ACROSS THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS, ETC. 303 



ticularly for a poor Swede, an almost innocent man, certainly 

 innocent of any participation in tlio death of Portales ; the same 

 who related the interesting particulars of the murder. 



For Florine, I never felt much pity. He was a miscreant of 

 the deepest dye ; and when I saw him, a iew days after my arri- 

 val, brought with others on shore, I observed that tlic people 

 seemed to contemplate, with savage pleasure, the haggard and 

 disease-worn lineaments, which physical suffering, and the 

 gnawing worm at his heart, had rendered hideous and for- 

 bidding. 



A court martial was called immediately upon the capture of 

 the prisoners, and after a tedious and protracted examination of 

 some weeks, all the eight officers were sentenced to be publicly 

 shot. The long, and most unnecessary delay which preceded 

 the condemnation, was a refinement in cruelty, worthy of the 

 most barbarous horde that ever existed, and sufficiently proved 

 the savage origin of the examining judges. But they had to deal 

 with firm and bold spirits ; — men who had not attempted revolt 

 without calculating the chances of defeat and capture, and their 

 minds were therefore strung to meet the ignominious and painful 

 death which they knew awaited them. 



On the 4th of July, the day appointed for the execution, all the 

 stores of the town were closed ; the streets were thronged with 

 people of both sexes, and a stranger, suddenly entering the city, 

 would have supposed that some great national jubilee was about 

 to take place. At 11 o'clock in the morning, the prisoners 

 were brought on shore in boats, accompanied by several officers 

 of the squadron, and a guard of soldiers. In consequence of 

 the severe illness which most of them had so long suffered, ad- 

 ded to the cumbrous shackles on their limbs, not one of them had 

 strength to climb the short flight of steps from the water to the 

 top of the mole. It was necessary for them to be lifted over this 

 impediment, and almost carried to the carts which waited for them 



