"Should you live to be a man," said the major reprovingly, "you won't talk in such a light-hearted way of a battle." And the boy's face flushed at the laugh which greeted the remark. "Don't be too sarcastic, Gamarra," cried another. "The youngster's right in the main. If Canterac escapes, the war may drag on for months, and will cost thousands of lives. The mountains will kill more than a pitched battle would." "Canterac can't escape if we follow him up properly," said the major, "and Colonel Miller seems the man to do that." "That is so; but he can't move without orders; and there's more than one man in high places who will prefer Lima to a pursuit." Thus they talked during the afternoon, and early in the evening Colonel Miller ordered that every one not on duty should turn in at once; which we took to be a sign that something was going to happen shortly. At ten o'clock the column was roused. The men assembled silently, and a whisper went round that Canterac had begun his retreat. For more than an hour we awaited fresh orders, the colonel on horseback fuming impatiently, until at last the word came to march. "An hour thrown away," muttered the colonel angrily. "Canterac will laugh in our faces." To our disgust, we found that the column was attached to the main army, and that we had to move step by step to the will of the chief. I knew very little about military tactics, but it was a strange kind of pursuit, and made me think of a tortoise chasing a hare. "I wonder what Captain Plaza would think of this performance?" said the colonel, rather bitterly, as we jogged along. "This isn't the way he took you after Santalla, eh?" "Indeed no, colonel!" I replied, laughing. "The captain would have had us on the other side of Lima by now." "It's like a funeral procession," he muttered impatiently; "and if they don't mind, 'twill be a funeral procession in reality. We shall be burying the independence of Peru." The ridiculous part of it was that our column had been formed of all the light companies on purpose to swoop down on the foe. As far as I could judge, the swoop was much like that of a hawk whose wings had been carefully tied to its body. However, we tramped along throughout the night, halting at daybreak without getting a glimpse of the exulting Canterac. "Never mind," exclaimed the colonel, who hated to look on the dark side of things; "we may catch them during the day." In this he was disappointed, as we proceeded in the same leisurely manner, just as if we were out for a quiet stroll on a summer's day. Several times Miller rode off to the staff, but on each occasion he returned looking more dissatisfied than before. The men wondered, and at each halt the officers talked pretty freely among themselves, giving their opinions with refreshing vigour. "Canterac has the start of us now," said one, "and we shall never overtake him. We had the game in our hands, and have simply thrown it away."