g up his guard of honour, consisting of 300
lancers selected from the main body of the Llaneros for their
proved bravery and strength, and, leading them to the bank, thus
addressed them: 'We must have these _flecheres_ or die. Let those
follow Tio who please' ('Tio,' or 'uncle,' was the popular name by
which Paez was known to his men), and at the same time, spurring
his horse, pushed into the river and swam towards the flotilla. The
guard followed him with their lances in hand, now encouraging their
horses to bear up against the current by swimming by their sides
and patting their necks, and then shouting to scare away the
alligators, of which there were hundreds in the river, until they
reached the boats, when, mounting their horses, they sprang from
their backs on board them, headed by their leader, and, to the
astonishment of those who beheld them from the shore, captured
every one of them. To English officers it may appear inconceivable
that a body of cavalry, with no other arms than their lances, and
no other mode of conveyance across a rapid river than their horses,
should attack and take a fleet of gunboats amidst shoals of
alligators; but, strange as it may seem, it was actually
accomplished, and there are many officers now in England who can
testify to the truth of it."

It will be evident from exploits such as these that the Venezuelans were
fortunate in their leaders.

After a while Simon Bolivar, the Liberator, began to see that the
materialization of his lifelong ideal was now no longer a matter of the
dim distant future. The struggle had been severe, and the fortunes of
war had proved fickle at the beginning. At one period it had seemed that
even Nature had fought against the South American cause. At Barquisimeto
an earthquake had shattered the barracks of the soldiers of the
Independence, and many hundreds of troops were crushed beneath the
ruins.

The moral as well as the material effect of this disaster was serious in
the extreme. Miranda, moreover, although able, had proved himself an
unfortunate General. In the end he was captured by the Spaniards, and
died in captivity in Cadiz. Even when the tide of battle had definitely
turned against the Spaniards, their desperate straits induced them to
desperate measures, and the fortitude of the patriots continued to be
put severely to the test. One of the mos