 not men whose heads are full of extravagant French ideas. There 
 are men in the city who look upon a Junta as only the first step to 
 the establishment of a republic." 
 
 " The people generally will not support them," said the Viceroy. 
 
 " At present they will not ; but if we irritate them by measures of 
 repression they will commit any extravagance." 
 
 " But we must repress with severity any such idea as the establish- 
 ment of a Junta." 
 
 " Our best plan would be to forestall any popular demand by ap- 
 pointing a Junta ourselves." 
 
 " They will want a Junta of Creoles." 
 
 " They will ; therefore it would be wise to prevent all chance of 
 their demanding a Junta by appointing one ourselves. If we set up 
 a Junta half Spaniards and half Creoles, and appoint you President, 
 all the moderate men among the Creoles will side with us." 
 
 " Well, I will take the matter into consideration," replied the Vice- 
 roy ; " but I am not disposed even to yield so far as to appoint a 
 mixed Junta, until no other course is left to me."
 
 LIBERTY. 365 
 
 " Your Excellency does not fully appreciate the danger." 
 
 " I see no necessity for any immediate action, but you will do me 
 the favour to advise me if you see symptoms of any increase in the 
 popular excitement." 
 
 " When all remedial measures will be too late," replied Don Rode- 
 rigo ; then seeing the Viceroy indisposed to continue the colloquy, he 
 took up his hat, and with a low bow retired. 
 
 Don Ciriaco Asneiros lingered till he had seen Don Roderigo 
 pass through the first ante-room, then stepping up to the Viceroy he 
 said to him in a low voice — 
 
 " Do not alarm yourself, your Excellency, at the warnings of this 
 worthy gentleman. We all know him ; though loyal, he is so inti- 
 mately connected with Creole families that at times he forgets that 
 he is a Spaniard. What want we with Creoles in a Junta, or a Junta 
 at all? What we want are troops, troops, good Spanish soldiers, 
 upon whom we can depend, and I assure you we will soon bring 
 these Creoles to reason. Wlien I told you that I could raise you 
 a regiment in two days I did not speak without thinking, we Spaniards 
 are tired of the insolence of these Creoles." 
 
 " You were not at that meeting at the house of the Senor Puyrre- 
 don ? " said the Viceroy. 
 
 " These Creoles know me too well to ask me to talk treason with 
 them." 
 
 " If they had resolved upon anything, we should know it?" 
 
 " According to what I have heard, the resolution is postponed until 
 there come more certain news from Spain." 
 
 " Think you that this Puyrredon is a dangerous man ? " 
 
 " ^Vithout doubt ; but there are more dangerous. Whilst the Sehor 
 Evaha lives in Buenos Aires your Excellency is always in danger of 
 some conspiracy." 
 
 " Evaha ! But against him you have been unable to bring me any 
 proof" 
 
 " Give me authority to arrest him and search his house." 
 
 " For the present there is no danger, this excitement will calm 
 down, when something positive occurs, there will be time enough for 
 severe measures." So saying the Viceroy bowed and dismissed the 
 major, who left him at once and walked away to his own house in 
 deep thought. 
 
 In an inner room of this house Don Santiago Liniers, ex-Viceroy 
 of Buenos Aires and Marshal of the armies of Spain, walked restlessly 
 up and down. Don Baltazar de Cisneros had not dared to send him 
 under arrest to Spain in accordance with his instructions, but had 
 exiled him to the learned city of Cordova, where he considered that 
 his popularity would cease to be dangerous. Liniers, hearing of the 
 excitement in Buenos Aires, had returned in secret, puri)osing to offer 
 his services to the Viceroy for the preservation of the authority of 
 Spain. Asneiros had been commissioned by him to speak to Cisneros, 
 telling him of his arrival, if he found liim disposed to adopt stringent 
 measures of repression, but not otherwise. 
 
 As Asneiros entered the room Liuiers paused in his walk, waiting 
 for him to speak.
 
 366 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 " Don Baltazar \\\\\ do notliing," said Asneiros. " Let us not tliink 
 any more of liim, he is lost. Before many days we shall have a Junta 
 of Porteiios." 
 
 "And this Evaha, can you do nothing against him?" 
 
 " Nothing. He has always the protection of your friend Don 
 Roderigo. But have no fear, he will fall with the rest." 
 
 " When ? A Junta is a revolution, and he will be one of the chiefs. 
 He is a man of terrible energy and respects nothing." 
 
 " Without doubt he is our most dangerous enemy." 
 
 " Then you feel sure that we shall have a Junta ? " 
 
 " Or something worse, and without troops what can we do ? Don 
 Baltazar gives not the slightest attention to my ofi'er." 
 
 " Then my journey here will result in nothing." 
 
 " Return to Cordova, it is the best thing you can do, but prepare 
 at once for a second reconquest of this Buenos Aires. Against a 
 Junta of Portenos it will be a very easy matter to stir up the Pro- 
 vinces." 
 
 " To Cordova then this night," said Liniers. " Adios ! Buenos 
 Aires ; twice have I saved you from foreigners, yet once more will I 
 come to save you from your own people."
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 DIAS DE LA PATRIA. 
 
 In January the French armies forced the passes of the Sierra de la 
 Morena, and poured Hke a deluge over the smiling plains of Andalusia, 
 sweeping everything before them. Cordova and Granada fell, and on 
 the I St February King Josepli, at the head of his triumphant army, 
 marched into the city of Seville. 
 
 Rumours of these events reached Buenos Aires in April, but till a 
 month later there arrived no certain information. On the 13th May 
 full details were received by a ship from Europe which anchored in 
 the port of Monte Video. On the 14th the news reached Buenos Aires. 
 Don Manuel Belgrano had been for a fortnight absent from the city, 
 recruiting his strength and refreshing his jaded energies in quiet solitude 
 at a quinta he possessed at the little town of San Isidro, which stands 
 on the banks of the river about five leagues north of Buenos Aires, 
 leaving the " Diario " in the care of Marcelino Ponce de Leon. On 
 the afternoon of the 14th he received a letter from Marcelino. 
 
 " Come at once, we have need of you. The moment has arrived 
 to work for the Patria, and to achieve our longed-for liberty and inde- 
 pendence." 
 
 Before nightfall Don Manuel was again in the city. A meeting of 
 the secret committee was at once convened, not one of the brother- 
 hood was absent, long and earnestly they discussed the measures 
 they should adopt. The proposition of Don Carlos Evaiia to appoint 
 a committee of public safety with absolute powers, and to proclaim a 
 Republic, was overruled. It was determined to call upon the Ayun- 
 tamiento of the city to appoint a Junta, elected in " Cabildo Abierto," 
 which should unite the powers of the various corporations ; that this 
 Junta should invite the concurrence of each Province of the Viceroyalty 
 for the purpose of assembling a Congress which sliould decide upon 
 the future of the country ; and that for the prevention of any attempt 
 to oppose the authority of the Junta the first act of this body should 
 be to despatch an army into the interior, the commander of which 
 should be invested with ample powers for the repression of any hostile 
 movement. 
 
 For three days the city was in a state of gaeat agitation ; Spain had 
 fallen, the colonies of Sixain were free. 
 " What shall be done ? " 
 " What authority shall take the place of that which exists no longer?"
 
 ^j68 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 ^ 
 
 Every man asked these questions of himself and of his neighbour, 
 and the members of the secret committee, spreading themselves through 
 the city, did all in their power to increase the general excitement, and 
 to prepare the way for such answers to these questions as should se- 
 cure for ever the liberties of Buenos Aires. 
 
 Again the Viceroy sought the counsel of Don Roderigo, repenting 
 him that he had not followed his advice, and prepared beforehand an 
 answer to these questions which convulsed the city. In accordance 
 with his present advice he now published a fly-sheet, giving in detail 
 an account of all the recent events in Spain, which he followed up on 
 the iSth by a proclamation, recommending the people for their own 
 sake to j^reserve order and union, until such time as he, in concert 
 with the other Viceroys of Spain in South America, might adopt such 
 measures as were requisite for the public well-being, and for the due 
 preservation of the royal authority in America. 
 
 That same day, the i8th May, Don Cornelio Saavedra and Don 
 Manuel Belgrano applied to the Ayuntamiento in the name of the 
 citizens of Buenos Aires that they should — 
 
 " Without delay convene a Cabildo Abierto, so that by a general 
 assembly of the people it might be determined whether the Viceroy 
 should resign his powers into the hands of a Junta of government for 
 the better security of the public weal." 
 
 On the night of the 19th the Viceroy called together all the com- 
 mandants of the troops quartered in the city, both Spanish and native, 
 and announced to them that he depended upon them to put a stop to 
 this demand for a Cabildo Abierto, and to maintain his authority. To 
 this Don Cornelio Saavedra replied — 
 
 " Your Excellency cannot count upon me nor upon the Patricios 
 for that purpose. Our future and that of America is in question, and 
 we do not consider it secure in your hands. The time has come for 
 your Excellency to resign your authority ; the source of that authority 
 no longer exists, therefore it also has ended." 
 
 With one exception all the officers present supported Don Cornelio, 
 and the deposition of the Viceroy was thus virtually achieved. 
 
 During these days of excitement the secret committee had admitted 
 several new members to their counsels. On the nitiht of the 20th 
 they issued orders to the native troops to remain in their barracks in 
 readiness for any emergency. The troops obeyed, as though the com- 
 mittee were some recognized authority. At the same time they 
 resolved that two of their number should wait upon the Viceroy, and 
 notify to him that his authority had ceased. Dr. Don Juan Jose 
 Castelli and Comandante Don Martin Rodriguez were chosen for this 
 perilous mission. 
 
 The fort was that night garrisoned by a grenadier corps of native 
 troops, the officers of which were for the most part Spaniards. With 
 the two envoys went Comandante Terrada, who, entering the fort with 
 them, took command of the grenadiers. Without sending forward to 
 announce their visit, the envoys proceeded straight to the private 
 apartments of the Viceroy, who, far from expecting any such visitors, 
 was playing cards with some friends. Castelli spoke first. 
 
 " Most excellent sir," said he, " it is our painful duty to announce
 
 LIBERTY. 369 
 
 to yon, that we come in the name of the people and of the army to 
 notify to your Excellency that your authority as Viceroy has ceased." 
 
 These words caused the greatest consternation among those present, 
 but Cisneros started angrily to his feet. 
 
 "Wliat insolence is this?" said he to Castelh ; "how dare you 
 insult thus the King in the person of his representative ? This is the 
 foulest outrage you could commit against his authority." 
 
 " There is no need for anger, your Excellency," replied CastelU with 
 perfect calmness ; " there is no alternative," 
 
 " Sehor, they have given us five minutes in which to return with 
 your answer. Your Excellency would do well to think carefully what 
 you do," said Don Martin Rodriguez. 
 
 Don Roderigo Ponce de Leon, who was one of those present, drew 
 the Viceroy with him into an adjoining room, whence the latter soon 
 returned. 
 
 " Sehores," said he to the envoys, " I deeply lament the evils which 
 will fall upon this country in consequence of the step you have taken. 
 But if the people cease to respect me, and the army abandon me, 
 pues ! do what you will." ^ 
 
 Next day, the 21st, the Cabildo applied to the Viceroy for 
 authority to — 
 
 " Convene a meeting of well-disposed citizens, who in public con- 
 gress may give expression to the will of the people, so as to put an 
 end to this state of dangerous excitement." 
 
 The Viceroy gave the needful permission, and the Cabildo, com- 
 posed half of Spaniards and half natives, invited between four and 
 five hundred of the leading citizens to meet the next morning in the 
 saloons of the Cabildo. 
 
 On the 22nd, at nine o'clock, the citizens commenced to assemble ; 
 more than 250 accepted the invitation, while the Plaza Mayor and 
 the approaches to it were filled with dense crowds of people, a 
 detachment of troops being stationed at each corner to preserve order. 
 
 The place where this memorable assembly was convened, was a 
 large saloon in the upper story of the Cabildo, to-day occupied by the 
 Tribunals of Justice. Long straight-backed forms, borrowed from the 
 churches, were arranged in lines down this saloon from end to end. 
 At the head of the room was placed a large table covered with a 
 crimson cloth, round which were seated in arm-chairs the bishops, the 
 members of the Ayuntamiento and Cabildo, and other public func- 
 tionaries, who presided over the meeting. 
 
 The discussion was opened by the following address from the 
 Cabildo — 
 
 " Faithful and generous people of Buenos Aires, you are now met 
 together, speak then with all freedom, but with the dignity which is 
 natural to you, showing yourselves a wise, noble, docile, and generous 
 people." 
 
 In this meeting three parties were represented. One, headed by 
 the bishop and the Spanish employes, desired the continuance of the 
 Viceroy in his office ; the second, which included many Spaniards, 
 
 ' For this scene see " La Ilistoria dc Belgrano," by General Mitre. 
 
 B B
 
 370 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 such as Don Roderigo Ponce de T.eon, who preferred measures of 
 concihation, desired to invest the higher i)o\vers in the Cabildo, until 
 such time as a provisional government miglit be organized, which 
 should rule under the supreme authority of the government of Spain ; 
 the third, which included all the more ardent of the patriots, desired 
 the deposition of the Viceroy, and the establishment of a government 
 chosen by the people. 
 
 Many speeches were made by the most distinguished orators of all 
 ]")arties, the discussion and the voting on many different propositions 
 lasted all day, and the Cabildo clock sounded the midnight hour ere 
 the meeting broke up. The resolution which was at length adopted 
 by a majority of votes was proposed by Don Cornelio Saavedra, who 
 was su])ported by Belgrano, by all the more moderate among the 
 patriots, and by some of the Spaniards. It was as follows — 
 
 " The permanence of the Viceroy in his office and the continuance 
 of the present system of government being incompatible with public 
 tranquillity, the Cabildo is hereby authorized to appoint a Junta in 
 conformity with the general ideas of the people and with present cir- 
 cumstances, which shall exercise supreme authority until a meeting of 
 deputies from the other cities and towns of the Viceroyalty may be 
 convened." 
 
 So terminated the first session of the first assembly of the Argentine 
 people. 
 
 From this assembly Don Roderigo Ponce de Leon walked rapidly 
 away to the fort, where the Viceroy had been for hours awaiting him. 
 
 " Then all is lost," said the Viceroy, as Don Roderigo read to him 
 the resolution of the assembly. 
 
 " By no means," replied Don Roderigo. " Everything remains in 
 the hands of the Cabildo, and I do not think it will be difficult to 
 appoint a Jimta which will keep the power in our own hands. You 
 cease to be Viceroy, we will make you President of the Junta." 
 
 But as Don Roderigo walked away to his own house his heart was 
 heavy within him, not from sorrow only, but from anger. That day 
 one of the most violent speeches made at the assembly had been 
 spoken by his own son, and Don Carlos Evaha, from whom he had 
 hoped for aid in establishing a better order of affairs, though he had 
 not spoken, had been incessantly active all day among the most deter- 
 mined opponents of Spanish rule, reconciling the varied opinions 
 which prevailed among them, and at length uniting them to vote for 
 the resolution which was carried. 
 
 The next day the sun shone gloriously upon an emanci]:)ated city. 
 The bright but not scorching beams of the sun of May, shone upon 
 a people who woke for the first time conscious that they vv^ere a 
 people. In deliberative assembly they had decided upon the future 
 of their own country, they had decided that they were no longer to be 
 ruled by foreigners, responsible only to a foreign court, but were to be 
 ruled by men chosen by themselves, by deputies from every city and 
 town, by men who, representing the people, should be the exponents 
 of their will, and should be responsible to the people alone. 
 
 The streets and public places were thronged with crowds of men, 
 who greeted each other joyously, looking with a friendly eye even
 
 LIBERTY. 371 
 
 upon the Spaniards who passed among them, for Spaniards were no 
 longer tyrants to be dreaded, and might be with them citizens of a 
 new nation. 
 
 The Cabildo met at an early hour, and dehberated long with closed 
 doors; hours passed and nothing was done, no new announcement 
 was made to satisfy the eagerness of the joyous people. The Viceroy 
 still occupied his official apartments at the fort, still the sentry paced 
 to and fro before his door, to all appearance he was Viceroy yet, and 
 the Junta was as yet but as a thing spoken of, as a thing which had 
 no existence. So the day wore on, and the joyousness of the people 
 disappeared and became impatience. 
 
 The secret committee had ceased to be a secret committee, its 
 existence was known to the whole city, men spoke of it as the 
 " Revolutionary Committee," and having none other to whom they 
 might look, looked to the members of this self-appointed, committee 
 as their leaders. 
 
 ■ 'The meetings of the committee were no longer secret, many men of 
 influence among the townsmen joined them on the 23rd May, many 
 of the officers of the native regiments sought their advice on that day, 
 and proffered their services for the enforcement of their resolutions. 
 
 At the house of the Sehor Rodriguez Peha the committee was 
 assembled, awaiting the announcement that the Cabildo had formally 
 decreed the deposition of the Viceroy, awaiting also with anxiety the 
 list of the members of the new Junta. No such announcement, no 
 such list reached them. The delay roused in them suspicion, as it 
 had aroused impatience in the people. 
 
 But, dreading the eftect of a popular commotion, they determined 
 to do all they could to allay the excitement of the people, and to de- 
 mand from the Cabildo the immediate carrying out of the resolution 
 of the assembly of the day previous. 
 
 Don Cornelio Saavedra and Don Manuel Belgrano were deputed 
 to wait upon the Cabildo, and the rest of the committee dispersed 
 about the city, where they soon calmed the agitation of the people 
 and restored general confidence. 
 
 As the brilliant sun which had shone upon the city throughout this 
 memorable day touched the western horizon, a company of the 
 Patricios, with drums beating before them and bayonets fixed, 
 marched through the streets, a guard of honour to a herald from the 
 Cabildo, who at each street-corner proclaimed in a loud voice that 
 the power of the Viceroy had ceased in the provinces of the Rio de 
 la Plata, and that the Cabildo, by the will of the people, took the 
 supreme authority upon itself. 
 
 The Cabildo met again early the next morning, and, warned by their 
 experience of the day previous, proceeded at once to the election of 
 the members of the Junta. They decided that the Junta should con- 
 sist of two Spaniards and two natives, and .should act under the presi- 
 dency of Don Baltazar de Cisneros, who should retain the command 
 of the troojjs. The two natives selected were Don Cornelio Saavedra 
 and Dr. Castelli. At the same time they offered an amnesty to all 
 who had taken part in opposition to the authorities on the 22nd. 
 
 " Don Cornelio Saavedra, always inclined to avoid extremes,
 
 372 rONCE DE LEON. 
 
 accepted in good faith the decision of the Cabildo, and his vote drew 
 M-ith It that of the other commanders of tlie troops, who pledged them- 
 selves to sustain the authority so established by the Cabildo." ^ 
 
 The Junta was proclaimed amid the ringing of the church-bells and 
 the thunder of the cannon, the colonial system of Spain was re-estab- 
 lished under a new form, and Don Roderigo Ponce de Leon, who had 
 taken a leading part in this arrangement, returned to his house triumph- 
 ant, doubting no longer of success ; Spaniards were a majority in the 
 Junta, and the support of the troops was secured by the accession of 
 Saavedra. 
 
 As Don Roderigo entered his sala he met Marcelino, who made 
 way for him, bowing his head in silence. 
 
 "Ah, my son !" said he, "we have seen nothing of each other for 
 several days, except at a distance. I congratulate you on your speech 
 the other day, it did you credit, but you see we have not yet arrived 
 at the stage when such ideas can be more than dreams." 
 
 " I think that if you will walk through the city you will see that 
 they are more than dreams already," replied Marcelino. 
 
 " Excuse me, I would rather not, it is raining steadily and there is 
 a most disagreeably cold wind." 
 
 " Yet the streets are thronged with people as though it were as fine 
 as yesterday. What, think you, is the reason that these people brave 
 the weather in the streets instead of seeking the shelter of their 
 homes ? " 
 
 " What matters it to me, the people ? " 
 
 " I am afraid it matters less to you than I once thought and hoped." 
 " This people was almost in open mutiny yesterday, as we did not 
 appoint the Junta quick enough to please them. Now they have 
 their Junta, what more would they ? " 
 
 " The people have been deceived and they know it. In the as- 
 sembly on Tuesday it was resolved by the great majority of votes that 
 the power of the Viceroy should cease, and that a Junta composed of 
 men possessing the confidence of the people should exercise his powers, 
 until deputies from the different cities and towns should meet to de- 
 cide upon a new form of government for the whole country. Don 
 Baltazar de Cisneros is no longer Viceroy, but he is President of the 
 Junta, and Commander-in-chief of the troops, which comes to the 
 same thing. What confidence have the people in such men as Salas and 
 Inchaurregui ? To give us such a Junta as that is to invite a revolt." 
 Don Roderigo turned pale with anger, but ere he could speak in 
 reply, Dolores, who had listened in alarm to this altercation between 
 two of those whom she loved most in the world, ran up to him, and 
 throwing her arms round him drew him away. 
 
 " Papa ! papa ! " she said, " do not look so at Marcelino, he does 
 not know what he is saying. They have put quite strange ideas into 
 his head in that committee." 
 
 " You love him, Lola, and he is your brother, he makes me forget 
 that he is my son." 
 
 r With this answer to his daughter Don Roderigo turned away, and 
 Marcelino left the room and the house, and walked hurriedly to the 
 Plaza Mayor. 
 
 1 " La Historia de Belgrano, " by General Mitre.
 
 LIBERTY. 373 
 
 The wide causeway of the Recoba Nueva was covered with groups 
 of excited men, other groups filled the roadway under the balconies of 
 the Cabildo, shouting loudly their demand that the Cabildo should 
 cancel the decree just published. Among these groups Marcelino 
 walked, till he found Don Carlos Evaha declaiming angrily to a number 
 of young men who were collected round him, calling upon them to 
 resist to the last extremity, this fraud which had been practised upon 
 them by the Cabildo. Taking him by the arm Marcelino drew him aside. 
 
 " Do not let us waste time in harangues in the streets," said he ; 
 "let us first secure the troops, all the junior officers of every corps 
 are with us, through them we can secure the men, and, even if Don 
 Cornelio still desert us, to-morrow we will upset this Junta by the 
 bayonet, if no other course is open to us." 
 
 Evaha agreed with him, and separating they went among the groups, 
 calming the excitement of the people by assuring them that next day 
 they would secure the appointment of another Junta, composed of men 
 in whom they might trust. Both of them were well known as promi- 
 nent members of the revolutionary committee ; men hearkened to 
 them, believed in their assurance, and dispersed quietly to their 
 homes. Before sundown the Plaza Mayor was tranquil. 
 
 Marcelino and Evaiia then went to the barracks of the Patricios, 
 where they found the troops under arms, and all the junior officers of 
 the regiment collected in the guard-room, debating whether they 
 should not at once march upon the fort and put an end by force to the 
 authority of Don Baltazar de Cisneros. The great majority were in 
 fa\'our of this step and received Marcelino with shouts of welcome, 
 calling upon him, as an ofiicer of higher rank than any there present, 
 to put himself at their head. Marcelino acceded to their request, but 
 proposed the postponement of any active step to the next day, as night 
 was already closing in, and it was necessary to concert measures with 
 the rest of the native troops. After some warm discussion, the young 
 officers consented to wait until Marcelino and Evaha could consult 
 with the other members of the revolutionary committee. 
 
 Meantime the committee, convened at the house of the Sehor 
 Rodriguez Pena, also discussed the proceedings of the Cabildo with 
 great warmth and indignation. Opinions were divided, but the great 
 majority were in favour of an ai)peal to arms. As Marcelino and 
 Evaha entered the room where they were assembled, the Sehor Peha 
 was speaking, calmly advocating the employment of all other means 
 to procure the peaceful resignation of the Viceroy. 
 
