is feet left the
stirrups, and, dropping his weapon, he fell headlong into the dust. A
Carlist bullet had pierced his heart.

"Fire at your foes, and not at defenceless prisoners," said Herrera
sternly to the dismayed soldiers. "Remember that your lives shall
answer for those of these men."

And again placing himself at the head of the cavalry, he led them to
meet Zumalacarregui and his lancers, who were already charging down
upon them.

But the few seconds that had been occupied in saving Villabuena and
his companions from the slaughter, had made all the difference in the
chances of success. Could Herrera have charged, as he had been about
to do, before the Carlists formed up and advanced, he might, in all
probability, owing to the greater skill of his men in the use of
their weapons, and to the superiority of their horses, have broken and
sabred his opponents, and opened the road for the Christino infantry.
Once in the plain, where the dragoons could act with advantage, the
Carlists might have been kept at bay, and a retreat effected. Now,
however, the state of affairs was very different. The lancers, with
Zumalacarregui and several of his staff charging at their head like
mere subalterns, came thundering along the road, and before Herrera
could get his dragoons into full career, the shock took place. In an
instant the way was blocked up with a confused mass of men and horses.
The rear files of the contending cavalry, unable immediately to check
their speed, pushed forward those in front, or forced them off the
road upon the strip of broken ground and brushwood on either side;
friends and foes were mingled together, cutting, thrusting, swearing,
and shouting. But the dragoons, besides encountering the lances of the
hostile cavalry, suffered terribly from the fire of the foot-soldiers,
who came down to the side of the road, blazing at them from within a
few paces, and even thrusting them off their horses with the bayonet.
In so confused a struggle, and against such odds, the superior
discipline and skill of the Christinos was of small avail. Herrera,
who, at the first moment of the encounter, had crossed swords with
Zumalacarregui himself, but who the next instant had been separated
from him by the melee, fought like a lion, till his right arm was
disabled by a lance-thrust. The soldier who had wounded him was about
to repeat the blow, when a Carlist officer interfered to save him. He
was made prisoner, and his men