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TE..'i:.\S ST.\TE LIBR.\RY
were very stubborn; but ;we escaped from· them all, sometimes by means of arms, and other·times by various strategems which we used with them, according to our knowledge of their accursed rabble. At last we entered the neutral ground between the two countries where we thought we would be safe from our enemies, but such was not the case, for these accursed ones who did not respect the neutrality law, had come there to attack us when we passed that way, as in fact they did on the first night 1 when we had hoped to rest and cat at the houses of some Frenchmen who dwelt there, for it ,had been five days since we bad broken our fast. Under these circumstances, we were attacked hy fifty enemies. Of our band of fourteen, ·eleven escaped with arms in hand, losing everything we carried, ~nd most important of all, the papers and dispatches which proved my commission in a positive manner. ,Ve entered Natit'oches in a miserable condition, but we were sheltered by the hospitality of some inhabitants, and being in this condition I began to work upon the plan of operation which we . should adop.t. I made knoW11 the plan to l\lenchaca, and he adopted it in its entirety. In brief, the plan was this: that Sefior Menchaca should place himself at the head of·a gQodly number of American volunteers who were being asseml>led on the border to pla<:e them- selves under our orders to march to Ve.xar. (We knew posith·ely that .the· troops of Vexar were anxiously wahing to join· Seiior l\lenchaca, because he was an old soldier who had trail).ed them all, and who had made war upon the Meeos with mueh good fortune. For these reasons the majority loved him, and the-rest feared him.) As soon as he should take possession of that province he should establish a provisional government, communicate with 111e {n the north, and provide me with the necessary applications [ T], letters of credit, and whatever funds could be sent for the purchase of guns. Upon )Jeiug.instructed thus Sefior 1\1:enchaea started for the border in the middle of October to place himself at the head of the volunteer troops who w·ere there. In company with n boy who wished to attend me, I started north with only two hundred pesos out of five hundred. I had been relieved of the remainder hy the good· Frenchman, master qf the house where ,ve had been attacked .by the fifty enemies. I was also supplied by an employee of the government of the north with some letters of recommendation for some perso11ages in tre different provinces through which WC were to pass, including a recommendation to the Secretary of ,var. Thi~ man also did me the kindness to make a declaration npon the oath of several of my companions who knew of my commission and the loss of my papers in the last attack. lie informed his government ·of all this even before I set out. The first place I reached was Natchez, c.npital of·the l\lississippi territory. There was a Spaniard there who had been Consul for the King of Spain in New Orleans, and thii; grand rascal paid two assassins to kill me on the road. They followed me for six days. during which time I suspected nothing. At the end of the sixth day they attacked me, but as I did not carry my arms to piny with, 1 put a quietus on them and continued without this danger. I went through various states and always succeeded in communi-
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