 " But if he will not resign ? " said Evaha. 
 
 Don Manuel Belgrano, wearied out with the anxieties of several 
 days, lay on a sofa in an adjoining room; as Evaha repeated his ques- 
 tion in a loud voice, Don Manuel, who was dressed in uniform as a 
 Major of the Patricios, sprang from his sofa, and standing in the open 
 doorway, his face flushed with indignation, his eyes flashing, laid his 
 hand upon the hilt of his sword. 
 
 " 1 swear to my country and my comrades," he exclaimed, " that if 
 by three o'clock in the afternoon the Viceroy has not resigned we will 
 cast him out from the windows of the fort." 
 
 " Leave tiiat to us, Don Manuel," said Marcelino, laying his hand 
 upon the shoulder of Valentin Lopez y Viana, who had come with
 
 374 rONCE DE LEON. 
 
 him from the barracks of the Patricios, and wlio with several other 
 young officers there present had grasped the hilts of their swords as 
 Belgrano spoke. " Leave that to us, the Patricios wait but tlie word 
 and are ready to storm the fort at once, if it api)ear to the committee 
 that such a measure is advisable." 
 
 There was great confusion and excitement as Marcclino told of 
 what was occurring at the barracks of the Patricios, but the committee 
 had already learned one thing, of which Marcelino was yet ignorant, 
 which was that Don Cornelio Saavedra had reconsidered his hasty 
 acquiescence in the decree of the Cabildo, and that they could count 
 upon his support to a " Representation," which they had resolved to 
 present to the Cabildo on the following day. Don Nicolas Rodriguez 
 Peha with some difficulty succeeded in calming the excitement, and 
 proposed that they should send a deputation to the Patricios, inform- 
 ing them of the change in the ideas of their commandant, and asking 
 for their support to the " Representation." 
 
 This proposal was agreed to ; two members of the committee left 
 at once for the barracks of the Patricios, where they arranged that the 
 men should remain in the barracks all night, and that the entire regi- 
 ment should be under arms next day at an early hour, in readiness to 
 support the people in case the Cabildo refused to listen to their demands. 
 
 After the departure of this deputation most of the members of the 
 committee retired to their homes to recruit their strength for the next 
 day ; Marcelino Ponce de Leon threw himself upon the sofa where 
 Don Manuel Belgrano had been lying as he entered, and fell at once 
 into a sound sleep, but Don Carlos Evaha and a few others remained 
 together and passed the night in endeavouring to draw up a list of 
 names for the Junta, which should meet with general acceptation. All 
 agreed that Don Cornelio Saavedra was the best man they could 
 appoint as President, but, as the original members of the secret com- 
 mittee refused to allow their names to be proposed, there was great 
 difficulty in deciding upon his colleagues. The discussion lasted till 
 nearly dawn, many lists had been made out, but to all there were 
 objections. Then Evaha, rising from his seat, went into the next room, 
 and shook Marcelino by the shoulder. 
 
 " I am going home to sleep for an hour or two," said he. " Come 
 with me." 
 
 INLarcelino sprang up from his sofa, and he and Evana walked away 
 together along the muddy streets in the semi-darkness of the early 
 morning, the morning of the 25th May. It had ceased to rain, but 
 there was a cold wind, and the clouds hung heavily over the city. 
 They reached Evaha's house, but the cold wind and the morning 
 air had revived Marcelino from his sleepiness ; he declined his friend's 
 offer of a bed, and asked him for the loan of his horse. 
 
 " It is three days since I have seen Magdalen," he said. " She 
 ahvays rises before the day since her father has been ill. I will go 
 and talk with her while you sleep ; a talk with her always puts me into 
 good spirits, and I have so much to tell her." 
 
 Evaha laughed, but lent him his horse, watched him as he rode 
 away, awoke his servant, telling him to rouse him in two hours, and 
 then throwing himself, dressed as he was, upon a sofa, slept soundly.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE 25TH MAY, 181C. 
 
 Out through the silent streets, out through the quiet suburbs, 
 galloped Marcelino Ponce de Leon, arousing many an unquiet sleeper 
 from uneasy slumbers, for few slept soundly in Buenos Aires on that 
 night between the 24th and 25th May. 
 
 S])aniards cowered in their houses, mindful of the ist January, 1809, 
 dreading an explosion of popular wrath, which they knew themselves 
 powerless to resist. Natives, indignant at the fraud which had been 
 practised upon them, remembered also the ist January, 1809, and 
 looked anxiously for the day, resolute to overcome all obstacles to the 
 full execution of their will. 
 
 Tramphng through the mud, splashing through pools of water which 
 lay in the unpaved roadways, Marcelino galloped on, heedless that 
 many a window was thrown hastily open as he passed, and many an 
 anxious eye gazed after him as he rapidly disappeared from sight ; 
 heeding no more the anxious looks of men than he did the angry 
 snarling of the curs, who leaped out upon him from many a hedgerow 
 in the suburbs. 
 
 He reached the Miserere, and, drawing rein at the quinta gate, 
 looked over the hedge at the windows of the house beyond. That of 
 the sala was thrown wide open, and the mulatta servant-girl stood 
 there, staring with a bewildered look upon the clouds. Marcelino 
 dismounted and, throwing his rein over the gate-post, walked up to 
 the porch ; the door was opened for him by Magdalen herself She 
 was dressed in a white wrapper with a frilled collar, and her hair was 
 bound round her head with a fillet of blue silk. She seemed not in 
 the least surprised to see him at that untimely hour, and her eyes 
 spoke her welcome as she met him. 
 
 Marcelino took her hand, and she turned with him to go inside. 
 
 " I have not seen you for three days," he said ; " I could not let 
 another day pass without telling you what we have done, and to-day 
 will be one which will mark an epoch in our history." 
 
 " I have heard something, but not all ; you will tell me." 
 
 " Sehorita !" exclaimed the mulatta girl, running out from the sala, 
 " have you not seen the sky ? In all my life I have seen nothing so 
 strange." 
 
 Marcelino and Magdalen looked behind them through the open 
 door of the porch. A bright light shone upon everything they saw, 
 tinging everything with pink.
 
 37<5 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 Then the two went out and stood in the porch, the young man and 
 the maiden, liand in liand together, speaking not, and in their silence 
 was there more eloquence than in many words. 
 
 Together they stood watching the dawn of the morning, their 
 hearts communing one with anotiier in silent sympathy, the sympathy 
 of mutual trust and love. Together they watched the rising of the 
 sun on the morning of the 25th May, a sunrise which is now hailed 
 every year as the day comes round by the thundering salute of the 
 cannon of emancipated peoples, and by the voices of thousands of 
 children, who in every city and town throughout the one-time 
 colonies of Spain welcome with patriotic songs the rising of the sun 
 on the 25th of May. 
 
 Together they stood in the porch and looked forth upon the eastern 
 sky. The clouds which hung low over the city seemed to form but 
 one cloud, stretching from horizon to horizon in one dense mass of 
 dark gray, shaded with pink, which cast a bright pink retiection upon 
 the domes and towers of the churches, and upon the white-washed 
 walls of the houses in the nearest quintas. Then as they stood to- 
 gether and looked, the pink tints died out of the sky, and the dark 
 gray of the clouds changed to a brilliant orange. Far away on the 
 eastern horizon, just in the path of the rising sun, there was a break 
 in the vast uniformity of cloud, a semi-circle of deep blue ; in the 
 centre of this blue sky, uj) rose the sun, launching his fiery beams 
 straight on the concave surface of the cloud. In an instant the orange 
 tints died out, and the whole cloud became one mass of brilliant 
 yellow, so brilliant and free from shades that it was impossible to tell 
 that there was any cloud at all. It seemed as though a noon-day sun 
 had spread himself over the whole sky, that the sky itself had become 
 a sun, bathing the world beneath in a flood of yellow light, which was 
 reflected from every object round, dazzlingly brilliant, but without one 
 ray of warmth in it. 
 
 As they gazed in silence, still hand in hand, from north to south 
 there darted a rosy streak of lightning, and the curtain of cloud sank 
 down over the blue space on the eastern horizon, shutting out the 
 sun. As the cloud descended the golden sheen faded away out of 
 the sky, and there came from far off in the north a clap of thunder, 
 which rolled and rolled away above the clouds, echoing and re-echoing 
 till it lost itself in the farthest south. Then the clouds were again one 
 mass of dull gray, hanging low over the city, and heavy drops of rain 
 fell pattering on the roof of the porch above them. 
 
 " What is this ? " said Magdalen, drawing closer to Marcelino ; 
 '• never have I seen a sunrise like this." 
 
 " Nor I," replied Marcelino ; " and if I mistake not, the day which 
 follows will be a day such as has never been seen before in Buenos 
 Aires." 
 
 " Saw you the sun,- how brilliantly he shone out? Then there came 
 that angry flash of lightning, all the glory died out of the sky, and 
 there was a long roll of thunder. Do you believe in omens ? Do you 
 not tremble ? " 
 
 " I do not tremble," said Marcelino ; " have you not taught me 
 faith ? to do right and fear nothing ? What can be more right or
 
 LIBERTY. 377 
 
 more noble than to free one's native country from the slavery of cen- 
 turies ? The liberty we shall win to-day, may but give us the right to 
 toil and labour for years to come, but is it not more noble to labour 
 than to sleep ? " 
 
 Then Magdalen leaned upon his arm and whispered — 
 
 " Yes, that is faith." 
 
 Marcelino, throwing his arms round her, pressed her to his breast 
 and kissed her. For a minute there was silence between them. That 
 kiss was the seal of a compact of which both had thought much, but 
 of which neither had spoken until this day — a compact which bound 
 them to each other so long as their lives should last, a compact which 
 made the cares and toils of one, the cares and toils of both, a com- 
 pact which blended their two lives into one life, and which death 
 alone could cancel. 
 
 Marcelino was the first to speak. 
 
 " The presage of the rising sun," said he, " may be fulfilled. The 
 liberty we shall achieve to-day may be soon clouded over, the storm 
 may burst upon us, and all our efforts may be long unavailing to raise 
 the people from the sloth and ignorance into which they have fallen 
 under Spanish rule, but this sun over which the storm-cloud has fallen, 
 this sun which is now hidden from us, will shine out again to-morrow 
 when the storm has passed over. This storm is but the herald of the 
 winter, which will tear ofi" the last leaves from the trees, which will 
 wither up the few remaining flowers. It is but the first of many 
 storms, but they also will pass over. Winter will give place to spring. 
 Again the genial sun will shine out, clothing the whole earth with 
 verdure. The earth, refreshed and invigorated by the stern discipline 
 of winter, will give new strength to the trees, fresh beauty to the 
 flowering shrubs, and in the joyous spring-time we shall forget the 
 storms of winter. Shall it not be so with us, Magdalen ? Life has 
 many storms in store for us, but we will not shrink from facing them. 
 Shall we not walk together, cheering and strengthening each other, 
 looking together in faith to the future ? " 
 
 Magdalen's lips spoke no answer to his question, but her eyes 
 looked up into his with a brave confidence, which was answer suffi- 
 cient. 
 
 " Senor Don Marcelino, shall I not tie your horse under the shed, 
 your saddle will be sopping wet in five minutes ? " 
 
 It was the gardener who spoke, an old man with a face like a block 
 of wood. How long he had been standing there neither of them 
 knew. 
 
 "Leave it," said Marcelino, turning sharply on him. 
 
 " You must not go yet," said Magdalen, " I have so much to ask 
 you. Papa is asleep, so I can make coftee for you myself" 
 
 Old Antonio got no further answer, and stood looking after them as 
 they went back into the house together. Then, with a wink of his 
 cunning old eyes, he hobbled to the gate, and taking the horse by the 
 bridle led him away. 
 
 An hour later, Marcelino and Magdalen again stood in the porch 
 side by side and hand in hand. Still the rain poured down, still the 
 wind sighed mournfully among the trees, still the withered leaves broke
 
 37^ PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 off from the swaying branches, and gathered in sodden masses on the 
 wet ground ; over all hung the leaden sky, and the far-off towers and 
 domes of the churches were invisible, shroutled in thick mist and 
 driving rain. The prospect as they looked out was dismal, yet they 
 looked upon it with cheerful eyes, the confidence which filled their 
 hearts made them oblivious to ought else than their own thoughts. 
 
 " Come to me when all is settled and tell me what you have done," 
 whispered Magdalen. 
 
 " The knights of old went forth to fight with their lady's glove in 
 their helmet," said Marcelino. "There will be no shivering of lances 
 to-day, yet may I not carry with me some gage of love, to, remind me 
 that I fight to-day not for myself nor even for my country alone? " 
 
 As he spoke he looked at the fillet of blue silk which bound Mag- 
 dalen's brown hair. She, with a smile, twisted it from her head and 
 unfastening it, passed it through the button-hole of his coat, tying it 
 there in a small bow from which hung two short streamers. Then she 
 stood off to look at him, but shook her head, and going back to his 
 side untied the bow and pulled away the ribbon. 
 
 " Wait a minute," she said, shaking back the hair which hung over 
 her face, and then went off to her own room. 
 
 Some minutes she was away. When she came back her hair was 
 again bound up with a fillet, but the fillet was no longer a simple blue 
 ribbon, it was of two ribbons, one blue, the other white, twined together. 
 In her hand she carried a blue-and-white rosette, from which hung three 
 streamers, of which the centre one was white, the other two blue. She 
 brought also a needle and thread, and with active fingers stitched the 
 rosette with its three streamers to the lappel of Marcelino's coat. 
 
 " There," she said, as she finished her work and stood back to ad- 
 mire it, " there you take not only a gage but an emblem. The sky 
 in the spring-time is not blue only, it is blue and white. If you meet 
 with more difticulty than you expect, look on this ribbon, blue and 
 white, and think of the spring-time of which you told me." 
 
 As Marcelino rode away Magdalen stood in the porch looking after 
 him, till a tall aloe hedge shut him out from her sight, then she seated 
 herself in a low chair with her hands folded before her, gazing vacantly 
 at the rain-drops as they fell from the eaves, in deep thought, till the 
 sound of a bell called her to her father's room. 
 
 " You have had a visitor this morning, Chica," said Don Alfonso, 
 in a more natural tone than she had heard him speak in for weeks. 
 
 " Yes, papa," said she, what little colour she had in her face fading 
 away, and her lips closmg firmly together. 
 
 " Who was it, Chica ? " 
 
 " Don Marcelino Ponce de Leon, papa," she answered. 
 
 " Does Don Marcelino love you, Chica ? " 
 
 " Yes," she said, trying hard to answer in a steady voice. 
 
 Don Alfonso stretched out his hand, and drawing her dov^^n to him 
 he kissed her, and murmured in a low voice in English — 
 
 " Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against 
 us." 
 
 Then Magdalen fell on her knees beside the bed and burst into 
 tears.
 
 LIBERTY. 379 
 
 When Marcelino reached Evana's house he found his friend already 
 gone. On foot he followed him, not doubting that he would see him 
 or hear of him on the Plaza Mayor. Neither here nor in any of the 
 streets as he passed along did he see any troops, every corps was in 
 its own barracks, under arms and ready to march at a moment's notice, 
 awaiting orders only from the revolutionary committee to appear. 
 But every street leading to the Plaza Mayor was thronged with groups 
 of citizens, who, careless of the rain, wended their way thither. As 
 Marcelino entered the Plaza he saw the wide causeway of the Recoba 
 Nueva occupied by long lines of young men, all of whom were armed, 
 some with pistols, some with sword-sticks. Among these young men 
 Evana walked hurriedly, striving apparently to establish some organiz- 
 ation amongst them, which was each moment destroyed by the acces- 
 sion of fresh recruits. 
 
 " What is that ? " said Evana, as Marcelino walked up to him and 
 he saw the blue-and-white rosette on the lappel of his coat. 
 
 " These," answered Marcelino, taking the streamers in his hand, 
 " are the colours of La Patria." 
 
 " Viva La Patria ! " shouted Evana, taking off his hat. 
 
 The shout was taken up and echoed all over the Plaza, and in an 
 instant all the organization which Evaiia had been labouring to 
 establish was destroyed. Each man after he had shouted turned to 
 his neighbour to ask why? One only obtained a satisfactory answer, 
 and he was INLarcelino, who asked the question of Evana himself. 
 
 " You have given me the idea I wanted," said Evana. " There are 
 of all sorts here, and we must have some means of knowing our own. 
 Choose you pickets of young men we can trust, and station them at 
 every entrance to the Plaza. I will procure blue and white ribbons 
 for distribution to all patriots, your pickets will keep back any who 
 seek to enter the Plaza vvho have not these ribbons." 
 
 Half an hour later the Plaza was crowded with people, but every 
 man there, had in the button-hole of his coat two ribbons, one blue, 
 the other white. 
 
 The Cabildo met at an early hour that morning. The first sul)ject 
 which engaged their attention was the resignation by Don Baltazar 
 de Cisneros of the dignity of President of the Junta, which had been 
 conferred upon him the day previous. 
 
 Don Cornelio Saavedra had been with Don Baltazar during the 
 night, and, showing him that it would be impossible otherwise to pre- 
 serve public tran(juillity, had persuaded him to send in this resignation. 
 
 The second subject before the Cabildo was the " Representation " 
 drawn up by the revolutionary committee, and signed by some 
 hundreds of citizens, which formed a protest against their proceedings. 
 
 Don Rodcrigo Ponce de Leon exerted himself to the utmost in 
 favour of moderation, counselling them to name Don Cornelio Saave- 
 dra President of the Junta in place of Don Baltazar de Cisneros, and 
 Don Manuel Belgrano as the fourth member of that body, in the place 
 of Don Cornelio. But Don Roderigo was feebly supported by the 
 native members of the Cabildo, his proposal was scouted as an act of 
 cowardice by the more violent of the Spaniards. He warned them 
 that hundreds of the people, greatly excited, and most of them armed.
 
 380 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 patrolled the Plaza Mayor and filled the cafes. The answer of the 
 Cabildo to this iJOjiular demonstration was to send for the commanders 
 of the troops. As soon as these officers were assembled at the Cabildo 
 they received orders to march their troops to the Plaza and disperse 
 the people at the point of the bayonet. Most of these officers refused 
 point blank to obey the command, the rest stated that any such 
 attempt would infallibly produce a mutiny among their men. 
 
 The Cabildo thus found themselves powerless, but even then would 
 not listen to the moderate counsels of Don Roderigo. Hours passed, 
 antl, as they debated the matter angrily among themselves, there came 
 a violent knocking upon the outer doors, which were closed. 
 
 The people, wearied out by long waiting, had sent a deputation 
 headed by Don Carlos Evaha and Don Marcelino I'once de Leon, 
 who demanded the immediate deposition of Don Baltazar de Cisneros. 
 Don Martin Rodriguez, who was at the Cabildo with the other com- 
 manding officers, opened the door and went out to them. He was 
 instantly surrounded by a number of excited young men, who asked 
 him angrily what the Cabildo were doing, that for hours they kept the 
 people waiting, instead of at once revoking their edict of the pre- 
 ceding day. 
 
 " Don Baltazar de Cisneros has sent in his resignation himself," 
 answered Don Martin, " which renders necessary the appointment of 
 an entirely new Junta. They require time to decide upon what men 
 to choose for the Junta." 
 
 " Is that all ? " rephed Evana. "We will save them the trouble of 
 debating that question any longer." 
 
 So saying, Don Carlos drew out his pocket-book, and turning to a 
 blank leaf wrote on it in pencil, seven names. 
 
 " There," said he, tearing out the leaf and presenting it to Don 
 Martin, " there, give that list to the Senores of the Cabildo, and tell 
 them that that Junta and no other will satisfy the wishes of the people." 
 
 " Come in and present it to them yourself," said Don Martin, draw- 
 ing back. 
 
 Upon this Evaha and Marcelino Ponce de Leon followed Don 
 Martin into the council-chamber, a large room in the upper story, 
 lighted by windows which reached to the floor of the room, and 
 opened upon the balconies overlooking the Plaza Mayor. 
 
 Evaha, holding the paper in his hand, strode up to the table round 
 which the members of the corporation were seated, and laying it 
 before the Alcalde de primer voto — 
 
 " Senores," he said, " you are but wasting your time here, the 
 people have chosen a Junta for themselves, you have nothing more 
 to do than to draw up an edict appointing this Junta according to 
 legal forms, and then to retire and leave the power in their hands." 
 
 " The people ! " exclaimed Don Roderigo Ponce de Leon, startmg to 
 his feet, " where is this people ? and how have they chosen this Junta ? " 
 
 " Step this way, Don Roderigo, and look upon the people," replied 
 Evaha, drawing the bolts of one of the windows and throwing the 
 window wide open. 
 
 Don Roderigo walked to the window and stepped out upon the 
 balcony. Something more than a hundred young men stood drawn
 
 LIBERTY. 381 
 
 up in line on the roadway beneath him, the rest of the Plaza was 
 nearly deserted ; it was now an hour past noon, and the heavy rain 
 had driven the greater part of those who had filled the Plaza some 
 hours before, back to their own homes or to the shelter of the cafes. 
 
 " Do you call these boys the people ? " said Don Roderigo. 
 
 " The people were here hours ago," said Don Carlos. " These 
 only have remained, but they are sufficient to tell you the will of the 
 people. Ask them." 
 
 Then as Don Roderigo looked back in indignation upon his col- 
 leagues, each man of whom still sat in his place as though stricken 
 with fear, Don Carlos also turned to them. 
 
 " Sehores," said he, " will you that I call all the people back, that 
 you may speak to them ? If you wish it I will do so. I will also 
 send round to the barracks, and from each barrack there will march 
 forth a regiment of patriots, each patriot with a musket on his 
 shoulder. Will you that I send for them ? " 
 
 But the Cabildo, especially the more violent members, were 
 stricken with consternation, they cowered before the haughty bearing 
 of Don Carlos Evaha, and looked in vain for hope into the quiet, 
 resolute face of Marcelino Ponce de Leon. Round the door, which 
 had been left open, there crowded other stern, determined faces. 
 Evaha, Marcelino, and each of these men wore blue and white ribbons 
 hanging from the lappels of their coats. The people who had 
 thronged the Plaza two hours before had also each man worn these 
 ribbons. These ribbons were the same colours which the Patricios 
 had carried through smoke and fire triumphantly, on the 5th July, 1807. 
 They looked at each other and their liearts quailed within them ; they 
 looked into the fices of the military commandants, who looked up 
 at the ceiling or down on the ground, their hands playing with their 
 sword-knots, or with the buckles of their belts, but who looked back 
 at them, never at all. They fancied themselves the victims of some 
 wide-spread conspiracy. 
 
 Then the Alcalde de primer voto, who was the President ex-officio, 
 took up the paper which lay before him and read aloud the names 
 which Evaha had there written. 
 
 " I see no objection to any of these gentlemen," said one, " they 
 are all men highly respectable, and of influence among the people." 
 
 The rest murmured their acquiescence, all save Don Roderigo 
 Ponce de Leon, who, coming back from the window, now even more 
 vehemently opposed their timid yielding to dictation, than he had 
 opposed their purblind obstinacy in the morning. 
 
 "Seiiores," said he, "if you appoint that Junta you endorse a 
 revolution, you strike the first blow against the honour of the flag of 
 Spain, you are guilty of treason to your legitimate sovereign." 
 
 "The Junta will rule in the name of King Ferdinand, and will be 
 responsible to him for the use it makes of its authority," said Marcelino. 
 
 "I say nothing against the Junta," said Don Roderigo. "The 
 Cabildo have the riglit to appoint what men they please on tlie 
 Junta, but they have also the right of forbidding all intrusion upon 
 their counsels, and when they submit to unauthorized dictation they 
 are guiky of treason."
 
