t his way out of Queretaro at the head of his cavalry,
but he hesitated to abandon his foot-soldiers. "I will die sword
in hand," were now his daily words.

Every day his men brought in prisoners. Even when such persons
were suspected of being spies, Maximilian would not order their
execution. "No, no," he said; "if things go well, there is no need;
if ill, I shall not have their blood upon my soul."

When the siege had lasted seventy days, provisions grew so scarce
that the only alternatives seemed a sortie or a surrender. The
sortie was decided on. On the night of May 14, 1867, the seven
thousand men still in Queretaro were to break through the lines of
the enemy and endeavor to make their way to Vera Cruz. Singularly
enough, the Juarist general, Escobedo, had fixed on the 15th of
May for his final assault.

Neither sortie nor assault took place. The treason of General Lopez
prevented the one, and rendered the other unnecessary. Lopez, whom
Maximilian had loaded with all sorts of kindness,--Lopez, who called
himself the most devoted adherent of the emperor,--had sold the
life of his friend and benefactor for two thousand ounces of gold!

One year before, when Lopez had been at Puebla in attendance on
the empress, he had sent for his wife, who, having made a hurried
journey, was prematurely confined. "I cannot allow your son," wrote
Maximilian, "to come into the world in another man's house. I send
you the I enclosed sum. Purchase the house where your son was born."

Having kept up constant communication with the camp of the besiegers,
Lopez, on the morning of May 13, sent a note to Escobedo, offering to
deliver over to him the convent of La Cruz, which was the emperor's
headquarters. Escobedo accepted his proposals. About midnight Lopez
and the troops under his command went over to the enemy. The soldiers
of Juarez quietly entered the town, and surrounded the convent
where the emperor and his staff were sleeping.

At dawn Maximilian rose, dressed himself, woke Prince Salm-Salm,
and they went out together, with no arms but their swords. As they
reached the gates of the convent the emperor perceived Juarist
soldiers on guard, and turning to his companion, cried, "We are
betrayed; here is the enemy!" At this moment Lopez, who had seen
them come into the court-yard, pointed out the emperor to Colonel
Rincon Gallardo, who was in command of the detachment from the army
of Juarez. Rincon was an honorable soldier and k