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MEXICO. 145 where it exploded, and killed, or wounded, every person in the room, but himself. On the receipt of the Viceroy's orders, Llano quitted Izucar, and joined Calleja on the 1st of March. On the 4th, Calleja on one side, and Llano on the other, began to can- nonade and bombard the town, after having erected batte- ries and breastworks in the course of a single night. The first shells alarmed the inhabitants excessively ; but, within twenty-four hours, they grew so accustomed to them, that the very children were employed in collecting them, as well as the cannon and musket-balls which were strewed about the streets ; for which Morelos, whose stock of ammu- nition was not very copious, paid them so much a dozen. Hostilities were not, however, confined to this distant warfare : during the month of March, an attempt was made to surprise Calleja, by an insurgent division not in Cuautla, under the orders of one of the Bravos, and Larios, which failed completely. The want of water, too, constantly brought the troops, on both sides, to close quarters. Cuautla was supplied by a stream, which, at a point not very far from the town, there was a possibility of turning into another channel. This Calleja effected; and though his works were destroyed by a sally from the town, he had made some progress in re-establishing them, when Galeana, aware of the necessity of securing this important spot, undertook, on the night of the 25th of March, to dislodge the enemy, and to raise a fort close to the spring. This enterprise was conducted with such acti- vity and judgment, that it was crowned with complete suc- cess. In the course of twenty-four hours, a fort, with three pieces of artillery, was completed, with a covered way, ex- tending to the town. Galeana himself took charge of the new fortification, and defended it against a desperate attack, which the Royalists made upon it the following night, and in which their loss was considerable, as Galeana would not VOL. I. L