IG-i . Ten Years of my Life. 



meant fight, they turned tail and ran like partridges, and we 

 on seeing that ran still faster after them. The result was that 

 we soon came near enough to discover that the enemies were 

 no enemies after all, but good Austrians, who, however, on 

 their part could not recognise us for what we really were, 

 because Austrians have stiJl less eyes behind than other 

 nations, and therefore kept on running. To cut the question 

 short, I spurred my horse, and when I reached them and told 

 them that we did not want to kill them at all, they were 

 extremely glad, and I do not wonder that some very frightened 

 Catholics mistook me for tlie Holy Virgin or some angel on 

 horseback, despatched expressly by their patron saint to save 

 them. 



These Austrians, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Pollack, 

 had had an encounter with the Liberals just before they saw 

 us, had lost about forty killed, and had not yet recovered from 

 their fright. 



We marched together to Pachuca, a rather ugly place, where 

 we were lodged in the house of Mr. Auld, a very rich gentle- 

 man, who was director of an English mining company, that 

 had rented the silver mines in the neighbourhood. Mr. Auld 

 and his wife were extremely kind and amiable people. The 

 Empress and her ladies had once been their guests, and were 

 delighted with their hospitaHty. Mrs. Auld showed me a very 

 rich bracelet which the Empress had presented to her as a 

 keepsake. 



We had not much time to examine the mines, which are very 

 considerable, for there work more than a thousand Indians, and 

 nearly two thousand mules. We saw, however, some of the 

 sohd silver ingots, each worth fifteen hundred dollars, of which 

 twelve millioi:is' worth of dollars are produced every year. 



Next day we had only a short march, leaving the Austrians 

 behind. We passed the place where they had been beaten by 

 the Liberals, of wliom we, however, saw nothing that day. 

 The country through which we marched was very romantic, 

 but rather rough. It looked very much like some parts of 

 Switzerland, and nothing reminded us that we were in a trop- 

 ical country. There vv'ere no aloes, no palm-trees, nothing but 

 pines, cedars, cypresses, and ever-green oaks. No wonder, for 

 Kial del Monte, a little town, v/hich we reached after three 

 hours, and which is situated in a ravine, is ten thousand feet 



