WITH A RICO. 125 
ssest and coarsest insults upon myself, as 
well as my country, of which he professed no 
inconsiderable knowledge.* 
The altercation was at first conducted solely 
in Spanish; but the princely sefior growin 
weary of hearing so many unpalatable truths 
told of himself in the vernacular of his own 
humble and astounded menials, he stepped 
out from among the crowd, and addressed me 
in English,—a language in which he had ac- 
quired some proficiency in the course of his 
travels. The change of language by no means 
altered his views, nor abated his pertinacity. 
At last, finding there was nothing to be gain- 
ed by this war of words, I ordered the boy to 
mount his horse and rejoin the wagons. “Be- 
ware of the consequences!” vociferated the 
enraged Trias. “ Well, let them come,” I re- 
plied; “here we are.” But we were suffered 
to depart in peace with the prisoner. 
That the reader may be able to form some 
idea of the pusillanimity of this lordly ha- 
ciendero, it is only necessary to add, that when 
the altercation took place we were inside of 
the fortifications, from which our egress might 
easily have been prevented by simply closing 
the outer gate. We were surrounded by the 
whole population of the village, besides a 
Trias, while ee a a was dis rm acre bee 2% se ped — 
to ‘ion the tour of Europe and nited S 
most of his in mye sc gar aml rtance: and, with his 
knowledge of the superiority of the = pew among whom he jour- 
neyed,grew his ee oy 
