and we must look
backwards in order to take up the thread of his career. At the very
first outbreak of insurrection in 1810, Paez took service as a volunteer
in the hastily-levied militia of Barinas, and was quickly promoted to
the post of sergeant in a corps of lancers. His influence and example
attracted multitudes of Llanero horsemen to the Revolutionary ranks,
but the calamitous period of the earthquake put an end to his military
service, and he returned, in 1812, to his pastoral post. Soon, however,
came news of Bolivar fighting from the mountains of New Granada; and in
1813 Paez was once more in the saddle, with the commission, this time,
of captain in the Patriot service. The Spaniards soon learned to dread
the fiery lancer of Barinas. They were never safe from his sudden
onslaught; and Puy, the commandant of the Province, rejoiced loudly when
an unlucky defeat placed the indefatigable _guerrillero_ in his power.
Paez was condemned to be shot, and was actually led out, with
other prisoners, to the place of execution; but a concatenation of
extraordinary accidents saved his life, and he escaped once more to the
head of his command. It was not long before he was brought in immediate
contact with the now famous Bolivar, and he rapidly rose to independent
command. In 1815, he was second only to the Liberator. Thousands of grim
Llaneros acknowledged no chieftain beside _el Tio Pepe_,--Uncle Joe.
When Morillo landed, in 1815, with his overwhelming force, only the
Llaneros of Paez held out for the Republic; everywhere else in Venezuela
the banner of Spain waved in triumph, but on the Plains of the Apure
there was neither submission nor peace. Yet, after a while, as the
victorious legions of Morillo flooded, in successive waves from the
coast, the level region of his refuge, Paez was compelled to evacuate
the Plains, and leave them to the invader. With a few hundred of his
horsemen he established himself on the Plains of New Granada. Scarcely
had he grown familiar with his new centre of action when the troops of
Morillo were turned westward for the purpose of curbing the rebellious
spirits in the neighboring Vice-Royalty,--when, quicker than thought,
Paez was once more over the mountains, and recovered by a sudden swoop
the Llanos of Barinas. Thenceforward, this region remained the surest
foothold of the revolution in Venezuela. Encircled with Spanish troops,
it remained, nevertheless, a practical republic in itself, and