as as anxious as myself.

"You do not need them any longer?" said I to Ripley, a gallant young
fellow, who commanded the howitzer.

"No, Captain; I have thirty artillerists here. It is strange if we
can't keep the piece and manage it against ten times that number of such
heroes as we have seen over yonder." And he pointed to the flying enemy
on the other side of the barranca.

"What say you to going with us?"

"I should like it well; but duty, my dear H.--duty! I must stay by the
gun."

"Good-bye, then, comrade! We have no time to lose--farewell!"

"Good-bye; and if you're whipped, fall back on me. I'll keep the piece
here until you return, and there'll be a good load of grape ready for
anybody that may be in pursuit of you."

The company had by this time formed on the flank of the howitzer, and at
the words "Forward!--quick time!" started briskly across the hills.

In a few minutes we had reached the point where the road trended for
some distance along the brow of the precipice. Here we halted a moment;
and taking Lincoln and Raoul, I crawled forward to our former point of
observation.

Our time spent at the battery had been so short that, with the
difficulty which the enemy experienced in descending the cliff, the head
of their line had only now reached the bottom of the barranca. They
were running in twos and threes towards the stream, which, near this
point, impinged upon the foot of the precipice. With a small glass that
I had obtained from Ripley I could see their every movement. Some of
them were without arms--they had doubtless thrown them away--while
others still carried their muskets, and not a few were laden with
knapsacks, and heavy burdens too; the household gods--perhaps stolen
ones--of their own camp. As they reached the green-sward, dropping down
in a constant stream, they rushed forward to the water, scrambling into
it in thirsty crowds, and falling upon their knees to drink. Some of
them filled their canteens and went on.

"They intend to take the hills," thought I. I knew there was no water
for miles in that direction.

As I swept the glass round the bottom of the cliff, I was struck with an
object that stood in a clump of palm-trees. It was a mule saddled, and
guarded by several soldiers more richly uniformed than the masses who
were struggling past them.

"They are waiting for some officer of rank," thought I. I moved the
glass slowly along the line of descending bodies,