Page:Letters from the Battle-fields of Paraguay (1870).djvu/393



LETTER XIX. FROM humaitA to guardia tacuAra.

Guardia Tacuara, August 29, 1868,

My dear Z ,

I was not sorry to leave Humaita as soon as its interest was sucked dry. Two men had deserted from the Linnet, and doubtless joined the service ; one unfortu- nately had been drowned^ and the steward was missing for some days. All looked forward with anxiety to the next six months. On the 26th of August the wet season began to break up^ and the change was heralded by a storm of sheet lightning. At 3 a.m. on the 27th there was a blaze of forked lightning, which lit up the thick black clouds^ and which was accompanied by loud, sharp thunderings, here said to be rare. The United States screw-steamer Wasp, Lieutenant-Commander Kirkland, arrived in the evening, and steamed off for Asuncion. All was darkness and mystery : the soldier and the sailor politician are usually extra political. They are converts opposed to old churchmen, volunteers contrasted with the regulars. Although there is a letter- bag for the British detenus on board the Linnet, I could not find out their names, and, as for their numbers, it was succinctly and roundly said that the English-speaking em- ployes might number one hundred, and the total of foreigners one thousand.

The chart gives thirty-two miles between Humaita and Tacuara ; but we shall cover fifty-two between 10 a.m. and night. The current may average 1'5 knots per hour. Passing the Andai redoubt, we saw that the ditches were