"The enemy has them," said Paez, indicating some royalists' launches and
canoes across the river.
While Bolivar was wondering what Paez meant by that, the latter called
fifty of his men and with them jumped into the river with their unsaddled
horses, swam through it, defeated the enemy, and brought the boats across.
Bolivar's forces were then able to pass. Immediately the armies of
independence advanced to Calabozo, with such swiftness that Morillo knew
of their advance only when they had arrived. The Spaniards were utterly
defeated and Morillo himself barely escaped falling prisoner. Bolivar could
have advanced and finished the destruction of the royalist army, but Paez
and other officers were opposed to this course, and the commander-in-chief
had to yield.
Soon after this, Bolivar was again in La Victoria, between Valencia and
Caracas, having occupied the rich valley of Aragua, in which he had lived
as a young man of wealth, and had passed years of suffering. He immediately
sent proclamations ordering all men able to fight to present themselves
with arms and horses for the service of the Republic. He called on those
who had been slaves to defend their own freedom, and urged the manufacture
and repair of arms. His position was by no means secure. Morillo was in
Valencia, and don Miguel de Latorre, the victor of La Hogaza, was in
Caracas. A triumph of Morillo over some patriots near Valencia forced the
Liberator to retreat in haste from La Victoria.
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