They had no sooner
reached it than the Spanish cavalry charged, while the bulls were driven
tumultuously upon them.
This carefully devised assault proved a disastrous failure. The horsemen
found themselves in marshy ground, where they were exposed to a hot and
well-directed fire, numbers of them falling before they could effect a
retreat. The charge of the bulls, on which so much reliance had been
placed, proved an equal failure, and with wild shouts the freebooters
advanced, firing rapidly and with an accuracy of aim that soon strewed the
ground with the dead.
The Spaniards, driven back by this impetuous charge, now turned the bulls
against the rear of their enemy. But many of these had been cattle-raisers
and knew well how to act against such a foe, driving them off with shouts
and the waving of colored flags and killing numbers of them. In the end,
after a battle of two hours' duration, the Spaniards, despite their great
superiority of numbers, were utterly defeated, a great many being killed
on the field and others in the panic of flight.
But the freebooters had lost heavily, and Panama, a city defended by walls
and forts, remained to be taken.
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