There was just at that period a revolt of the southern and western
provinces of Spain, which, owing to inactivity on the part of
government, had actually ripened into a regularly organized
rebellion against the throne. News at last reached the queen that
regular bodies of troops had been raised and enlisted, under well
known leaders, and that unless instant efforts were made to suppress
the rising, the whole country would be shortly involved in civil
war. In this emergency the troops, such its could be spared, were at
once detached from the capital and sent to various points in the
disaffected region to quell the outbreak. Among the rest was the
company of Lorenzo Bezan and two others of the same regiment, and
being the senior officer, young as he was, he was placed in command
of the battalion, and the post to which he was to march at once,
into the very heart of the disaffected district.
Having arrived in the neighborhood of the spot to which his orders
had directed him, he threw his whole force, some less than three
hundred men, into one of the old Moorish fortifications, still
extant, and with the provisions and ammunition he had brought with
him, entrenched himself, and prepared to scour and examine the
surrounding country.
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