with the command. He surprised the enemy, in number about twenty; but few were able to escape, and he brought in six prisoners, some of whom were wounded. The affair gained for us several horses, which were a very important acquisition in our circumstances. The system adopted by the enemy was, to send the inhabitants into the interior, in order to cut off their communications with the troops; and this induced many of those unfortunate people to join us, among whom they found a kind reception and a safe retreat, in the largest of the islands, to which the soldiers carried a great number of animals, and chiefly sheep, for their subsistence. Thus, in different ways, the expedition gained strength and was favored by circumstances, especially by the arrival of Juan de la Cruz, whose discovery deserves to be mentioned. The Martreros of the Rincon, who were assembled with me at the time, informed me that Juan de la Cruz, at the head of a few parties of his friends, had fought several bands of the enemy on previous days; but, overcome by numbers, had been obliged to scatter his men, and take to the woods alone, in the thickest bushes, and even to abandon his horse, and to set off in a canoe, for the most obscure islands of the Uruguay. There he was still an object of the chief persecution to the enemy, who, after the battle of India Muerta, when there were no longer any national corps in the country, could pursue the Martreros at their pleasure. In such a painful situation was he found at that time; and I intrusted one Saldana, an old companion of Juan de la Cruz, with a few Martreros, to visit his retreat and bring him away. The undertaking was successful; and after a few days spent in the search, they found him, on an island, in a tree, and his canoe tied at its root, floating in the water, it being the time of inundation, and the little island being flooded. He had so placed himself that he could at once have retreated into the woods, if enemies had appeared, instead of friends. The young Italians in the expedition at that time, learned a lesson of the life they will be called to lead, when they shall see their country redeemed. Juan de la Cruz was an important acquisition to the expedition. From that day forward, we had with us all the Martreros of the surrounding district, and a force of excellent cavalry, without which little or nothing could have been undertaken in those countries. The Isla del Biscaino, (or the Island of the Biscayan,) the largest in the Yaguary, soon became a colony, peopled by the families which fled from the barbarity of the enemy, and various others, from the capital. Many animals were sent over to it, a number of horses were left there, and an officer was entrusted with the care of everything. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER XXIV.