 382 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 The members looked up irresolute, but behind Don Roderigo 
 stood the tall figure of Don Carlos Evana, leaning against the frame 
 of the open window, twisting the blue and white ribbons which hung 
 from the button-hole of his coat round his fingers. Their faces fell 
 and they whispered one to the other — 
 
 " \\'hy not ? What better can we do ? " 
 
 Then Don Roderigo turned his back upon them, and throwing his 
 cloak over his shoulders, drawing his hat down over his eyes, left the 
 room, elbowed his way through the throng of young men wlio crowded 
 the staircase and the courtyard, and so out into the open Plaza, 
 speaking no word to any, but walking rapidly away to his own house. 
 
 At three o'clock that afternoon, the Cabildo published an edict, 
 appointing in the name of King Ferdinand VII. a Junta of govern- 
 ment as follows : — 
 
 Fresident. — Don Cornelio Saavedra. 
 Alemhers. 
 Dr. Don Juan Jose Castelli. 
 „ „ Manuel Alberdi. 
 „ Manuel Belgrano. 
 ,, Miguel Azcuenaga. 
 „ Domingo Matheu. 
 „ Juan de Larrea. 
 
 Being a copy of the list which had been so hurriedly drawn up by 
 Don Carlos Evana. 
 
 No clangour of bells or roaring of guns hailed the publication of 
 this edict, a solemn silence fell over the city, all felt that a great 
 revolution had been accomplished, a revolution unstained by one 
 drop of blood. 
 
 Buenos Aires made no noisy demonstration of joy over this great 
 victory, she saw clearly the task she had undertaken, and, content 
 that the first step was gained so peacefully, forbore to triumph over 
 her fallen tyrants, setting her face steadfastly towards the great future 
 now opening up before Iier. 
 
 The new Junta met the next day, the 26th May. Their first step 
 was to appoint two secretaries — 
 
 Dr. Don Mariano Moreno 
 and ,, ,, Juan Jose Passo, 
 whom they incorporated into their body, thus raising the total 
 number of the Junta to nine. 
 
 To this committee of nine men, Buenos Aires entrusted her destiny, 
 the destiny of the Argentine people. They ruled Buenos Aires and 
 directed her energies in the name of Ferdinand VII., King of Spain 
 and the Indies. They styled themselves the Junta Gubernativa of 
 the provinces of the Rio de la Plata ; they yet acknowledged as their 
 King a Spaniard of the House of Bourbon, who lay in a French 
 prison ; they yet considered their country as a part of the wide 
 empire of Spain ; but they looked upon the men of Buenos Aires as 
 the people from whom they held their authority and to whom alone 
 they were responsible • they were, although they knew it not, the 
 founders and the first rulers of the Argentine Republic.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 LIOXS IN THE PATH. 
 
 On the 26th of May Don Gregorio Lopez gave a dinner-party to 
 a number of his friends to celebrate the installation of the new Junta. 
 Don Cornelio Saavedra was there as the principal guest, also Don 
 Manuel Belgrano, and other members of the one time secret com- 
 mittee ; of course Marcelino Ponce de Leon and Don Carlos Evana 
 were present, but the chair which had been placed for Don Roderigo 
 Ponce de Leon was vacant. 
 
 At the bottom of the table sat Colonel Lopez, who had only that 
 morning arrived in town from his estancia, and was now eager to learn 
 all the particulars of the events of the memorable days just flown. 
 
 Conversation was brisk during the whole time the dinner lasted, 
 each man spoke proudly of the part he had taken in these events, 
 every face beamed with confidence, none seeming to have any doubt 
 of the prosperous future they had secured for their country, but the 
 eye of Don Gregorio wandered now and then uneasily to that vacant 
 chair, which had been placed for his son-in-law Don Roderigo, and 
 which had been kept vacant, in the hope that he might appear. 
 
 The dinner concluded with a number of patriotic toasts, proposed 
 in eloquent words, and honoured with enthusiasm, after which the 
 company adjourned to the sala, where many ladies awaited them, 
 among whom the eye of Don Gregorio sought in vain for his daughter 
 Constancia, or for his granddaughter Dolores. The younger people 
 soon commenced dancing, while the elders collected in groups in the 
 corners of the sala, or in the ante-sala, talking ; some remained in the 
 dining-room, where coffee was served to them, of whom Colonel Lopez 
 was one. As Evaha had risen from his seat to go to the sala the 
 Colonel had stopped him, and Evaha had taken another chair beside 
 him. 
 
 " So you have your republic at last," said the Colonel, after they 
 had conversed some time together. 
 
 " Not quite," replied Evana, " but to this there can be only one 
 end, a republic." 
 
 " Then there is work before us yet ? " 
 
 " Without doubt. Here the Spaniards are powerless, but in the 
 provinces they may yet raise opposition." 
 
 " And you wish me to join this expedition with my regiment ? " 
 
 ** I do, and more. You have no officer under you above the rank 
 of captain, I wish you to take me with you with the rank of major."
 
 384 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 To this the Colonel made no answer, but sat twisting his mous- 
 tachios. 
 
 " I know why you hesitate," said Evana. " You are accustomed to 
 absolute authority in your own regiment, and do not like the idea of 
 having another officer with you, so near to you in rank." 
 
 "And of all men you the least," said the Colonel bluntly. "I 
 know you, Carlos, where you are, there you will have the command, and 
 there are not a few men in my regiment who would be ready to mutiny 
 if )'ou told them. Besides, you have never served at all, how can you 
 take rank at once as a major." 
 
 " I have arranged all that with Don Cornelio. Of course he would 
 not give me such rank in an infantry regiment, but in the cavalry it is 
 different." 
 
 "Hum !" said the'Colonel indignantly, "you city men think any- 
 thing is good enough for cavalry. I can assure you that if we have 
 any fighting with the Spaniards it will be the cavalry that will secure 
 us the victory. What would you do in a country which is one immense 
 pampa, with infantry or artillery ? " 
 
 " I thought you would feel flattered at my preference for the cavalry," 
 replied Evaha. " But do not alarm yourself, I do not wish to inter- 
 fere in any way in the management of the regiment, I merely wish to 
 march with you and hold a definite rank." 
 
 " Look you, Evaha," said the Colonel, with a searching look in his 
 eyes, " there is more in this than you tell me. Be frank with me, 
 tell me what you want, and count upon me." 
 
 " I want nothing more than I have told you, but I will tell you why." 
 
 Evana paused, looking round him to see that no one was within ear- 
 shot, then drawing his chair closer to the Colonel and leaning his 
 elbows on the table he continued — 
 
 " There is only one man whom we need fear, he is an able soldier 
 and very popular. If he should pronounce against us, many even of 
 the Creoles will join him, and among us there are few who will be 
 eager to fight against him. If he rise, he must be crushed at once. 
 I go to keep an eye upon the officers of this expedition and to ensure 
 that there be no vacillation." 
 
 " Liniers ? " said the Colonel. 
 
 Evaha nodded. 
 
 " I should not like to lead a charge against him," said the Colonel. 
 
 " If the necessity should arise I will be there and will lead the regi- 
 ment for you," said Evaha. 
 
 " This Liniers, three years ago the ' Reconquistador,' to-day is a 
 Goth, is he not, Sehor Evaha ? " asked the Colonel, stretching himself 
 and leaning back in his chair. Then as Evaha looked at him in 
 surprise without answering, he continued — 
 
 " What is this you have been telling Viana about Goths ? " 
 
 " Ah ! Viana, yes, I have told him about the Goths. Does he speak 
 much of them among the people ? " 
 
 " He does nothing else than talk about them. Goth now stands 
 with them for everything that is bad. My little Ignacio was naughty 
 the other day, and I heard Mauricia tell him that if he was not good 
 the Goths would come and take him away. When I received your 
 letter, telling me to come to town, the peons came crowding to the
 
 LIBERTY. 385 
 
 estancia to know if the Goths had landed. Why have you put such 
 folly into their heads ? " 
 
 " It is no folly, Gregorio," said Don Carlos. " You understand the 
 paisanos, it is of no use to talk to them about patriotism or about 
 liberty. All their traditions and customs lead them to look upon 
 Spaniards as their natural rulers ; if the Spaniards knew how to enlist 
 their sympathies on their side, we might gain a transient victory in 
 the towns and cities, but eventually we should succumb, for the main 
 strength of every country lies in its peasantry. Fortunately Spaniards 
 understand nothing of that, they look upon the paisanos as barbarians 
 by whose labour they can amass wealth. Before they learn their 
 error, I seek to forestall them by supplanting these traditions among 
 the paisanos by a new idea, which they will comprehend very rapidly. 
 We do not fight against Spaniards, who are very decent people, but 
 against Goths, who are robbers and murderers ; in favour of the Goths 
 there is no tradition among them. These tales that I liave told Viana 
 about the Goths are perfectly true, they will circulate from rancho to 
 rancho all over the campaha, and if ever the day come that we are hard 
 pressed, thousands of valiant horsemen will follow you against the 
 Goths who would not move a finger to help you against the Spaniards." 
 
 " Then there really are such people as the Goths ? " 
 
 " They were barbarians who overran Europe in the time of the 
 Roman Empire." 
 
 " And did they really sack the city of Rome and try to kill the Holy 
 Father?" 
 
 " They did." 
 
 " And they would do it again if they had the chance ? " 
 
 " There are no Goths now, but many Spaniards are descended from 
 the Goths, therefore those of them who may refuse to obey the Junta, 
 we can call Goths. There is much in a name, my friend Don Gregorio." 
 
 " Do you know, Evaha, you are a man who can see far," said the 
 Colonel, " but there are men who can see almost as far as you. You 
 say that the Spaniards understand nothing of the paisanos, I can tell 
 you there are other men who are quite as ignorant as the Spaniards. 
 What know these lawyers and shopkeepers of the city of the nature 
 of the paisanos ? I tell you they know even less than the Spaniards. 
 I know the Argentine people, and I know that they will never be 
 content to be governed by lawyers and shopkeepers, so take care 
 how you arrange this congress, for the danger is not from Spaniards 
 alone, and will not be averted by telling extravagant tales about the 
 Goths. Come, let us see what they are doing in the sala." 
 
 While Don Gregorio Lopez was in vain looking for his son-in-law 
 among the many visitors who crowded his sala that evening, Don 
 Roderigo was thinking of far other things than festivity and dancing. 
 The first part of the evening he had spent at the residence of Don 
 Baltazar de Cisneros in conference with the ex-Viceroy. About nine 
 o'clock he left him and returned to his own house, walking with a 
 firm, quick step, as though the result of his interview had been satis- 
 factory. As lie entered liis sala he found there one visitor, talking with 
 his wife and l^olores, Don Ciriaco Asneiros. Doha Constancia looked 
 at him anxiously as he came in. 
 
 c c
 
 386 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 " IMarcelino has been here," she said ; " he wished to take us to 
 my father's. They are all very much disappointed that you would 
 not allow us to go." 
 
 " I am very glad papa would not," said Dolores. " I have no wish 
 to dance with men who are traitors to Spain." 
 
 " There spoke my own daughter," said Don Roderigo, smiling. 
 
 " Marcelino is there and Don Carlos Evana," said Dona Constancia. 
 
 " Marcelino does not know what he is doing," said Dolores ; " and 
 Don Carlos, we all know what ideas he has always had, but I never 
 thought that he would do more than talk. Now I see that the Vice- 
 roy was right to put Don Alfonso Miranda in prison, and I am very 
 sorry, papa, that I asked you to get him out." 
 
 " The Sehor Evaha has been at the head of the conspiracy for 
 years past," said Asneiros. 
 
 Dona Constancia glanced hurriedly at Don Roderigo. 
 
 " But, papa, I have something else to tell you," said Dolores. 
 " Marcelino says that they are going to send an army into the pro- 
 vinces, and that Evaristo has volunteered. You will stop him, won't 
 you?" 
 
 Don Roderigo started, and then walked up the room and back 
 
 agam. 
 
 " Cannot you prevent that, Constancia ? " he said to his wife. 
 
 " I will try, but I am afraid he will not listen to me." 
 
 " Evaristo is always so obstinate, but if you order him not to go, 
 papa, then he will not," said Dolores. 
 
 " When Buenos Aires revolts against Spain fathers need not hope 
 for much obedience from their sons," said Don Roderigo ; " I suppose 
 Marcelino has persuaded him to go with him." 
 
 " Marcelino is not going," said Doha Constancia. 
 
 " I understood that he had been offered the command of a regiment." 
 
 " He declined it," said Asneiros. " I have been offered a com- 
 mand also, but not here, in Monte Video. I came to consult you 
 about it." 
 
 " Elio is preparing in time. These patriots as they call themselves 
 seem quite sure that all the cities and towns will join them, but they 
 may perhaps find themselves mistaken," said Don Roderigo, with a 
 significant glance at his wife, who took it as a signal to retire. 
 
 "Of course you will go to Monte Video at once," said Don Rode- 
 rigo to Asneiros when they were alone. 
 
 " I do not know that, I have come to speak with you on the sub- 
 ject," replied Asneiros. 
 
 " It is from Monte Video that we must look for the reaction," said 
 Don Roderigo. " If Elio remains faithful he will not have much 
 difficulty in securing Monte Video, the fleet will obey him and will 
 give us the command of the rivers, and I have persuaded Cisneros to 
 apply to Peru for an army to secure the northern provinces." 
 
 "I was with Don Baltazar this morning; he then seemed quite 
 cast down, and spoke of any attempt to upset the Junta as folly." 
 
 " We cannot do anything here at present, but I think we may soon 
 reduce these rebels to the city if we proceed cautiously. The pro- 
 vinces are all jealous of Buenos Aires." 
 
 " There is some one else thinks so," said Asneiros. " Don Santiago
 
 LIBERTY. 387 
 
 Liniers was here in secret not many weeks ago. He hoped tliat Don 
 Baltazar would have adopted severe measures to prevent this out- 
 break ; when he went he thought only of a reconquest." 
 
 " Liniers ! " exclaimed Don Roderigo, " I had not thought of him. 
 Truly he is a man from whom at this juncture we may hope more 
 than from Don Baltazar. Upon Concha and Bishop Orellana we may 
 count with certainty." 
 
 " His name is alone worth an army," replied Asneircs. " He 
 wished me to go with him, but I thought it better to remain here and 
 watch the course of events. Yesterday I sent off a chasque to him. 
 What say you ? Should I not do better in Cordova than in Monte 
 Video ? In the provinces we may soon raise an army." 
 
 Don Roderigo hesitated, and Asneiros continued — ■ 
 
 " What will give us difficulty is this, that as the Junta was appointed 
 by the Cabildo it has the appearance of a legitimate government. 
 What Liniers will require is the aid of some leading Spaniard from the 
 capital, whose name alone will be guarantee for our loyalty." 
 
 " We want money and arms, in Monte Video we should have them." 
 
 " And be under the command of General Elio, who will have the 
 credit of all you do. No, better join Liniers, and have the credit of 
 what he does. I can procure arms and men too, if you will guarantee 
 me pa3-ment of my expenditure when we retake Buenos Aires." 
 
 " Men you may persuade to follow you by promises, but arms you 
 will have to pay for, I can assist you very little in that." 
 
 " I do not want any money from you, I merely wish your guarantee 
 for the repayment, in the name of the first Spanish Viceroy who has 
 the key of the treasury of Buenos Aires." 
 
 " I will give you that readily enough, but how can you raise money 
 sufficient?" 
 
 " Have you forgotten the black coffer of that traitor Don Alfonso ?" 
 
 " Three or four hundred dollars you said there were in it, but you 
 returned them to him ? " 
 
 " I thought you understood me," said Asneiros, turning aside his 
 face to conceal his vexation. "Of course I gave him the money back, 
 and his ingots too, but I gave him leaden ingots for his gold ones, 
 they are quite as much use to him as the gold ones would ever have 
 been, and now the gold will buy muskets and men to reconquer Buenos 
 Aires for Spain." 
 
 " It was true, then, you stole the old man's gold ? " 
 
 " It was no use to him, but it is rather a pity that it should turn out 
 to be the dowry of your son's wife." 
 
 " The dowry of my son's wife ! Marcelino's wife ! What do you 
 mean ? " 
 
 " That Don Marcelino is going to marry Magdalen Miranda, the 
 daughter of that old traitor, and that the ingots should have been 
 hers. We will give them back to her if you like, when we retake 
 Buenos Aires." 
 
 " Marcelino marry ! I thought leave me, I can talk no more." 
 
 " Come with me to Cordova. ^Vhen you are president of a Spanish 
 Junta you will have the remedy in your own hands." 
 
 To this Don Roderigo made no answer, and Asneiros, giving a 
 fierce twirl to his moustachios, left the room.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE FIRST FIGHT IN THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 
 
 By the second week in June the " Espedicion Auxiliadora," com- 
 posed of 1 200 vohniteers, had assembled under the command of 
 Colonel Ocampo of the Arribeiio regiment. The force had been 
 originally planned to consist of 500 men, but the first advices received 
 by the new Junta from the interior, sounded a note of danger. 
 
 The answer of General Concha, Governor of Cordova, to the 
 notification sent to him by the Junta Gubernativa of their assumj^tion 
 of supreme power, was a proclamation issued by Marshal Liniers and 
 himself, in which they denied the authority of the Junta, and called 
 upon all loyal subjects of King Ferdinand VII. to aid them in 
 resisting its pretensions. Orellana, Bishop of Cordova, gave their 
 opposition the sanction of his name and influence. 
 
 Instead of 500, 1200 volunteers were enrolled and equipped in little 
 more than a fortnight, the whole of the preliminary expenses being 
 defrayed by voluntary subscriptions. Ere they were ready to march, 
 Colonel Lopez had already left the Barrancas at the head of 200 
 volunteers from his regiment. He proceeded to the north of the 
 province, and encamped on the river Arrecifes, collecting horses for 
 the force under the command of Colonel Ocampo. The entire troop 
 commanded by Venceslao Viana had volunteered, on learning that 
 Don Carlos Evana would march with them as major of the regiment. 
 
 On the loth June there was considerable excitement in Buenos 
 Aires. On the preceding night, a number of the volunteers had left 
 their barracks without leave, many of them having taken their arms 
 and equipments with them ; none of them returned to the barracks, it 
 was evident that they had deserted. Some of the men began to talk 
 of overtures which had been made to them by a certain Spanish major 
 who had been greatly trusted by the ex- Viceroy, and it was remarked 
 that all the men who had deserted, had formerly served in one or 
 other of the regiments which had been disbanded on the 2nd 
 January, 1809. In the afternoon it became known that at daylight 
 that morning, a party of about eighty men, well armed and mounted, 
 had crossed the river Las Conchas, apparently on the march for the 
 north of the province. 
 
 Search was made everywhere for Major Asneiros, but he could not 
 be found. Marcelino Ponce de Leon with a party of Patricios 
 examined the house where he had usually resided, and was met by a 
 finely-dressed lady, who told him that the Major had left on the 
 previous night for Monte Video, and would not be back for some
 
 LIBERTY. ^ 389 
 
 time. In his rooms nothing was found which could give any clue to 
 the reason of his absence. 
 
 All that could be done was to send a chasque to Colonel Lopez, 
 telling him to look out for and intercept these deserters. 
 
 Don Carlos Evaha had been one of the most active in prosecuting 
 the search for Major Asneiros. In the evening he, with several otlier 
 officers of the expedition, after dining with Don Cornelio Saavedra, 
 strolled about the city paying farewell visits to their friends, for they 
 were to march on the day following. The last house at which Don 
 Carlos called was that of Don Roderigo Ponce de Leon, but he was 
 disappointed there, not one of the family was at home. About ten 
 o'clock he returned to his own house, at the door he found his 
 servant Pepe waiting for him. 
 
 " Ah, Sehor ! " said Pepe, " for two hours I have been looking for 
 you ever}^where. There is a lady waiting to see you. She would not 
 go till you came, and I could not find you. She is in the sala, Sehor, 
 and the girl with her." 
 
 As Don Carlos entered his sala he was met by a girl whose face 
 was covered with a mantle. On seeing him she turned quickly 
 towards another female figure, also muffled up, who was seated in an 
 obscure corner of the room. 
 
 " Here he comes at last, Sehorita," she said. Then stepping back 
 so that Don Carlos might pass her, she went to the door and closed 
 it, standing there as though on the watch lest any other should enter. 
 
 Don Carlos walked quickly towards the shrouded figure which he 
 could dimly see reclining in a large arm-chair, when that figure 
 started up, and throwing aside "the heavy shawl \\hich covered her 
 from head to foot Dolores Ponce de Leon stood before him. 
 
 " Oh, Don Carlos ! I thought you would never come," said she, 
 and burst into tears, hiding her face in her hands. 
 
 Taking one of her hands in his, Don Carlos soothed her and led 
 her back to the seat she had quitted, then drawing forward another 
 chair he seated himself near her and waited till she was calm enough 
 to speak. 
 
 " Papa ! Don Carlos. Do you know where papa is ? " she said. 
 
 " I have just come from your house ; no one was there. I have 
 not seen Don Roderigo for several days." 
 
 " Papa went away last night, I don't know where he has gone. 
 Mamma has gone to see grandpapa, I have come to see you. Long 
 
 ago you told me that perhaps the day might come when a friend 
 
 when you might " 
 
 "And you remember, and you have come to me. Thanks, thanks, 
 it is so good of you. Tell me everything, your least wish is sacred 
 to me." 
 
 Don Carlos moved his chair nearer her and tried to take her hand, 
 but she drew it away from him, and folding her hands together 
 looked straight at him. 
 
 " I knew you would," she said. " Yesterday Marcelino came to 
 see papa, and papa was very angry with liim. You know Marcelino 
 wants to marry Magdalen Miranda, i)apa says the daughter of Don 
 Alfonso cannot be fit to be Marcelino's wife. I did not liear all they
 
 390 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 said, for they were' in the ante-sala and the door was closed but not 
 shut. But as Marcelino was going papa called after him, to beware, 
 for though he was his own son he would never stir a finger to save 
 the life of a traitor to his king and country. That I heard quite 
 ])lainly, for papa spoke loud. I have not seen Marcelino since, but 
 last night when papa kissed me and held me in his arms, there were 
 tears in his eyes, and I could see that he was praying for me. When 
 I went away he called me back and kissed me again, and I begged 
 him to tell me what was the matter, but he said that nothing was the 
 matter, and that I was to be cheerful and not to trouble my head 
 about things which could not be avoided. I thought that he was 
 thinking of Marcelino, but I don't know why, I was frightened, and I 
 could not sleep, and long after that I heard the door of papa's room 
 open, then the street door was opened very quietly and shut again, 
 and I heard voices in the patio speaking, one of which was papa's, the 
 other I am almost sure was Don Ciriaco Asneiros. This morning 
 mamma said papa had gone and would not be back for several days, 
 but told me I was to say nothing about it. In the afternoon Evaristo 
 came, and said a number of the volunteers had deserted and were 
 gone with Don Ciriaco Asneiros into the provinces to Cordova, to 
 fight against the Junta, and that when they catch them they will shoot 
 them all. For more than two weeks Don Ciriaco has been coming 
 every night to see papa, after every one else was in bed ; Evaristo says 
 that Don Ciriaco is a conspirator, and that they will shoot him too." 
 
 Don Carlos had listened to Dolores attentively, letting her tell her 
 tale in her own way, but now she paused as though she expected him 
 to speak. 
 
 "You fear that Don Roderigo has gone with these mutineers," he said. 
 " I am almost sure of it. Mamma tells me that it is nonsense, and 
 that he has gone to Monte Video, but I know she thinks so too." 
 " I fear there can be little doubt of it," said Don Carlos. 
 Dolores covered her face with her hands and again burst into tears. 
 " Can you do nothing to help me, Don Carlos ? I know you can. 
 Think if they should fight, and Evaristo is with the volunteers." 
 
