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"I gave directions to Captain Laffan to send forward and find out whether the fort was occupied, before exposing the troop to view," said Juan. As he spoke we saw two of the horsemen ride forward, and Juan resolved to remain until the result was known. We now took a careful survey of the country before us. "I can nowhere see a body moving which has the appearance of troops," observed Juan.
'For my own reasons, Juan de Garcia. 'You are confused, senor. My name is Sarceda, as these gentlemen can bear me witness. Once I knew a cavalier of the name of de Garcia, but he is dead. 'You lie, I answered; whereon one of De Garcia's companions struck me across the mouth.
But Colonel San Martian had been practically disgraced by Governor-General Macias for evacuating Ponce, and all commanders of garrisons in the path of the American army were ordered to fight. So Major Martinez kissed his young wife and children good-by one day last week and sent them into San Juan for safety.
The battery used black powder, and, as a result, after each explosion the curtain of smoke hung over the gun for fully a minute before the gunners could see the San Juan trenches, which was chiefly important because for a full minute it gave a mark to the enemy. The hill on which the battery stood was like a sugar-loaf.
He had such confidence in the steed he bestrode, that he knew he could escape before the eyes of his pursuers, and need not have hidden himself in the chapparal. As he rode into the ambuscade he was thinking no longer of his own safety, but of that of Don Juan and his party. Their critical situation suddenly came before his mind. How were they to escape?
As it happened, I need not have worried myself at all. "I wanted to see you, Juan," she said, giving me her hand. "It seems ages ago when I sent you out on that terrible errand. I ought not to have done it; but my father's life was at stake, and I did not think of the danger to you." "Think no more of it, Rosa. After all, the danger was trifling; the Indians would not have hurt me."
It came from the fringe of forest across the road. Again it sounded, two notes, a long and a short one, soft and plaintive. A bird, certainly, thought Rita. She started as Captain Delmonte imitated the call, repeating it twice. "Juan," he said, briefly. "Reporting for orders. Here he comes!" A burly figure crossed the road in three strides.
Her whole course of action was so hostile to the real interests of Spain, that murmurs of discontent were soon heard among the people; and Don Juan, the illegitimate son, won power and popularity for himself by espousing the cause of the nation.
The finest structures of the Village Indians in New Mexico, and northward of its present boundary line, are found on the San Juan and its tributaries, unoccupied and in ruins. Even the regions in which they are principally situated are not now occupied by this class of Indians, but are roamed over by wild tribes of the Apaches and the Utes.
In another minute the Spaniards were in full flight, and from the hard-won heights of San Juan thousands of panting, cheering, jubilant Yankee soldiers were gazing for the first time upon the city of Santiago, which, only three miles away, lay at their feet, and apparently at their mercy.