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diff --git a/23744-8.txt b/23744-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d2f8a6a --- /dev/null +++ b/23744-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6651 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Ahead of the Army, by W. O. Stoddard + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Ahead of the Army + +Author: W. O. Stoddard + +Illustrator: C. Chase Emerson + +Release Date: December 5, 2007 [EBook #23744] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AHEAD OF THE ARMY *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +AHEAD OF THE ARMY + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +[Illustration: IT WAS SEVERE WORK, BUT IT WAS DONE WITH EAGER ENTHUSIASM +(See page 277)] + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +AHEAD OF THE ARMY + +by W. O. STODDARD + +AUTHOR OF "THE ERRAND BOY OF ANDREW JACKSON," "JACK MORGAN," +"THE NOANK'S LOG," ETC. + +ILLUSTRATED BY +C. CHASE EMERSON + +BOSTON +LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +COPYRIGHT, 1903, by LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY. +ALL RIGHTS RESERVED + +Published June, 1903 + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +PREFACE + +Lest any one should suspect exaggeration in the pictures of Mexican +affairs in the old time, which are presented by Seņor Carfora, it may be +well to offer a few facts by way of explanation. During sixty-three +years of the national life of the Republic of Mexico, from the +establishment of its independence in 1821 to the year 1884, nearly all +of its successive changes of government were accompanied by more or less +violence and bloodshed. There have been fifty-five Mexican Presidents; +at one revolutionary period, four within three months, and to this list +must be added two emperors and one regency. Both of the emperors were +shot, so were several of the Presidents, and nearly all of the others +incurred the penalty of banishment. How this came to be so will possibly +be better understood by the young Americans who will kindly travel with +Seņor Carfora and his generals and his two armies, commanded for him by +General Scott and General Santa Anna. It is the wish of the author that +all his young friends may cultivate a deeper and kinder interest in the +wonderful land of Anahuac and its people. The now peaceful and rapidly +improving republic of the South is, in fact, only a kind of younger +brother of the United States. Mexico has no more sincere well-wisher +than + + William O. Stoddard. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +CONTENTS + Page + +Far-away Guns 11 +The Race of the Goshawk 22 +The Fortune of War 47 +Completely Stranded 69 +The Work of the Norther 84 +Forward, March 99 +The Land of the Montezumas 119 +Out of the Tierra Caliente 136 +Leaving the Hacienda 157 +Pictures of the Past 167 +Ned's News 181 +A Storm Coming 193 +The Revolution 207 +The Despatch-bearer 221 +Under Fire 240 +General Scott and His Army 254 +The Mountain Passes 267 +Seņor Carfora Trapped 281 +The Stars and Stripes in Tenochtitlan 294 + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +ILLUSTRATIONS + Page + +It was severe work, but it was done with eager enthusiasm Frontispiece +"Do you see that? What does it mean?" 30 +"We have orders to take care of you" 114 +Ned saw a long, bright blade of a lance pointed at his bosom 286 + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + + + +AHEAD OF THE ARMY + +CHAPTER I. + +FAR-AWAY GUNS + + +"Boom! Boom! Boom!" + +The long surges of the Gulf of Mexico were beating heavily upon the +sandy beach of Point Isabel, but the dull and boding sounds were not the +roar of the surf. There came a long silence, and then another boom. Each +in succession entered the white tents of the American army on the +upland, carrying with it a message of especial importance to all who +were within. It was also of more importance to the whole world than any +man who heard it could then have imagined. It spoke to the sentries at +their posts, and compelled them to turn and listen. It halted all +patrolling and scouting parties, making them stand still to utter sudden +exclamations. More than one mounted officer reined in his horse to +hear, and then wheeled to spur away toward the tent of General Zachary +Taylor, commanding the forces of the United States upon the Rio Grande. + +In one small tent, in the camp of the Seventh Infantry, the first boom +stirred up a young man who had been sleeping, and he may have been +dreaming of home. He was in the uniform of a second lieutenant, and in +one respect he was exactly like all the other younger officers and most +of the men of that army, for never before had they heard the sound of a +hostile cannon. War was new to them, and they were not aware how many of +them were now entering a preparatory school in which they were to be +trained for service in a war of vastly greater proportions and for the +command of its contending armies, on either side. + +Up sprang the young lieutenant and stepped to the door of his tent. He +was short, strongly built, and his alert, vigorous movements indicated +unusual nerve, vitality, and muscular strength. + +"Grant, my boy," he muttered to himself, "that comes from the fort! The +Mexicans are attacking! It's more than twenty miles away. I didn't know +you could hear guns as far as that, but the wind's in the right +direction. Hurrah! The war has begun!" + +He was only half