Page:A history of Chile.djvu/76

 64 A HISTORY OF CHILE was soon filled with the dead and wounded, over whose prostrate bodies other combatants rushed in their mad attempt to scale the walls. Seeing the imminent danger of those within the fortification, Don Garcia sent forward reinforcements from the island. These Caupolican met with a por- tion of his troops, whereupon a combat ensued which lasted for several hours. The Indians, hemmed in between this fresh force and the mountain, were handled so roughly that they were at length forced to beat a retreat. Nothing daunted, Caupolican raised a larger army and determined to proceed again to Concepcion ; but, learning of the arrival of the Spanish cavalry, which had been sent overland fronj Peru, and being informed that the Spaniards had received reinforcements con- sisting of two thousand auxiliaries and a body of Spaniards from Imperial, the Araucanian leader halted on the banks of the Biobio, unwilling to begin the siege. With his force greatly augmented by the new arri- vals, Mendoza now took the initiative, crossed the Biobio in. boats and prepared to attack Caupolican, who had taken up a position not far from the river, his rear protected by a tract of timbered land into which he could readily retreat in case of defeat. After some skirmishing, in which two parties of Span- iards, one headed by Garcia Ramon, the other by Alonzo Reynoso, were cut to pieces, the battle began. The Indians adopted their usual tactics of rushing upon their foes and seeking by a hand to hand encounter to penetrate to their center; but the firing of the Spanish musketry was so rapid that they failed in their attempt; their ranks were soon so de- pleted that they were unable to fill the gaps, where-