As
the Spaniards saw the fleet preparing the advance of the boats and
pinnaces, the whole of the horse and a large force of foot marched out
of the town to oppose the threatened attack, and took up a position
fronting the sea, with their left resting on the town and the other
flank exposed in the line of Carleill's advance. It was exactly what had
been foreseen, and, ere the Spaniards had discovered that the movement
from the fleet was merely a feint, the horse which were covering their
exposed flank were flying before Carleill's musketeers.
The surprise was complete. Taken in flank by Carleill, and threatened in
the rear by his second column under Powell, the chief of the staff, the
infantry could make no real resistance; and so rapidly was the English
advance pushed home that the struggling mass of friend and foe entered
pell-mell through the open gates of the town. For an hour, alarms of
drum and trumpet mingling confusedly with the sounds of street-fighting
reached the listening fleet as the two columns forced their way to meet
upon the Plaza. But how they fared none could tell, till on a tower a
white staff suddenly appeared, and in another moment the cross of St.
George fluttered gayly out upon the breeze. With a roar of triumph the
ships' guns saluted the signal of victory.
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