n was moving about the
battery with his usual _sang-froid_, reconnoitring the enemy. He ran no
useless risk, kept himself well behind the breastworks, stooping down when
necessary, and taking all proper care of himself. When he had completed
his reconnoissance, he, to my no small astonishment, took off his coat and
neck-handkerchief, the latter of which he tied tight round his waist, then
taking a rammer from the hand of a soldier who had just fallen, he
ordered, or rather signed to the artilleryman to draw the gun back.

There was something so cool and decided in his manner, that they obeyed
without testifying any surprise at his interference, and as though he had
been one of their own officers. He loaded the piece, had it drawn forward
again, pointed and fired it. He then went to the next gun and did the same
thing there. He seemed so perfectly at home in the battery, that nobody
ever dreamed of disputing his authority, and the two guns were entirely
under his direction. I had now got used to the thing myself, so I went
forward and offered my services, which, in the scarcity of men, (so many
having been killed,) were not to be refused, and I helped to draw the guns
backwards and forward, and load them. The captain kept running from one to
the other, pointing them, and admirably well too; for every shot took
effect within a circumference of a few feet on the bastion in front of us.

This lasted nearly an hour, at the end of which time the fire was
considerably slackened, for the greater part of our guns had become
unserviceable. Only about a dozen kept up the fire, (the ball, I was going
to say,) and amongst them were the two that Ready commanded. He had given
them time to cool after firing, whereas most of the others, in their
desperate haste and eagerness, had neglected that precaution. Although the
patriots had now been fifteen years at war with the Spaniards, they were
still very indifferent artillerymen--for artillery had little to do in
most of their fights, which were generally decided by cavalry and
infantry, and even in that of Ayacucho there were only a few small
field-pieces in use on either side. The mountainous nature of the
country, intersected, too, by mighty rivers, and the want of good roads,
were the reasons of the insignificant part played by the artillery in
these wars.

Whilst we were thus hard at work, who should enter the battery but the
very officer we had left Lima to visit? He was attended by