umpet, and began
retracing his steps along the road which he had that day followed. The
next morning, before Sarsfield arrived at Artajona, Zumalacarregui was
at Dicastillo, a long day's march off, and precisely at the same
distance from the Christino general at which he had been when the latter
commenced his pursuit. Sarsfield found matter for reflection in this,
and perceiving, doubtless, that a war in such a country as Navarre, and
against such a man as Zumalacarregui, was likely to prove a shoal upon
which more than one military reputation would be wrecked, he confided
the direction of operations to Generals Lorenzo and Oraa, and returned
to Pampeluna, whence he no more issued forth.

The first encounter between Zumalacarregui and the Christinos took place
on the 29th of December, near the village of Asarta. The Carlist force
consisted of seven small battalions or corps, together about 2500 men,
knowing, for the most part, little or nothing of a soldier's duty. Many
of the muskets were useless, and the ammunition so scarce, that ten
cartridges formed the allowance with which these troops went, for the
first time, under fire. In the combat that ensued, the Christinos
suffered considerable loss; and although the Carlists, who had most of
them expended their ammunition, finally retreated in haste and disorder,
the mere fact of having sustained for some time the assault of an enemy
so far superior to them in discipline and equipments, inspired these raw
recruits with fresh courage and confidence. The resistance that had been
made contrasted advantageously with the facility with which, at the
first commencement of the war, far larger bodies of the insurgents had
been put to flight. Several Christino officers came over to the Carlists
after this trifling action, of which the moral effect was altogether
highly favourable to the cause of Don Carlos.

Dividing his forces into three detachments, Zumalacarregui sent two of
these to draw off the attention of Lorenzo and Oraa, whilst he himself
suddenly appeared before the royal manufactory of shot and shell at
Orbaiceta, near the French frontier. The garrison, consisting of two
hundred men, capitulated, although it might very well have held out the
place against an enemy without artillery, until the arrival of
assistance, which would have been certain to come in two or three days.
Here were found two hundred excellent muskets, a brass four-pounder, and
more than 50,000 cartrid