I moved down the pass to meet him easily enough; there was no stone in it that was not known to me and my men.

But with the Spaniards it was otherwise, for many of them were mounted, and moreover they dragged with them two carronades.

Time upon time these heavy guns remained fast in the boulder-strewn roadway, for in the darkness the slaves who drew them could find no places for the wheels to run on, till in the end the captains of the army, unwilling to risk a fight at so great a disadvantage, ordered them to halt until the day broke.
At length the dawn came, and the light fell dimly down the depths of the vast gulf, revealing the long ranks of the Spaniards clad in their bright armour, and the yet more brilliant thousands of their native allies, gorgeous in their painted helms and their glittering coats of feathers.

They saw us also, and mocking at our poor array, their column twisted forward like some huge snake in the crack of a rock, till they came to within a hundred paces of us.

Then the Spaniards raised their battle cry of Saint Peter, and lance at rest, they charged us with their horse.