ess, and pressed on at speed. At dawn they
and their allies met on the bank of a stream, beyond which, and very
near, was the fort. But the tide was in. They essayed to cross in vain.
Greatly vexed,--for he had hoped to take the enemy asleep,--Gourgues
withdrew his soldiers into the forest, where they were no sooner
ensconced than a drenching rain fell, and they had much ado to keep
their gun-matches burning. The light grew apace. Gourgues plainly saw
the fort, whose defences seemed slight and unfinished. He even saw the
Spaniards at work within. A feverish interval elapsed. At length the
tide was out,--so far, at least, that the stream was fordable. A little
higher up, a clump of woods lay between it and the fort. Behind this
friendly screen the passage was begun. Each man tied his powder-flask to
his steel cap, held his arquebuse above his head with one hand and
grasped his sword with the other. The channel was a bed of oysters. The
sharp shells cut their feet as they waded through. But the farther bank
was gained. They emerged from the water, drenched, lacerated, bleeding,
but with unabated mettle. Under cover of the trees Gourgues set them in
array. They stood with kindling eyes, and hearts throbbing, but not with
fear. Gourgues pointed to the Spanish fort, seen by glimpses between the
bushes and brown trunks. "Look!" he said, "there are the robbers who
have stolen this land from our King; there are the murderers who have
butchered our countrymen!" With voices eager, fierce, but half
suppressed, they demanded to be led on.

Gourgues gave the word. Cazenove, his lieutenant, with thirty men,
pushed for the fort-gate; himself, with the main body, for the glacis.
It was near noon; the Spaniards had just risen from table, and, says the
narrative, "were still picking their teeth," when a startled cry rang in
their ears,--

"To arms! to arms! The French are coming! the French are coming!"

It was the voice of a cannoneer who had that moment mounted the rampart
and seen the assailants advancing in unbroken ranks, with heads lowered
and weapons at the charge. He fired his cannon among them. He even had
time to load and fire again, when the light-limbed Olotoraca bounded
forward, ran up the glacis, leaped the unfinished ditch, and drove his
pike through the Spaniard from breast to back. Gourgues was now on the
glacis, when he heard Cazenove shouting from the gate that the Spaniards
were escaping on that side. He turned and