By the time you do this
they will have driven in your rear-guard. The French will be breathless
with their exertions when they reach you. Wait till a considerable number
have gained the crest, then, before they have time to form, pour a heavy
volley into them and charge, and then sweep them with your fire until they
reach the bottom. The next time they will no doubt attack in much greater
force; in that case we will move quietly off without waiting for them, and
will reunite at the village of Romar, five miles in the rear. If we find,
as we near it, that the French are in possession, we will halt, and I will
send orders to the second regiment as to what is to be done. If the force
is not too great we will attack them at night."
"How will you know where we shall be, sir?" Macwitty said.
"I have arranged with Colonel Herrara that when you halt you shall light
two fires a short distance from each other. I will reply by lighting one,
and the fires are then to be extinguished."
This being arranged, Terence went down and applied a match to the train,
and then retired at a run. Three minutes later there was a heavy
explosion, rocks flew high in the air, and when the smoke cleared away, a
cheer from the hillside told that the explosion had been successful.
Terence returned to the bridge; a considerable portion of the arch had
been blown away, and putting fifty men to work, the gap was soon carried
across the road and widened, so that there was a chasm twelve feet across.
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