In a few moments after, the party having disappeared behind a turn of the road, we suddenly heard the cracking of their rifles, mingled with the deeper crash of more numerous musketry; and it was a vivid sensation, new to me, that some of those bullets were surely finding billets in the bodies of men.  This seemed an encounter with a force of the enemy outside of the town; and directly we thought, from the movement of the noise, that our riflemen were driving them in.  Then there was a louder and more rapid volleying of musketry, which completely drowned the rifles, and seemed to tell us that our men were come in sight of the barricades.  This lasted but a moment, when it was succeeded by a scattered fire of fewer guns, and finally by irregular volleys.  We knew that our men had fallen back; and we had not once thought it would be otherwise.  Indeed, it had been a rarely preposterous enemy who should allow himself to be driven from behind a rampart by that handful of dispirited, men.

Whilst things were on this foot, the courier of last night came up with his guard, having been sent by Colonel O’Neal, who had remained at the alcalde’s house below, to get news of the attacking party.  As I was still under his orders, I joined him, and rode forward towards the combatants,—­not without sundry misgivings, known to most men who are about to enter a fray for the first time,—­or the twentieth time, perhaps, if the truth were confessed.  We found the riflemen drawn up in the road, protected by the raised side-bank and cactus-hedge from an enemy concealed amongst some trees and bushes, a little distance to the right of the road in front.  Above the trees, within pistol-shot, was visible the red roof of a church which stood on the plaza of Obraja, where were barricaded, as they said, over a thousand greaser soldiers.  All other sign of the town than this one roof was shut in from view by the abundant foliage which embowered it.  As we approached the riflemen, we dismounted and led our horses, fearing to attract a shower from the enemy, who lay in the bushes firing irregularly.  The officer of the party told us to report to Colonel O’Neal that he had advanced within sight of the plaza, and, finding it strongly barricaded, and “swarming with greasers,” he held it folly to assail it with fifty men, and so had retreated.  He mentioned some loss,—­very small for the noise that had been made,—­of which I remember the name of one Lieutenant Webster, shot through the head.  He charged us to ask Colonel O’Neal’s permission to fall back on the adobe where we had passed the night, as the enemy appeared to be moving around his right, and he was fearful of being surrounded in the open road.  But, directly after, seeing the enemy were in earnest to cut him off, he concluded to fall back on the house upon his own responsibility, and did so, and with the adobe walls around him probably felt secure enough against such an enemy.