Night overshadowed the
field, and it was still as death over the battle field, when Captain
Bezan, summoning his followers, told them that the enemy lay yonder
in sleep; they could not anticipate a sally, and from a confidential
spy he had ascertained that they had not even set a sentinel.
"I shall lead you out this night to attack them; take only your
weapons. If we are defeated, we shall want nothing more; if
victorious, we shall return to our post and our munitions."
He had lost scarcely two score of his men in the fight, protected as
they were by the walls of the fortress, while the besiegers were
entirely exposed to the fire of musketry, and the two small cannon
they had brought with them, and so they entered into the daring plan
of their commander with the utmost zeal. They were instructed as to
the plan more fully, and at midnight, as the last rays of the moon
sank below the horizon, they quietly filed forth from the fortress
and turned towards the insurgents' camp. Slowly and silently they
stole across the plain, without note of drum or fife, and headed by
their young commander, until they reached the brow of the little
elevation, beyond which the enemy lay sleeping, some in tents, some
on the open field, and all unguarded.
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