were to get their commissions, and if it were true that they were
all captains, or only colonels, as they were at home.

They had been waiting for a half-hour, when there was the sound
of horses' hoofs on the road, and the even beat of men's feet,
and the advance guard of the Third and Fourth regiments came
toward them at a quickstep. The men were still in the full-dress
uniforms they had worn at the review the day before, and in
comparison with the soldier-workmen and the Americans in flannel
shirts, they presented so martial a showing that they were
welcomed with tumultuous cheers. Clay threw them into a double
line on one side of the road, down the length of which his
own marched until they had reached the end of it nearest to the
city, when they took up their position in a close formation, and
the native regiments fell in behind them. Clay selected twenty
of the best shots from among the engineers and sent them on ahead
as a skirmish line. They were ordered to fall back at once if
they saw any sign of the enemy. In this order the column of four
thousand men started for the city.

It was a little after seven when they advanced. and the air was
mild and peaceful. Men and women came crowding to the doors and
windows of the huts as they passed, and stood watching them in
silence, not knowing to which party the small army might belong.
In order to enlighten them, Clay shouted, ``Viva Rojas.'' And
his men took it up, and the people answered gladly.

They had reached the closely built portion of the city when the
skirmish line came running back to say that it had been met by a
detachment of Mendoza's cavalry, who had galloped away as soon as