"Yes!" the adventurers shouted with one voice.
"You read at the foot of those documents the names of Don Antonio Pavo, President of the Mexican Republic, and of General Don Sebastian Guerrero, present here at this moment. You then knew on what conditions you enlisted, and also the engagements the Mexican Government entered into with you. Today, after three months' marching and counter-marching; after suffering without a murmur all the annoyances it pleased the Mexican Government to inflict on you; when you have proved, by your good conduct and severe discipline, that you were in every way worthy to fulfil honourably the mission that was intrusted to you; when, finally, in spite of the incessant obstacles continually raised in your path, you have arrived within less than ten leagues of the mines, do you know what the Mexican Government demands of you? Listen: I will tell you, for you are even more interested than myself in the question."
A thrill of curiosity ran through the ranks of the adventurers.
"Speak—speak!" they shouted.
"You have three alternatives:—First. You are enjoined to resign your French nationality, and become Mexicans, and will be permitted to work the mines, without any pay, under the supreme command of General Guerrero, whose aide-de-camp I shall become."
An Homeric burst of laughter greeted this proposition.
"The second—let us have the second!" some shouted.
"Sapristi!" others remarked, "these Mexicans are not fools to wish to have us for their countrymen."
"Go on—go on!" the remainder howled.
The count gave a sign, and silence was re-established.