Little time was given for repose, as all felt assured that the
success of their enterprise hung on the short respite now given
them by the improvident enemy. The president, with his principal
officers, took part in the labor with the common soldiers; *11
and before ten o'clock in the evening, Gasca had the satisfaction
to see the bridge so well secured, that the leading files of the
army, unencumbered by their baggage, might venture to cross it.
A short time sufficed to place several hundred men on the other
bank. But here a new difficulty, not less formidable than that
of the river, presented itself to the troops. The ground rose up
with an abrupt, almost precipitous, swell from the river-side,
till, in the highest peaks, it reached an elevation of several
thousand feet. This steep ascent, though not to its full height,
indeed, was now to be surmounted. The difficulties of the
ground, broken up into fearful chasms and water-courses, and
tangled with thickets, were greatly increased by the darkness of
the night; and the soldiers, as they toiled slowly upward, were
filled with apprehension, akin to fear, from the uncertainty
whether each successive step might not bring them into an
ambuscade, for which the ground was so favorable. More than
once, the Spaniards were thrown into a panic by false reports
that the enemy were upon them. But Hinojosa and Valdivia were at
hand to rally their men, and cheer them on, until, at length,
before dawn broke, the bold cavaliers and their followers placed
themselves on the highest point traversed by the road, where they
waited the arrival of the president.
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