Here ends the story of my adventures during the War of Independence. The Spanish power was completely crushed; but, as my father had foretold, there were still many misfortunes in store for our unhappy country. The men who had fought so hard for liberty quarrelled among themselves. There were endless disputes and conspiracies, and many soldiers who had bravely faced death on the battlefield were executed by their fellow-countrymen. For two years Bolivar ruled at Lima. He was at the height of his glory. He had freed Venezuela, New Granada, and Ecuador from the Spaniards, and joined them into the one country of Colombia. Upper Peru he had formed into another country called Bolivia, and he was the real master of Peru proper. His boundless ambition, however, overreached itself. Enemies rose up against him on all sides. He was driven from power, and seven years after the battle of Ayacucho died a broken-hearted man. After his departure from Lima, my father's Spanish friend, General La Mar, who had once been Governor of Callao, was elected president, and the country settled down into a state of something like order. There still remain a few personal matters to be recorded before my pen is finally laid aside. Among those who opposed Bolivar's rule in Peru, none was more bitter or reckless than the guerilla chief, Raymon Sorillo. Unfortunately for him, the war had greatly weakened the society of the Silver Key. His bravest men and ablest lieutenants had died fighting, and he was left with only a shadow of his former power. Undaunted by this, he openly defied Bolivar's authority. For several months he held his own against the regular troops, but at last, being captured, was tried as a traitor, and condemned to death. My father made strenuous efforts to save him, and would have succeeded but for Sorillo himself. "The man is a desperate ruffian," said Bolivar, in answer to my father's appeal for mercy; "but I will pardon him on condition that he takes the oath of allegiance and swears to obey the laws." Overjoyed by his success, my father hurried to the prison where Sorillo was confined. The doughty mountaineer refused the offer with scorn. "I took up arms for the independence of Peru," said he, "not to exchange the tyranny of the Spaniards for that of a Venezuelan adventurer. I thank you, senor, from my heart, but I prefer death to these conditions." My father stayed with him nearly the whole day, but could not shake his resolve. So in the early morning the redoubtable chief was led into the prison yard, and was placed near a wall. Some of the soldiers wished to bandage his eyes, but he would not allow it. "No," said he; "I have looked in the face of death too closely and too often to fear it. Fire! I shall not tremble." Thus he died, and whatever else may be said, it cannot be denied that, in his own headstrong, obstinate way, he was faithful to the cause for which many better men had laid down their lives.