Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/209

MEXICO. rank and rewirds which Apodaca proffered as the price of his submission, md determined to seek an asylum in the sohtude of the forests rather than accept the indulto, on the faith of which so manyr of the Insurgents yielded up their arms. This extraordinar} project was carried into execution with a deci- sion highly ciaracteristic of the man. Unaccompanied by a single attendmt, and provided only with a little linen, and a sword, Victoia threw himself into the mountainous district which occupi«s so large a portion of the Province of Veracruz, and disappeaed to the eyes of his countrymen. His after- history is so extremely wild, that I should hardly venture to relate it here, did not the unanimous evidence of his country- men confirm he story of his sufferings, as I have often heard it from his ovn mouth. During tht first few weeks, Victoria was supplied with provisions by the Indians, who all knew and respected his name ; but Apodaca was so apprehensive that he would again emerge from Ills retreat, that a thousand men were ordered out, in small detachments, literally to hunt him down. Whe'ever it was discovered that a village had either received him. or relieved his wants, it was burnt without mercy ; and his rigour struck the Indians with such terror, that they eitler fled at the sight of Victoria, or were the first to denomce the approach of a man, whose presence might prove !0 fatal to them. For upwards of six months, he was followed like a wild beast by his pursuers, who were often so near him, that he could hear their imprecations against himsdf, and Apodaca too, for having condemned them to so friitless a search. On one occasion, he escaped a detachment, vhich he fell in with unexpectedly, by swim- ming a river, which they were unable to cross ; and on seve- ral others, he concealed himself, when in the immediate vici- nity of the ^loyal troops, beneath the thick shrubs and creepers with which the woods of Veracruz abound. At last a story was made up, to satisfy the Viceroy, of a body