Feeling certain that there was something wrong at head-quarters, I determined to proceed to Callao for the purpose of learning the true state of affairs, leaving Colonel Miller to return to Arica, and in case of emergency, victualling and equipping the prizes, so as to be in readiness, if necessary, for the reception of his troops.

During my absence Lady Cochrane sailed for England, partly for the sake of her health, but more for the purpose of obtaining justice for me, for in addition to the persecution which I had undergone, a “Foreign Enlistment Bill” had been passed, the enactments of which were especially aimed at my having engaged in a service which had for its object the expulsion of Spain, then in alliance with England, from her Colonies in the Pacific.

As an incident relating to her Ladyship has been mentioned in the “Memoirs of General Miller,” I may be pardoned for giving it as narrated in that work.

“On the 25th, six hundred infantry and sixty Cavalry, all picked men, were placed under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Miller, who received directions to embark on a secret service under the orders of Lord Cochrane, and proceeded to Huacho.  On the day after his arrival there, and whilst he was inspecting the detachments in the Plaza, Lady Cochrane galloped on to the parade to speak to him.  The sudden appearance of youth and beauty on a fiery horse, managed with skill and elegance, absolutely electrified the men, who had never before seen an English lady. ’Que hermosa!  Que graciosa!  Que linda!  Que airosa!  Es un angel del cielo!’ were exclamations which escaped from one end of the line to the other.  Colonel Miller, not displeased at this involuntary homage to the beauty of his countrywoman, said to the men, ’This is our generala;’ on which her Ladyship, turning to the line, bowed to the troops, who no longer confining their expressions of admiration to suppressed interjections, loud vivas burst from officers and men, to which Lady Cochrane, smiling her acknowledgments, cantered off the ground like a fairy.”

In the month of February, during my absence, Lady Cochrane, tired of the crowded villages occupied by the liberating army, undertook a journey into the interior, in the hope that change of air might prove advantageous to our infant child, which was in a precarious state of health.  She performed the journey on horseback, under the intense heat of a vertical sun, across a desert, impeded by the precipitous beds of torrents which intersect the country in every direction.  On her arrival at Quilca, she was most hospitably received by the Marchioness de la Pracer, who placed her palace and every luxury at Lady Cochrane’s disposal.

In the midst of the festivities which followed, her child was taken dangerously ill, whilst no medical assistance of any kind was at hand.  On this she determined to return to the coast, and seek the aid of an English or Spanish physician, but as the Royalist army was advancing towards the direction necessary to be taken, this was judged impracticable till they had passed.