d of the army of Spain, including a
very large number of officers, had fallen in Navarre, sixteen fortified
places had been taken, and the cause of Don Carlos was advancing by leaps
and bounds. The road to Madrid lay open to the Carlist hero when, at the
siege of Bilboa, a distant and nearly spent shot struck him, inflicting a
wound from which he soon died. With the fall of Zumalacarregui fell the
Carlist cause. Weak hands seized the helm from which his strong one had
been struck, incompetency succeeded genius, and three years more of a
weakening struggle brought the contest to an end. In all later revivals of
the insurrection it has never gained a hopeful stand, and with the fall of
"Uncle Tomas" the Carlist claim to the throne seemingly received its
death-blow.

The events of the war between the Navarrese and their opponents were so
numerous that it is not easy to select one of special interest from the
mass. We shall therefore speak only of the final incidents of
Zumalacarregui's career. Among the later events was the siege and capture
of Villafranca. Espartero, the Spanish general, led seven thousand men to
the relief of this place, marching them across the mountains on a dark and
stormy night with the hope of taking the Carlists by surprise. But Uncle
Tomas was not the man to be taken unawares, and reversed the surprise,
striking Espartero with a small force in the darkness, and driving back
his men in confusion and dismay. Eighteen hundred prisoners were taken,
and the general himself narrowly escaped. General Mirasol was taken, with
all his staff, in a road-side house, from which he made an undignified
escape. He was a small man, and by turning up his embroidered cuffs, these
being the only marks of the grade of brigadier-general in the Spanish
army, he concealed his rank. He told his captors that he was a _tambor_.
In their anxiety to capture officers the soldiers considered a drummer too
small game, and dismissed the general with a sound kick to the custody of
those outside. As these had more prisoners than they could well manage, he
easily escaped.

On learning of the defeat of Espartero the city surrendered. The news of
the fall of Villafranca had an important effect, the city of Tolosa being
abandoned by its garrison and Burgera surrendered, though it was strongly
garrisoned. Here Charles V.--as Don Carlos was styled by his party--made a
triumphal entry. He was then at the summit of his fortunes and full of