ike manner. It wound in and out and along defiles of
stern beauty.

We halted for rest and refreshment at noon, and again at 4 o'clock for
an hour. At the last place we found some Carlist officers, one a young
Englishman, who was a good fellow and most attentive. He was an
aide-de-camp on Don Carlos' staff. He told me there was no chance of his
side winning, but he was in it for the fun of the thing and in hope of
seeing some fighting. He had taken part in a number of skirmishes, and
was by no means satisfied yet. He volunteered to escort us through the
lines, and was evidently more than pleased to meet an English lady in
the person of my wife.

It was beautiful to see him order about my muleteers and bully them up
hill and down dale, not hesitating to use his whip on them. About 5
o'clock we started off in great shape, having some twenty miles to go to
the little town on the railway south of the Pyrenees. We had two
lanterns and a number of torches; it was a picturesque caravan in the
darkness. The young officer rode beside the first cart, conversing with
my wife, while I walked in the rear. We had reason to congratulate
ourselves over our escort, he being a brave and brilliant fellow and
evidently a person of importance. He little thought whom he was
escorting. I was pleased on my wife's account, as he was company for
her, and, altogether, she thoroughly enjoyed the novelty of the whole
situation.

We had made a fine bed of hay and blankets for our sick man.
Nevertheless, he was a source of much anxiety and trouble. At last, to
the intense relief of all, we heard far away the shrill whistle of a
locomotive. It was sweet music to my ears, for I realized the peril of
the delay. We had now arrived at the base of the southern slope of the
Pyrenees and the plain stretched out before us. We had just passed
through an intrenched camp that guarded the entrance to the valley. Our
escort had ridden ahead, and not satisfied with smoothing the way for
us, had turned out the guard to do us honor. We halted for a few
minutes, and several uniformed officers came forward and were introduced
to my wife and me. It was a picturesque scene. The mantle of snow
covering all, the strange-looking mountaineers, the eager-faced, boyish
officers--French, English, Austrian--all soldiers of fortune, who, in
the dearth of great wars, were seeking fame in the inglorious civil
contest; our torches casting fantastic shadows until the forest-covere