Page:Pictures of life in Mexico Vol 2.djvu/127

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ANGRY REPRISAL.
103

fiercely upon them, and after a brief but brisk engagement carried all before them—the numbers of the defending party being totally inadequate to offer an effectual resistance. Elated with their victory and stung by remembrance of the ruin they had beheld on their own plantation they proceeded to take summary vengeance by ransacking and destroying everything upon which they could possibly lay their hands. They trampled down whole beds of flourishing plants and cut up many others root and branch; overturned great piles of leaves which were arranged on shelves and tables to dry and immersed them in a narrow stream of water flowing through the estate. They forced open hogsheads of tobacco ready for shipment tearing the wooden staves and bands apart, and scattering their contents on the earth on every side; unroofed and pulled down a number of slightly-built sheds and store-rooms; and destroyed or appropriated every needful utensil which they were able to discover on the premises. In a word, so complete was the ruin, that within half an hour after the first appearance of the Naquaians, little remained to indicate the uses of the place; and little probability existed