m to put on gewgaws when he
was going to be hanged. As Leader disappears from my account of Carlist
doings after this--we were associated with different columns--it may be
of interest to tell of his subsequent career. He served in a cavalry
squadron on the staff of the King, and when the cause collapsed came to
London. His uncle tried to induce him to settle down to some steady
employment in the City. Leader expressed himself satisfied to make an
experiment at desk-work.

"It was useless," said Leader with a hearty crow as he related the story
to me. "The friend who had promised to create a vacancy for me in his
office ordered his chief clerk to lock the safe and send for the police
when he heard of my antecedents. He invited me to dinner, but candidly
told me that a rifle was more in my line than a quill."

And yet it was in the service of the quill the young soldier ended his
days. He got an appointment as an auxiliary correspondent to a great
London daily paper during the Russo-Turkish war. He was elate; the road
to fame and fortune now lay open before him. The next I heard of him was
that he had succumbed to typhoid fever at Philippopolis.

A Scotch _spadassin_ arrived in our midst about this period. He was most
anxious to draw a blade for Don Carlos, but he had a decided objection
to serve in any capacity but that of command. He did not appreciate the
fun of losing the number of his mess as an obscure hero of the rank and
file, though he would not mind sacrificing an arm, I do think, at the
head of a charging column, provided that he had a showy uniform on, and
that the fact of his valour was properly advertised in the despatches.
He had an idea that would commend itself to Belcha's bushwhackers, but
it was not entertained. It was to take passage with a few trusty men on
the tug for San Sebastian when she was reported to be conveying specie
for the payment of the Spanish Republican troops, to drive the voyagers
down the hold, throttle the skipper, intimidate the crew, take the wheel
and turn her head to the coast, seize and land the money under Carlist
protection, and then scuttle her. The least recompense, he calculated,
which could be awarded to him for that exploit by his Majesty Charles
VII. was the Order of the Golden Fleece; and a very appropriate order
too.

There was a set of Carlist sympathizers known to the fighting-men as
"ojaladeros," or warriors with much decoration in the shape of polished
buttons