right. The war had been begun long years before by +aggressive American settlers in the Spanish-Mexican State of Texas. Now, +at last, the United States had taken up the same old conflict, and only +about half of the American people at all approved of it. + +Grant did not linger in front of his tent. He walked rapidly away to +where stood a group of officers, hardly any of them older than himself. + +"Meade," he demanded of one of them, "what do you think of that?" + +"I think I don't know how long that half-finished fort can hold out," +responded Lieutenant Meade, and half a dozen other voices instantly +agreed with him as to the perils surrounding the small besieged +garrison. + +It was hardly possible, they said, that it could hold out until the +arrival of the main army. This, too, would have to fight all the way +against superior numbers, but that was a thing which it could do, and +they were all wild with eagerness to be on the march, in answer to the +summons of those far-away guns. + +There were no railroads to speak of, and only the first small beginnings +of telegraphs in the year 1846. The news of the first fighting would +therefore be slow in reaching the President and Congress at Washington, +so that they might lawfully make what is called a formal declaration of +war. Much had already been taken for granted, but the American +government was at that hour anxiously leaning southward and listening +for the expected roar of Mexican cannon. It came, as rapidly as General +Taylor could send it. A swift despatch-boat, with all her canvas up, +went speeding across the gulf to New Orleans. Thence, in the hands of +special couriers, it would gallop all the remaining distance. Meantime, +the struggle at the Rio Grande frontier would continue, just as if all +the legal arrangements had been made, but it would be weeks before +Europe could be advised of what was going on. All this, too, when this +fight over the annexation of Texas was about to lift the Republic into a +foremost place among the nations. It was to give her all the Pacific +coast which she now has, except Oregon and Alaska, with the gold of +California and the silver of the mountains. Among its consequences were +to be the terrible Civil War, the abolition of slavery, the acquisition +of the Sandwich Islands, and many another vast change in the history of +our country and in that of these very European nations which were then +ignorantly sitting still and thinking little about it, because they had +no ocean cable telegraphs to outrun the swift clipper ships. + +There were couriers racing inland in all directions to tell the people +of Mexico, also, that war had come, but the despatches of the general +commanding their forces on the Texas border were carried by a swift +schooner from Matamoras, on the coast, directly to Vera Cruz. A +messenger from that port had before him a gallop of only two hundred and +sixty miles to the city of Mexico. President Paredes, therefore, had +full information of the attack on the American fort sooner than did +President Polk by a number of very important days. + +These were bright May days, and during all of them there were other +things going on which had a direct relation to the cannon-firing and the +siege. For instance, all the commerce between Mexico and the rest of the +world was deeply interested, and so were all the warships of the United +States, which were prepared to interfere with that commerce pretty soon, +and shut it off. There were merchant vessels at sea to whose captains +and owners it was a serious question whether or not cruisers carrying +the Stars and Stripes would permit them to reach their intended port +and deliver their cargoes. Whatever may have been the case with all the +rest of these vessels, one of them in particular appeared to be rushing +along in a great hurry at the very hour when Lieutenant Grant woke up so +suddenly and walked out of his tent. + +She carried an American flag, somewhat tattered, and she was spreading +quite as much canvas as a prudent skipper might have considered safe +under the strong gale that was blowing. She was bark-rigged, of about +four hundred tons burden, and was headed westward in the Nicholas +Channel, off the northerly coast of the Island of Cuba. There was a high +sea running, but the ship stood up well, and the few men who were on +deck could get about easily. Even a boy of apparently not over +seventeen, who came to a halt near the mainmast, managed to keep his +balance with some help from a rope. That he did so was a credit to him, +and it helped to give him a sailor-like and jaunty air. So did his blue +trousers, blue flannel shirt with a wide collar, and the sidewise pitch +of his tarpaulin hat. He might as well have remarked aloud that he was +one of those boys who are up to almost anything, and who think small +potatoes of a mere storm at sea. Near him, however, stood a pair of men, +either of whom might have felt as much at home under another flag than +the one which was now fluttering its damaged bunting above them. The +shorter of the two was a very dark-faced gentleman of perhaps forty, +with piercing black eyes. In spite of his civilian dress, he wore an +expression that was decidedly warlike, or soldierly. + +"Captain Kemp," he said to his companion, "will you be good enough to +tell me why we are in the Nicholas Channel?" + +"No, Seņor Zuroaga," growled the large-framed, roughly rigged and +grim-looking sailor. "I'm cap'n o' this