 " You wish me to stop Evaristo ? If you and Doha Constancia can- 
 not stop him what can I do ? " 
 
 " No, no, Don Carlos. Do not be cruel to me, it is papa I wish 
 you to stop." 
 
 " But he is gone, what can I do ? If he has gone to join Liniers, if 
 we fight I will make it my special work to save him for your sake." 
 Then Dolores sprang indignantly to her feet. 
 
 " I thought you were my friend, Don Carlos," she said. " He must 
 not fight, they will shoot him, what can you do to save him m a 
 battle? But you can stop him, I know you can." 
 
 " He is probably thirty leagues away by this time, how can I stop 
 him ? " 
 
 " I don't know, I don't know, but I know you can. How can I 
 tell you what to do ? Oh, Don Carlos ! you are my friend, you said 
 you were, do not be cruel to me. What matters Spain or the Junta 
 if papa is killed ? " 
 
 So saying Dolores fell on her knees at his feet, and seized his hand 
 pressing her lips to it.
 
 LIBERTY. 391 
 
 Don Carlos rose hurriedly from his chair, a thrill ran through his 
 whole body at the touch of her lips, but she clung to him. 
 
 " Save papa for me," she said. " I know you can if you will. Save 
 him for my sake." 
 
 Then Don Carlos bent over her and raised her to her feet. 
 
 " I will do what I can," he said. " Here I can do nothing, but if I 
 start now I may reach Arrecifes to-morrow night ; my dragoons are 
 there, I may perhaps overtake him on the frontier." 
 
 " I know you will, I knew you would if I asked you," said Dolores, 
 holding his hand in both hers, and looking up at him, her thanks and 
 her confidence, beaming upon him out of her large gray eyes. 
 
 " There is no time to lose," said she. " He left the house soon after 
 midnight." 
 
 " I shall be in the saddle in half an hour," said he, as he took up 
 her shawl and laid it carefully over her shoulders, but she raised it and 
 threw it over her head, wrapping herself up so that it was impossible 
 for any one who saw her to tell who she was. 
 
 " I will see you safe home, then I will go at once," said Don Carlos. 
 
 " No, no, not one step with me, I have Manuela." And stretching 
 out her hand to him, and leaving it for a minute in his firm grasp 
 without speaking, Dolores turned from him and, taking her maid with 
 her, disappeared in the patio. 
 
 Evaha stood motionless, looking after her, listening to the light, 
 rapid steps which passed along the side-walk outside his sala windows, 
 till as he heard them no more he drew a deep sigh, then ringing his 
 bell for Pepe he cautioned him never to mention this visit to any one. 
 
 Half an hour later, accompanied by two armed servants, he rode 
 away, leaving a short note behmd him for Marcelino, telling him, with- 
 out any explanation of this hurried departure, that he had gone to join 
 his regiment at Arrecifes. 
 
 Late the following afternoon, Don Carlos Evana rode alone into the 
 encampment of the dragoons, close to the small town of Arrecifes. 
 His two servants had been unable to keep up with him, and he had 
 only accomplished the journey so hastily by changing horses at different 
 estancias on his way. 
 
 Colonel Lopez had marched with two troops, the day before, for San 
 Nicolas, and no chasque had arrived from the city for several days ; 
 such was the report of Venceslao Viana, who had been left in com- 
 mand with about 100 men. 
 
 " A party of mutineers left Buenos Aires yesterday. Send out 
 scouts to make enquiries at every estancia for ten leagues to the east 
 and west," said Major Evaha. "Two parties of three men each, with 
 a sergeant, will do. Any intelligence they may learn must be reported 
 instantly." 
 
 " Are they Goths, Sehor Don Carlos ? " said Venceslao. 
 
 " Yes," replied Evaha. 
 
 The news that Goths were in the neighbourhood caused great ex- 
 citement among the men. In ten minutes a number of them had 
 caught and saddled their horses, and before sundown the scouting 
 parties were out of sight. 
 
 Close to the encampment there was a small rancho, where Colonel 
 Lopez had taken up his quarters. There Evaiia lay down on a catre
 
 392 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 to rest, but was too much fatigued and excited either to sleep or 
 to eat. 
 
 At midnight one of the scouts returned, with the intelHgence that 
 about midday a party of eighty men, escorting a galera, had crossed 
 the Arrecifes river, and was l)elieved to have halted for the night at 
 the cstancia of Don Lorenzo Pico, some five or six leagues further on. 
 Major Evaha rose at once from his catre, telling Viana to put his troop 
 under arms, while he himself ate some food which had been kept in 
 readiness for him. 
 
 In half an hour Viana's troop were in the saddle, mounted on 
 picked horses. A corporal with two men were sent off to San Nicolas 
 with a despatch for the Colonel ; the rest of the command had orders 
 to collect the spare horses at dawn, and march with all speed for the 
 Estancia de Pico. 
 
 A countryman who had come back with the scout offered to lead 
 Evaha, and performed his task so well, that at a quiet trot the Major 
 with his one troop reached the Estancia de Pico before sunrise. 
 
 The estancia house was a large azotea, with a courtyard behind, 
 surrounded by a low wall. There was no outer ditch or fence of any 
 kind. In spite of the caution with which they advanced, their ap- 
 proach was perceived by the garrison. A few men whom Evaha sent 
 forward to reconnoitre were driven back by shots fired from the barred 
 windows, and the rising sun glinted on a line of bright musket barrels 
 behind the parapet of the flat roof Don Roderigo was evidently- 
 prepared for a vigorous defence,, but it was not Evana's purpose to 
 fight with Don Roderigo if he could avoid it. 
 
 Halting his men at a distance of 200 yards, Evana drew a white 
 handkerchief from his pocket, and, waving it over his head, rode for- 
 ward alone to attempt a parley. Standing close to the para[)et with 
 his back to him he saw a man of medium stature wearing a hat 
 similar to one he had seen Don Roderigo wearing not many days 
 before. He felt certain that this was Don Roderigo, and rode forward 
 till he was within thirty yards of the house. 
 
 " Don Roderigo," he shouted, " I come to you as a friend." 
 
 Before he could say another word this man turned, took off his hat 
 and bowed to him, disclosing the hated features of Don Ciriaco 
 Asneiros, at the same time shouting — 
 
 " Fuego ! " 
 
 Evaha had just time to drive his spurs into his horse's flanks and 
 rein him sharjjly back. The animal reared up, received a volley of 
 balls in his chest and neck, and fell backwards, Evanaonly just saving 
 himself from being crushed underneath him. 
 
 At this sight Venceslao Viana and his men rushed forward with 
 furious shouts, and, surrounding their leader as he lay on the ground, 
 poured a random fire from their carbines upon the windows and para- 
 pet of the house, after which many of them galloped closer and struck 
 with their sabres at the garrison through the bars of the windows. 
 But their fury availed them little. Asneiros kept up a steady fire upon 
 them from the parapet, several of them fell from their saddles, and 
 more of them had their horses shot under them. Evaha, staggering 
 to his feet, shouted to them to keep back. They were too excited to 
 hear him, but Asneiros saw him.
 
 LIBERTY. 393 
 
 " C ^jo ! " he screamed ; " not dead yet ! " 
 
 Then, pointing to him, he shouted to his men to take good aim and 
 pick him off. Venceslao heard the words and put himself in front of 
 him, caUing to his men to rally round him. Three more of the 
 troopers fell, but the rest, re-forming their broken ranks, retreated be- 
 yond musket-shot, Evaha retreating Avith them on foot. Nothing 
 more could be done than to keep watch on the house until the arrival 
 of reinforcements. 
 
 Several of the men being wounded, Evana applied himself to 
 binding up their wounds, and had just cut out a ball from the 
 shoulder of one man with his penknife, when an exclamation caused 
 him to look round. A troop of about fifty horsemen were coming 
 towards them at a rapid gallop from the south-west. Their wide- 
 brimmed hats, striped ponchos, and long lances showed that they 
 were not the dragoons. Evaha mounted at once upon a trooper's 
 horse, and, wheeling his men round, waited for them. At a distance 
 of loo yards they halted, and one man came galloping forward alone. 
 He was a short, stout man, with fat, red cheeks almost destitute of 
 beard, with curly hair, and dark, piercing eyes. In his hand he carried 
 a long Indian lance, decked with ostrich plumes. 
 
 Reining up his fiery steed with the ease of a consummate horseman, 
 he looked eagerly at Evafia. Then changing his lance to his bridle- 
 hand, he removed his hat and bowed, saying — 
 
 " Have I the honour of speaking with the Sehor Major Don Carlos 
 Evafia ? " 
 
 " Your servant, Senor," replied Evaha. 
 
 " I call myself Andres Zapiola, I am an hacendado of Arrecifes. 
 Last night some scouts of yours came to my estancia and told me you 
 were in pursuit of some mutineers. I have collected what men I 
 could, I have the honour of placing them at your orders." 
 
 " Never could you have come at a more opportune moment," said 
 Evana, shaking hands warmly with his new ally. " We have had a 
 skirmish with them already." 
 
 The men of both troops were ordered to dismount, while Major 
 Evaha and Don Andres carefully reconnoitred the house at a safe 
 distance. Don Carlos was much perplexed as to what he should do 
 next, for he wished at all hazards to ensure the safety of Don Roderigo, 
 and desired if possible to conceal the fact of his being with the 
 mutineers. Don Andres advised him to give up all idea of attacking 
 the place, assuring him that hunger would soon compel them to 
 surrender. 
 
 " But then," Evaha thought to himself, " the delay may bring me 
 more allies such as this, and it will be impossible to secure the escape 
 of Don Roderigo." 
 
 As he thus thought, scanning eagerly the defences to the rear of the 
 house, where the low wall round the courtyard offered no great 
 obstacle to a vigorous assault, Asneiros solved his perplexity for him. 
 The men were withdrawn from the azotea, and the courtyard, which 
 appeared full of horses, became the scene of busy preparation. 
 
 " They are going," said Evaha. 
 
 " Let them go," said Zapiola ; " it may cost us some lives, but in 
 the open camp we shall have them all the sooner."
 
 394 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 Evana looked on every side for the galera, it was nowhere to be 
 seen. He turned rein, and they rode back to their men, telling each 
 man to take his liorse by the bridle and be ready to mount at the first 
 note of the bugle. They had not long to wait, the iron gate in the 
 low wall was thrown open, about forty men rode out, and formed in 
 column of march on the green sward outside, many of them led a 
 second horse by the bridle. Behind them came the remainder of the 
 small force on foot, with shouldered muskets and bayonets fixed. 
 
 " They have not horses to mount them all," said Evaha, " therefore 
 we can overtake them when we please. If you will spread your men 
 over the camp in front of them, Don Andres, and prevent them from 
 catching fresh horses, I will follow you as soon as I have provided for 
 my wounded and made some enquiries here." 
 
 Don Andres bowed, and taking up his long lance, which quivered 
 like a reed in his grasp, he started off with his men at full gallop in 
 pursuit. Evaha followed him as far as the house. 
 
 Asneiros halted as he saw the horsemen in pursuit, and facing round 
 with his infantry, prepared to give them a warm reception, but instead 
 of charging him, the Seiior Zapiola and his horsemen galloped past 
 him with wild shouts of defiance, and, spreading over the camp on his 
 line of march, drove off all the cattle and horses from before him. 
 
 Asneiros again put his men in motion and marched steadily on for 
 about a league, when he re-halted, and, mounting several of his infantiy 
 on the spare horses, ordered the rest to get up behind such of the 
 others as were best mounted ; he then gave the word to trot, and 
 resumed his march at a much quicker pace. 
 
 Meantime Evana had dismounted a number of his men, and had 
 sent them round to the front of the azotea, where a number of his 
 troopers lay wounded. Eour of them were found to be dead, seven 
 more were removed inside the house. 
 
 In the prmcipal room of the house one man in the uniform of the 
 grenadiers was found lying, shot through the heart. The house had 
 been thoroughly ransacked, and not a living creature was to be found 
 inside of it. In the courtyard were several horses lying about in the 
 last stage of exhaustion. 
 
 Leaving a sergeant with three men to take charge of the wounded, 
 Evaha, after remaining half an hour here, started in pursuit at a quick 
 trot, but the march of the Spaniards was so rapid that it was two hours 
 ere he rejoined Don Andres Zapiola. About a league further on there 
 was a large estancia. 
 
 " Let us charge them at once," said Don Andres. 
 
 " Collect your men and support me," said Evaha. " We must not 
 give them time to dismount." 
 
 The dragoons, who were marching four abreast, wheeled quickly 
 into line, and led by Venceslao Viana dashed at full gallop upon the 
 enemy, with uplifted sabres and a wild cry of " Death to the Goths ! " 
 
 Evaiia, galloping behind them with his sword drawn, had left the 
 lead to Venceslao, so that he might devote his attention to protecting 
 Don Roderigo in the melde. 
 
 But, quickly as the dragoons had performed their change of front, 
 Asneiros had seen his danger. He halted at once, and ordered every
 
 LIBERTY. 395 
 
 man to dismount and form up in front of the horses. His men liad 
 not been drilled to these manoeuvres, and, being unaccustomed to 
 riding, were sore and stiff with the rapid marches of the last two days. 
 Before he could get them clear of the horses the dragoons were upon 
 them. In vain he shouted to them to close up and fire, a random 
 volley did not stop the dragoons for an instant ; bending low on their 
 horses' necks, so that they could hardly be seen, the shot flew over 
 them ; the flankers on both sides of the short line of infantry were 
 swept away and trodden under-foot ; a small knot in the centre alone 
 stood firm, beating oft' the horsemen with their levelled bayonets. 
 
 Asneiros, who had remained on horseback, was carried away by the 
 rush and separated from them. As soon as he recovered command 
 of his horse, he turned rein and tried to cut his way through the dis- 
 ordered dragoons, coming, in the midst of the tumult, face to face 
 with Evaha. Muttering a fierce execration he struck at him with his 
 sword, but Evaiia parried the blow, and Venceslao Viana, spurring his 
 horse between them, clove him to the teeth with his sabre. 
 
 " Venceslao," said Evaha, " have you seen Don Roderigo, he was 
 with these yesterday ? " 
 
 " Don Roderigo ! I have not seen him. If he is with those," said 
 Venceslao, pointing to the small knot of infantry who yet stood firm, 
 " we must be quick to save him." 
 
 A number of the dragoons riding round this group were firing upon 
 them with their carbines, every shot telling on the close rank. Evaha 
 galloped up to them, shouting to them to lay down their arms ; a 
 number of them did so ; the next moment the horsemen of Don Andres 
 Zapiola poured over them like an avalanche. Behind the rush of the 
 partidarios the dragoons closed in, cutting down without mercy any 
 who yet kept their feet. 
 
 With an aching heart Evana rode over the field, while Viana called 
 his men together b*y the bugle and so put a stop to the slaughter. 
 Evaha searched among both dead and wounded, frequently dismount- 
 ing to turn over one lying on his face, but saw nothing of Don Roderigo. 
 
 The dragoons had taken some few prisoners, he inspected them, and 
 casting his eye upon a young man who was not dressed in uniform 
 he called him to him. 
 
 " What is your name ? " he said. 
 
 " Joaquin Saurez, Sehor, at your service." 
 
 " How do you come among these mutineers, you do not seem to 
 be a soldier ? " 
 
 " Sehor, I had urgent necessity for money, and the Sehor Major 
 Asneiros gave me two doubloons to enlist in the regiment of Cordova." 
 
 " Well, Joaquin, you are mixed up in a bad business, but will you 
 swear to me that you are not a deserter from some regiment in Ikienos 
 Aires." 
 
 " By the Holy Virgin Maria and by all the saints I swear it to you, 
 Sehor. I never was a soldier, I do not know how to handle a musket. 
 Sehor, I will tell you how it was I came to enlist." 
 
 " I have no time to listen, but if you will answer me my questions, 
 and I find your information correct, I will give you your liberty and a 
 good horse, so that you may go where you like ; if you deceive me,
 
 39^ PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 with your life you will pay for it. Now listen ! was Major Asneiros 
 your own leader ? " 
 
 " He was the only one who gave any orders?" 
 
 " Were all here to-day who left Buenos Aires with you ? " 
 
 •' No, Senor. There was a gentleman with two servants who rode 
 with us the first day, but we stopped that night at an estancia where 
 there was a galera waiting for him." 
 
 " And he came with you in this galera yesterday as far as Pico's 
 estancia ? " 
 
 " Yes, Senor, we reached there soon after midday, and the men re- 
 fused to travel any further. He picked out the best of the horses and 
 went on." 
 
 " How many men went with him ? " 
 
 " Four postilions and his two servants who were in the galera with 
 him." 
 
 " Do you know who this gentleman was?" 
 
 " I heard his servants speak of him as Don Roderigo, and I have 
 seen him before in Buenos Aires. I think he must be some powerful 
 Senor, from the respect that the Major showed to him." 
 
 " Did you hear where he was going ? " 
 
 " To Cordova, Senor. He was very angry that we would not march 
 on yesterday, but some of the men could not sit their horses any longer." 
 
 As Evaha finished his examination the second party of the dragoons 
 came up, driving a mob of horses before them. The whole of the 
 dragoons dismounted and stood in a circle round these horses, while 
 each man in his turn caught one. When all were supplied they turned 
 the horses they had previously ridden adrift, and saddled these fresh 
 ones. 
 
 Meantime Evaha had walked to where the body of Asneiros lay 
 stretched on the ground in the charge of a dismounted dragoon. This 
 man he told to search the pockets and give him all the papers he 
 could find. The man found few papers on the body, but he found a 
 leather belt round the waist, filled with gold coins. Evafia took the 
 papers, but handing the belt to Viana told him to distribute the money 
 among the men of both troops. He did not think it necessary to give 
 any of it to the men of Don Andres, for they were busy plundering the 
 slain for themselves. 
 
 Evaha was not long in making up his mind whit to do. Stiff and 
 fatigued as he was, and sore with the bruises he had received when his 
 horse fell back with him, he yet determined to carry on his pursuit 
 himself. Telling Viana to select twenty men from his troop, he gave 
 up the command of the rest to the captain of the other troop ; then, 
 with many thanks to Don Andres Zapiola for his opportune assistance, 
 he turned his horse's head to the north and galloped away, attended 
 only by Viana, and a guide well acquainted with all the roads through 
 Santa Fe, who had been found for him by Don Andres. 
 
 After them galloped the twenty picked troopers without any attempt 
 at military array, driving before them some two score spare horses.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 HOW GENERAL LINIERS LOST AN IMPORTANT ALLY. 
 
 It was an hour past midday when Don Carlos Evana galloped from 
 the scene of the skirmish. Judging that Don Roderigo would proceed 
 by the high road for Cordova, he cut straight across camp for the 
 town of Pergamino, where he halted for half an hour to make cautious 
 enquiries. His uniform and his announcement that he was on govern- 
 ment service, procured him every attention from the townspeople, 
 who were eager in their offers of assistance, and he soon learned, 
 without exciting suspicion, that the galera had arrived there late on 
 the preceding night, and had started again at sunrise. 
 
 Onwards he galloped, and soon after sundown reached an estancia 
 near to the Arroyo del Medio, which divides the province of Buenos 
 Aires from the province of Santa Fe. Here he found it was useless 
 for him to attempt to go any further, as, though a good horseman, he 
 was quite knocked up, not having galloped for any distance for 
 several months. The estanciero pressed him to remain, and at once 
 sent some peons to slaughter a cow for his men. 
 
 " I am dead beat," he said to Venceslao, taking him to one side ; 
 " I must trust to you to catch this galera for me and bring it back." 
 
 " Pues ! that is not strange, Sehor Don Carlos," said Venceslao ; 
 "but you know you have only to tell me what to do and I will do it." 
 
 " The gentleman who is in this galera is Don Roderigo Ponce de 
 Leon. He is on his way to Cordova to join Don Santiago Liniers in 
 raising an insurrection against the Junta. All who join this insur- 
 rection will be shot, so we must stop Don Roderigo at any cost." 
 
 " Have no fear, Don Carlos, even if I have to go to Cordova I 
 will bring him back. I do not forget that he is a relation of mine, 
 and you know that the family has its obligations." 
 
 " You must stop him before he reaches Cordova, or it will be too 
 late, and above all you must let no one know who he is. I shall wait 
 here for you." 
 
 " And if he will not come ? " said Venceslao thoughtfully. 
 
 " If the men he has with him resist, shoot them, Init do not touch 
 him on any account. He does not anticipate pursuit, so I do not 
 think he is prepared to resist. You have nothing to do but to turn 
 the galera round when you overtake it, and drive back. Speak to 
 him as little as possible. Everything deiK'nds upon your speed ; if 
 you start at dawn you may catch him to-morrow." 
 
 Evaha asked the hospitable estanciero for a bed, and, in spite of the
 
 39S PONCE DE LEON.' 
 
 fever of fatigue, was soon in a dreamless sleep ; but soon after mid- 
 night he woke and heard the jingling of spurs and the rattle of sabres 
 in their iron scabbards, as Viana with his men mounted and rode 
 away. 
 
 Viana took fifteen men with liim, leaving the other five behind in 
 charge of the spare horses ; by sunrise he had reached the first post- 
 house in the province of Santa Fe on the main road to Cordova. All 
 day he travelled rapidly, changing horses at the post-houses as he 
 went on, encouraged by finding that the roads were heavy, and led 
 through many swamps and bad passes, which would seriously impede 
 the progress of a wheeled vehicle. At every post-house he heard that 
 the galera was before him, at the place where he halted at sundown 
 he learned that it had passed about two hours before. 
 
 Mounting again at midnight, he reached the next post-house at 
 dawn, just as the galera was leaving. Don Roderigo, supposing his 
 party to be a detachment of Asneiros' men, waited for him to come 
 up. Venceslao rode alone to the galera. 
 
 " You have mistaken the road, Senor Don Roderigo," said he. 
 
 "Are not you Venceslao Viana?" replied Don Roderigo. 
 
 " Your servant," replied Venceslao. " The Senor Major Evana 
 has detached me with this escort to secure your safety, there are 
 many bad characters about." 
 
 " Evaiia ! " exclaimed Don Roderigo ; " I thought he was in 
 Buenos Aires." 
 
 " He left the day after you did, Senor Don Roderigo. The day 
 before yesterday we arranged those vagabonds, so now with this 
 escort you need fear nothing." 
 
 " And the Senor Major Asneiros, what of him? Where is he?" 
 
 " He died, Senor." 
 
 "And the Senor Major Evana, where is he ?" 
 
 " He was tired and could come no further, he is waiting for you at 
 an estancia on the Arroyo del Medio." 
 
 Don Roderigo looked fixedly at Venceslao, asking with his eyes a 
 question he did not care to speak. Venceslao bowed his head in 
 reply. 
 
 " Carry out your orders, whatever they are." So saying Don 
 Roderigo shut the window of the galera through which he had leaned 
 during this colloquy, and, seating himself in a corner, wrapped himself 
 in his cloak. 
 
 Viana then rode up to the postilions, telling them to turn and go 
 back the way they had come, silencing their objections by throwing 
 back his poncho and laying his hand on the butt of a pistol. 
 
 On the afternoon of the day following Don Carlos Evana, now 
 quite recovered from his fatigue, sat talking with the estanciero who 
 had given him shelter, when one of his troopers came to the door of 
 the room and announced that a galera had crossed the arroyo, and 
 was coming up towards the estancia, escorted by a party of dragoons. 
 Don Carlos sprang joyfully to his feet, and went out with his host to 
 watch the galera as it came swiftly towards them. At the tranquera 
 it stopped, Don Carlos himself opened the door. 
 
 " My friend," said he, " I am rejoiced to see you in safety."
 
