102 



THE PA.MPAS. 



ditch with a scream which was quite terrific, and 

 that, finding that they could not cross it, the 

 Cacique at last ordered them to get off their horses 

 and pull down the gate. Two had dismounted, 

 •when the musket which the Gauchos had, and 

 which before had constantly missed fire, went off, 

 and one of the Indians was shot. They then all 

 galloped away ; but in a few seconds their Cacique 

 led them on again with a terrible cry, and at a pace 

 which was indescribable. They took up their dead 

 comrade and then rode away, leaving two or three 

 of their spears on the ground. 



One of these long spears was leaning against the 

 hut, and as the Gauchos who had defended the 

 place stood by it, muffled up in their ponchos, with 

 two or three women suckling their infants, several 

 children playing about them, and three or four 

 beautiful girls looking up to them, I thought the 

 spear was one of the proudest military trophies I 

 had ever beheld. 



I could never learn that any of these forts had 

 been taken by the Indians, who can do nothing on 

 foot, and whose horses cannot leap ; but the ditches 

 are so shallow and so narrow, that by killing a few 



