s footing upon the fearful peak; and then--

But as yet he is only _Comandante de Campana_, escorting the rebel Aldao
into San Luis. He took no pains to conceal his discontent with the
government of Ocampo, nor was Aldao slow in noticing or availing himself
of his disaffection. He offered Quiroga a hundred men, if he chose to
overturn the government and seize upon La Rioja. Quiroga eagerly accepted,
marched upon the city, took it by surprise, threw the Ocampos and their
subordinates into prison, and sent them confessors, with the order to
prepare for death. The remainder of Aldao's force was subsequently induced
to join his cause, and, on the intercession of some of its leaders, the
incarcerated Ocampos were suffered to escape with their lives.

Their banished enemy, Don Nicolas Davila, was called from Tucuman to the
nominal governorship of La Rioja, while Quiroga retained, with his old
title, the actual rule of the province. But Davila was not long content
with this mere semblance of authority. During the temporary absence of
Quiroga, he concerted with Araya, one of the men of Aldao, a plan for the
capture of their master. Quiroga heard of it,--he heard of everything,--
and his answer was the assassination of Captain Araya! Summoned by the
government which he himself had created to answer the accusation of
instigated murder, he advanced upon the Davilas with his Llanista
horsemen. Miguel and Nicolas Davila hastily assembled a body of troops,
and prepared for a final struggle. While the two armies were in presence
of each other, a commissioner from Mendoza endeavored to effect a
peaceable arrangement between their chiefs. Passing from one camp to the
other with propositions and conditions, he inspired the soldiers of the
Davilas with a fatal security. Quiroga, falling suddenly upon them in the
midst of the negotiations, routed them with ease, and slew their general,
who, with a small body of devoted followers, made a fierce onslaught upon
him personally, and succeeded in inflicting upon him a severe wound before
he was shot down. Thenceforth,--from the year 1823,--Quiroga was despot
of La Rioja.

His government was simple enough. His two engrossing objects--if objects,
indeed, he may be said to have possessed--were extortion and the
uprooting of the last vestiges of civilization and law; his instruments,
the dagger and the lash; his amusement, the torture of unwitting
offenders; his serious occupation, the shuffling of