162 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



the resistance offered, that not a life was lost, scarcely 

 a man wounded, on either side. 



Whilst the astonished guerillas were asking one 

 another what could be the meaning of this extraordi- 

 nary conduct of Merino, that chief himself appeared, 

 surrounded by several officers, and followed by a 

 strong escort of cavalry. He galloped through the 

 main street, and halting in the plaza, received the 

 reports of the officers who had been intrusted with 

 the execution of the coup-de-main that had just 

 been accomplished; then, turning to a group of the 

 disarmed who were standing by, he inquired for 

 Colonel Principe. Before he had received a reply, 

 a man rushed, bareheaded, and with a drawn sabre in 

 his hand, from the door of a neighbouring house. 

 He stopped when he found himself face to face with 

 the Cura, and, in a voice almost inarticulate from 

 passion, demanded by what authority the latter had 

 disarmed his men and taken possession of their 

 quarters. 



"By my own authority, Tomas Principe," coolly 

 replied Merino. " Your band is one of those which 

 do more harm to the peasant than the enemy. When 

 they march, their progress is marked by rapine and 

 violence; and, if they now and then distinguish 

 themselves by their gallantry in the field, they take 

 care to counterbalance its merit by daily robberies 

 and unlawful acts. Your horses and arms I have 

 taken for my soldiers, and by this time your men are 



