"I was once captured and carried into the mountains by a party of brigands who held me for a ransom. In the old times before Maximilian came here, the Mexican brigands simply robbed travellers who made no resistance, and killed those who resisted unsuccessfully. Maximilian imported some Italians, who very soon turned robbers, and affiliated with the Mexican bandits; they taught the Mexicans the Italian trick of holding prisoners for ransom, and it was practised very extensively.
ENCAMPMENT OF BRIGANDS.
"Well, the rascals carried me off to their retreat in the hills, and made me write to my brother demanding five thousand dollars as ransom for me. They threatened that in case it was not paid by a certain day I would be shot, and my friends would receive my head as a proof that the threat had been carried out.
A KING OF THE ROAD.
"The letter was delivered by a respectable citizen, who was on friendly terms with my brother and myself. I had dined at his house and he at mine, and we had had several business transactions. It had been intimated that he was friendly with the brigands, and this circumstance proved it. My brother paid the money to him, and I was released and allowed to come home. They treated me well while I was with them, but kept a guard over me all the time with orders to kill me instantly in case I attempted to escape."