"Ah!" he said indifferently.
"For two months the militia have been exercised daily."
"Militia!" he replied with a disdainful air. "I suppose, at any rate, they are numerous?"
"About 3000 men."
"All the better."
"General Guerrero, who has at length discovered that his flank was turned, has thrown himself into the city with 6000 Indians, and is awaiting other reinforcements."
"That is the reason, my friend, why I must attack at once. I have already, according to your calculation, opposed to me 11,000 men, intrenched behind good walls. The longer I wait, the more numerous they will grow; and if I do not take care," he added with a laugh, "that army will end by growing so considerable that it will be impossible for me to destroy it."
"You are perhaps unaware, my friend, that Hermosillo is surrounded by market gardens, which render the approaches almost impracticable?"
"Believe me, my good friend," the count replied carelessly, "I shall enter by the gates."
The company gazed on the count with an amazement akin to terror. They looked at each other, and seemed to be asking whether they had not to deal with a maniac.