Then they recrossed the river with two killed and
a few wounded, while the plain was strewn with the bodies of their foes.
This anecdote may serve to introduce to our readers Joseph Antonio Paez,
the leader of the band of patriot horsemen, and one of the most daring and
striking figures among the liberators of South America. Born of Indian
parents of low extraction, and quite illiterate, Paez proved himself so
daring as a soldier that he became in time general-in-chief of the armies
of Venezuela and the neighboring republics, and was Bolivar's most trusted
lieutenant during the war for independence.
Brought up amid the herds of half-wild cattle belonging to his father, who
was a landholder in the Venezuelan plains, he became thoroughly skilled in
the care of cattle and horses, and an adept at curing their disorders. He
was accustomed to mount and subdue the wildest horses, and was noted for
strength and agility and for power of enduring fatigue.
A llanero, or native of the elevated plains of Venezuela, he rose
naturally to great influence among his fellow-herdsmen, and when the
revolution began, in 1810, and he declared in favor of the cause of
freedom, his reputation for courage was so great that they were very ready
to enlist under him.
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