ship, and I don't give +explanations. We've had gales on gales since we left port. One course is +as good as another, if you're not losing distance. We'll reach Vera Cruz +now three or four days sooner than we reckoned. All those war insurance +risks were paid for for nothing." + +"I'm not so sure of that," was slowly and thoughtfully responded. "Not +if one of Uncle Sam's officers should get a look into the hold of this +ship." + +"You're a Mexican, anyhow," said Captain Kemp, surlily. "You know enough +to keep your mouth shut. You don't really have to know anything about +the cargo. Besides, it was peace when we sailed. We shall make a safe +landing,--if nothing happens on the way." + +"Captain," said the Mexican, "it does not take long to make a +declaration of war when both sides are determined to have one." + +"You're wrong there, Seņor Zuroaga," replied the captain, emphatically. +"Mexico doesn't want a brush with the States. She isn't strong enough. +The Yankees can whip her out of Texas any day." + +"That is not the point at all," replied Zuroaga, sadly. "The fact is, +the Texan Yankees want a war for revenge, and the American party in +power would like to annex a great deal more than Texas. President +Paredes needs a war to keep himself in power and help him put on a +crown. Old Santa Anna wants a war to give him a chance to return from +exile and get control of the army. If we ever do reach Vera Cruz, we +shall hear of fighting when we get there." + +"Perhaps," said the captain, "but it will be only a short war, and at +the end of it the United States will have stolen Texas." + +"No, seņor," said Zuroaga, with a fierce flash in his eyes. "All +educated Mexicans believe that Texas or any other of the old Spanish +provinces has a right to set up for itself. Almost every State has +actually tried it. We have had revolution after revolution." + +"Anarchy after anarchy!" growled the captain. "Such a nation as that +needs a king of some kind, or else the strong hand of either England or +France or the United States." + +"Mexico! A nation!" exclaimed Seņor Zuroaga, after a moment of silence. +"We are not a nation yet. Within our boundaries there are several +millions of ignorant Indians, peons, rancheros and the like, that are +owned rather than ruled by a few scores of rich landholders who +represent the old Spanish military grants. Just now President Paredes is +able to overawe as many of these chiefs as he and others have not +murdered. So he is President, or whatever else he may choose to call +himself. The mere title is nothing, for the people do not know the +difference between one and another. Now, Captain Kemp, one sure thing is +that the Yankees have taken Texas and mean to keep it. They will fight +for it. One other sure thing is that General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna +will come back if he can, to carry on that war and supersede Paredes. +If he does so, there is danger ahead for some men. He will settle with +all his old enemies, and he loves bloodshed for its own sake. When he +cannot be killing men, he will sit in a cockpit all day, just for the +pleasure of seeing the birds slaughtering one another. I believe he had +my own father shot quite as much for love of murder as for the +opportunity it gave him for confiscating our family estates in Oaxaca." + +"You seem to have enough to hate him for, anyhow, and I don't blame +you," replied the captain, as he turned away to give some orders to the +sailors, and all the while the boy who stood near them had been +listening. + +"Well, Ned Crawford," he muttered to himself, "that's it, is it? Father +didn't seem to believe there would be any war. He said there would be +plenty of time, anyhow, for this old _Goshawk_ bark to make the round +trip to New York by way of Vera Cruz." + +A great lurch of the ship nearly swung him off his feet just then, and +he was holding on very firmly to his rope when he added: + +"He said I'd learn a great deal all the way, and I shouldn't wonder if +I'm learning something new just now. What do they mean by that +dangerous cargo in the hold, and our being captured by American ships of +war? That's a thing father didn't know anything about. I guess I can see +how it is, though. Captain Kemp isn't an American, and he'd do almost +anything to make money. Anything honest, I mean. How it does blow! Well, +let her blow! Father said he was putting me into a first-rate commercial +school, and here I am right in the middle of it." + +Ned was indeed at school, and he seemed likely to have unexpected +teachers, but so is every other wide-awake young fellow, just like +Ulysses Grant and his crowd of young associates in their hot weather war +school over there on the Texas border. + +Seņor Zuroaga also had now walked away, and Ned was left to hold by his +rope, looking out upon the tossing sea and wondering more and more what +sort of adventures he and the _Goshawk_ might be so swiftly racing on +into. