136 



In the mean time Lautaro, to prevent the Spa- 

 niards from sending succours to their artillery, at- 

 tacked them so vigorously with all his troops, that, 

 driving horse and foot in confusion before him, 

 the Spaniards were thrown into disorder, and unable 

 to recover their ranks, precipitately betook them- 

 selves to flight. Of the Europeans and their Indian al- 

 lies, three thousand were left dead upon the field. 

 Villagran, having fallen, was on the point of being 

 taken prisoner himself, when three of his soldiers, 

 by almost incredible feats of valour, rescued him 

 from the hands of his enemies and remounted him 

 on his horse. The remaining Spaniards pursued by 

 the victors, spurred on their exhausted horses, in 

 order to pass the narrow defile where the battle had 

 commenced, but on their arrival they found it ob- 

 structed by the order of Lautaro, with the trunks of 

 fallen trees. Here the engagement was again renewed 

 with such violence, that not one of the miserable re- 

 mains of this broken army would have escaped, had 

 not Villagran by a desperate eíTort opened the pass at 

 the most imminent hazard of his life. Nevertheless, 

 the Araucanians, although they had lost about seven 

 hundred men, continued the pursuit for a long time ; 

 but at length becoming extremely fatigued, and not 

 able to keep up with the horses, they stopped with 

 a determination of passing the Bio- bio the follow- 

 ing day. 



The few Spaniards who escaped the slaughter pro- 

 duced, on their arrival at Conception, indescribable 

 sorrow and consternation. There was not a family 

 but had the loss of some relation to deplore. The 