 LIBERTY. 399 
 
 " I am your prisoner I suppose, Senor Don Carlos ? " replied Don 
 Roderigo, stepping out, but refusing the hand which Evaha stretched 
 out to him in welcome. 
 
 " My prisoner, no," said Don Carlos ; " I shall be happy to escort 
 you to Buenos Aires, or any other place to which you may wish 
 to go." 
 
 " I am on my way to Cordova and have lost four days by your 
 interference." 
 
 " To Cordova ! that is impossible, Cordova is in the hands of a 
 party of rebels against government." 
 
 " Cordova is the present station of the only legitimate government 
 of the Viceroyalty of Buenos Aires. I see what you wish, Don Carlos, 
 I see that you wish others to believe that I have taken no part in this 
 insurrection as I suppose you call it. You have not introduced me 
 to this good gentleman, who is, I presume, the owner of this estancia." 
 
 " The Sehor Don Luis Peha," said Evana, on which the estanciero 
 stepped forward, raising his hat. 
 
 " I have much pleasure in welcoming you to my house, Senor, and 
 put it and all I have at your service," said Don Luis, shaking hands 
 with Don Roderigo. 
 
 " Peha ! " said Don Roderigo, " I know your father well, and a 
 worthy old gentleman he is, but I fear me infected with the disloyalty 
 of the present time. I am Roderigo Ponce de Leon, Sehor Don 
 Luis, I am a member of the Cabildo and of the Audencia Real of 
 Buenos Aires, and I am on my way to Cordova to join Marshal 
 Liniers and to concert measures with him for the upsetting of this 
 rebel Junta which has been established by the mob in Buenos Aires. 
 If you still offer your services you can aid me very much, Don Luis, 
 by raising the partidarios in this district and liberating me from these 
 dragoons." 
 
 " I am sorry, Don Roderigo, to have to refuse your first request," 
 replied Don Luis ; " we all here recognize the Junta of Buenos Aires 
 as the only legitimate government of the Viceroyalty." 
 
 " Then, Don Carlos," said Don Roderigo, turning bruskly away 
 from Don Luis, " I am your prisoner." 
 
 "If you think well over it," said Don Carlos, "you will see that 
 in turning you back on your journey I have been actuated only by a 
 desire to prevent great unhappiness to your family." 
 
 "And have acted as a traitor to your country," replied Don 
 Roderigo, then turning his back upon him he walked with Don Luis 
 up to the house. 
 
 Don Luis Peha strove by every means in his power to render the 
 compulsory visit of Don Roderigo pleasant to him, but Don Roderigo 
 declined to look upon himself in any other light tlian as a prisoner. 
 He absolutely refused to return to Buenos Aires, although both Don 
 Carlos and Don Luis gave him every assurance that he should suffer 
 no molestation ; he considered that to reside quietly in Buenos 
 Aires, taking no part in public affairs, would be equivalent to ac- 
 knowledging the authority of the Junta. 
 
 Thus two days i)asse(l ; on the third Colonel Lopez arrived with 
 the rest of his regiment and encamped near to the estancia. in
 
 400 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 company wit]i tlie Colonel came Don Andres Zapiola and several 
 other wealthy hacendados from Arrecifes and Pergamino. To many 
 of these Don Roderigo was known personally, to all he was known by 
 reinite. 
 
 Don Carlos Evana was sorely perplexed ; some of these new 
 arrivals spoke of Don Roderigo as the man who had induced the 
 desertion on the loth June from the " Espedicion Auxiliadora." This 
 expedition had already left Buenos Aires, and might probably reach 
 the frontier in a day or two. He himself was now under the orders 
 of a superior officer, on the arrival of the expedition both would be 
 under the orders of Colonel Ocampo, who would unquestionably send 
 Don Roderigo to Buenos Aires as a i)risoner, for trial on a charge of 
 treason. He consulted with Colonel Lopez, who had declined to 
 visit the estancia, 
 
 " Do what you will, Don Carlos, and lose no time," said the 
 Colonel ; " I do not require your services with the regiment for a day 
 or two, and if you wish to go anywhere you can take an escort. In 
 your report to me of the defeat of Asneiros you have mentioned that 
 you started at once after the action in pursuit of a detachment which 
 had gone in advance. Since that you have made no further report, I 
 sui)pose the other party escaped, but I have instructions from Buenos 
 Aires to arrest Don Roderigo Ponce de Leon if he is in the neigh- 
 bourhood ; if I see him I shall carry out my orders, but I have also 
 letters which inform me that he is in Monte Video." 
 
 Don Carlos returned to the estancia, and offered to escort Don 
 Roderigo to San Nicolas if he would promise him to go thence by 
 water to Monte Video, and give up all thoughts of joining Marshal 
 Liniers. For long Don Roderigo refused, the news of the approach 
 of the volunteers under Colonel Ocampo had no effect upon him, and 
 it was only when Don Carlos entreated him to secure his safety for 
 the sake of his wife and daughter that he at last consented. 
 
 As soon as it was dark that night, Viana's troop of dragoons left 
 the encampment and marched away eastward, passing close to the 
 estancia of the Sehor Peiia, where they were joined by five men well 
 mounted, who rode with them through the night at a rapid pace, and 
 left them at dawn near to the frontier town of San Nicolas. The 
 dragoons encamped till the next morning, when they were joined by 
 Don Carlos Evaha and Don Luis Pena ; returning immediately to 
 the estancia of the latter gentleman, they were there met by the 
 intelligence that the " Espedicion Auxiliadora " was encamped near 
 at hand on the Canada de Cepeda.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 LA CABEZA DEL TIGRE. 
 
 The Spanish adherents of Marshal Liniers, had done their best 
 to excite enthusiasm for the cause of Spain, in the hearts of the citi- 
 zens of the learned city of Cordova, a city of which it was said at that 
 time, that even the waiters in the cafes talked Latin, and that the 
 favourite amusement of the peons at the street-corners, was to discuss 
 among themselves the most abstruse questions of philosophy and 
 metaphysics. 
 
 Among other reports which were diligently circulated, was one that 
 a great part of the troops in Buenos Aires had mutinied, and were on 
 the march to join Marshal Liniers under the command of Don Rode- 
 rigo Ponce de Leon, who had been appointed by Cisneros as his 
 delegate in the provinces. The news of the skirmish on the Estancia 
 Pico, in which these troops were stated to have been cut to pieces, 
 consequently produced great consternation among these Spaniards, 
 but made little impression upon the good citizens of Cordova, who 
 for the most part heard of all these events with indifference, not con- 
 sidering matters of government to be any affair of theirs. 
 
 Marshal Liniers was better informed concerning the particulars of 
 that skirmish. The aid he looked for was not from Buenos Aires 
 but from Peru, yet still he lingered at Cordova, hoping to be joined 
 by Don Roderigo, of whom he had heard nothing, save that he had left 
 Buenos Aires for the purpose of joining him. So passed the month 
 of July, his adherents falling away from him, till he lost all hope of 
 making any effectual stand where he was against the patriot army. 
 
 Meantime the patriots had met with great difficulties on their march 
 across the Pampas of Santa Fe, and it was already August when they 
 ascended the high lands which surround the city of Cordova, march- 
 ing with great precaution, for they knew not what resistance they 
 might meet. 
 
 It was a fine morning, it seemed as though the spring had already 
 come, the air was so balmy, the vegetation so luxuriant, when on the 
 5th August, Don Carlos Evaha with a troop of dragoons, which 
 formed the advanced guard of the patriot army, debouched from a 
 thick wood, and looked down upon the pleasant city of Cordova, 
 snugly nestling among the hills in the valley below him ; upon Cor- 
 dova, the city of churches and convents, the city of monks and nuns, 
 the city of learned doctors and of eager seekers after a knowledge 
 void of all practical value ; upon Cordova, a city of which no native 
 
 D D
 
 402 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 was ever known to be in a hurry, and where men were well content 
 to sleep away their lifetime, slieltered from the storms of nature by 
 those encircling hills, sheltered from the storms of men by their ignor- 
 ance of all those varied aspirations, which make life in other climes a 
 never-ending race after prizes for ever vanishing away ; upon Cordova, 
 the peaceful and the learned, where Spain was thought of as the 
 empress of the world, and where more was known of the history of 
 Carlo-Magno and his Paladins than of that of Frederick the Great or 
 of Napoleon, where the greatest war that the world had ever known 
 was supposed to be the war against the Moors waged by Ferdinand 
 the Catholic and his Queen. 
 
 Upon Cordova looked down from those wooded heights, the van- 
 guard of the patriot army ; upon Cordova looked down Don Carlos 
 Evana, a man to whom the learning of Cordova was but as an idle 
 dream, a man in whose eyes its peacefulness was sloth, and its re- 
 ligion hypocrisy. 
 
 But no thought of all this passed through the brain of Major Evaiia 
 as he gazed upon the learned city, whose white domes and towers 
 filled up the small valley beneath him ; he thought but of that one 
 man whom he considered as the most dangerous enemy of the Argen- 
 tine people ; he had determined within himself to crush this man, and 
 as he looked down upon the city, where he had set up the standard of 
 Spain, he thought only of how best that standard might be trampled 
 in the dust, he dreaded only lest his foe* might have escaped him by 
 timely flight. 
 
 As his men cleared the wood, he gave the word to trot, and with 
 much jingling of spurs and clattering of iron scabbards, each man 
 with his loaded carbine resting on his thigh, the little force wound its 
 way rapidly along the tortuous path, and, descending the hill without 
 meeting a foe, trotted swiftly up the main street of the city to the 
 Plaza. 
 
 Men standing in doorways, gazed curiously upon them as they 
 passed ; between the iron bars of many a window peered many a fair 
 face, looking upon the rough soldiers as though they formed part of 
 some unwonted pageant. 
 
 Both men and women looked upon these swarthy troopers, and 
 women looked much upon the pale, stern face of him who rode at 
 their head ; but the men spoke no word of welcome, and the women 
 gazed after them with foreboding hearts. The steady tramp of the 
 horses, the clattering of the iron scabbards, were sounds unfamiliar to 
 their ears, they recognized intuitively that these men were the heralds 
 of a new era, and that there was little in common between them and 
 the black-robed priests and bearded monks who were the more usual 
 occupants of their streets. 
 
 Major Evaha drew up his troop across the sandy Plaza in front 
 of the cathedral, and himself rode up to the hall of justice. Here he 
 was met by a group of the civil authorities, who stood in the sun be- 
 fore him bareheaded, and invited him to dismount. Evana replied 
 by asking them a question. 
 
 " Where is the Senor Mariscal Don Santiago Liniers ? " 
 
 " Marshal Liniers had left the city on the preceding day."
 
 LIBERTY. 403 
 
 " AVhat troops had he with him ? " 
 
 " None. Only a few friends had accompanied him." 
 
 " What road did he take ? " 
 
 "The northern road." 
 
 As the last question was answered, the great doors of the cathedral 
 were thrown wide open, a procession of priests issued forth, bearing 
 an image bedecked with jewels, seated on a throne under a canopy 
 heavy with golden fringe. In front walked a number of boys bare- 
 headed, dressed in white robes, with long hair which flowed down 
 over their shoulders. Some of these boys carried censers, which they 
 swung to and fro, filling the air with perfume, others carried small 
 silver bells, which they shook as they walked, producing a medley of 
 sweet sounds which announced the approach of the procession. Im- 
 mediately before the canopy, walked a young priest bearing a tall 
 crucifix of massive silver, behind came other priests bearing a crozier 
 and crosses of silver, while on either hand, and further behind, came 
 a number of citizens, bare-headed and in long white robes, carrying 
 immense wax candles, which were lighted and burned in the bright 
 sunshine with a dull, yellow flame. 
 
 Evaha, with a gesture of impatience, wheeled his horse round, and 
 placing himself in front of his troop drew his sword, while Viana 
 shouted the word of command, " Present arms ! " 
 
 Straight for the centre of the troop marched the procession, but 
 Evaha stirred neither foot nor hand, each swarthy trooper sat motion- 
 less on his horse. An aged priest, with an angry scowl at the dragoons, 
 spoke a word to the boys, they turned to the right, and the whole 
 procession passed on in front of the line of horsemen and took its 
 slow way down the main street by which the dragoons had come, 
 bells tinkling, and censers swinging before it. The citizens in their 
 doorways, and the women-folk behind the barred windows, who had 
 gazed so apathetically upon the dragoons, now kneeling down with 
 uncovered heads, devoutly crossed themselves, muttered an " Ave " 
 and a " Credo," and gazed with admiring eyes upon the gorgeous 
 canopy and upon the jewelled figure beneath it. 
 
 No sooner was the front of his line free than Evana, sheathing 
 his sword, gave a signal to Viana, the troop wheeled at once into 
 column, and trotted swiftly away by the northern road, watched by 
 many a wondering eye as it crossed the Rio Primero and wound its 
 way up the steep hill-side, till it was lost to view among the abrupt 
 peaks of the sierra. 
 
 As simple shepherds tending their flocks by night gaze wonderingly 
 at the track of some fiery meteor, so the simple citizens of Cordova 
 gazed wonderingly at the cloud of dust which marked the track of the 
 fast-receding soldiery. They were accustomed to think of Spain as of 
 a great nation, empress of the world ; they had heard of revolution as 
 of a deadly sin, as of a whirlwind sweeping over the earth, destroying 
 nations in its course, and inflicting unutterable woes upon the peo])le ; 
 now the whirlwind had descended into their peaceful valley, the deadly 
 sin had passed along their streets, the authority of Spain was uprooted 
 from amongst them. 
 
 Cordova was as the heart of the southern continent, her universities
 
 404 rONCE DE LEON. 
 
 were renowned teachers of theology and jurisprudence, and to her 
 flocked students from all the Spanish colonies of South America. Of 
 late there had come among them, men telling them that their learning 
 was folly, talking to them of the right of men to make their own laws, 
 and to worship God according to the dictates of their own conscience. 
 These men had spoken of the revolution of the 25 th May as of a 
 glorious event. 
 
 The townsfolk had looked upon Marshal Liniers as the man who 
 was to vindicate the authority of Spain, who was to uphold the integ- 
 rity of those laws and religious customs, the teaching of which was the 
 glory of their city. But Marshal Liniers had fled from among them, 
 and now came this troop of horsemen pressing after him in jjursuit, 
 passing through their midst and injuring no one, neither halting to eat 
 nor to drink, but pressing on with the steady purpose of a relentless fate. 
 
 The genius of liberty rode unseen at the head of that small party of 
 dragoons, and, passing through Cordova, brought the knowledge of a 
 new era into the heart of South America. 
 
 Leagues beyond the sierra, on the road to Tucuman, there stood a 
 large estancia, used also as a post-house, which went by the name of 
 *' La Cabeza del Tigre." About noon, on the day after Evaha with 
 his dragoons passed through the city of Cordova, Marshal Liniers with 
 General Concha, Bishop Orellana, Colonel AUende, and two others, 
 were seated at dinner in the principal room of this estancia. The 
 faces of all present were clouded and anxious ; news had been received 
 that morning that it was not safe for them to proceed on their way to 
 Tucuman, that province, the garden of South America, had pronounced 
 as one man in favour of the Junta of Buenos Aires ; the route to Peru 
 was closed. San Juan and Mendoza, lying at the foot of the Andes, 
 had also declared in favour of the Junta, barring the way to Chili. 
 On every side there were enemies, wide desolate plains, or impene- 
 trable forests. 
 
 As they conferred together, there came a sound through the open 
 doorway of the galloping of horses, then came hoarse words of com- 
 mand, and the jingling of spurs, as of horsemen dismounting. 
 
 " See what it is, Anselmo," said Marshal Liniers to the serving-man, 
 while his companions looked upon him in consternation. 
 
 Anselmo went out a handsome, smooth-faced mulatto, he came 
 back at once, his face of a pale-green colour, his eyes almost starting 
 from his forehead with terror. 
 
 " Senor ! Sehores ! my General ! the revolution ! " he gasped out. 
 
 Then there came a heavy step with the jingling of a spur, a hand 
 was laid upon his shoulder, he was pulled roughly back, and Don 
 Carlos Evaha strode into the room. 
 
 " Sehores, all of you, surrender yourselves prisoners to the orders of 
 the Junta Gubernativa." 
 
 Liniers started to his feet, stared wildly at Evaha, then turned deadly 
 pale and sank back into his chair, muttering between his teeth — 
 
 " It is he. All is lost ! " 
 
 "What is this? who are you?" said the Bishop angrily, while 
 Colonel AUende drew his sword.
 
 LIBERTY. 405 
 
 "It is madness to think of resistance, the house is surrounded," 
 said Evana. 
 
 " Promise us our lives," said General Concha. 
 
 " I promise nothing. Give up your arms," replied Evaha, stamping 
 his foot. 
 
 At this signal, in at the doorway came Venceslao Viana with his 
 drawn sabre in one hand and a pistol in the other, behind him filed 
 into the room a strong party of dragoons. Marshal Liniers, unbuck- 
 ling his belt, handed his sword to Viana. 
 
 It was the afternoon of the 25th August. The large dining-room 
 of the Estancia " La Cabeza del Tigre " was the scene of a court- 
 martial. 
 
 At one end of the room, at the head of the table, sat Dr. Don 
 Juan Jose Castelli, member of the Junta Gubernativa, who had come 
 express from Buenos Aires on learning the capture of Marshal Liniers 
 in order to preside at this court-martial. On each hand sat several field- 
 officers of the patriot army, who formed the court. At the other end of 
 the room, and facing the President, stood Marshal Liniers, General 
 Concha, Colonel Allende, and two civil officials named Rodriguez 
 and Moreno, who had been captured at the same time. Behind them 
 stood a party of the Patricios, with grounded arms and bayonets fixed. 
 Several other officers of the patriot army, who had not been sum- 
 moned to sit on the court-martial, stood grouped about the doorway. 
 
 About half-way down the table stood Don Carlos Evana, in full 
 uniform as a major of dragoons. He had just concluded his speech 
 as public prosecutor, demanding in vehement language, tliat sentence 
 of death should be passed upon the five prisoners who stood before 
 them, as guilty of treason against the legally-constituted government 
 of the provinces of the Rio de la Plata ; warning the members of the 
 court not to permit their private feelings to interfere with their duty to 
 their country, for if they allowed the authority of the Junta to be set 
 at defiance with impunity, they would deliver their country over to 
 anarchy, entailing upon it greater evils than had ever been inflicted by 
 the tyranny of Spain. 
 
 As he sat down a deep silence fell upon all present. Then Dr. 
 Castelli addressed the prisoners, calling upon them for their defence 
 against the cliarges which had been brought with suflicient witness 
 against them, charges of attempting to foment rebellion against the 
 royal authority of King Ferdinand VII., and against the Junta govern- 
 ing in his name. 
 
 " If my acts and services do not attest my loyalty, I have no other 
 defence to offer," repUed Marshal Liniers. 
 
 General Concha and the others denied the authority of the court, 
 and demanded to be sent for trial to Buenos Aires. 
 
 When the prisoners had been removed, many of the officers who had 
 served under Liniers, and were anxious to save him, demurred to the 
 sentence of death, but the influence of Dr. Castelli, seconded ])y Don 
 Carlos Evaha, overcame all opposition. It was determined that the five 
 prisoners should be shot on the following day, and buried with military 
 honours, in consideration of the past services of Marshal Liniers.
 
 406 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 Tlie prisoners being recalled, the sentence of the court was read 
 out to them by Dr. CasteUi. General Concha and the three others 
 ])rotested against the sentence as unjustifiable, but Marshal Liniers 
 had given up all hope of life when he surrendered his sword. 
 
 "\\'hat would you from the agents of a revolutionary Junta?" 
 said he to his fellow-prisoners ; then turning to the court, he added — 
 
 " To one only of you have I a word to say — to you, Don Carlos 
 Evaha. My fate I have brought upon myself, by listening to the words 
 of those who induced me to spare you, when I had you in my power. 
 I have long known you as a dangerous conspirator. I have known 
 you as one of those reckless men, who care nothing what evils they 
 bring upon a people in the prosecution of their own extravagant ideas. 
 But beware ! this people whom you have led to rebellion against tlieir 
 legitimate nilers, will learn quickly the lesson you would teach them. 
 As ruthlessly as they now cast aside that authority and allegiance 
 which has for centuries watched over them, so will they trample under- 
 foot any such ephemeral government as you may attempt to set up. 
 The people know no gratitude for past services, and the day will 
 come when they will turn upon you and destroy you, in payment for 
 the lessons you have taught them. 
 
 " Beware, Don Carlos Evaha ! Here in America you have raised 
 up the fiend of revolution. You, and those who work with you, take 
 to yourselves pride, in that you have liberated a great people from the 
 power of a crushing despotism. You have done no such thing. You 
 have but raised up among them an evil spirit whom your puny efforts 
 will be powerless to curb. This people, this Argentine people, will 
 themselves destroy the work which you labour to accomplish. You 
 are to-day the murderer of five innocent men, condemned to death 
 for no crime but because they stand in the way of your own insensate 
 ambition." 
 
 Here Marshal Liniers was interrupted by Dr. Castelli, who com- 
 manded the officer of the guard to remove the prisoners. 
 
 " I pray you, Sehor Presidente, to let him speak," said Don Carlos 
 Evana. " We, conscious of the rectitude of our own hearts, may well 
 suffer our motives to be impugned ; it is but another sacrifice we 
 make upon the altar of our country." 
 
 "You are to-day my judges, to-morrow you will be my execu- 
 tioners," continued Marshal Liniers, looking haughtily round him, 
 heedless of the interruption ; " but I tell you that the day is not far 
 distant, when the Argentine people shall themselves call you to account 
 for the blood so unjustly shed, and shall deliver you over to be torn 
 in pieces by the evil spirit you yourselves have raised — a spirit which 
 will soon deluge in blood those same streets of Buenos Aires in 
 which I have twice led you to victory' — you who are to-day my 
 murderers." 
 
 He spoke no more, but, with a proud inclination of the head, 
 retired, surrounded by his guards. 
 
 Many efforts were made during the night by inferior officers who 
 had served under Liniers to procure a commutation of his sentence, 
 but after this farewell address the members of the court were more
 
 LIBERTY. . 407 
 
 convinced than before, of the necessity of ridding themselves of so 
 dangerous an enemy. 
 
 On the following day, the 26th August, a volley terminated the 
 existence of the man who had first led the people of Buenos Aires to 
 victory, of the man who had first organized their militia into an 
 eftective force, who had first taught them their strength, and had so 
 made liberty and independence possible to them. Marshal Liniers 
 fell before the fire of a platoon drawn from the ranks of a volunteer 
 army, the offspring of his own exertions, which Buenos Aires had sent 
 forth to vindicate in the provinces, the liberty she had already achieved 
 for hersel£
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 ONCE MORE IN THE PORCH TOGETHER. 
 
 Once more, in the balmy spring-time, tliey stood in the porch 
 together, MarceHno and Magdalen. The storms of winter had passed 
 over, again the trees clothed themselves in brilliant green, again the 
 shrubs decked themselves with flowers, and all nature rejoiced in the 
 renewal of life and strength. Together they stood in the porch, look- 
 ing out into the mellow sunshine, she leaning upon his arm with happy 
 confidence, with a sweet sense of ownership, for she was his wife. 
 
