The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1895-01-16

upon time these heavy guns remained 1asU
| in the bowlder strewn roadway for in the
darkness the slaves who drew them could
| find no places for the wheels to run on,
| till in the end the captains Of the army,
unwilling to risk fight at so great dis
advantage, ordered them to halt until the
day broke.
At length the dawn came, and the light
fell dimly down the depths of the vast
| gulf, revealing the long ranks Of the Span
| iarCs clad in their bright armor and the
| yet more brilliant thousands of their ma
| tive allies, gorgeous in their painted helms
and their glittering coats of feathers.
They saw us also, and knocking at our
poor array their column twisted forward
like some huge snake in the crack of
rock till they came to within hundred
PAGES of us. Then the Spaniards raised
their battlecry of ST. Peter and lance at
rest they charged us with their horse. We
met them with a rain of arrows that
| checked them q little, but not for long.
Soon they were among us, driving us
back at the point of their lances and STAY
ing many, for our Indian weapons could
work little harm to men and horses clad
in armor. Therefore we must fly, and in
deed flight was my plan, for by it | hoped
to lead the foe to that part of the defilo
where the road was narrow and the cliffs
sheer, and they might be crushed by the
stones which should hail on them from
above. All went we'll. We fled. The Span
iards followed, flushed with victory, till
they were fairly in the trap. Now a single
bowlder came rushing from on high, and
falling on a horse killed him. then, re-
bounding, carried dismay and wounds to
those behind. Another followed, and yet
another, and I grew glad at heart, for it
seemed to me that the danger was over,
and that for the second time my strategy
had succeeded
But suddenly from above there came a
sound other than that Of the rushing rocks,
the sound Of men joining in battle, that
grew till the air was full of it's tumult;
then something whirled down from on
high. I looked. 1t was no stone, but
man, one Of my own men. Indeed he
was but as the first raindrop of a shower.
Alas, I saw the truth! / had been out
Witted. The Spaniards, old in war, could
not be caught twice by such trick. They
advanced down the pass with the carron-
AIDES indeed, because they must, but first
they sent great bodies Of men to climb the
mountain under shelter of the night by Sc
oret paths which had been discovered to
them, and there on it's summit to deal
with those who would stay their passage
by hurting rocks upon them.
And in truth they dealt with them but
too well, for my men of the Otomie, lying
on the verge of the cliff among the scrub
Of aloes and other prickly plants that grew
there, watching the advance of the foe be-
meath and never for one moment dream
ing that foes might be upon their flank,
were utterly surprised. Scarcely had they
time to seize their weapons, which were
laid at their sides that they might have
| the greater freedom in the rolling of heavy
masses Of rock, when the enemy, who out
numbered them by far, were upon them
with yell. Then came fight, short, but
decisive
Too late I saw it all and cursed the
folly that had not provided against such
chances, for indeed I never thought it pos
siblo that the forces Of the Spaniards could
find the secret trails upon the farther side
OF the mountain, forgetting that treason
makes most things possible.
CHAPTER XXI
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