in difficult operations, gave us some trouble, though certainly not by over-attention to the religious observances of their church. They were a queer set, and I do not fancy that any one of them would have gained the Monthyon prize for virtue. Outlaws, broken adventurers, léperos who had made some city too hot to hold them, escaped felons, and Gambusinos out of luck, such were the recruits of our ragged army. They fought regular duels among themselves with the knife when they quarrelled, and they were always cheating and squabbling with each other over their greasy cards, a pack of which every ruffian of them carried, along with his rosary and clasp-dagger. Once we made a great effort at a reformation in morals; we had three wounded men in camp just then, in consequence of play disputes; and we burned every pack we could find, in spite of threats and muttered mutiny. It was strange how our scamps felt the deprivation; I saw more than one villanous looking rogue, whose unwashed face was scarred all over with hurts received in those affairs of honour I have mentioned, cry over the dirty cards we took from him, like a child over a damaged doll. But they proved too cunning for us; they made cards out of the most unlikely things; they constructed dice out of bones, and played at ‘buck! buck!’ with their fingers, like schoolboys in England; they encouraged a travelling gambler to come among us, and set up a public Monté table, and though we turned him out we were glad to compound for peace, and to let in king, knave, and queen once more. So with ardent spirits; we tried to keep aguardiente and pulque out of camp; it was of no use trying; they smuggled it in ways so ingenious that we could not but admire the craft they displayed in getting a daily supply of the ill-flavoured, fiery poisons. You may guess from what I have told you that it took a watchful eye and a tight hand to master them. It was necessary, too, that the workmen should be searched, on leaving the shaft. They always did attempt to conceal some fragments of silver under their rags, and sometimes the hidden treasure escaped detection; generally it was seized: not that detection abashed those rogues in the least. They knew that, as long as they worked, they would not be discharged; bad as they were, we could get no better labourers. Every week their wages were punctually paid them, and we were obliged to keep watch in turn, we Europeans, knowing that if it could be safely done, our Calibans would cut our throats to get at the cash-box and stores. So two of us kept guard, nightly, in a sort of block-house, armed to the teeth.
“I dare say, Tom, to your fancy all this sounds very unbearable and dismal—the record of a wretched existence. It was not so, however, for it had its own excitement and interests, even its own pleasures. The country swarmed with game, so long as grass and water abounded, and our guns procured many a welcome addition to the larder. We fished, too, catching quantities of odd-looking finned creatures, which, I must own, we seldom ventured to taste. Then there were our professional duties, the most stirring of which was the task of escorting the monthly yield of silver to Chihuahua, where it was to be coined into sparkling duros. This was often a service of some risk, for not only were the miserable roads rendered unsafe by broken soldiers and white highwaymen, but bands of the prowling Apaches were encouraged by the feebleness of the government to approach the very capital of the State, eager for scalps and plunder. It was needful, therefore, that six or eight well-armed men should accompany the Indian peons who carried the precious metal, and afterwards travel with the mule-train. We kept our mules, you understand, which were the property of the Company, as well as the private riding-horses of such as possessed those animals, at Quexhatepec, a large village that stood on the main road from the mountains. Here, too, were kept the sheep and bullocks which were necessary for the consumption of our colony; the Indians lived pretty much on beans and cakes, with melons and other fruit, but our Mexicans required regular rations like ourselves. These various four-footed creatures were under the care of an official of the Cerro Azul Mining Company, a native of old Spain, who was called the comprador, and who made all purchases of live stock and forage, sending his accounts to me, to be audited and transferred to the resident director. These expeditions, as I have said, were not without danger; and yet they were so popular with our little community, that, to avoid any semblance of partiality, I settled that our turns should come round in rotation, according to seniority. The fact was, that the journey formed an agreeable break in our ordinary routine, and also we usually contrived to spend two or three days in the city, where we met with much hospitality from the foreign residents.
“Lake was especially joyous whenever an opportunity of going to the town presented itself, and we had soon become sufficiently intimate for him to share with me what was as yet a secret from the rest, that he was engaged to be married. He had fallen in love with the belle of Chihuahua, pretty Jane Acworth, the eldest daughter of an English merchant, who had long lived, rich and respected, in Mexico. I think, but am not sure, that there was some distant tie of kindred between them; but, at any rate, old Mr. Acworth was a firm friend to the Coopers, to whose intercession both I and Arthur owed our preferment. Mr. Acworth was very rich; the shares he held in our company were but a modicum of his fortune, which was none the less safe for not being, for the most part, invested in the Republic of Mexico. The perfect immunity which the merchant had hitherto enjoyed from military exactions or insolence, was said to result from the fact of his having advanced large sums to Santa Anna and other chiefs. Be that as it may, it is certain that Mr. Acworth’s house and property had been respected by some of the most rapacious governors who ever swayed a city.
“And now let me come to the point as briefly as I may. The time for convoying a quantity of silver to the city had come round, and the yield having been larger than usual, there were several hundred ounces to be sent. It was my turn to go as head of the party, and that of Arthur as second