 Seated in an easy-chair under the shade of the trees, with the soft 
 wind playing round him and tossing lightly about the scant white hairs 
 which lay upon his temples, sat an old, old man. Don Alfonso 
 had sur\ived his illness, but he rose from his bed older by apparently 
 twenty years, since the night when Magdalen had found him lying on 
 the floor of his room beside the brass-bound coffer, from which his 
 treasure had been stolen. He might yet live long, although the zest 
 of life had gone from him, leaving him only a monotonous, aimless 
 existence, but he had now both a son and a daughter to watch over 
 the comforts of his declining years. He accepted their attentions, 
 passively submitting himself to their care, and seeming happy, though 
 taking no niterest in anything that went on around. Still his eye 
 would brighten as they spoke to him of the devastation and ruin which 
 had fallen upon Spain, and of the success which attended the measures 
 of the new Junta of Buenos Aires. One clay he asked Marcelino for 
 $1000, a sum which it was no easy matter for Marcelino to procure, 
 and he was curious to know what it was required for, but for days the 
 old man would do nothing except repeat his demand, till Marcelino 
 promised him that he should have the money. Then he rubbed his 
 hands together, saying — 
 
 " Such a good stroke, it should be well paid." 
 
 " What stroke, papa ? " said Magdalen. 
 
 " That man who saved Don Carlos and killed that traitorous 
 Spaniard." 
 
 Then IMarcelino gave him the money, and he locked it up himself 
 in the black coffer, till Venceslao Viana should come back and receive 
 the gift from his own hands. Magdalen sighed as she saw that her 
 father had not yet fully learned the lesson of forgiveness, but to Mar- 
 celino she spoke only of his gratitude. 
 
 Together they stood in the porch, watching the old man as he sat 
 under the trees, looking out into the mellow sunshine, thinking of 
 troubles past, fearing little for troubles to come, confident that their
 
 LIBERTY. 409 
 
 mutual faith and trust, would bear them through whatever trials might 
 yet be in store for them. 
 
 " You have not told me if you have been successful," said Magdalen. 
 
 " I have had no difficulty at all," replied Marcelino. " My father 
 can come back and remain here as long as he chooses, but I fear there 
 is little chance of his remaining long, I fear he has made up his mind 
 to return to Spain, and will take ray mother and Lola with him." 
 
 " And is Dona Constancia willing to go ? " 
 
 " Yes, she is even anxious ; she dreads nothing so much as that my 
 father should take an active part in the hostile measures of the 
 Spaniards of Monte Video. Dolores rejoices at the idea." 
 
 " That I can understand very well," said Magdalen, smiling. 
 
 " She was always more a Spaniard than a Porteha," said Marcelino. 
 " Though she does not say anything to me, yet I know she sorrows 
 over me as a hopeless rebel. When my father returns I think that 
 both she and my mother will come to see you." 
 
 " Does she ever speak of Don Carlos Evaha ? " 
 
 " Yes, and you would be surprised to hear her. She will not allow 
 any one to say a word against him. She calls the execution of IMarshal 
 Liniers a foul murder, but is angry when any one says that he had 
 anything to do with it. She says she knows that it was for quite 
 another purpose that he joined the army." 
 
 " Yet every one says that he went only to pursue Marshal Liniers. 
 Don Fausto says that when he marched from Arrecifes he was not in 
 pursuit of Major Asneiros, but of some one else, and that he had false 
 information that Don Santiago Liniers was with the mutineers." 
 
 " One thing is certain, that he went away after the fight on Pico's 
 estancia with twenty men, and that nothing was known of him for 
 more than a week after, but Marshal Liniers was at that time in 
 Cordova." 
 
 " Do you think it is true that he sat on the court-martial ? " 
 
 " Of that there is no doubt. My uncle Gregorio refused, and they 
 named him instead. Dr. Castelli told me that, when he returned." 
 
 " Is that the reason why Don Gregorio came back anei left the 
 command of the regiment to Don Carlos ? " 
 
 " I believe so, but I have not seen my uncle since, he only remained 
 one night in the city." 
 
 " When you write to Don Carlos do not forget to tell him that Don 
 Roderigo is going to Spain, and will take Doha Constancia and Lola 
 with him," said Magdalen. 
 
 " I will not forget," replied Marcelino. 
 
 Spring drew on towards summer; everywhere the patriot arms 
 carried everything before them. Goyeneche, general-in-chief of the 
 Spanish armies of the Viceroyalty of Peru, maddened by repeated 
 defeats and the loss of some of his most trusted officers, gathered his 
 forces together for one last effort to retrieve the cause of Spain in the 
 late Viceroyalty of Buenos Aires, of which he, a Peruvian, was the 
 champion. The fight was fierce and bloody ; tlie cavalry of Diaz 
 Velez, charging with true Argentine impetuosity, broke through the 
 lines of the partidarios of Peru, and scattered them in hopeless
 
 410 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 confusion ; the infantry of Buenos Aires, pressing on through showers 
 of grape and musketry, stormed witli the bayonet the centre of the 
 Spanish position, but, broken by their rapid advance, their ranks in 
 disorder, they here found themselves opposed by a regiment of Spanish 
 infantry, which had been kept in reserve, and wliose steady fire mowed 
 down their men by scores. Diaz Velez was far off; to retreat was 
 utter ruin, to re-form the cokmin under this murderous fire was impos- 
 sible. Already the signs of panic were visible, soldiers throwing down 
 their arms and seeking shelter, officers running w'ildly about, striving 
 to collect their men and make some reply to the volleys which shattered 
 each rank as it was formed. One young officer seized a standard, and 
 waving it over his head, calling upon his men to follow him, rushed 
 upon the levelled muskets of the Spaniards, who, in close ranks and 
 steady as on parade, loaded and fired with the rapidity only acquired 
 by long practice ; alone he stood unflinchingly, under a tempest of 
 balls, which tore the flag he held into streamers, and shattered the 
 shaft till it fell in pieces in his hands. Other Spanish corps began to 
 rally on the flanks of the patriot column ; all seemed lost, when 
 through the smoke and dust a small band of horsemen came rushing 
 at full gallop, and hurled themselves upon that serried line of infantry. 
 At their head rode a tall man with pale olive features and high square 
 forehead, who neither waved his sword nor shouted, but, taking his 
 bridle in both hands and plying his spurs, forced his horse into the 
 thickest of the levelled bayonets ; he never looked behind, but rode 
 straight on, knowing that those who followed his lead, would follow it 
 to the death. With wild shouts his troopers galloped close behind, 
 and their sabres drank deep of Spanish blood that day. 
 
 The murderous fire was stopped, the panic was at an end, his men 
 answered to the voice of the young officer, who again called upon 
 them to rally to the standard, the ranks were re-formed, the patriot 
 column rushed on, and the field of Suipacha was won, 
 
 " Major Evaha," said General Balcarce, as he strained that officer 
 in his arms, when covered with blood and dust he retired from the 
 hard-fought field, " to you our country owes the greatest victory she 
 has yet achieved. The enemy is totally routed, to-morrow there will 
 not remain one armed foeman on Argentine soil." 
 
 " Not to me alone," said Evaha ; " let me ask you a favour for a 
 young ofticer, who did even more than me to-day." 
 
 Evaha stepping back laid his hand upon the shoulder of a young 
 officer of the Patricios, and continued — 
 
 " You have granted me leave of absence, let Don Evaristo Ponce 
 de Leon accompany me, he will be back ere you have need for him 
 again." 
 
 " He shall carry my despatches for me to the Junta," replied 
 General Balcarce, " and shall carry his shattered flag-shaft with hnn 
 as a proof of the gallantry of the youth of Buenos Aires," 
 
 The year 1810 drew near to its close; a few days more and 18 10 
 was merely a date in the past, a date replete with memories both sad 
 and joyful to many of those whose lives and deeds have furnished the 
 materials for this book.
 
 LIBERTY. 411 
 
 In the roadstead of Buenos Aires there lay a noble ship, with 
 anchor apeak, sails hanging in the brails, the blue-and-white flag, 
 signal of departure, flying from the truck of the fore-mast. On the 
 quarter-deck of this ship were collected several of those of whom 
 we have just spoken. Over them floated the flag of England, under 
 whose shelter political animosities were forgotten, and the close ties 
 of relationship and of friendship were once more acknowledged. 
 
 Don Roderigo Ponce de Leon had settled his affairs in Buenos 
 Aires, and shaking off the dust from his feet, was on his way to 
 Europe ; rending asunder the liens which bound him to the country 
 of his adoption, he turned himself again to the country which had 
 given him birth, detennined to devote the rest of his life to her 
 service. But he went not alone, with him went his wife and daugh- 
 ter, and he said to himself that he had yet a son left, who, uninfected 
 with the heresies of the present age, was still a loyal child of Spain. 
 Yet as the moment of departure drew nigh his heart yearned towards 
 the son who had at one time been his pride, his anger towards him 
 melted away, and forcing himself to forget the present and the im- 
 mediate past, he talked only to him of the future ; talked to him of the 
 day when Ferdinand of Bourbon, reinstated on the throne of Spain, 
 should re-establish his authority over his subjects in America who yet 
 acknowledged their allegiance to him, and, grateful for their past 
 loyalty and devotion, should forgive their present disloyalty to Spain. 
 
 Side by side he and Marcelino paced the deck together. Marce- 
 lino, deeply grateful for the love his father yet displayed to him, seiz- 
 ing eagerly at any topic of conversation in which he could agree with 
 him, and speaking confidently of the day as not far distant, when 
 Spain and her colonies should again be united under one sceptre. 
 
 " You have forgiven me, my father/' said he. " God bless you for 
 it. "When you are far away, and in your own country are striving to 
 substitute the will of an entire people for the tyranny of a kw, when 
 you establish a cortes at Cadiz, and so direct the valour of a noble 
 people, fighting for rulers in whom they can trust, that this unbroken 
 series of defeats shall be changed into one of victories, till not a 
 Frenchman tread the soil of Spain, then, father, you will do me jus- 
 tice. Buenos Aires is my country, as Spain is yours ; what I have 
 done for Buenos Aires you will do for Spain, and under free institu- 
 tions, Spain and her colonies shall all acknowledge one king." 
 
 Then as Don Roderigo answered nothing, but paced the deck with 
 a flush of pride on his face as he thouglit of down-trodden Spain, and 
 of the future wliich lay before him, should he contribute to her certain 
 triumph, Marcelino continued— 
 
 " You have forgiven me, my father, there is one here to whom you 
 owe no forgiveness, who has never wronged you, and who, if you love 
 me, has every claim upon your love also, for she is your daughter, 
 father, you have never sj)oken to Magdalen, she is my wife, and only 
 waits permission to share with me, all the love and respect I have for 
 you. Father, will you not speak to Magdalen ? May I not bring her 
 to you, and will you not l)]e8s lier for my sake if not for her own ? " 
 
 " Magdalen ! Your wife ! Yes, let me see her," replied Don 
 Roderigo.
 
 412 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 Apart from the others, sitting by Dona Constancia and soothing 
 her sorrow witli many gentle words, was Magdalen Miranda, who had 
 already found in Doha Constancia a second mother, and had learned 
 to love her dearly, only to lose her. Marcelino went up to her, and 
 taking her hand in his said — 
 
 " Come, Magdalen." 
 
 And Magdalen knew why he spoke, for her eyes had followed him 
 wherever he had gone, and her heart was with him in its one hope, 
 that Marcelino's father might yet bless her and call her his daughter 
 ere they parted, never to meet again. 
 
 She rose, and with her hand in his, walked with him to where Don 
 Roderigo stood awaiting them. Don Roderigo raised his hat, bow- 
 ing to her with courtly politeness, but without speaking, till seeing 
 the yearning look in her gray eyes, eyes which reminded him so much 
 of those of his own daughter, Lola, he forgot that she was the daugh- 
 ter of the man whose life he had blasted, of the man who had ruined 
 for him his hopes when life was at its brightest, he saw in her only 
 the wife whom his son loved ; opening his arms he took her to his 
 breast and kissed her, then raising his hand he laid it upon her head 
 and blessed her, calling her his daughter, and thanking her for the 
 happiness she had brought into the life of his son. 
 
 Taking her hand he led her to a seat, and seating himself beside 
 her began talking to her, questioning her much concerning herself, 
 and listening with ever-increasing pleasure to the sound of her voice, 
 which fell upon his ear with the melody of soft music. 
 
 Marcelino sat beside his mother with her hand in his, trying to 
 speak cheerfully to her of the future time when they should meet 
 again, and Dolores, flitting to and fro, kept the others from approach- 
 ing these two couples, so as to prolong for them the few minutes they 
 might yet have together. 
 
 " Here he comes at last," said a voice. 
 
 It was the English captain who arrived in a boat from shore, for 
 his arrival alone the ship was waiting. As he set his foot upon the 
 deck, the boom of a gun drew all eyes towards the distant city, then 
 there came the boom of another gun, then another. 
 
 " The guns are firing from the fort, papa," said Dolores, and as she 
 spoke, the continued roar of the guns came to them mingled with the 
 joyful clash of bells, coming to them with a softened sound across the 
 wide waste of water which separated them from the land, 
 
 " What is it ? " asked several, of the English captain. 
 
 " They have just received news of a great victory somewhere in the 
 north," replied he ; " they were making no end of a hullabuUoo about 
 it when I left." 
 
 " Oh I my son ! my son ! " cried Doha Constancia, when these 
 words were translated to her, " I shall never see Evaristo again ; but 
 he could not know, poor boy ! " and she covered her face with her 
 hands. 
 
 But her son was nearer to her than she thought. In the wake^of 
 the captain's boat came another, swiftly propelled by six stout oars- 
 men. As it drew near, it was seen to contain two passengers, whose 
 eyes eagerly scanned the row of faces peering over the bulwarks at
 
 LIBERTY. 413 
 
 them. Both were in uniform, but in uniforms travel-stained and sun- 
 browned. 
 
 '' Evaristo ! " said Dolores, with a cry of joy. 
 
 " And Evana," echoed Marcelino. 
 
 Hardly had the boat touched the side, ere the younger officer, 
 springing lightly up the ladder, stood on the deck looking eagerly 
 about him, then bursting from those who pressed round him with 
 congratulations and many questioning words, he ran to where his 
 mother sat, even yet barely comprehending what she heard. 
 
 " Mamita ! " he said, clasping her in his arms. 
 
 Leaving mother and son together, the rest crowded round Evana, 
 pressing his hands and listening eagerly, as he told them of the great 
 victory which had freed Argentine soil from the footstep of a foe. 
 Even Don Roderigo, forgetful of all else, came up to him, and taking 
 his hand, listened with a father's pride, to the words in which Evana 
 spoke of the gallantry displayed by his youngest son, attributing to 
 him more than to any other, the glories of Suipacha. 
 
 Evana spoke with head erect, he stood among them with the 
 bearing of a conqueror, he felt that the dream of his life was rapidly 
 approaching its full accomplishment. Though he spoke but little of 
 his own deeds, he knew that had he not marched from Cordova with 
 the army of the north, the victories which had crowned the standards 
 of the patriots, had never been won. He it was who had infused 
 determination into the counsels of the chiefs ; he it was who had set 
 his foot with ruthless energy upon every attempt to shackle in any 
 way the authority of the Junta ; he it was who had interpreted to them 
 the orders of that Junta, and had dared to trample in the dust the 
 standard of Spain, when upheld by those who equally with the Junta 
 claimed to rule by the authority of King Ferdinand. 
 
 Evana spoke proudly and haughtily as a free citizen of a free 
 people, but as he spoke, his eye wandered from them who hung upon 
 his words, wandered unceasingly, till his gaze fell at last upon her he 
 sought, his eye had found Dolores, seated at some distance from him 
 with her mother and Evaristo ; then his voice fiiltered, and he 
 answered at random the questions which were put to him. 
 
 " And General Nieto, is it true that he fell in some action ? " asked 
 Don Roderigo. 
 
 " No," replied Evana fiercely, " I took him prisoner. Two file of 
 grenadiers and a priest, you remember his counsel to Marshal Liniers, 
 such mercy as he would have shown to me, such mercy I gave to 
 him." 
 
 Then, heedless of more questions, he made his way through them, 
 and walking up to Doha Constancia took her hand and raised it to 
 his lips. 
 
 " Oh, Carlos, how good you have been to my son," said Doha 
 Constancia. " If you had not brought him, he could not have come, 
 and I should have gone away without seeing him." 
 
 " He might have been here before," said Evana, " but Evaristo is a 
 brave soldier, and his country could not spare him on the eve of a 
 battle. I never told him you were going till the fight was over." 
 
 "I never saw any one in such a hurry to finish a fight," said
 
 414 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 Evaristo ; " but for Viana he would have been killed twice over. 
 Then when all was over he told me and we have galloped ever since." 
 
 " Don Carlos, I am so glad you have come," said Dolores, putting 
 her hand in his. 
 
 Evana tlrew her away from the others to a vacant corner behind 
 the wheel, where they stood side by side, looking together at the 
 shore. 
 
 " You are glad to see me, Lola," said Evaha. 
 
 Dolores started and her face was troubled as he spoke to her by 
 this name, which he had never used but once before during all their 
 long friendship, but quickly recovering herself she answered — 
 
 " Yes, so glad. You have been a true friend to me and mine, I 
 have so much to thank you for, you managed it all so well. No one 
 knows here that papa went with the mutineers, no one, not even 
 mamma or Marcelino." 
 
 " I told you that I would be your friend, Lola, I have kept my 
 word and you have kept yours. I have left the army and come here 
 on purpose to see you once more, I have come to ask you to give 
 me yet one promise." 
 
 " Tell me, you have only to ask me, I will promise what you wish." 
 
 " Listen first. You see that fair city stretched white and smiling, 
 with its towers and glistening domes, before us on the shore. That 
 city is the city of your birthplace, this country which you leave behind 
 you to-day is your country. You are going to Spain, you love Spain 
 because Spain is your father's country, when you have lived in 
 Spain you will know better what Spain is. I am glad you are going, 
 but some day you will come back, and to make sure that you do 
 come back, I want you to make me one promise, the promise I have 
 come here to ask from you. Promise me that you will never forget 
 the land of your birth, promise me that you will never forget that you 
 are a Portena." 
 
 " I will promise," said Dolores, " I can make that promise very 
 easily, for I am a Portena. I love Spain as you say, because it is 
 papa's country, but I am a Portena." 
 
 " Away across the ocean in the land to which you are going there 
 is a gallant soldier, whose heart will beat with a wild joy when he 
 hears that you tread the same soil as he. Some day you will be his 
 wife, Lola, remember then that your country is his also. He has 
 promised us, he has promised me and Marcelino, that when his own 
 country no longer needs his sword, he will come and join us, and 
 will fight beside us till the independence of your country and my 
 country is secure." 
 
 Dolores flushed scarlet, her hand trembled as it lay in Evana's firm 
 grasp, and she answered hurriedly — 
 
 " But the war is over, is it not ? After this great victory there will 
 be no more fighting?" 
 
 " The war is but commencing," replied Evana ; " so long as Spain 
 holds one foot of ground on American soil, our independence is not 
 
 I 
 
 secure." 
 
 The white sails came fluttering down from the brails where they 
 hung in festoons, the monotonous clank of the capstan ceased, the
 
 LIBERTY. 415 
 
 cheery cr}^ of the sailors announced that the a:ichor was aboard, and 
 the noble ship, swinging round, spread her wings to the wind. No 
 longer an inert mass Ipng lifeless on the waters, she became a thing 
 of life, and cleaving her way through the dancing waves, began her 
 voyage back to Europe, bearing within her the mingled joys and 
 sorrows, hopes and cares, which make a ship a small epitome of the 
 world. 
 
 " Remember ! " said Evaha to Dolores, then bending over her he 
 pressed his lips upon her forehead and so left her. 
 
 Again they stood in the porch together, Marcelino and IVIagdalen. 
 Evana had just left them, and the evening breeze tossed about the 
 branches of the trees which had waved over hmi as he disappeared, 
 going from them with his heart full of proud hopes of which he had 
 eloquently spoken to them, going forth into a life such as he had 
 planned out for himself long ago, a life full of proud hopes and high 
 resolves, a busy, turbulent life, the life of a politician in a young 
 democracy. They stood in the porch together, and through the 
 evening air came again to them, as it had come to them in the 
 morning across the waste of waters, the loud boom of the cannon, 
 the joyful clangour of the bells. 
 
 " Again ! " said Magdalen. " Have they not made noise enough 
 over Suipacha ? " 
 
 "Again," replied Marcelino, "but for another cause; this is to 
 celebrate another victory. Belgrano has forced the passage of the 
 Parana, and the army of Velazco has tied before him. Everywhere 
 the Junta is victorious." 
 
 So joyously and gloriously ended the year iSio, with the booming 
 of cannon and the loud clangour of the bells. So, decking her brows 
 right early with the laurel leaves of victory, there rose up in the New 
 World a new nation. As a young man, glorying in his strength, re- 
 joices in the difficulties and dangers which beset his path, so Buenos 
 Aires, recking nothing of the toils and dangers she entailed upon her- 
 self, set her hand zealously to the task she had undertaken, scorning 
 to count the cost of the great work she purposed to accomplish. 
 Manumission from the thraldom of a tyrant is purchased by the lives 
 of men, and Buenos Aires sent forth her best and her bravest to bear 
 the standard of freedom in the fore-front of the battle. Over the 
 whole continent of South America the sun of May rose resplendent, 
 awakening enslaved peoples from the sloth in which they wallowed, 
 calling upon them to claim their place among the nations. 
 
 " Then there will be no more fighting now," said Magdalen ; " the 
 authority of the Junta is established." 
 
 " That I cannot tell," said Marcelino ; " but one truth I know, 
 which you have taught me, that he who works out zealously tlie life- 
 task which God gives him to do, need fear nothing that may befall him 
 in the future — as his day is so will his strength be."
 
 GENERAL EPILOGUE. 
 
 E E
 
 GENERAL EPILOGUE. 
 
 I.— THE VICEROYALTY OF BUENOS AIRES. 
 
 The Spanish colonies of La Plata were, from the conquest up to the 
 year 1776, annexed to the Viceroyalty of Peru, but in that year, the 
 same in which the revolted colonies of Great Britain declared them- 
 selves an independent republic, King Charles IIL of Spain created 
 by royal edict the Viceroyalty of Buenos Aires. 
 
 " Its limits extended from ten and a half degrees south latitude to 
 Tierra del Fuego, and from the Cordillera of the Andes to the hills 
 from whence flow the upper affluents of the Paraguay, Parana, and 
 Uruguay ; this immense line terminating at the opening where the 
 Rio Grande de San Pedro falls into the sea. This territory, equal to 
 a quarter part of the whole of South America, comprehended the 
 most beautiful fluvial system of the world, and might compete in 
 fertility, riches, and natural beauties with the finest empire of the 
 universe. It contained within its limits six out of the seven climates 
 into which Humboldt has divided the globe — from the region where 
 bloom the cinnamon and the spice-trees to far beyond the agricultural 
 countries ; thus it produced all that man requires for his sustenance, 
 comfort, and delight." ^ 
 
 The first Viceroy, Don Pedro de Ceballos, landed at Buenos Aires 
 on the 15th October, 1777 ; the last actual Viceroy was deposed by 
 the people of Buenos Aires on the 25th May, iSio. 
 
 The Viceroyalty of Buenos Aires was divided into several provinces 
 and '* intendencias," which later on became provinces. Of the Vice- 
 royalty Buenos Aires was the capital city, being the seat of the Vice- 
 regal government, and the general residence of the Viceroy. The 
 province of Buenos Aires was thus under the immediate rule of the 
 Viceroy. The other provinces were ruled by governors appointed 
 by him, but were in their internal administration, com} letely inde- 
 pendent of Buenos Aires. 
 
 The Spanish colonial system, not only prohibited direct commercial 
 intercourse with foreign nations, but also imposed great restrictions 
 upon the intercourse of the several provinces with each other, the aim 
 of Spanish rule, being to secure the dependence of each separate 
 colony upon herself. 
 
 The whole of these provinces were independent colonies, bound 
 together only by their common allegiance to Spain, under the rule of 
 one Viceroy. The conquest of Spain by Napoleon destroyed the 
 only bond whicli held these provinces together. 
 
