Page:The Fall of Maximilan's Empire.djvu/25

Rh "Uloa" was an enigma, principally so from the remarkable fact he could apparently speak no known language. Born and educated in one of the rural provinces of Spain, he had never learned to talk except in the dialect of that province, and persons visiting him, fairly conversant with the Spanish tongue, could still not communicate with him. This of itself was enough to paralyze any attempt at friendly social intercourse, although he seemed a pleasant man, well aware of his peculiar position, but evidently more amused than mortified by it.

Captain Count Gustave Knight Von Gröller of the Austrian frigate and imperial yacht "Elizabeth" had not proved very sociable toward the other commanding officers, and was said to invoke the aid of cards quite extensively in passing away the time. When Roe would remark to the English or French captain that the usual ceremony of sending a boarding officer had been omitted by him, the answer was to the effect that Gröller certainly meant nothing by it, that he had perhaps been having a run of bad luck, and, as likely as not, might poke on board in person before very long, instead of first sending an aide. And that is just what occurred. About a week after the "Tacony's" arrival, the "Elizabeth's" gig was reported coming alongside with a pennant in the bows, and a tall man, taller than Roe, glittering in the full-dress uniform of a