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE RACE OF THE GOSHAWK + + +A long day had passed and a dark night had come. The air of it was hot +and sultry over all the regions around the Gulf of Mexico. Something +appeared to be weighing it down, as if it might be loaded with the great +events which were about to come. + +It was gloomy enough at and around the besieged American fort on the +Texas side of the Rio Grande, but every now and then the darkness and +the silence were broken by the flashes and thunders of the Mexican +artillery, and the responses of the cannon of the bravely defended +fortress. This was already partly in ruins, and the besiegers had good +reasons for their expectation that in due season they were to see the +Stars and Stripes come down from the shattered rampart. It did not seem +to them at all possible that the small force under General Taylor, +twenty miles away at the seaside, could cut through overwhelming +numbers to the relief of the garrison. + +It was just as dark in the American camp on the coast, but there were +many campfires burning, and by the light of these and numberless +lanterns there were busy preparations making for the forward march, +which was to begin in the morning. There was an immense amount of +anxiety in the minds of all the Americans who were getting ready, but it +was only on account of the fort and garrison, for that little army had a +remarkable degree of confidence in its own fighting capacity. + +It is never as dark on the land, apparently, as it is at sea, where even +the lights hung out by a ship seem to make all things darker, except the +white crests of the billows. One ship's lantern, however, was so hung +that it threw down a dim light upon a pair who were sitting on the deck +near the stern. + +"Seņor Zuroaga," said one of them, "I wish it was daylight." + +"So do I," responded his companion, with hardly a trace of foreign +accent. "The storm's nearly over, but I had so much on my mind that I +could not sleep. The fact is, I came up to try and make up my mind where +we are. I must reach Vera Cruz before Santa Anna does, if I can. If I +do not, I may be shot after landing. I shall be safer, too, after +President Paredes has marched with his army for the Rio Grande. So I +hope for war. Anyhow, the commander at Vera Cruz is a friend of mine." + +"I guess I understand," said Ned. "I heard what you said about the way +things are going. But what did you mean about our being in the Nicholas +Channel? What has that got to do with it?" + +"Talk Spanish!" replied the seņor, with whom the boy appeared to be upon +good terms. "I do not want any of those sailors to understand me, though +I'm very glad that you can. How did that happen?" + +"Well," said Ned, "father's been all his life in the Cuban and Mexican +trade, and I'm to grow up into it. I can't remember just when they began +to teach me Spanish. I was thinking about the war, though. If it's +coming, I want to see some of the fighting." + +"You may see more than you will like," said his friend in his own +tongue. "Now, as to where we are, remember your geography." + +"I can remember every map in it," said Ned, confidently. + +"Good!" said the seņor. "Now! You know that the Gulf Stream runs along +the coast of Florida. Our road from Liverpool to the gulf was to have +taken us by that way. Instead of that, we came around below the Bahama +Islands, and here we are off the north coast of Cuba. Captain Kemp's +reason is that there might be too many American cruisers along the +Florida coast, and he does not care to be stopped by one of them, if the +war has already begun. We would not be allowed to go any further." + +"I see," said Ned. "Of course not. They would stop us, to keep us from +being captured by the Mexicans when we got to Vera Cruz." + +"Not exactly," said the seņor, half laughing, "but it might cost your +father and his partners their ship and cargo. That is the secret the +sailors are not to know. Away up northward there, a hundred miles or so, +are the Florida Keys, and among them is the United States naval station +at Key West. There are ships of war there, and Captain Kemp will not +sail any nearer to them than he can help. Ned, did you have any idea +that you were sitting over a Mexican powder-magazine?" + +"No!" exclaimed Ned. "What on earth do you mean?" + +"I think I had better tell you," said the seņor. "I half suspected it +before we sailed, and I learned the whole truth afterward. The New York +and Liverpool firm that your father belongs to sent on board an honest +and peaceable cargo, but there was a good deal of room left in the hold, +and the captain filled it up with cannon-balls, musket-bullets, and +gunpowder from the English agents of no less a man than General Santa +Anna himself. It is all for his army, whenever he gets one, but it goes +first to the castle of San Juan de Ulua, at Vera Cruz. If war has been +declared, or if it has in any way begun, the whole thing is what they +call contraband of war, and the _Goshawk_ is liable to be captured and +confiscated." + +"Phew!" whistled Ned. "Wonder how father'd like that! Anyhow, we don't +know there's any war." + +"We'd be in trouble anyhow," said the seņor. "But we are all in the dark +about it. We have been over three weeks on the way, and all the war news +we had when we started was nearly a month old. We can only guess what +has been going on. Here we are, though, in a storm that is driving us +along first-rate into the Gulf of Mexico. We may be four days' sail from +Vera Cruz in a bee-line, and the _Goshawk_ is a racer, but we may not be +able to make a straight course. Well, well, the captain will keep on all +the canvas that's safe, and we may get there. Hullo! the day is +beginning to dawn. Now our real danger begins." + +He said no more, and Ned walked forward with something altogether new on +his mind. An American boy, crammed full of patriotism, and wishing that +he were in General Taylor's army, he was, nevertheless, by