Santiago the more difficult became the feeding of their army and the more certainly disastrous a retreat in case of reverse. [Illustration: TALCAHUANO.] O'Higgins stopped at Talca to await orders, and there, on the 20th of January, 1818, he defiantly made proclamation of Chile's absolute independence of Spain. Three weeks later the approach of Osorio's army forced him to abandon the place and he retired to form a junction with San Martin. The latter completed his concentration and advanced with an army of over seven thousand men, superior in all arms and especially in cavalry and artillery. About a hundred miles south of Santiago he met the Spaniards and won some cavalry skirmishes. The enemy retired toward Talca, unwilling with inferior forces to bring on a general action where defeat meant annihilation, and even contemplating a retreat to Talcahuano. But behind them lay the deep river Maule, and San Martin made a dash to reach it first. The two armies marched rapidly on parallel lines with the patriot cavalry harassing the Spanish rear. On the afternoon of the 19th of March the Spaniards wheeled into line in excellent position just outside the city of Talca, with their west flank protected by a stretch of broken ground called the Cancha-Rayada. San Martin was following close, but the partial attack which be immediately made was interrupted by darkness before any decisive results were obtained. Hastily going into camp too near the enemy's lines and all unprepared for battle, the patriots were surprised at about nine o'clock in the evening by the assault of the whole Spanish army. The alarm was given by the cavalry pickets, but only a few had time to get into line of battle before the enemy was upon them. San Martin over on the extreme right heard a few volleys and then the noise of confused flight, scattering shots, and the thundering hoof-beats of the pursuing cavalry. O'Higgins had been wounded while trying to get his men into order, and from that moment the patriots in his neighbourhood thought of nothing but escape through the darkness. The centre and left, including the cavalry, dispersed in the wildest confusion, abandoning the artillery. The right wing, composed of three thousand five hundred infantry, was not attacked and waited in stupefaction for two or three hours not clearly understanding what had happened. Its officers held a council, put Las Heras in command, and by daybreak the division was sixteen miles from the field of battle. In the meantime San Martin and O'Higgins had found each other, and soon were busily engaged in collecting the scattered cavalry. The patriot loss in killed and wounded had been small, but a third of their number had deserted and many of the remainder searched in vain for their regiments. However, the royalist army had been nearly as badly dispersed in making this night attack as the patriots in receiving it. No effective pursuit could be made, and