CHAPTER XIV.
CAUGHT.
A smart gallop of a few minutes brought us near enough to see what was going on, though as we had to make a considerable _detour_ in order to avoid the Spaniards, we were just too late for the charge, greatly to Carmen's disappointment.
In numbers the two sides were pretty equal, the strength of each being about a thousand men.

Their tactics were rather those of Indian braves than regular troops.

The patriots were, however, both better led and better disciplined than their opponents, and fought with a courage and a resolution that on their native plains would have made them formidable foes for the "crackest" of European cavalry.
The encounter took place when we were within a few hundred yards of Mejia's left flank.

It was really a charge in line, albeit a very broken line, every man riding as hard as he could and fighting for his own land.
All were armed with spears, the longest, as I afterward learned, being wielded by Colombian _gauchos_.

These portentous weapons, fully fourteen feet long, were held in both hands, the reins being meanwhile placed on the knees, and the horses guided by voice and spur.