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Updated: June 25, 2025
As often as not, when I raised my foot I brought it down in the same place again, or, according to Alzura, even went a step backward. The night was not particularly dark indeed, we had doubted whether it was dark enough for us to swim ashore unobserved but the marsh was fearfully deceptive. In places the track was merely a dry hump here and there, for which I had to feel with the staff.
Alzura and I shared one of the huts between us. There was no furniture; the floor was of mud, and so were the walls, while the roof was thatched with some dried vegetable matter. The place was not exactly a palace, but it sheltered us, and for that we were thankful. The sergeant in charge of the islet was a good-humoured fellow.
I'll wager Alzura would have finished the war two years ago, only the end might not have been as we anticipate." At which there was a general laugh. "What I don't like about Bolivar is his play-acting," I said. "Have you seen his hut? Have a look at it in the morning. The doorway is hung with silver ornaments in place of laurel wreaths, which the Indians were unable to get."
"Well, anyway, you're certain to lose your lives, and I shall be blamed for not stopping you. It's my duty to inform the sergeant, and have you chained up." "You can't," said Alzura "you can't betray us." "You're two lunatics stark, staring lunatics and I wish you had told me nothing of your mad scheme." "It's awfully risky," said I, "but not so mad as you think.
"Well," said Alzura doggedly, "if he isn't working hard to bring back the Royalists, I am very much mistaken." The young officer's words made me very uneasy. I knew little of Don Felipe's proceedings, as, although he was an occasional visitor at our house, a certain coolness had sprung up between us. For this feeling it would have been difficult, perhaps, to give any particular reason.
The little group laughed with delight, while I said reproachfully, "Oh, come, Alzura!" "Not so much the face, dear boy," said he, "but the figure. He's just your height and build; you will admit that. And his clothes will fit you, Juan. Now, do you see?" I confessed to being still in a fog, so he continued his explanations. "This is the idea," said he.
A week or two later January 20, 1823, to be precise there walked into the quarters of the second battalion a young officer. His face was white and drawn, his eyes were sunken; he looked so pitifully weak and ill that at first I failed to recognize him. "Well, Crawford," he exclaimed, "am I as changed as all that? Don't you know your old chum Alzura when you see him?" "Alzura?" I echoed, aghast.
We had no notion how the war had gone, and I should not have been surprised to hear that the Royalists were again masters of the country. About noon on the third day of our journey we sat down beside a pleasant stream in a picturesque ravine. There was sufficient food left for one meal, and Alzura voted for having it at once.
"Try him with English, Juan," laughed Alzura. "I wonder where he lives when he's at home? Perhaps he knows Portuguese. I'll have a shot at him." If Alzura knew Portuguese which I rather doubted the Indian was ignorant of that language, and was quite unmoved by my comrade's flood of oratory. Perhaps he thought Alzura was singing.
"Take us over there," I cried excitedly to the guide. "There are our comrades, Alzura. I see Plaza, and Cordova, and the sour-faced old major. Viva! viva!" and I rose in the stirrups with delight. What explanation the Indian gave I do not know. We were plucked from the saddles and bandied about from one fellow to another in less than no time, every one helping to keep up a running fire of remarks.
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