 ' " La Ilisturia do la Republica Argentina," by Don Luis Jose Dominguez.
 
 420 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 The several events which followed the capture of Buenos Aires by 
 Beresford in tlie year 1806, and which it is the object of this book to 
 elucidate, gradually raised the citizens of Buenos Aires from a state 
 of blind subservience to Spanish rule, taught them their strength, and 
 accustomed them to criticize the acts of their rulers. Thus the revo- 
 lution of the 25th May, 18 10, was nothing more to them than the 
 spontaneous outburst of popular will, a will which they had already 
 exercised on previous occasions with most glorious results. But the 
 provinces had undergone no sucla training. Thus, when the concjuest 
 of Spain was apparently complete, and the whole Viceroyalty was left 
 without any legal authority, the citizens of Buenos Aires did not hesi- 
 tate as to what they should do. They saw at once that the appoint- 
 ment of a new government rested with themselves, and, taking such 
 means of expressing their will as they had already in other cases found 
 efficient, they named the Junta Gubernativa. But upon the provinces 
 the news of the conquest of Spain fell as a thunderbolt. The fall of 
 Spain left them at the mercy of any ruler who should call upon them 
 to obey. 
 
 Such was the condition of the masses of the Argentine people on 
 the 25th May, iSio, but both in Buenos Aires and in the provincial 
 cities, there was a small minority of educated men who had learned 
 and had accepted with eagerness, the principles inculcated by the 
 revolutionary leaders of France. " Le Contrat Social " and " Les 
 Droits de I'Homme " were for these men the gospel.^ It was they 
 who directed the popular enthusiasm of Buenos Aires to one definite 
 object, the establishment of a Junta composed for the most part of 
 men of Argentine birth ; it was they who throughout the provinces 
 echoed the cry of " Liberty " raised by the patriots of the capital. 
 
 11. — THE YEAR 1 8 10. 
 
 " The new government lost no time in propagating the revolution 
 throughout the Viceroyalty, inviting the towns to follow the example 
 of Buenos Aires, to appoint popular assemblies, and to name deputies 
 to form a congress, which should decide their future fate. Where the 
 people were free to express their opinions the vote was unanimous. 
 Maldonado and Colonia, in the Banda Oriental ; Las Misiones and 
 Corrientes, La Bajada and Santa Fe, along the rivers ; San Luis, in 
 the interior of the Pampas ; Mendoza and San Juan, at the foot of 
 the Andes ; Salta and Tucuman, on the confines of LTpper Peru, 
 answered the call of the capital ; Chili soon afterwards following the 
 same example." ^ 
 
 The revolution of the 25th May, 1810, was the work exclusively of 
 the citizens of Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires took upon herself the 
 responsibility of the step, and spared neither blood nor treasure to 
 secure to herself and to the Argentine people, that liberty which she 
 was the first to ])roclaim in South America as the birthright of man. 
 Throughout the provinces there were many friendly to the cause, but 
 
 1 Mitre. 
 2 " La Historia de Belgrano," by General Mitre, from which work the dates and 
 facts of this Epilogue are chiefly taken.
 
 - THE YEAR iSlO. 42 1 
 
 there were also many who were not so, and more still who looked on 
 with perfect apathy, and were ready to accept as their rulers any who 
 might claim the sceptre which had fallen from the hands of Spain. 
 
 To secure the triumph of her friends, Buenos Aires fitted out an 
 army composed of volunteers, equipped by private subscription, and 
 despatched it into the provinces. From Cordova this army marched 
 to the borders of Upper Peru, under the command of Don Antonio 
 Balcarce, defeated Goyeneche and other Spanish generals in several 
 actions, shot General Nieto and other chiefs, and completely freed 
 the Arribeno provinces from Spanish rule. The revolution advanced 
 in every direction, Chili entered into strict alliance with the Junta of 
 Buenos Aires, and sent a contingent of troops, and the auxiliary army, 
 again victorious at Suipacha, menaced with destruction the last rem- 
 nants of the Spanish army of Upper Peru. 
 
 A second expedition was also depatched to Paraguay under the 
 command of Don INIanuel Belgrano, who received the grade of 
 general. Belgrano crossed the Parana on the 19th December, put- 
 ting to flight a small force under Colonel Thompson, which opposed 
 his passage, and occupied the town of Itapua. 
 
 But there was one exception to this general success which attended 
 the tirst measures of the Revolutionary Junta. General Don Francisco 
 Elio, Governor of Monte Video under the late Viceroy Cisneros, was 
 appointed in his place Viceroy of Buenos Aires by the new Regency 
 of Cadiz. Until the receipt of this appointment, Elio had given a 
 favourable hearing to the emissaries of the Junta Gubernativa, but he 
 now insisted upon their recognition of his authority, and, finding his 
 friendly overtures rejected, declared war against Buenos Aires, and 
 despatched the Spanish squadron to blockade that port. The 
 authority of Spain was for a time re-established throughout the Banda 
 Oriental, but the blockade of Buenos Aires, after lasting three months, 
 was raised in November, through the intervention of Lord Strangford, 
 who considered the Junta Gubernativa, who ruled in the name of 
 King Ferdinand, as the allies of Great Britam. 
 
 So ended the year 18 10. During the seven months which had 
 elapsed since the revolution of the 2 5th^j\Iay, many reforms had been 
 introduced into the administration, chiefly through the influence of 
 Dr. Don Mariano Moreno, secretary to the Junta Gubernativa, but 
 even his far-seeing intellect did not fully comprehend the magnitude 
 of the task Buenos Aires had taken upon herself 
 
 The first aim of the patriots was to procure the concurrence of all 
 the different provinces of the Viceroyalty. The next necessity was 
 to organize some entirely new form of government, which should 
 amalgamate these different provinces into one people. The history 
 of the Argentine Republic for the next six years, is the record of 
 struggles for these two objects, and of resistance against the attempts 
 of Spain to re-establish her authority. 
 
 The cry of " Liberty " raised in Buenos Aires on the 25th May, 
 18 ID, had resounded throughout the Western Hemisphere, awakening 
 responsive echoes in the hearts of the down-trodden colonists of 
 Spain. Venezuela and Mexico had arisen against their oppressors, 
 Chili had declared for the revolution, Peru alone remained faithful to
 
 422 ' PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 Spain, and Peruvian troops marched under the Spanish flag against 
 the patriot armies of Buenos Aires. But in Buenos Aires only had 
 the cliampions of Hberty any secure footing, to Buenos Aires alone 
 could the enslaved peoples of America look for the full achievement 
 of their freedom. 
 
 III. PARAGUAY. 
 
 Paraguay had suffered more than any other province of the Vice- 
 royalty from the tyrannical exactions of Spanish rulers, but the rule of 
 Velazco, the then governor, was extremely popular, and General 
 Belgrano with his small army, instead of meeting with a friendly 
 reception, found the whole country in arms against the Porteiios; the 
 country people tied before him, driving off their horses and cattle, 
 leaving nothing behind them that could in any way assist his progress, 
 but without venturin" to molest him. 
 
 Through forests and swamps Belgrano forced his way with infinite 
 labour to within eighteen leagues of Asuncion, where, at Paraguary, on 
 the 19th January, 181 1, he with 800 men attacked the Paraguayan 
 arm\- under Velazco, which numbered 9000. The impetuous valour 
 of the volunteers at first carried all before them, but, disordered by 
 success, one part of them was surrounded by overwhelming numbers 
 and cut to i)ieces, and the rest under the immediate command of 
 Belgrano were forced to retire. On the banks of the Tacuari, Belgrano 
 halted with the remnant of his small army, was there attacked by a 
 pursuing column of 3000 men, repulsed them, and then offered to 
 retire across the Parank if allowed to march unmolested, saying it was 
 not his object to conquer Paraguay. 
 
 In a lengthened conference Belgrano fully explained his views to 
 the Paraguayan generals and officers, his proposition was accepted, he 
 recrossed the Parana, but the object of his expedition was achieved. 
 Soon after his retreat the Paraguayans rose against their Spanish 
 rulers, deposed them, and placed the government in the hands of a 
 trium\irate of natives. Of this triumvirate Dr. Francia, a lawyer of 
 Asuncion, was the leader, a man of considerable mental attainments 
 and of great suavity of address, but withal of an iron will and of a 
 most ruthless disposition. Before long he had made himself the sole 
 ruler of Paraguay, and presently, seeing that anarchy was gradually 
 spreading over the other provinces of the late Viceroyalty, he cut oft" 
 all intercourse between Paraguay and the rest of the world. 
 
 IV. THE BANDA ORIENTAL. 
 
 Early in 181 1 the campaha of the Banda Oriental rose in rebellion 
 against the Spanish Viceroy ; the Junta of Buenos Aires sent an army 
 to aid the movement. To Belgrano, recalled from the frontiers 
 of Paraguay, was entrusted at first the command of this army, but 
 he was soon superseded by General Rondeau, who was by birth an 
 Oriental. 
 
 Jose Artigas had commenced life as an estanciero, and had obtained 
 great fame and influence among the paisanos of the Banda Oriental, 
 till the Government of Monte Video, finding themselves unable other-
 
 PARAGUAY. — THE BANDA ORIENTAL. 423 
 
 wise to put a stop to depredations upon the revenue, entrusted him 
 with the task of suppressing contraband trade; his influence with the 
 paisanage became greater than ever. In February, 181 1, he put 
 himself at the head of the popular outbreak, marched with his 
 " gauchos " upon Monte Video, won the first victory of the war at 
 Las Piedras, and then, joining the army of Rondeau, assisted him in 
 laying siege to Monte Video. 
 
 The Princess Carlota of Brazil sent an army of 4000 Portuguese in 
 aid of the Viceroy. Then peace was made in November, 181 1, but 
 Avas of no long duration. Jose Artigas took umbrage at the slow 
 retreat of the Portuguese, and made war upon them with his light 
 cavalry on his own account. Again the Government of Buenos Aires 
 sent an army to aid him, and secured the retreat of the Portuguese by 
 concluding a separate peace with them, after which, in October, 18 12, 
 Rondeau again laid siege to Monte Video. 
 
 On the 31st December the garrison sallied out, under the command 
 of Vigodet, who had succeeded Elio in command, and attacked the 
 principal position of the besiegers at the Cerrito. The sortie was at 
 first successful, but the day was retrieved by the gallantry of Colonel 
 Soler, who with the 6th regiment recaptured the Cerrito at the point 
 of the bayonet, and drove the garrison back with heavy loss into the 
 city. 
 
 After this, Artigas left the whole work of the siege to the Portehos, 
 named himself the military (jovernor of the Banda Oriental, and sent 
 deputies chosen by himself to the " Constituent Assembly " of Buenos 
 Aires. The assembly refused to admit his deputies, on the ground 
 that they were not legally elected ; whereupon Artigas declared war 
 against Buenos Aires, and sent emissaries into Entre Rios, Corrientes, 
 and Santa Fe, seeking to stir up the people of those provinces against 
 the " Government of the Portehos." 
 
 At this time, the Government of Spain sent out to Monte Video a 
 reinforcement of 2200 men. Thus, when in January, 18 14, Don Ger- 
 vacio Posadas was appointed Supreme Director of the united provinces, 
 he found himself with two wars upon his hands in the Banda Oriental. 
 The Argentine army, aided by Artigas, had been unable to capture 
 Monte Video, the garrison of that city was now much stronger than 
 before, and Artigas was actively engaged in cutting off the supplies of 
 the besieging army. Don Juan de Larrea, a Spaniard by birth, and 
 one of the members of the Junta Gubernativa appointed on the 25th 
 May, 1 8 10, was the man to whom belongs the credit of overcoming 
 these difticulties. Up to this time the Spanish fleet had held the 
 command of the estuary of La Plata ; the Government of Buenos Aires, 
 inspired by Larrea, now fitted out some small merchant vessels as 
 men-of-war, and, placing them under the command of an Irishman 
 named William Brown, determined to dis[)ute this supremacy. 
 
 The Spanish fleet was at that time divided into two squadrons, one 
 stationed at Martin Garcia, an island which commands the entrance 
 to the rivers Uruguay and Parana, the other stationed at Monte Video. 
 Brown sailed in the first place against Martin Garcia, but was beaten 
 off by the Spanish squadron with heavy loss. He returned to Buenos 
 Aires for the purpose of refitting and procuring reinforcements, after
 
 424 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 wliich lie ngain approached the island, and, landing his crews, captured 
 it on the i6th March, 1S14. The Spanish squadron lied up the Uru- 
 guay, and placed themselves under the protection of Josr Artigas. 
 
 Brown then sailed for Monte Video, attacked the Spanish squadron 
 there on the 14th May, and after a desperate conflict against very 
 superior numbers, gained a complete victory, and blockaded the city. 
 
 On tlie Stli May General Alvear crossed the river from Buenos 
 Aires with 3000 men, and with this reinforcement took command of 
 the besieging army. On the 20th June Monte Video, closely invested 
 by land and sea, surrendered. The trophies of this victory were 3500 
 prisoners, eight standards, 545 guns, and 8200 muskets. 
 
 Artigas, on hearing of the surrender, immediately advanced upon 
 Monte Video, but his lieutenant, Otorguez, a caudillo of infamous 
 repute, was twice defeated by a small force detached against him 
 under the command of Colonel Dorrego, but Dorrego was in his turn 
 completely defeated at Guayabo by Don Fructuoso Rivera, in conse- 
 quence of which, the Government of the united provinces entered into 
 an arrangement with Artigas. On the 24th February, 18 15, Artigas 
 took peaceable possession of Monte Video, the Argentine army returned 
 to Buenos Aires, and the Banda Oriental became an independent state. 
 
 V. THE ARMY OF UPPER PERU. 
 
 The auxiliary army of the north after its first successes, took the name 
 of " the army of Upper Peru," and, under the command of Colonel 
 Diaz Velez, penetrated victoriously to the confines of the province of 
 Cuzco, but was on the 20th June, 181 1, surprised by Goyeneche at the 
 Desaguadero and totally routed. The remains of the army, under the 
 command of Don Juan Martin Puyrredon, made good their retreat, in 
 defiance of all the efforts of the Spaniards to stop them, to the city of 
 Salta. Here Puyrredon and Diaz Velez again attempted to make 
 head against the enemy, but their vanguard was defeated at Nazareno 
 and they were compelled to retreat upon Tucuman. On the march 
 they were joined' by General Belgrano, who had been recalled by 
 Government from the Banda Oriental and appointed to the command 
 of this army, at the request of General Puyrredon, whose health was 
 much shattered by the hardships through which he had passed. 
 
 On the 26th March, 18 12, Belgrano took the command of the army 
 of Upper Peru, which was no longer an army but a disorganized, half- 
 armed mob, with a very small supply of ammunition, consisting of 
 barely 1500 men, one fourth of whom were sick. The retreat of 
 Goyeneche gave him time to form an army on the basis of this rem- 
 nant : again he advanced into the neighbourhood of Salta. Govern- 
 ment, too much occupied by the war in the Banda Oriental to send 
 him any effective reinforcement, sent him positive orders to retreat to 
 Cordova. To these orders he paid no attention, till Goyeneche, after 
 quelling an insurrection in Cochabamba, despatched General Tristan 
 with an army of 3000 men to attack him. 
 
 In August Belgrano commenced his retreat from Jujui, closely pur- 
 sued by the Spanish vanguard, till on the 3rd September they drove 
 in his rearguard under Diaz Velez at Las Piedras, upon which he
 
 THE ARMY OF UPPER PERU. 425 
 
 turned on them with his whole army and totally routed them. The 
 success of this skirmish so greatly encouraged his men, that Belgrano, 
 disregarding renewed orders to retreat to Cordova, determined to 
 halt at Tucuman. The inhabitants of this city received him with 
 acclamations, and some of the principal citizens raised a contingent of 
 " gaucho " cavalry among the paisanos for his assistance. 
 
 On the 24th September Tristan marched past the city of Tucuman 
 with the idea of cutting off the retreat of Belgrano and compelling him 
 to surrender. Belgrano sallied out and attacked him ; he himself at 
 the head of his gaucho allies broke through the Spanish line and 
 assailed them in the rear, while his infantry completely routed their 
 centre, capturing five guns and three standards. The left wing of the 
 Spanish army stood firm, but the next day Tristan beat a precipitate 
 retreat, having lost 450 killed and 700 prisoners; the loss of the 
 patriots was 80 killed and 200 wounded. 
 
 The news of this victory excited the greatest enthusiasm in Buenos 
 Aires; then in January, 18 13, came the news of the victory of the 
 Cerrito, and in February the victory of San Lorenzo. Fortune seemed 
 again to smile upon the patriot cause. 
 
 Colonel San ]\Iartin, since his arrival in Buenos Aires in 18 12, had 
 been actively engaged in organizing a regiment of cuirassiers, known 
 to history as the mounted grenadiers, famous in the campaigns of 
 Chili and Peru. Their first exploit was the affair of San Lorenzo, 
 where they cut to pieces a detachment of Spaniards who had landed 
 from the squadron. 
 
 After the victory of Tucuman, Belgrano received reinforcements 
 until he had 3000 troops under his command, exclusive of the gaucho 
 cavalry of Tucuman, who scoured the whole country round, and 
 greatly harassed the Spanish general, Tristan, in his endeavours to 
 reorganize his routed army. 
 
 Up to this time the patriot armies had fought under the Spanish 
 flag. Previous to taking command of the army of Peru, Belgrano had 
 been for a short time stationed at Rosario, where he had adopted a 
 new flag for his troops, two horizontal stripes of blue and one of white, 
 with the national arms embroidered in the centre of the white stripe. 
 For this proceeding he had incurred the censure of the Government, 
 and had withdrawn his flag, saying that he should keep it concealed 
 until he could adorn it with the laurels of victory. 
 
 In February, 18 13, Belgrano marched from Tucuman; on the 
 banks of the Rio Pasages, in the province of Salta, he halted his 
 army on the 13th February, and hoisting the blue-and-white flag upon 
 a flag-staff, administered to tlie whole army an oath of obedience to 
 the " Sovereign Assembly," from which imposing ceremony that river 
 bore afterwards the name of the " Rio del Juramento." Belgrano 
 stood beside the new standard, and drawing his sword held it across 
 the staff, while every officer and soldier of the army came up and kissed 
 this military cross as he took the oath. Tliis standard was afterwards 
 adopted by the nation, and is to-day the national flag of the Argen- 
 tine Republic. 
 
 From the Rio del Juramento the patriot army marched upon Salta, 
 where Tristan was then stationed with 3500 men. In the neighbourhood
 
 426 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 of this city the two armies met on the 20th February ; the battle 
 was hotly contested, but at length the Spaniards were driven in dis- 
 order back into the city, where the whole army surrendered that after- 
 noon, but after laying down their arms were permitted by Belgrano 
 with ni'splaced generosity, to retire to Peru. 
 
 The losses in this battle were about etjual, 600 killed and wounded 
 in each army. The trophies of the victory were three standards, ten 
 guns, antl the whole of the arms and baggage of the royal army. 
 
 Goyeneche, who was at Potosi with 4000 men, retired precipitately 
 on the news of this disaster, and throwing up his command was suc- 
 ceeded by Pezuela. 
 
 Belgrano made but slight use of his victory, and spent months at 
 Potosi organizing schools, while the royalists recovered from their 
 panic and organized an army. Of his suj^ineness Pezuela took every 
 advantage, and, having assembled about 4000 men, advanced in the 
 spring upon Potosi. Belgrano awaited him on the table-land of Vil- 
 capugio, where he was attacked by Pezuela on the ist October. The 
 patriots, advancing with their usual impetuosity, at tirst carried all 
 before them, but through an ill-understood order were seized with a 
 sudden panic and suffered a total defeat. Belgrano lost the whole of 
 his guns and baggage, but saved his standard, and four days afterwards 
 established his head-quarters at Macha with a remnant of his army. 
 
 In a month's time Belgrano had succeeded in again assembling 
 about 3000 men, while the victorious royalists were held in check by 
 the gaucho cavalry, which swarmed all around their position. In 
 November Pezuela again advanced and again defeated the patriots at 
 Ayouma, Belgrano retiring from tlie hard-fought field with only 400 
 infantry and eighty cavalry. 
 
 Belgrano retreated to Jujui, where he succeeded in collecting 1800 
 men, but on the approach of Pezuela he evacuated that city, and 
 continued his retreat to Tucuman, where he was met by considerable 
 reinforcements, including the mounted grenadiers of San Martin, who 
 was named second in command. 
 
 Worn out with sickness and reverses, Belgrano applied to be re- 
 lieved of his command, and in January, 1814, resigned it into the 
 hands of General San Martin, who, establishing his head-quarters at 
 Tucuman, applied himself diligently to reorganizing the army, and 
 constructed an entrenched camp to the north of the city. Pezuela 
 reoccupied Jujui and Salta, but the two victories gained by Belgrano 
 had so roused the spirit of the people, that the paisanos rose in mass 
 against the invaders, and under Arenales and Giiemes prevented any 
 further advance of the royalists. 
 
 In this year 1814, the revolution in Chili was completely crushed 
 by the defeat of the patriots at Rancagua. San Martin gave up the 
 command of the army of Peru to General Rondeau, and, marching 
 with his mounted grenadiers and a small force of infantry to Mendoza, 
 set to work to collect and organize the immortal "army of the 
 Andes." 
 
 Rondeau, advancing from Tucuman, retook Salta and Jujui, but was 
 afterwards totally defeated at Sipe-Sipe by Pezuela,_on the 29th 
 November, 18 15, and retreated to Jujui.
 
 THE SOVEREIGN PEOPLE. 427 
 
 VI. THE SOVEREIGN PEOPLE. 
 
 Such is a slight sketch of the mihtary achievements and reverses of 
 the Argentine patriots, during the first six years of the era of Uberty. 
 But not against external foes alone had they to contend, even yet a 
 more formidable foe, was the ignorance of the most enlightened among 
 them of the first principles of popular sovereignty. The principles of 
 representative government, then but partially understood even in Eng- 
 land, were by the Argentine people understood not at all. Further, 
 the Viceroyalty of Buenos Aires comprised a host of discordant ele- 
 ments, which only the most consummate skill could weld at once into 
 one homogeneous people. 
 
 The Junta Gubernativa had not been long in power before it be- 
 came divided into two parties, Conservatives and Democrats. The 
 latter, under the leadership of Dr. Moreno, represented the revolution; 
 they were for completely changing the whole system of government, 
 and to themselves made no secret that their ultimate aim was the 
 establishment of an independent republic on the democratic basis 
 of the sovereignty of the people. The Conservatives, of whom Don 
 Cornelio Saavedra was the head, aimed at nothing more than con- 
 tinuing the government under the old forms, but independent of 
 Spain, until such time as Ferdinand VH. might again exercise his 
 royal authority. Such reforms as were forced upon them they ac- 
 cepted, but they made no attempt to direct public opinion to any 
 definite end, they had no fixed policy whatever, and thus the measures 
 of the Junta were directed exclusively by the more active Democrats, 
 until in the month of March, 181 1, twelve deputies named by the 
 Cabildos of as many provincial towns arrived in Buenos Aires. 
 
 These provincial deputies, in spite of the opposition of Dr. Moreno, 
 were incorporated with the Junta itself, and gave an overwhelming 
 majority to the Conservatives, who, not content with this triumph, 
 stirred up a popular commotion for the purpose of crushing the 
 Democrats. The result was the expulsion of four of the leading 
 Democrats from the Junta, after which the provinces were directed 
 to form Juntas of their own. 
 
