It requires some nerve and courage for men who have never gone through
any regular military training, to stand their ground singly and
unprotected, within fifty yards of an advancing line of cavalry. Our
fellows did it, however, and fired, not all at once, or in a hurry,
but slowly and deliberately; a running fire, every shot of which told.
Saddle after saddle was emptied; the men, as they had been ordered,
always picking out the foremost horsemen, and as soon as they had
fired, jumping down the bank to reload. When the whole of the thirty
men had discharged their rifles, Wharton and myself, with the reserve
of six and thirty more, took their places; but the dragoons had almost
had enough already, and we had scarcely fired ten shots when they
executed a right-about turn, with an uniformity and rapidity which did
infinite credit to their drill, and went off at a pace that soon
carried them out of reach of our bullets. They had probably not
expected so warm a reception. We saw their officers doing every thing
they could to check their flight, imploring, threatening, even cutting
at them with their sabres, but it was no use; if they were to be
killed, it must be in their own way, and they preferred being cut down
by their officers to encountering the deadly precision of rifles, in
the hands of men who, being sure of hitting a squirrel at a hundred
yards, were not likely to miss a Durango dragoon at any point within
range.

Our object in ordering the men to fire slowly was, always to have
thirty or forty rifles loaded, wherewith to receive the enemy should
he attempt a charge _en masse_. But our first greeting had been a
sickener, and it appeared almost doubtful whether he would venture to
attack us again, although the officers did every thing in their power
to induce their men to advance. For a long time, neither threats,
entreaties, nor reproaches produced any effect. We saw the officers