reached Mazatlan at noon. The day after, Telles marched to Urias,
with his whole force and artillery; but, hearing a report that the
Americans were coming to attack him with _bombas_, retreated the same
day to Castillo, where he again encamped.

CHAPTER XXIII.

A month had elapsed since the occupation of Mazatlan, and we had all
been busily employed upon the fortifications, and in acquiring a little
knowledge of our new duties on shore: we dropped the sailor and assumed
the soldier; forgot all about rigging and ships; talked of roll-calls,
reveilles, parades, countersigns, drills, sections, ditches, and
parapets; the officers of the day, too, appeared in red silk sashes
round the waist, with swords at their sides--sat in guard-rooms--sung
out, "Sergeant, let that man pass," or, "Corporal, let the fatigue
parties fall in"--quite like generals of division. I had only been a
week in barracks, at the Cuartel, and getting initiated in the mysteries
of soldiership, when, the fever making sad havoc among our ranks, I was
ordered to relieve the company stationed at the Garita, where the
illness had been unusually severe. The position was a conical eminence,
within three hundred yards of the sea beach, nearly surrounded by
lagoons, and entirely commanding the main road to the port. The hill was
originally owned by a gentleman, who, after building a decent little
balconied dwelling thereon, for a summer retreat, eventually had the
satisfaction of removing his family thence, in carts, to the more
wholesome air of the town. In consequence of its unhealthy situation,
caused by miasma that arose from the stagnant pools below, it was not
considered a desirable post, notwithstanding its pretty location; and I
may as well add, that out of one hundred and seven officers and men who
had been stationed there, I was the sole individual that was not taken
ill with fever during the six months of our stay. Previous to my
occupation, an energetic brother officer had already raised a
breast-high stone wall, and three guns had been planted in battery. It
was a place of much importance, and an equal degree of annoyance; for we
were obliged, with a small force of thirty men, to be extremely
vigilant, and were kept chattering, from morn until night, in examining
hundreds who were passing to and from the port. The house was filled
with fleas, too, whose attacks were far more troublesome than the
Mexicans; however, after a hard war of six wee