"And what about my profit?" she cried. "Do you know why I came to Pisco?--to buy brandy at eight dollars a jar, which just now I could sell in Lima at eighty! What do you think of that, young man? Why, I should have cleared a handsome fortune by this trip!" "It is very sad, madam; but soldiers, you know--" "Soldiers? Bah! Look at them riding on my mules! _My_ mules, mark you! And to think that each of the honest beasts might be carrying four jars of brandy at eight dollars a jar! It's a wicked waste of mule-flesh! Eight from eighty leaves seventy-two; take twelve for expenses, there's still sixty, and four sixties are two hundred and forty--all clear profit from! A dozen of your vagabonds would be dear at the price! Look at that rascally fellow cutting my mule with a whip! I will most certainly have your colonel shot!" "I think not, madam; you have too tender a heart." "Yes," said she complacently, "that is the truth. I am not stern enough. But fancy"--and here she went all over her calculations again, winding up with the assertion that we were a set of common thieves and rogues. By degrees, however, her manner changed: the ill-humour wore off, and she became quite a Patriot, saying she would willingly lose her mules if the Royalists were hunted down. However, about nine o'clock in the morning I left the good lady to pour her grievances into more sympathetic ears, being ordered to push on with a small detachment of cavalry, guided by Castro. Jose was lucky enough to stay with the main body. Captain Plaza was in command of our party, and he rode with the guide and me. Our course to Ica, the first village on our route, lay over a burning desert of very loose sand, dotted at great intervals by clumps of stunted palms. It was a horrible ride, and when we reached Ica, about four in the afternoon, neither men nor animals could go a step further. The people received us kindly, provided food and drink, and fresh horses in place of our wearied animals. Then we slept for an hour, and, thus refreshed, resumed the pursuit. I have often wondered since how any of us survived the hardships of the next few days. Now and again we obtained an hour's rest, but our leader halted only when our animals showed signs of exhaustion. The Spaniards must have suffered as much as, if not more than, ourselves, as occasionally we came upon a dead horse or a dead man, killed by sheer fatigue. On the third night after leaving lea we had ample proof of their desperate straits. We had left the sandy deserts behind, and were toiling along painfully, sustained only by Castro's assurance that he knew of a capital camping-ground. "A fine wooded place," said he, "with grass for the horses, and a clear stream of water. You will be tempted to stay there all night, captain." "Three hours," replied Plaza, "not a moment more. We must be close on their heels now, and I don't mean Santalla to escape if I can help it."