ochrane galloped on to the parade to speak to
him. The sudden appearance of youth and beauty on a fiery
horse, managed with skill and elegance, absolutely electrified
the men, who had never before seen an English lady. '_Que
hermosa! Que graciosa! Que linda! Que airosa! Es un angel del
cielo_!' were exclamations which escaped from one end of the line
to the other. Colonel Miller, not displeased at this involuntary
homage to the beauty of his countrywoman, said to the men, 'This
is our _generala_;' on which her Ladyship, turning to the line,
bowed to the troops, who no longer confining their expressions of
admiration to suppressed interjections, loud _vivas_ burst from officers
and men, to which Lady Cochrane, smiling her acknowledgments, cantered
off the ground like a fairy."

In the month of February, during my absence, Lady Cochrane, tired of the
crowded villages occupied by the liberating army, undertook a journey
into the interior, in the hope that change of air might prove
advantageous to our infant child, which was in a precarious state of
health. She performed the journey on horseback, under the intense heat
of a vertical sun, across a desert, impeded by the precipitous beds of
torrents which intersect the country in every direction. On her arrival
at Quilca, she was most hospitably received by the Marchioness de la
Pracer, who placed her palace and every luxury at Lady Cochrane's
disposal.

In the midst of the festivities which followed, her child was taken
dangerously ill, whilst no medical assistance of any kind was at hand.
On this she determined to return to the coast, and seek the aid of an
English or Spanish physician, but as the Royalist army was advancing
towards the direction necessary to be taken, this was judged
impracticable till they had passed.

Whilst her Ladyship was in this state of suspense, information was
received that the Royalists, having gained intelligence that she was at
Quilca, had determined to seize her and her infant that very evening,
and to detain them as hostages. This intelligence arrived just as a
large party was assembled in the ball-room, when, with a decision which
is one of her chief characteristics, Lady Cochrane ordered a
_palanquin_--presented to her by the Marquis of Torre Tagle--to be got
ready instantly, and placing the child and its nurse in it, she
despatched them under the protection of a guard. Leaving the ball-room
secretly,