ucination. He sprang
from his bed, and, nearly naked as he was, descended the stairs, opened
the door of the house, and tried to snatch away the musket of the
sentinel posted there, in order to defend himself against the
approaching enemy. The sentry, at once recognising him, kept him off
with his hand, and said firmly--'General, leave me my arms; when
needful, I shall know how to use them.' The man had only joined the
Carlists three days before, and, excepting his musket, bore no mark or
sign of his new profession, not even a cartouch-box; and, to complete
the singularity of the scene, he was mounting guard bareheaded. The
horses, of which Zumalacarregui, with extraordinary fineness of ear, had
detected the approach at a very great distance, soon afterwards made
their appearance. They were mounted by the men whose duty it was to go
from one village to another during the night, collecting rations. Things
returned to their previous state of tranquillity, and the sentinel was
rewarded for his steadiness and presence of mind.
"This incident," concludes Zaratiegui, "recalls to my recollection an
anecdote told by a Spanish author, of the great Captain Gonzalo de
Cordova. When that hero was laying siege to a fortress on the island of
Cephalonia, which was defended by the Turks, he was many times seen to
get up in his sleep, and to cry out to his soldiers to come and repel
the enemy; and it is also said, that owing to these alarms the Spaniards
more than once escaped a surprise."
Without reference to a map, it would be difficult for our readers to
appreciate a description of the extraordinary marches and countermarches
by which Zumalacarregui avoided his enemy until such time as he was able
to fight him. Sarsfield had no sooner established himself in his
vice-royalty at Pampeluna, that he collected all the troops he had at
his disposal, and began running after the Carlist chief. He displayed
great activity, made forced and rapid marches, and on arriving one
evening at the town of Puente la Reyna, found himself, by the result of
a well-planned movement, within an hour and a half's march of Artajona,
where Zumalacarregui had halted. Sarsfield made sure of coming to blows
the next morning; but he had forgotten to take into consideration the
insensibility to fatigue, and capacity of exertion, of the Navarrese
mountaineers. In the middle of the night, Zumalacarregui turned out his
men in dead silence, without sound of drum or tr
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