The men were still in the full-dress uniforms they had worn
at the review the day before, and in comparison with the
soldier-workmen and the Americans in flannel shirts, they presented so
martial a showing that they were welcomed with tumultuous cheers. Clay
threw them into a double line on one side of the road, down the length
of which his own marched until they had reached the end of it nearest
to the city, when they took up their position in a close formation, and
the native regiments fell in behind them. Clay selected twenty of the
best shots from among the engineers and sent them on ahead as a
skirmish line. They were ordered to fall back at once if they saw any
sign of the enemy. In this order the column of four thousand men
started for the city.

It was a little after seven when they advanced, and the air was mild
and peaceful. Men and women came crowding to the doors and windows of
the huts as they passed, and stood watching them in silence, not
knowing to which party the small army might belong. In order to
enlighten them, Clay shouted, "Viva Rojas." And his men took it up,
and the people answered gladly.

They had reached the closely built portion of the city when the
skirmish line came running back to say that it had been met by a
detachment of Mendoza's cavalry, who had galloped away as soon as they
saw them. There was then no longer any doubt that the fact of their
coming was known at the Palace, and Clay halted his men in a bare plaza
and divided them into three columns. Three streets ran parallel with
one another from this plaza to the heart of the city, and opened
directly upon the garden of the Palace where Mendoza had fortified
himself. Clay directed the columns to advance up these streets,
keeping the head of each column in touch with the other two. At the
word they were to pour down the side streets and rally to each other's
assistance.

As they stood, drawn up on the three sides of the plaza, he rode out
before them and held up his hat for silence. They were there with arms
in their hands, he said, for two reasons: the greater one, and the one
which he knew actuated the native soldiers, was their desire to
preserve the Constitution of the Republic. According to their own laws,
the Vice-President must succeed when the President's term of office had
expired, or in the event of his death. President Alvarez had been
assassinated, and the Vice-President, General Rojas, was, in
consequence