up
the Estero, to prevent them falling into Yankee hands. We could see the
gay pennons of their lances constantly with the spy-glasses; and by this
time having acquired a slight idea of the topography of the immediate
suburbs, we began to extend our scouts further beyond the lines.

The skirmishing commenced on the 18th. With fifty men, we left the
Cuartel at midnight; pursued a path parallel with the beach, and after
resting some hours in ditches, and nearly devoured by musquitos, at
break of day found ourselves a league from the garrison. Soon after, we
discovered a body of forty horsemen moving along the road in direction
of the town. We were obliged to break cover, and run smartly to a hedge
that fringed the road, in hopes of intercepting their retreat, and were
of necessity soon exposed to view. The lancers wheeled to reconnoiter,
and then came on at a trot. We blazed away with the muskets, when they
increased their speed, until on reaching a thicket, they halted and
returned the fire from their escopetas. This continued some time, the
balls knocking the dust up in little puffs, but too far distant to do
any damage, when hearing the sharp pinging song of a bullet, I turned my
head and beheld a verdant reefer, with a cutlass strapped around his
waist, one hand in his pocket, and the other scratching his cheek.
"Hillo!" quoth I; "what's the matter?"--"Nothing but these musquitos,"
he replied, and continued attentively regarding the flashes from the
bushes. While this little fusilade was going on, we espied two officers,
who had probably ventured too far in advance of their troop, and were
entirely cut off from the main body; we hailed them to surrender, but,
without heeding the summons, they behaved quite coolly; moved slowly
towards where a dozen muskets were gazing at them, and where they were
obliged to pass an angle of the road, when having availed themselves of
the last chance of even a leaf of shelter, with one arm clasping the
horses' necks, they half swung from the saddles, and made a desperate
rush to pass us. A hail-storm of balls and buck-shot rained around them;
the horses plunged, evidently hit, and the hindmost rider fell from his
seat, still clinging to the saddle, but the speed of the animals soon
bore them to their companions and shelter. We afterwards learned that
they had lost one killed and five wounded. Pursuit was useless, our
heels being less nimble than horses, so we formed and returned to the