Not ten years had elapsed since these very men might
have beheld him pounding _tapias_ on this spot!
We do not propose following the blood-stained career of Juan Facundo
through all its windings and episodes of cruelty and blood. Suffice it to
say, that, with the title of _Comandante de Campana_, he retained in La
Rioja every fraction of actual power,--nominating, nevertheless, a shadowy
governor, who, if he attempted any independent action, was instantly
deposed. His influence gradually extended over the neighboring provinces;
thrice he encountered and defeated Madrid; while at home he gambled,
levied contributions, bastinadoed, and added largely to his army. He
excelled his contemporary, Francia, in the art of inspiring terror; he
only fell short of Rosas in the results. A wry look might at any time call
down upon a luckless child a hundred lashes. He once split the skull of
his own illegitimate son for some trifling act of disobedience. A lady,
who once said to him, while he was in a bad humor, _Adios, mi General_,
was publicly flogged. A young girl, who would not yield to his wishes, he
threw down upon the floor, and kicked her with his heavy boots until she
lay in a pool of blood. Truly, a ruler after the Russian sort!
Dorrego, meanwhile, was at the head of affairs at Buenos Ayres.
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