I, if only that I may have an opportunity of chastising you for
your insolence," was my equally defiant answer.

"A thousand thanks, monsieur! You have done me and my daughter a great
service," said the elder of the ladies. "Do me the pleasure to accept this
ring as a slight souvenir of our gratitude, and I trust that in happier
times we may meet again."

I accepted the souvenir without looking at it; reciprocated the wish in my
best French, made my best bow, and rode off on my errand. By the same act
I had made one enemy and two friends; therefore, as I thought, the balance
was in my favor. But I was wrong, for a wider experience of the world than
I then possessed has taught me that it is better to miss making a hundred
ordinary friends than to make one inveterate enemy.

CHAPTER VII.

IN QUEST OF FORTUNE.

When the war came to an end my occupation was gone, for both circumstances
and my own will compelled me to leave the army. My allowance could no
longer be continued. At the best, the life of a lieutenant of dragoons in
peace time would have been little to my liking; with no other resource
than my pay, it would have been intolerable. So I sent in my papers, and
resolved to seek my fortune in South America. After the payment of my
debts (incurred partly in the purchase of my first commission) and the
provision of my outfit, the sum left at my disposal was comparatively
trifling. But I possessed a valuable asset in the ring given me by the
French lady on the field of Vittoria. It was heavy, of antique make,
curiously wrought, and set with a large sapphire of incomparable beauty. A
jeweler, to whom I showed it, said he had never seen a finer. I could have
sold it for a hundred guineas. But as the gem was property in a portable
shape and more convertible than a bill of exchange, I preferred to keep
it, taking, however, the precaution to have the sapphire covered with a
composition, in order that its value might not be too readily apparent to
covetous eyes.

At this time the Spanish colonies of Colombia (including the countries now
known as Venezuela, New Granada, and Ecuador, as also the present republic
of southern Central America) were in full revolt against the mother
country. The war had been going on for several years with varying
fortunes; but latterly the Spaniards had been getting decidedly the best
of it. Caracas and all the seaport towns were in their possession, and the
patriot cause was only mai