worth a drop of
Irish blood. Well, if your honour should have the bad fortune to
be hit, I shall either carry you off, though there's not a breath
in your body, or else go down with you."

As there was no doubt that Mike meant what he said, Desmond did
not press the matter further.

The next day they set out at daybreak, and, in two hours, were
mounting the slope of the sierra. There were no signs of any men
being about, until they reached a point where the road ran between
steep hills.

"There they are," Desmond exclaimed, reining in his horse. "There
are some thirty or forty of them on the road.

"Now, my men, we will ride forward to those boulders you see, a
hundred yards this side of them, and then we will dismount and
give them a volley. If you keep that up, it will soon be too hot
for them to remain on the road; while we, sheltered behind the
rocks, will be safe from their shot. It is certain that your guns
will carry farther and shoot straighter than theirs, as the
Spanish powder is so much inferior to the French."

Accordingly, they rode forward at a canter to the heap of
boulders, then suddenly left the road, dismounted, and took cover
among the rocks.

"Take steady aim, men," Desmond said, "then you can hardly miss
hitting some of them, standing close together as they do."

The bandits had waited, undecided, at the sudden disappearance of
those whom they had regarded as a certain prey; and before they
could form any plans, five muskets flashed out, and four of their
number fell. A cry of rage burst from them, and there was a
general discharge of their guns, the balls pattering thickly
against the stones.

The soldiers now fired as quickly as they could load, doing
considerable execution. Their foes left the road, and imitated
them by taking shelter behind stones. For ten minutes the combat
continued, and then a party of men were seen, mounting the hill on
either side.

"That is just what I hoped for," Desmond said. "Fire at them, so
as to force them to climb a little higher up the hill. As soon as
they are pretty well out of gunshot, we will mount and charge down
the road. There cannot be many men left there."

His orders were followed. Some of the men on the hillside dropped,
and the others continued to mount the slopes. When, as they
believed, out of fire, they moved forward so as to take the
defenders of the rocks in flank.

"Now, fire a volley among the men in front of us," Desmond said.