no fault of +his own, one of the crew of a ship which was carrying ammunition to the +enemy. He almost felt as if he were fighting his own country, and it +made him sick. He had an idea, moreover, that Seņor Zuroaga was only +half willing to help his old enemy Santa Anna. + +"I don't care if Captain Kemp is an Englishman," he said to himself, "he +had no business to run father and his partners into such a scrape." + +That might be so, and perhaps neither Kemp, nor Zuroaga, nor even Ned +himself, knew all about the laws of war which govern such cases, but +just then there flashed across his mind a very dismal suggestion, as he +stared down at the deck he stood on. + +"What," he asked himself, "if any accident should touch off those +barrels of powder down there? Why, we'd all be blown sky-high and +nobody'd ever know what had become of us. There'd be nothing but chips +left." + +He tried not to think about that, and went below to get his breakfast, +while Captain Kemp ordered his sailors to send up another sail, +remarking to Seņor Zuroaga: + +"We must make the most we can of this wind. Every hour counts now. I'll +take the _Goshawk_ to Vera Cruz, or I'll run her under water." + +"Have you any idea where we are just now?" asked the seņor. + +"Well on into the gulf," said the captain, cheerfully. "We made a +splendid run in the night, thanks to the gale. I hope it will blow on, +and I think there is no danger of our being overhauled until we are off +the Mexican coast. I wish, though, that I knew whether or not the war +has actually been declared." + +"The declaration isn't everything," replied the seņor. "If there has +been any fighting at all, American cruisers have a right, after that, +to question ships bound for a hostile port, and to stop and seize all +contraband of war. After goods are once seized, it isn't easy to get +them back again." + +"Sail ho!" came down from aloft at that moment. + +"Where away?" called back the captain. + +"Northerly, sir. Looks like a shark, sir." + +"Can you make out her flag?" was inquired, almost anxiously. + +The man on the lookout plied his telescope a full half-minute before he +responded: + +"Stars and Stripes, sir. Sloop-o'-war, sir. She's changin' her course, +and she's makin' for us, I reckon." + +"Let her head!" growled the captain. "This bark'll bear more sail. Hoist +away there, men. Let her have it! Seņor, there's one thing I'll do right +off. It may be our best chance if she should overhaul us." + +He did not explain his meaning just then, but another sail went up and +something else came down. In a few minutes more, when Ned came on deck +again, he suddenly felt worse than ever. Not long before, when the sun +was rising, he had been on an American ship, with the flag of his +country flying above him, but now his first glance aloft drew from him a +loud exclamation, for he found that while below he had apparently been +turned into an Englishman, and away up yonder the gale was playing with +the Red Cross banner of the British Empire. He stared at it for a +moment, and then he made an excited rush for Seņor Zuroaga. He might +have reached him sooner, but for a lurch of the _Goshawk_, which sent +him sprawling full length upon the deck. It did not hurt him much, +however, and as soon as he was on his feet, he blurted out, angrily: + +"Seņor! I say! Do you see that? What does it mean?" + +The Mexican laughed aloud, but not only Ned Crawford but several of the +sailors were eyeing that unexpected bunting with red and angry faces. +They also were Americans, and they had national prejudices. + +"You don't like the British flag, eh?" he said. "I do, then, just now. +An American cruiser would not fire a shot at that flag half so quick as +it would at your own." + +"Why wouldn't she?" asked Ned. + +[Illustration: "DO YOU SEE THAT? WHAT DOES IT MEAN?"] + +"Because," said the seņor, a little dryly, "the American skipper hasn't +any British navy behind him, ready to take the matter up. It's a +protection in case we can't outrun that sloop-of-war. The men won't care +a cent, as soon as they know it's only a sea dodge to get into port +with." + +Sailor-like, they were indeed easily satisfied with whatever the captain +chose to tell them, and on went the _Goshawk_ as a British craft, but +she was nevertheless carrying supplies to the Mexican army. + +Seņor Zuroaga had brought up a double spy-glass of his own, and, after +studying the stranger through it, he handed it to Ned, remarking: + +"Take a look at her. She's a beauty. She is drawing nearer on this tack, +but nobody knows yet whether she can outrun us or not." + +Ned took the glass with an unexpected feeling growing within him that he +hoped she could not do so. He did not wish to be caught on board a +British vessel taking powder and shot to kill Americans with. As he put +the glass to his eyes, however, the sloop-of-war appeared to have +suddenly come nearer. It was as if the _Goshawk_ were already within +reach of her guns, and she became a dangerous thing to look at. She was +not, as yet, under any great press of canvas, for her commander may not +have imagined that any merchant vessel would try to get away from him. +There were two things, however, about which nobody on board the +_Goshawk_ was thinking. The first was that, while the American +ship-of-war captain had not heard the firing at the fort on the Rio +Grande, he was under a strong impression that war had been declared. The +other thing came out in a