"You have succeeded, I see," he said. "I hope that you were enabled to
accomplish it without violence."
"They were too much surprised to offer much resistance. Five fellows, who
said they were the committee appointed by the Junta, came to us and told
us that unless we dispersed at once we should be severely punished. We
told them that we had come out of our homes at the orders of the Junta,
but that as the Junta had not supplied us with arms we had come for them,
as we were not going to fight the French with nothing but sticks. They
then threatened us again, and we told them that if they hindered us from
defending the country we should hang them at once; and as they saw we
meant it, they went quietly off to their houses. Then we broke down the
door of the magazine. We found four thousand muskets there. Each man took
one, and we left the remainder and enough ammunition for them, and have
brought the rest here, together with a hundred spare muskets.
"We have observed excellent order, and no one was hurt or alarmed. The
only men who left the ranks were a score who went round to the bakers'
shops by my orders, and bought up all the bread in the place. We found a
bag with a thousand dollars at the quarters of Cortingos."
"What became of him and his two associates?"
"They had the impudence to come out and harangue us when you had gone; but
we tied them up to the branch of a tree, so there is an end of them.
Pages:
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327