32 ELISHA KENT KANE. 



of the bloodthirsty bandit. The whole Mexican 

 party owed their lives to the heroic firmness of Dr. 

 Kane ; and General Gaona subsequently testified 

 his sense of gratitude to his preserver, when he was 

 attacked with dangerous illness, by having him con- 

 veyed to his own sumptuous residence in the city of 

 Puebla, and nursing him there in his own family 

 with the utmost care and assiduity until his partial 

 recovery. A considerable interval elapsed before 

 that event was attained ; and so greatly had Dr. Kane 

 been prostrated by his disease, which was an aggra- 

 vated form of typhus, that the report of his death 

 became prevalent, and even reached his relatives in 

 Philadelphia. But the tender offices of the grate- 

 ful old general and of his accomplished and beauti- 

 ful daughters once more rescued our hero from the 

 gaping jaws of the grave. 



As soon as Dr. Kane recovered sufficiently to be 

 able to travel, he hastened to the city of Mexico and 

 delivered his despatches into the hands of General 

 Scott. He remained at the seat of war until peace 

 was proclaimed. When that propitious event oc- 

 curred he began to journey homeward. In April 

 he embarked at Yera Cruz ; and in a short time he 

 reached Philadelphia, still suffering severely from 

 the wound which he had received in the action at 

 Nopaluca. In February, 1849, a number of the 