 In September the form of government was again changed by the 
 authority of the Cabildo. The Junta was resolved into a deliberative 
 assembly, whose functions were very obscure, and the executive was 
 entrusted to a triumvirate, Chiclana, Passo, and Sarratea. To this 
 triumvirate Don Bernardino Rivadavia acted as secretary, and his 
 clear intellect infused itself into every measure adopted. 
 
 The provincial Juntas and tlie Junta of the capital were abolished, 
 and the triumvirate, under the name of " The Superior Provisional 
 Government of the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata," com- 
 menced a vigorous policy of centralization, with a view to putting an 
 end to the disorder which had crept into every branch of the 
 administration. Among other decrees was one establishing liberty of 
 the press. 
 
 The only check upon the power of the triumvirate was an assembly 
 of "Notables" chosen by the Cabildo. This assembly had the right 
 of appointing a successor to an outgoing triumvir every six months.
 
 4^8 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 On the occasion of tlic first election their choice fell upon Don Juan 
 IMartin Puyrredon, who was at that time absent in the interior. The 
 triumvirate denied their right to a])point a deputy to represent him 
 until his return to the capital, they insisted, the assembly was dissolved, 
 and the whole powers of government were assumed by the triumvirate. 
 
 But the Argentine people, in accei)ting the revolution of the 25th 
 May, had delegated their power to an executive, only until the meet- 
 ing of a sovereign congress. The triumvirate convened a new 
 assembly elected by the Cabildos of the capital and of the provincial 
 towns, which was far from representing the people, and was in no 
 sense a congress. 
 
 At this time there existed in London a secret society, composed 
 entirely of men born in Spanish America, organized by General Don 
 Francisco Miranda of Venezuela, with the object of working out the 
 independence of the Spanish colonies of America. Three members 
 of this society, Jose de San Martin, Carlos Maria de Alvear, and Jose 
 Matias Zapiola, all Argentines by birth, arrived in Buenos Aires on 
 the 13th March, 1812, in the British ship " George Canning." They at 
 once proceeded to form a branch of this society under the name of 
 " Los Caballeros Racionales," and found many eager adherents 
 among the more advanced Democrats of the capital. 
 
 Taking advantage of the popular discontent with the measures of 
 the triumvirate, the " Caballeros Racionales " stirred up a commotion, 
 and a fresh revolution in September placed the executive in the hands 
 of a new triumvirate, consisting of — 
 
 Dr. Don Juan Jose Passo. 
 
 Don Nicolas Rodriguez Peha. 
 „ Antonio Alvarez Jonte. 
 all of whom belonged to the Democratic party. 
 
 " The eternal captivity of Ferdinand VIL has destroyed the last 
 rights of Spain." 
 
 Such were the words with which the new Government commenced 
 their first address to the Argentine people. They cast aside at once 
 the fiction of loyalty to a foreign king, and claimed to govern only by 
 the will of the people. 
 
 In accordance with this programme they devised a new plan of 
 electing the deputies to the assembly. Each town or city was divided 
 into eight electoral districts ; in each district the citizens voted " viva 
 voce " for an " elector ; " the eight " electors " so chosen by each city 
 named the deputy or deputies who should represent that city. Buenos 
 Aires, as the capital, had the right of sending four deputies to the 
 assembly, the capital of each province two, and all other towns one each. 
 
 This was an immense advance upon the old system of leaving the 
 right of naming deputies to the Cabildos, and produced a very fair 
 representation of the urban population of the united provinces, but 
 the rights of the rural population were entirely overlooked. 
 
 "The General Constituent Assembly" was inaugurated on the 31st 
 January, 18 13. Without proclaiming the independence of the united 
 provinces, they yet took to themselves the supreme power, substituting 
 the national .arms for those of Spain; a national flag for the flag of 
 Spain ; suppressing all laws and customs which in any way recognized
 
 THE SOVEREIGN PEOPLE. 429 
 
 Spanish tribunals as courts of appeal ; abolished the Inquisition and 
 judicial torture ; gave liberty to all children born of slave parents 
 after that date ; and in the service of the Litany substituted a prayer 
 for the " Sovereign Assembly of the United Provinces " in place of 
 the one previously offered on behalf of the King. Further, they 
 decreed that all Europeans, whether ecclesiastics, civilians, or soldiers, 
 who should not within fifteen days become citizens should forfeit 
 any employment they held under Government. 
 
 In January, 18 14, the assembly determined upon another great step, 
 they abolished the triumvirate and placed Don Gervacio Posadas at 
 the head of the state, with the title of " Supreme Director of the United 
 Provinces," but after holding oflice for one year Posadas resigned, and 
 Don Carlos Maria de Alvear was named Supreme Director. 
 
 Alvear owed his election to the influence of the " Caballeros 
 Racionales," of which secret society he was President, but he was dis- 
 liked both by the mass of the people and by the army. 
 
 The position of the united provinces was at this time very critical ; 
 the fall of Napoleon had set Ferdinand at liberty, he was again King 
 of Spain, and was preparing at Cadiz an expedition of 15,000 men 
 for the purpose of reconquering the revolted colonies of La Plata. 
 Alvear despaired of securing the independence of the united provinces, 
 but five years of revolutionary rule had inspired the entire Argentine 
 people with a hatred of Spain ; he determined to place them under the 
 protectorate of Great Britain. With this object he chose two ambas- 
 sadors, Don Manuel Belgrano and Don Bernardino Rivadavia, whom 
 he despatched to London with credentials to the Court of Saint James, 
 and with a despatch addressed to the Secretary of State for Foreign 
 Affairs, in which, after describing the disorder into which everything had 
 fallen from the inaptitude of the people for self-government, he said — ■ 
 
 " These provinces wish to belong to Great Britain, to adopt her 
 laws, to obey her Government, and to live under her powerful influence. 
 They deliver themselves unconditionally to the generosity and good 
 faith of the English people." 
 
 The two ambassadors reached London in March, 1815, only to find 
 Europe in a fresh commotion produced by the return of Napoleon 
 from Elba. This unforeseen event, put an end to the expedition in 
 preparation at Cadiz; greatly improved the position of Charles IV., 
 ex- King of Spain, who still asserted his right to the crown of Spain, 
 and was then living in retirement at Rome ; and utterly precluded 
 any hope that the British Government would adopt any policy in 
 opposition to the interests of Ferdinand. 
 
 The two ambassadors never presented their credentials to the Court 
 of Saint James, and, in conjunction with Sarratea, who was at that time 
 agent in Europe for the Government of the united provinces, addressed 
 themselves instead, to the ex-King Charles, offering to bestow the crown 
 of Buenos Aires upon his adopted son the Infante Don Francisco de 
 Paula. Waterloo put an end to this negotiation, Rivadavia went to 
 Spain to enfleavour to treat with Ferdinaud, and Belgrano returiled to 
 Buenos Aires. 
 
 Belgrano vvas no great genius, either as a military man or as a poli- 
 tician, but he was a hard-working, honest patriot ; loving his country,
 
 430 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 and ready to make any personal sacrifice in her service, he aspired to 
 no dignities and was careless of all emolument ; he devoted his life and 
 his energies to securing the independence of the Argentine people. 
 But he was also a deep thinker, and foresaw that the anarchy which 
 was spreading over the united provinces threatened evils even worse 
 than the tyranny of Spain. During liis residence in England, he had 
 seen that the liberty of the people w^as perfectly compatible with 
 monarchical institutions ; he returned to Buenos Aires, convinced that 
 the establishment of a monarchy was tlie only means by which order 
 and liberty could be at once secured to the Argentine people. 
 
 During the campaign of Tucuman he had entered into friendly 
 relations with various Indian chieftains of the interior, among them 
 he now proposed to search for a lineal descendant of Atahualpa, for 
 the purpose of re-establishing the Empire of the Incas. In this pur- 
 pose he found many willing to join him, but the Argentine people, 
 jealous of their new- won liberty, looked upon the project as a dream. 
 
 The necessities of Government had compelled them to many 
 extreme and arbitrary measures for the replenishing of the exhausted 
 treasury. Of these measures the Spanish residents of Buenos Aires 
 were the especial victims. Early in the year 1812 the capital was 
 almost drained of troops by the large reinforcements despatched to 
 the army in the Banda Oriental, and the S])anish residents, headed by 
 Don Martin Alzaga, entered into a conspiracy together, their object 
 being to seize the city, put to death all the principal Argentine leaders, 
 and to set up a new government in connexion with the Spanish Cortes 
 then assembled at Cadiz. To further their scheme they entered into 
 a correspondence with the Princess Carlota of Brazil, and the Portu- 
 guese army, which had received orders to retire from the Banda 
 Oriental, delayed its retreat in pursuance of secret instructions, and 
 was held in readiness to support the conspirators if they should succeed 
 in gaining possession of the capital. 
 
 Until the eve of the outbreak, the Government was in complete 
 ignorance of the danger, but immediately on the discovery of the con- 
 spiracy adopted the most vigorous measures of suppression. Thirty 
 of the principal conspirators, including Don Martin Alzaga, were shot, 
 and their bodies hung upon gibbets, seventy-eight of less note were 
 condemned to minor punishments, and the danger was thus averted. 
 
 The authors of the revolution of the 25th May, i8io,had sought to 
 establish a new government upon the democratic basis of the sove- 
 reignty of the people. Many of them were men of great intellectual 
 attainments, but they had adopted the ideas of the revolutionary 
 leaders of France, in the full persuasion that that form of government, 
 which is in theory the best, must necessarily be the best in practice. 
 The failure of democracy in France had not opened their eyes to the 
 fact that a government, to be securely based upon the will of the 
 people, must be constructed in conformity with the traditions, circum- 
 stances, and instincts of the people. 
 
 The first five years of revolutionary government were thus a series 
 of political experiments, a series of abortive attempts to govern a
 
 THE SOVEREIGN PEOPLE. 43 1 
 
 number of distinct provinces by schemes of administration, which 
 might have been fully adequate for the government of the small 
 republics of ancient Greece, or of the Italian cities of the middle ages, 
 when each city was a separate state, but were totally inadequate for 
 the government of an immense territory, peopled chiefly by herdsmen 
 and shepherds. They totally failed to give the people any adequate 
 means of expressing their will, and the result was that during these 
 years the people, who had responded eagerly to the cry of liberty, 
 interpreted in their own way the theory of popular sovereignty. 
 
 The nature of the country and the traditions and instincts of the 
 people all inclined them to an aristocratic form of government ; the 
 attempt to form an administration on a democratic basis was conse- 
 quently a complete failure." 
 
 The mass of the Argentine people were herdsmen and shepherds, 
 who lived scattered over immense plains, who were yet in a state of 
 semi-barbarism ; the theory of the sovereignty of the people was 
 interpreted to mean that each man had a right to choose his own 
 ruler. The qualities which they could most fully appreciate were 
 dauntless courage, a strong seat on horseback, and a ruthless will. 
 Men possessed of such qualifications were those to whom they would 
 naturally look as their leaders, and to whom they were ready to yield 
 the most unquestioning obedience ; but men like these were not the 
 men to work cordially with the authors of the revolution in the regen- 
 eration of their country. Thus the leading Democrats, almost ignor- 
 ing the existence of the mass of the people, except when they looked 
 to them for aid against the Spaniards, sought only the co-operation of 
 the towns and cities in their attempts to form a national government. 
 
 The revolution of the 25 th May, 1810, was exclusively the work of 
 the citizens of Buenos Aires. The nucleus of all the armies which 
 fought in the subsequent campaigns was formed of the militia of 
 Buenos Aires ; the Patricios, and other regiments levied in Buenos 
 Aires, bore the brunt in every conflict. It was the militia of Buenos 
 Aires who marched with Belgrano through the dense woods and end- 
 less swamps of Paraguay, and held their own against the overwhelm- 
 ing odds of fourteen to one. It was the militia of Buenos Aires who 
 kept the Portuguese armies in check in the Banda Oriental, laid siege 
 to Monte Video, where the garrison outnumbered them three to one, 
 gained the victory of the Cerrito, and eventually compelled the sur- 
 render of the city. It was the militia of Buenos Aires who penetrated 
 with Balcarce, Diaz Velez, Puyrredon, and Belgrano to the confines 
 of Upper Peru. It was the militia of l>uenos Aires who decided with 
 their bayonets the fields of Suipacha, Tucuman, and Salta ; they stood 
 round Belgrano and the blue-and-white standard among the rocks 
 on that dismal niglit which followed the rout of Vilcapugio ;' they 
 retreated with him from the still more disastrous field of Ayouma. 
 Argentines from other provinces, Paz, Arenales, Martin Giiemes, and 
 many others, vied with their comrades from Buenos Aires in gallantry 
 and endurance on many a hard-fought field ; on two occasions Bel- 
 grano saved the remnant of his army solely through the devoted 
 bravery of his " gaucho " allies of the interior, but in every conflict 
 the brunt fell upon the infantry of Buenos Aires.
 
 e 
 
 432 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 Buenos Aires not only furnished the nucleus to every army, but 
 her citizens impoverished tliemselves to provide by voluntary contri- 
 butions for the support and equipment of these armies, while her 
 trade was harassed, and at times destroyed, by the hostility of the 
 Spanish cruisers. Of all the cities of the interior, Tucuman alone 
 displayed equal patriotism, equal zeal for the cause of all. 
 
 But Buenos Aires in return for the great sacrifices she made, 
 claimed for herself the chief place in the direction of affairs. The 
 Cabildo of Buenos Aires took upon itself on more than one occasion 
 the right of nominating the Government which ruled in the name of 
 the Argentine people. The "Constituent Assembly" of the year 
 181 3 was the first legislative body which in any degree represented 
 the united provinces. This assembly soon fell under the influence of 
 the secret society, then known as " Los Caballeros Racionales," and 
 later on as " La Sociedad de Lautaro." 
 
 r The provincial jealousy of Buenos Aires, which almost disappeared 
 in the first burst of enthusiasm that welcomed the cry of " Liberty " 
 raised by Buenos Aires on the 25th May, 18 10, soon revived; the 
 provincial cities began to ask themselves whether the domination of 
 Buenos Aires, the domination of a secret and irresponsible society, 
 was not worse than the domination of Spain. The disastrous issue of 
 some of the campaigns, and the continued demands upon them for 
 supplies, exhausted their patience. Then rose up a new power in the 
 state, to which both the provincial cities and Buenos Aires, had 
 hitherto given but slight attention — the people. 
 
 The army of Peru under Rondeau, the army of the Andes under 
 San Martin, refused to obey the orders of a Government which was 
 merely the mouth-piece of a clique. In their dilemma the citizens of 
 Buenos Aires looked about for a deliverer who should free them from 
 a despotism which threatened them with the loss of all for which they 
 had fought. Their gaze fell upon the new power which had risen up 
 amongst them, they appealed to the people. 
 
 In the year 18 15 Jose Artigas stood forth prominently as _" the man 
 of the people." The people were in a state of semi-barbarism. He 
 himself was little better, but he understood them, knew how to attract 
 their sympathies to himself, and how to rule over them. The Banda 
 Oriental, Entre Rios, and Corrientes obeyed him. In answer to the 
 appeal of the citizens of Buenos Aires, he crossed the Parana into Santa 
 Fe with the pompous title of " Chief of the Orientales and Protector of 
 the Free Peoples." The men of Santa Fe received him as their 
 deliverer. Cordova declared herself independent of Buenos Aires. 
 
 The people, knowing nothing of representative Government, chose 
 for themselves their leaders, and prepared to yield them unlimited 
 obedience. In every province there rose up petty chieftains, ruling 
 with absolute sway over their followers, ready for any sacrifice to 
 defend their country against Spain, equally ready to defend their pro- 
 vincial rights against the domination of Buenos Aires. These popular 
 chieftains throughout the provinces hailed Artigas as their champion. 
 
 Alvear bestirred himself against this new enemy, and despatched an 
 army to drive him from the province of Santa Fe. But on the frontier 
 of Buenos Aires this army joined the popular movement, and frater-
 
 THE CONGRESS OF TUCUMAN. 433 
 
 nized with the barbaric hordes of Artigas. Then the citizens of Buenos 
 Aires arose and decreed the downfall of the Government, the assembly- 
 was dissolved, and Alvear took refuge on board a foreign vessel 
 anchored in the roadstead. 
 
 The x\rgentine people was left without a government, and, in pre- 
 sence of the anarchy which prevailed, without any legal means of 
 appointing one. Again Buenos Aires put herself forward as the arbiter 
 of the destinies of the nation. The Cabildo of Buenos Aires resumed 
 to itself the powers of government, and decreed the election by the 
 citizens of Buenos Aires of a "Junta de Observacion," which should 
 form a provisional government until the convention of a sovereign 
 congress. This Junta named General Rondeau, then in command of 
 the army of Upper Peru, Supreme Director. 
 
 The new Government found itself face to face with three distinct 
 enemies, Spain, the provinces, the people. Two provinces of the 
 old Viceroyalty of Buenos Aires, Paraguay and the Banda Oriental, 
 were now completely independent of Buenos Aires ; every other 
 province had an equal right to such independence ; Cordova and 
 Santa Fe utterly refused to recognize the new Government ; Entre 
 Rios and Corrientes had chosen a ruler for themselves, and obeyed 
 the orders of Jose Artigas. The people everywhere, weary of the 
 exactions of the nominees of the capital, looked to Joso Artigas as 
 their champion. 
 
 Artigas, obeying the universal law which impels " the man of the 
 people " to become a despot, sought only to consolidate and extend 
 his own power. 
 
 The Government, after a vain attempt to come to some deiinite 
 irrangement with Artigas, concluded a truce with him. He retired 
 across the Parana, and they despatched an army to occupy Santa Fe. 
 But this army was compelled to capitulate to the " Montonera," or 
 " gaucho " cavalry of Santa Fe. A second army, stationed at Rosario, 
 revolted, and demanded the resignation of the Supreme Director. The 
 Government yielded, the " Junta de Observacion " named General 
 Antonio Gonsalez Balcarce, Supreme Director, and the army of Buenos 
 Aires was withdrawn from Santa Fe. 
 
 VII. THE CONGRESS OF TUCUMAN. 
 
 The only hope now of putting an end to this anarchy lay in the 
 assembling of a sovereign congress, in which all the provinces should 
 be duly represented. 
 
 On the 24th March, 1816, this congress was convened at Tucuman, 
 the mass of the Argentine people looking on with supreme indifference. 
 At the same time Artigas amused himself by convening a Federal 
 congress of his own at Paysandu in the Banda Oriental. 
 
 Each province sent deputies to the Congress of Tucuman in pro- 
 portion to its estimated population, and some attempt was made to 
 procure the representation of the campaha. Buenos Aires sent seven 
 deputies ; Cordova, five ; Chuquisaca, four ; Tucuman, three ; Cata- 
 marca, Santiago del Estero, Mendoza, and Salta, two each ; La Rioja, 
 San Luis, San Juan, Misque, Cochabamba, and Jujui, one each. The 
 
 F F
 
 434 PONCE DE LEON. 
 
 Banda Oriental, Entre-Rios Corrientes, and Santa Fe sent no deputies, 
 Pamgiiay was by this time completely isolated from Argentine affairs. 
 
 I'he Congress of Tucuman did not fully represent the Argentine 
 people, nevertheless it was a more exact representation of the popular 
 will than any assembly w'hich had yet been convened. Upon one 
 point only had the Argentine peo])le as yet made up their minds, they 
 looked upon themselves as an independent nation, and were ready to 
 assert that independence before the world. To this resolve of the 
 people, the Congress of Tucuman gave full expression. 
 
 The first measures of Congress were marked by great timidity, as 
 though they feared to measure the extent of their power, but on the 
 3rd May they appointed Don Juan Martin Puyrredbn Supreme 
 Director, thus annulling the appointment of General Balcarce by the 
 Junta of Buenos Aires. 
 
 VIII. INDEPENDENCE. 
 
 In June Belgrano and San Martin arrived in Tucuman ; neither of 
 them were members of Congress, but their personal influence had great 
 weight in the decisions of that body. In pursuance of their counsels, 
 on the 9th July, 1816, a day ever memorable in the annals of the 
 .Argentine people, the secretary of Congress proposed this question to 
 the deputies — 
 
 " Do you desire that the provinces of the union form a nation free 
 and independent of the kings of Spain ? " 
 
 " Yes," answered every deputy, springing to his feet. 
 
 That answer was the true, outspoken will of the Argentine people, 
 and has been maintained by them with unshaken heroism ever since. 
 By that answer the Argentine people took their place in the world as 
 an independent nation. Nothing less than that answer would have 
 justified the revolution of tile 25th May, 1810. That answer was the 
 seal to the liberties of the New World, it carried with it the independ- 
 ence of all the infant peoples then groaning under the tyranny of Spain. 
 
 The Act of Independence was then drawn out as follows — 
 
 " We, the representatives of the united provinces of South America, 
 invoking that eternal Power which presides over the universe, in the 
 name and by the authority of the people we represent, protesting be- 
 fore Heaven and before all nations and men of the globe, the justice 
 of our vote, solemnly declare before all the Avorld, that it is the un- 
 animous and undoubted will of these provinces to break the chains 
 which bind them to the kings of Spain, to reassert the rights of which 
 they have been despoiled, and to take upon themselves the high 
 character of a free nation. In consequence of which they remain with 
 ample and full power to adopt such form of government as justice 
 and their circumstances may require. All and each one of us so 
 publish, declare, and notify, binding ourselves to the fulfilment and 
 support of this their will, under the security and guarantee of our 
 lives, fortunes, and good name." 
 
 Twenty-nine deputies signed their names to this Declaration of In- 
 dependence. To maintain this independence the Argentine people, 
 by their deputies and their authorities of every class, devoted them-
 
 INDEPEI^DENCE. 435 
 
 selves, their lives, and their properties, and amid all the convulsions 
 through which they have sfince passed they have never faltered for 
 one moment in their adhesion to this solemn declaration which was 
 made for them by the Sovereign Congress of Tucuman on the 9th 
 July, 1816. 
 
 Since then the anniversary of that great day has been yearly wel- 
 comed with rejoicings throughout the length and breadth of the land. 
 Amid the vineyards of Mendoza, on the sunny plains of Santa Fe, in 
 the peaceful seats of learning at Cordova, and amid the busy hum of 
 commerce at Buenos Aires, the yearly recurrence of that day has been 
 welcomed ever since. Arribehos, Riverehos, and Portehos, whatever 
 their passing differences, alike look back in boastful pride to the day 
 when their forefathers boldly asserted their right to a place among the 
 nations of the world. 
 
 Through much turmoil and sorrow, through anarchy, tyranny, and 
 bloodshed the Argentine people have struggled since the day when 
 Buenos Aires first raised the standard of freedom. For six years they 
 laboured before they could unite to declare themselves a nation, even 
 to the present day their efforts to fonn themselves into one homo- 
 geneous people have not met with full accomplishment. But the 
 Argentine Republic now exists, she holds her acknowledged place 
 among the nations. The dream of those gallant men who, on the 
 25th May, 1 810, shook themselves free from the traditions of centuries, 
 is fulfilled. 
 
 In many of the events which we have so shortly chronicled in this 
 e])ilogue, Don Marcelino Ponce de Leon and Don Carlos Evaha took 
 their share, playing their parts, each according to his several character. 
 Both of them sprang to their feet and responded with an enthusiastic 
 " Yes " to the question proposed to the deputies by the secretary of 
 the Sovereign Congress of Tucuman, on the 9th July, 1816, both of 
 them signed the Declaration of Independence. Yet if you read that 
 document you will not find either of those names there written. They 
 represent two great sections of the Argentine people, differing widely 
 in their principles, more widely yet in their modes of thought, who 
 joined cordially together, to overthrow the domination of Spain, to 
 establish the Argentine Republic. 
 
 THE END.
 
 LONDON : 
 R. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR, 
 BREAD STREET HILL. 
 
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