We were laughed at as a set of young fools for our pains. "Never
mind," said my brother. "Let them mock now; by and by when it comes to
choosing between having our throats cut and defending ourselves, they
will probably be glad the bullets were made."
But though they laughed, our work was not interfered with, and some
hundreds of bullets were turned out and made quite a pretty show.
Meanwhile the besiegers were not idle: they had in their army a
cavalry officer who had had a long experience of frontier warfare and
had always been successful in his fights with the pampas Indians; and
this man, with a picked force composed of veteran fighters, was
dispatched against the barbarians. They had already crossed the Salado
river and were within two or three easy marches of us, when the small
disciplined force met and gave them battle and utterly routed them.
Indians and gauchos were sent flying south like thistle-down before
the wind; but all being well-mounted, not many were killed.
So ended that danger, and I think we boys were all a little
disappointed that no use had been made of our bright beautiful
bullets. I am sure my brother was; but soon after that he left home
for a distant country, and our shooting and other adventures together
were ended for ever.
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