remark which he made to a junior officer +standing by him. + +"It won't do!" he declared, emphatically. "I don't at all like that +change of flags. It means mischief. There is something suspicious about +that craft. We must bring her to, and find out what's the matter with +her." + +The distance between the two vessels was still too great for anything +but a few signals, to which Captain Kemp responded with others which may +have been of his own invention, for the signal officer on board the +Yankee cruiser could make nothing of them. The _Goshhawk_, moreover, did +not shorten sail, and her steersman kept her away several points more +southerly, instead of bringing her course nearer to that of the cruiser. + +"I see!" said her captain, as he watched the change. "She means to get +away from us. It won't do. As soon as we are within range, I'll give +her a gun. She may be a Mexican privateer, for all I know." + +At all events, under the circumstances, as he thought, the change of +flags had made it his duty to inquire into her character, and he decided +to do so, even if, as he said, he should have to send one shot ahead of +her and then a dozen into her. + +There is something wonderfully exciting about a race of any kind. Men +will make use of anything, from a donkey to a steamboat, to engineer a +trial of speed and endurance. Then they will stand around and watch the +running, as if the future welfare of the human race depended upon the +result. Even the _Goshhawk_ sailors, who had previously grumbled at the +British flag above them, were entirely reconciled to the situation, now +that it included the interesting question whether or not their swift +bark could show her heels to the cruiser. They were very much in doubt +about it, for the ships of the American navy had a high and well-earned +reputation as chasers. They might have been somewhat encouraged if they +had known that the _Portsmouth_, sloop-of-war, had been at sea a long +time without going into any dock to have her bottom scraped clean of its +accumulated barnacles. She was by no means in the best of training for +a marine race-course. + +An hour went by and then another. The two vessels were now running on +almost parallel lines, so that any attempt of the sloop to draw nearer +cost her just so much of chasing distance. It might be that they were, +in fact, nearly matched, now that the wind had lulled a little, and both +of them were able to send up more canvas without too much risk of having +their sticks blown out of them. It looked like it, but the Yankee +captain had yet another idea in his sagacious head. + +"Let her keep on," he said. "The old _Kennebec_ is out there, somewhere +westerly, not far away. That vagabond may find himself under heavier +guns than ours before sunset. Lieutenant, give him a gun." + +"Ay, ay, sir!" came back, and in a moment more there was a flash and a +report at the bow of the _Portsmouth_. + +Both range and distance had been well calculated, for an iron messenger, +ordering the _Goshhawk_ to heave to, fell into the water within a hundred +yards of her stern. + +"That's near enough for the present," said the American commander, but +Captain Kemp exclaimed, in astonishment: + +"They are firing on the British flag, are they? Then there is something +up that we don't know anything about. We must get away at all risks." + +They were not doing so just now, although another change of course and a +strong puff of the gale carried the _Goshhawk_ further out of range. The +fact was that her pursuer did not feel quite ready to land shot on board +of her, believing that he was doing well enough and that his prize would +surely be taken sooner or later. Besides, if she were, indeed, to become +a prize, no sound-minded sea-captain could be willing to shoot away her +selling value or that of her cargo. + +Noon came, and there did not appear to be any important change in the +relative positions of the two ships. At times, indeed, the _Goshhawk_ had +gained a quarter-mile or so, but only to lose it again, as is apt to be +the case in ocean races. She was not at all tired, however, and both of +the contestants had all the wind they needed. + +Two hours more went slowly by, and Captain Kemp began to exhibit signs +of uneasiness at the unexpected persistence with which he was followed. + +"What on earth can be the matter?" he remarked, aloud. "I'd have thought +she'd get tired of it before this--" + +"Captain!" sharply interrupted Zuroaga, standing at his elbow, glass in +hand. "Another sail! Off there, southerly. Seems to be a full-rigged +ship. What are we to do now?" + +"Keep on!" roared the captain, and then he turned to respond to a +similar piece of unpleasant information which came down from the +lookout. + +"We'll soon know what she is," he remarked, but not as if he very much +wished to do so. "What I'd like to do would be to sail on into the +darkest kind of a rainy night. That's our chance, if we can get it." + +It might be, but at that very moment the commander of the _Portsmouth_ +was asserting to his first lieutenant: + +"There comes the _Kennebec_, my boy. We'll have this fellow now. We'll +teach him not to play tricks with national flags and man-o'-war +signals." + +The race across the Gulf of Mexico was now putting on new and +interesting features, but Ned Crawford, posted well forward to watch the +course of events and what might have been called the race-course, sagely +remarked: + +"I don't know that two horses can