n field-officer had,
if anything, rather more to dread from his own Dictator than from his
official enemy.

The end of the war, unduly protracted, came at last. The capital,
Asuncion, had fallen into the hands of the allies, and Lopez, failing
any other refuge, had taken his place with the last remaining body of
the defenders--a ragged and tragic army, many of whom were practically
nude, and very few of whom could boast anything beyond the remnants of a
shirt or a hide loin-cloth. Others flaunted a crude poncho or a leather
cap, while many possessed no weapons but an old flint-lock rifle or a
worn lance. Although nominally an army of a thousand and odd men
composed this last hope, they were little more than fugitives.
Nevertheless, these last atoms of the once great Paraguayan host turned
and resisted grimly each time the pursuing forces came within reach of
them and delivered an attack.

[Illustration: THOMAS COCHRANE, TENTH EARL OF DUNDONALD, G.C.B.,

Who reorganized the Chilian and Peruvian navies and destroyed Spanish
naval power in the Pacific.

_A. Rischgitz._]

At last the few remnants of even this remnant found themselves at a
spot--Cerro Cora, in the forests of Paraguay--where they were overtaken
and brought to bay. There, in the face of an attack on the part of
overwhelmingly superior Brazilian forces, the little party finally lost
its grim determination and broke up, leaving Lopez, Madame Lynch, and
their family to shift for themselves.

Madame Lynch escaped for the time being in a carriage. She had not,
however, travelled far before her pursuers came up with her, and she was
eventually brought back to Asuncion. Lopez, attempting to follow her
from the battle-field on horseback, became bogged in the midst of some
treacherous country. Here he was overtaken and, showing resistance, was
slain by the pursuing Brazilians. With his death ended the first and
last reason for the invasion of Paraguay.

The condition of Paraguay at the conclusion of the war was utterly
deplorable. Indeed, the state of the country was one which very few
lands have experienced since the beginning of history. The natural
resources of Paraguay lay in agriculture. Since all the men had been
engaged in fighting, and merely a few itinerant bands of weak women had
been employed in this occupation in the meanwhile, the cessation of
hostilities disclosed the fact that agriculture was to all practical
purposes no more.

One of the few