Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/693

Rh for months not only the garrison, now swelled to 1,500 men, but an equal number of laborers, refugees, women, and children. Torres looked, therefore, with comparative indifference on the approach of Liñan, who appeared before the place on August 27th, and distributed his force, now numbering over 4,000, along the opposite sides of the ravines, and erected batteries, one upon a peak, the Bellaco, hitherto regarded as inaccessible, from which he could inflict no little damage on the surprised garrison. A large body,

mainly of cavalry, was also in the field to keep open communications and drive back insurgents.

It had been arranged that Mina should, with all the available horsemen, harass the besiegers, and cut off supplies by ravaging the country around and at tacking the convoys. In accepting this task, he allowed Torres, singularly enough, to retain most of the surviving members of his own band, who would have