run any faster than one can. We are as +far ahead as ever we were." + +That would have been of more importance if the newcomer had not been so +much to the southward and westward, rather than behind them. She was, of +course, several miles nearer to the _Goshhawk_ than she was to the +_Portsmouth_, and neither of these had as yet been able to make out her +flag with certainty. That she was a full-rigged ship was sure enough, +and if Ned had been upon her deck instead of upon his own, he would have +discovered that she was heavily armed and in apple-pie order. At this +very moment a burly officer upon her quarter-deck was roaring, angrily, +in response to some information which had been given him: + +"What's that? A British ship chased by a Yankee cruiser? Lieutenant, I +think the _Falcon_'ll take a look at that. These Yankees are getting too +bumptious altogether. It's as if they thought they owned the gulf! Put +her head two points north'ard. Humph! It's about time they had a +lesson." + +There had been some temporary trouble with the flag of the _Falcon_, but +it had now been cleared of its tangle, and was swinging out free. It was +of larger size than the British bunting displayed by the Goshawk. It was +only a few minutes, therefore, before Captain Kemp had a fresh trouble +on his mind, for his telescope had told him the meaning of that flag. + +"Worse than ever!" he exclaimed. "She'd make us heave to and show our +papers. Then she'd hand us right over, and no help for it. No, sir! Our +only way is to scud from both of them. Some of our English frigates are +slow goers, and this may be one of that kind." + +He was in less immediate peril, perhaps, because of the determination of +the angry British captain to speak to the Yankee first, and demand an +explanation of this extraordinary affair. This it was his plain duty to +do, and the attempt to do it would shortly put him and all his guns +between the _Portsmouth_ and the _Goshhawk_. This operation was going on +at the end of another hour, when Captain Kemp's lookout shouted down to +him: + +"Sail ho, sir! 'Bout a mile ahead o' the British frigate. Can't quite +make her out yet, sir." + +"I declare!" groaned the captain. "This 'ere's getting kind o' thick!" + +The weather also was getting thicker, and all three of the racers were +shortly under a prudent necessity for reducing their excessive spreads +of canvas. The first mate of the _Goshhawk_ had even been compelled to +expostulate with his overexcited skipper. + +"Some of it's got to come down, sir," he asserted. "If we was to lose a +spar, we're gone, sure as guns!" + +"In with it, then," said the captain. "I wish both of 'em 'd knock out a +stick or two. It'd be a good thing for us." + +At all events, a lame horse is not likely to win a race, and the +_Goshhawk_ was doing as well as were either of the others. + +Under such circumstances, it was not long before the _Falcon_ and the +_Portsmouth_ were within speaking-trumpet distance of each other, both +of them losing half a mile to the _Goshhawk_ while they were getting +together. Rapid and loud-voiced indeed were the explanations which +passed between the two commanders. At the end of them, the wrath of the +Englishman was turned entirely against the culprit bark, which had +trifled with his flag. + +"We must take her, sir!" he shouted. "She's a loose fish o' some kind." + +It was while this conversation was going on that Seņor Zuroaga, after +long and careful observations, reported to Captain Kemp concerning the +far-away stranger to the westward. + +"She is a Frenchman, beyond a doubt. Are all the nations making a naval +rendezvous in the Gulf of Mexico?" + +"Nothing extraordinary," said the captain. "But they're all more'n +usually on the watch, on account o' the war, if it's coming." + +It was precisely so. War surely brings disturbance and losses to others +besides those who are directly engaged in it, and all the nations having +commercial relations with Mexico were expecting their cruisers in the +gulf to act as a kind of sea police. Moreover, a larger force than usual +would probably be on hand and wide awake. + +The day was going fast, and the weather promised to shorten it. Ned was +now wearing an oilskin, for he would not have allowed any amount of rain +to have driven him below. He and all the rest on board the _Goshhawk_ +were aware that their pursuers were again beginning to gain on them +perceptibly. It was a slow process, but it was likely to be a sure one, +for the men-of-war could do better sailing in a heavy sea and under +shortened canvas than could a loaded vessel like the saucy merchant +bark. + +"I'm afraid they'll catch us!" groaned Ned. "I s'pose they could make us +all prisoners of war,--if there is any war. Oh, I wish all that powder +and shot had been thrown overboard!" + +It did not look, just now, as if the Mexican army would ever get any +benefit from it, for even the French stranger to leeward seemed to be +putting on an air of having evil intentions. Captain Kemp had made her +out to be a corvette of moderate size, perhaps a sixteen-gun ship, and +she would be quite likely to co-operate with the police boats of England +and America in arresting any suspicious wanderer in those troubled +waters. + +Darker grew the gloom and a light mist came sweeping over the sea. Both +pursuers and pursued began to swing out lights, and before long the mate +of the _Goshhawk_ came to Captain Kemp to inquire, in a puzzled way: + +"I