Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/651

Rh He set out with 400 men in the middle of July, by way of Tuxtepec, and after a toilsome march, reached, six weeks later, the southern tributary of the Papaloapan, which rises near Villa Alta. The delay had enabled the royalist troops to approach from Tlacotalpan and Oajaca, and the rivers being swollen by rain, it was thought imprudent to venture farther, to struggle with a threatening famine, and perhaps to be cut off by pursuers. During the retreat the royalist column from Tlacotalpan was bravely repulsed, and Juan Teran came in time to check two Oajaca expeditions which had been organized with the intent of attacking his brother in the rear. The latter reached Tehuacan September 22d.

Meanwhile the schooner Patriot had appeared off the Goazacoalco with the armament, as agreed, and managed to profit by the interval of hopeless waiting to capture an aggressive Spanish vessel, thus achieving for the Mexican flag, which it boldly hoisted,