We have sent off six messengers, I don't know whether any of them have arrived." "No, sir, none of them.

The commandant sent off one or two, every day; and I suppose they, like those you sent, were all stopped." "The whole country seems on fire," the general said.

"We have had five or six parties come in here disarmed, who had been captured by the enemy; and it would seem that all our posts on the road to Zamora, and on that to Valladolid, have been captured.

The men could only report that they were suddenly attacked by such overwhelming forces that resistance was impossible.

They say that the whole country seems to swarm with guerillas, but there are certainly a considerable number of regular troops among them.