At this point of the war, Páez again distinguished himself by an act of supreme daring. With 150 of his horsemen, he crossed the river Arauca, which separated the independent army from the royalists, and then feigned a retreat along the river, which in very few places could be waded. Morillo, considering him and his men easy prey, sent 1,200 men, including all his cavalry, against the retreating horsemen. When they were far from the main body of the army Páez rushed against the attacking party, without giving them time to organize, and at the first inrush he destroyed the column. The defeated royalists fled to their camp and Morillo decided to withdraw, which he did during the night. This action, fought on April 3, 1819, and known as the Battle of Las Queseras del Medio, covered Páez with glory and Morillo with discredit. Bolívar conferred all the honors and praise possible on the brave Páez and on his men. At that time the plains began to be flooded. In the northern part of South America, the season of rain, called winter, lasts from May until October. The Valley of the Orinoco becomes in places an interior sea. The cattle go up to the highlands and, where horses walk in the summer, small boats ply in the winter, going from village to village and from home to home. The villages are built on piles, and traveling on horseback is very difficult during this season. On these plains, Bolívar and his men would travel, riding or swimming as required. They would drive cattle with them and kill them for food, pressing the remaining meat under the saddles, and continuing the march. To all of this the plainsmen were accustomed; and to this, Bolívar, born among the greatest comforts and reared amid all the refinements of life, showed no apparent repugnance. CHAPTER XII _Bolívar Pays His Debt to Nueva Granada. Boyacá, A Dream Comes True_ (1819) Páez was commissioned to get fresh horses with which to advance against Barinas, when Bolívar got in communication with the province of Nueva Granada--where Santander, a very able general, had organized an army, which was fighting successfully against the royalists. Bolívar perhaps recalled his promise made to Nueva Granada before leaving Angostura, or perhaps he obeyed a long prepared plan. The fact is that he decided to do nothing less than cross the flooded plains, go to the viceroyalty, free that country from the Spanish domination and return to emancipate Venezuela. The man who could not consider himself even the equal of Morillo again dreamed of the impossible, and decided to convert it into fact. He convoked his officers, communicated to them his plan of leaving some men to distract Morillo's attention while he, himself, should go quickly to Nueva Granada and give it freedom, and on May 25, 1819, he started to carry out his project, one perhaps more difficult than those of Hannibal and Napoleon.