Bound hand and foot, under an escort of thirty men, the next morning we set off to cross the deserts and prairies of Sonora, to gain the Mexican capital, where we well knew that a gibbet was to be our fate.
Such was the grateful return we received from those who had called us to their assistance[17].

Such was my first lesson in civilized life! [Footnote 17: Americans, or Europeans, who wish to reside in Mexico, are obliged to conform to the Catholic religion, or they cannot hold property and become resident merchants.

These were the apostates for wealth who betrayed me.].