ion
which Carlos had undertaken to defend.

The troops, having taken open order, were next ordered to lie down and
thus minimise their exposure as far as possible; and in this posture
they advanced to the attack, creeping gradually forward and firing
independently at any spot where the flash of a rifle, or a puff of
smoke, showed that an enemy lay concealed. There was one small party of
men in particular that attracted Jack's attention, and a careful
inspection of them through his glasses showed that they were provided
with something which had the appearance of scaling ladders, which they
were laboriously dragging after them, and which Singleton very shrewdly
suspected were intended to span the gap in the broken bridge and thus
afford a passage for the troops across the river. To these men, and to
the cavalry who were still persistently endeavouring to recover the
possession and use of the two field pieces, Jack commended the especial
attention of his negroes, leaving the remainder of the Spanish troops to
be dealt with a little later on; for, the defenders being safely
ensconced in cover, the rifle fire of the attacking party was absolutely
harmless to them, and the young Englishman felt that so long as he could
keep the party with the scaling ladders at arm's length, and the field
pieces from being used against him, he was practically master of the
situation. And these two objects he gained most successfully, the party
with the ladders very soon being wiped out, while all attempts on the
part of the main body to supply its place were effectually frustrated;
while, as for the guns, by the time that the cavalry-men had lost rather
more than a quarter of their number they had evidently arrived at the
conclusion that to move the pieces from the exposed position which they
occupied was an impossible task, and they accordingly abandoned it,
turning their attention next to the position which Carlos was defending.

The unequal fight had been in progress for nearly two hours, during
which Singleton's party had experienced less than a dozen casualties,
while the enemy, exposed in the open, had suffered very severely, when
another body of men suddenly made their appearance in the rear of the
Spanish forces, and, with howls and yells of vengeful delight, rushed
forward to the attack. A small flag of Cuba Libre which was borne in
their midst proclaimed them to be a body of revolutionaries, and the
Spanish troops were hastily