Beaufort Republican. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1871-1873, 1872-03-14
WITH THE GUERRILLEROs.,

"The sharp, clear crack Of pistol shot.
And then an appalling bump, and the
heavy vehicle we were travelling in reeled
like ship struck by great wave.
"In an instant, saw the scared face OF
the mayord of the coach looming pallid
through the window. AS a preliminary
measure, smashed the glass with the butt
end of one of my revolvers, and asked the
nayordl what was the matter.
"'The maala geate! the nata gsnts!-the
Guerilsros, the brigandsp he murmured.
Hound Of a lepero!' / shouted, opening
the door, jumping ont, and seizing him by
the throat. 'Hijo de Perro!-'tis thou who.
knowing had onaas de oro with me, hast
given information to the mala gente.
propose l added camly, to blow thy
brains out
The poor devil fell upon his knees,
and vowed by Our Lady of Qua 1alupe, and
all the saints in the Mexican hagiology,
that he had nothing to do with the anbus-
cade into which, it appeared, we had fallen.
Nay, he pointed to the blunderbuss he car
ried, and telling me that it was loaded
with slugs, and that he had plenty more
powder and shot in his pouch, he proposed
that we should 60 forward and fight the
naala gente to the death, bidding me to
blow his brains out, as had promised, at
the first sight Of any prevarication or COM
plicity with the brigands on his part l
could not but believe him. and it turned
out that he was very honest fellow, and
perfectly innocent of any criminal oogni-
zance of the Guerrilleros' designs
"This is not always the case with mayo
rails: and at least two-thirds of the organ.
lied attacks on diiJsnciGs are put up rob-
Der es. due to the mail coach guards or the
po.til,ions being in league with the rob-
bers.
There had been sixteen of US; and a
rapid council of war being held, it was
found that thirteen Of our number were
ready to fight. as Yankee irreverently
but truly put it, till the bottomless pit was
full to the bung. Fighting was Of course,
not to be thought CT in the case Of two
priests, who did nothing but yelp 'Musrte!
maerteP and invoke Our Lady Of Guada-
lupe. So we put the reverend padres into
the interior OF the carriage, and set
French commercial traveller to mouAt
guard over them and the baggage; and
then, forming ourselves into compact
little phalanx. and with the muzzles of our
firearms radia ing from common centre.
in q quadrant, we marched forward to see
what was the matter.
"There was very much the matter is
deed Deducing the two priests. there
should still have been fourteen comba-
tants left; and. as have said, we were
but dozen end one. including the mayo
rdl The fou: te nth man was the coach
man and him. poor fellow, we found lying
among the frightened mules, s'ark dead,
with his skull smashed by pistol bullet.
We were at tLevery head OF q barranca-
the embankn men: On ether side Icing near
ly perpendicular. and ct least twenty feet
high. With little more eievati n, it
would have approached the proportions of
canon or gorge but the outlet was
by strong barricade of felled trees
on the summit we could see, clear az
the morning sky, the forms of bet
twenty and thirty brigands They Il
tremendous volley directly we can
sight but they, happily, succeeded
in killing couple of the mules. bf
which we dodged and l could tell,
the reverberation OF the discharge
they were only provided with old fin
muskets and common horse-pistols
that. although numerically inferior
maLa gente, we were much better
than they were. From that momel
confidence was restored.
"Barricade for larricade,' I rcmd
We had better make our citadel
dAigencia'
"So judiciously crawling on our
and knees, an keepiny under the
the mules, we returned to the ca
creeping up to the roof OF the dili
and sheltered by a pile of luggage
enabled, by means of a small tield-g
see right over the ba'ricade, and swd
entire field of operations.
al could see scoundrel riding
encouraging his fellow-rascals 10
tack, and spurring his horse up Z
the barraned, and reproaching his
being 'garachos q perros'-cowaH
dogs-because they did not scale IL
bank and take US in the rear
Mon ami ! remarked, ment
have Christmas, box for you whi
serve for New Years gift as wei
SO saying. took good aim wi
Sharpe's rifle, and fred.
"lou may have seen dexterou
lier jump on to horse. and OF a -
but did you ever see one jump on
horse That's what my friend in tn
wheel hat did. That is to say.
clean out of his saddle, his feet
clearing the great slipper-shaped
stirrups. He bounded up at an q
forty-fve degrees. his arms EXTENDED
\. + L. 4 II.