f the temper of the troops,
Zumalacarregui resolved upon a movement of unparalleled audacity. He had
information that on the following day Lorenzo and Oraa were to leave
Logrono for Pampeluna, followed twenty-four hours later by Rodil, with
the troops he had brought from Portugal. Zumalacarregui determined to
advance rapidly from the mountains amongst which he then found himself,
and to fall upon Rodil's left flank, trusting that troops unaccustomed
to that description of warfare would resist but feebly a sudden and
unexpected attack. However this daring plan might have succeeded, it
would certainly have been attempted, had not a totally unlooked-for,
and, to the Carlists, a most important event occurred to prevent it.

At midnight, on the 11th of July, the Carlist troops were about to
commence their march, when Legarra, the abbot of Lecumberri, suddenly
appeared before Zumalacarregui, and placed in his hands a sealed letter
of very small dimensions. The handwriting was unknown to the general,
and the sole address consisting of the two words, "_For
Zumalacarregui,_" he asked Legarra, previously to opening the letter,
whence and from whom it came. The sole information the abbot could give
was that he had received it from the junta of Navarre, and had been
desired to use all haste in its delivery. The general then opened and
read the missive; and as he did so, all those who were present were able
to note upon his countenance the great satisfaction with which the few
words it contained inspired him. He immediately countermanded the march,
ordered the horses to be unsaddled, and the troops to take up their
quarters for the night.

The contents of the note which caused all these changes, were as
follows:--

"Zumalacarregui: I am very near Spain, and to-morrow I trust by
God's help to reach Urdax. Take the necessary measures, and
communicate this to no one.

"CARLOS."

In spite of this last injunction, Zumalacarregui, calculating that Don
Carlos must by this time be on Spanish ground, could not refuse himself
the pleasure of telling such good news to his personal friends. They
repeated to others, and it soon became known throughout the camp, that
the King was coming. At daybreak the next morning, Zumalacarregui set
out, and at eleven at night reached the frontier town of Elizondo, where
he found Don Carlos, who, tired with his journey, had already gone to
bed, but, nevertheless, immediately received his f