s to the Spanish bullets."

"I won't leave my mules," was her only reply.

"But why not sell them to the colonel? he will give you a fair price."

"And what about my profit?" she cried. "Do you know why I came to
Pisco?--to buy brandy at eight dollars a jar, which just now I could
sell in Lima at eighty! What do you think of that, young man? Why, I
should have cleared a handsome fortune by this trip!"

"It is very sad, madam; but soldiers, you know--"

"Soldiers? Bah! Look at them riding on my mules! _My_ mules, mark
you! And to think that each of the honest beasts might be carrying
four jars of brandy at eight dollars a jar! It's a wicked waste of
mule-flesh! Eight from eighty leaves seventy-two; take twelve for
expenses, there's still sixty, and four sixties are two hundred and
forty--all clear profit from! A dozen of your vagabonds would be dear
at the price! Look at that rascally fellow cutting my mule with a
whip! I will most certainly have your colonel shot!"

"I think not, madam; you have too tender a heart."

"Yes," said she complacently, "that is the truth. I am not stern
enough. But fancy"--and here she went all over her calculations again,
winding up with the assertion that we were a set of common thieves and
rogues.

By degrees, however, her manner changed: the ill-humour wore off, and
she became quite a Patriot, saying she would willingly lose her mules
if the Royalists were hunted down.

However, about nine o'clock in the morning I left the good lady to pour
her grievances into more sympathetic ears, being ordered to push on
with a small detachment of cavalry, guided by Castro. Jose was lucky
enough to stay with the main body. Captain Plaza was in command of our
party, and he rode with the guide and me. Our course to Ica, the first
village on our route, lay over a burning desert of very loose sand,
dotted at great intervals by clumps of stunted palms. It was a
horrible ride, and when we reached Ica, about four in the afternoon,
neither men nor animals could go a step further.

The people received us kindly, provided food and drink, and fresh
horses in place of our wearied animals. Then we slept for an hour,
and, thus refreshed, resumed the pursuit. I have often wondered since
how any of us survived the hardships of the next few days.

Now and again we obtained an hour's rest, but our leader halted only
when our animals showed signs of exhaustion. The Spaniards must have
suf