iards stationed in all directions, to cut off
the supplies of the patriot army; and that the undertaking in which I
was engaged was likely to prove far more dangerous than I had expected.
Accordingly, I had to use the greatest caution--galloping on only at
night, and concealing myself and my horse during the day in any clump of
trees I could find, or in some recess of the mountains, except when the
country appeared sufficiently open to enable me to put forth the powers
of my steed, and trust to his speed for escape.

I had gone on for several leagues, and, believing that I had passed the
last party of Spaniards, I was proceeding rather more leisurely than at
first, along a zigzag path cut in the side of a mountain, with a steep
precipice below me, when I saw a strong body of men posted on a height
at some distance above me. To turn back was as full of risk as to push
forward. I determined on the latter course, therefore; and digging the
spurs into my horse's flanks, I dashed at headlong speed along the road.
I had already placed the Spaniards behind me, when they, suspecting
that I was an enemy, opened fire, and their shot whizzed thickly about
my ears. On I dashed; but a false step might have sent me and my horse
into the abyss below, down which the stones clattered. Suddenly I heard
a thud, such as a bullet produces when striking a substance; and feeling
my gallant steed give a convulsive spring, I knew he was wounded.
Still, he went on for nearly a hundred yards; then he began to stagger;
and I had just time to clear my feet of the stirrups, and throw myself
off his back, ere he rolled over into the rocky ravine. I did not stop
a moment to see what became of him, but ran forward as fast as my legs
could carry me; unslinging my despatch-case as I did so, and taking out
the despatches, which I hid beneath my shirt. I then gave the case a
whirl in the air, so that my pursuers might see it, and swung it from me
into the ravine.

Having still some hopes of escaping, as it was possible my pursuers
might attempt to secure the leathern case, and allow me time to distance
them before they could discover that it was empty, I dashed on,--not
even looking back to ascertain if they were following. At length I
stopped; but what was my dismay, on taking a glance over my shoulder, to
see that half-a-dozen of the most active of the party were pressing hard
after me! Had the path continued down-hill, I should have succeeded in