nces of
war before paying his debts. Though in full command at Huajapam, he was
simply a leader of guerilleros--nothing more; and in these partisan
chieftains the country at the time abounded. The renown, however, which
Trujano had gained within the narrow sphere of his exploits, had already
rendered him a subject of constant inquietude to the government of
Oajaca; and to crush this formidable enemy had been the object of the
march upon Huajapam, where Trujano chanced to be at the time. The
Royalist officers believed that a favourable opportunity had offered, in
the absence of two of Trujano's ablest supporters--Miguel and Nicolas
Bravo--both of whom had been summoned by Morelos to assist at the siege
of Cuautla.

Such was the importance attached to the defeat of the religious
insurgent, that the government employed against him nearly every soldier
in the province--concentrating its whole force upon Huajapam.

The little town was at the time entirely without fortifications of any
kind, and on all sides open to an enemy. All the more does the
remarkable defence made by Trujano deserve to be immortalised.
Fortunately for him the place was well supplied with provisions.

For all this, resistance against such a superior force would have been
impossible, according to the ordinary rules of war; and it was not by
these that Trujano succeeded in making it.

His first act was to store all the provisions in a common magazine; and
these were served out every morning in rations to each soldier and each
head of a family among the citizens. He also established a code of
discipline, almost monastic in its severity; which discipline, from the
first hour of the siege, in the midst of its most sanguinary episodes,
during the long period of nearly four months, he managed to maintain
without the slightest infraction. The energy of his character, combined
with the prudence of his dispositions, obtained for him an irresistible
ascendency over both soldiers and citizens.

The time was distributed for various purposes in the same manner as in a
convent; and the most part of it that was not taken up by military
duties, was spent in prayers and other devotional exercises. Orations
and vespers were performed in public--every one, both soldiers and
citizens, taking part; and in this remote village, cut off from all
communication with the world, amidst a population little used to the
pleasures of life, hourly prayers were offered up wit