say, Cap'n, what on earth do you do that for? It'll help 'em to +foller us, and lose us all the benefit o' the dark." + +"No, it won't," growled the captain. "You wait and see. I've sighted one +more light, off there ahead of us, and I'm going to make it do something +for the _Goshhawk_. Those other chaps can't see it yet." + +"What in all the world can he be up to?" thought Ned, as he listened, +but the cunning skipper of the bark had all his wits about him. + +The lookouts of the men-of-war had indeed been taking note thus far of +only their own lanterns and the glimmer on their intended prize. They +may even have wondered, as did her own mate, why she should aid them in +keeping track of her. At all events, they had little doubt of having her +under their guns before morning. Seņor Zuroaga himself sat curled up +under his waterproof well aft, and now and then he appeared to be +chuckling, as if he knew something which amused him. Half an hour later, +when all the lights of the _Goshhawk_ suddenly went out, he actually +broke into a ringing laugh. Her course was changed to almost due north +at that very moment. This would bring her across the track of the +_Portsmouth_ and within a mile of that dangerous cruiser's bow guns. +They might not be quite so dangerous, however, if her gunners should be +unable to see a mark at that distance through the mist. The fifth light, +dead ahead, now became itself only the fourth, and it was immediately +the sole attraction for the watchers in the rigging of the several war +police-boats. This stranger was going westwardly, at a fair rate of +speed, and its light was exceptionally brilliant. In fact, it grew more +and more so during an anxious thirty minutes that followed, but it was +the French corvette which first came within hailing distance, to receive +an answer in angry Portuguese, which the French officers could not make +head or tail of. Even after receiving further communications in broken +Portuguese-Spanish, all they could do was to compel the Brazilian +schooner, _Gonzaga_, laden with honest coffee from Rio for New Orleans, +to heave to as best she might until the next arrival came within hail. +This proved to be the British frigate, and her disappointed captain at +once pretty sharply explained to the Frenchmen the difference between a +two-master from Rio and a British-Yankee runaway bark from nobody knew +where. Then came sweeping along the gallant _Portsmouth_, and there was +need for additional conversation all around. Some of it was of an +exceedingly discontented character, although the several captains were +doing their best to be polite to each other, whatever derogatory remarks +they might feel disposed to make concerning the craft which was carrying +Ned Crawford and his badly wounded patriotism. + +Far away to the northwest, hidden by the darkness, the _Goshhawk_ was +all this while flying along, getting into greater safety with every knot +she was making, and Captain Kemp remarked to Ned: + +"My boy, your father won't lose a cent, after all--not unless we find +Vera Cruz blockaded. But our danger isn't all over yet, and it's well +for us that we've slipped out of this part of it." + +"Captain Kemp!" exclaimed Ned, "I believe father'd be willing to lose +something, rather than have the Mexicans get that ammunition." + +"Very likely he would," laughed the captain, "but I'm an Englishman, and +I don't care. What's more, I'm like a great many Americans. Millions of +them believe that the Mexicans are in the right in this matter." + +That was a thing which nobody could deny, and Ned was silenced so far as +the captain's sense of national duty was concerned. + +Hundreds of miles to the westward, at that early hour of the evening, +far beyond the path of the storm which had been sweeping the eastern and +southern waters of the gulf, the American army, under General Taylor, +lay bivouacked. It was several miles nearer the besieged fort than it +had been in the morning, for this was the 8th of May. There had been +sharp fighting at intervals since the middle of the forenoon, beginning +at a place called Palo Alto, or "The Tall Trees," and the Mexicans had +been driven back with loss. Any cannonading at the fort could be heard +more plainly now, and it was certain that it had not yet surrendered. + +Near the centre of the lines occupied by the Seventh Regiment, a young +officer sat upon the grass. He held in one hand a piece of army bread, +from which he now and then took a bite, but he was evidently absorbed in +thought. He took off his hat at last and stared out into the gloom. + +"The Mexican army is out there somewhere," he remarked, slowly. "We are +likely to have another brush with them to-morrow. Well! this is real +war. I've seen my first battle, and I know just how a fellow feels under +fire. I wasn't at all sure how it would be, but I know now. He doesn't +feel first-rate, by any means. Those fellows that say they like it are +all humbugs. I've seen my first man killed by a cannon-ball. Poor Page! +Poor Ringgold! More of us are to go down to-morrow. Who will it be?" + +Very possibly, the list of American slain would contain the +announcement that a mere second lieutenant, named Ulysses S. Grant, had +been struck by a chance shot from one of the Mexican batteries. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE FORTUNE OF WAR + + +The morning of the 9th of May dawned brightly on the ocean and on the +shore. There was a heavy sea running on the Gulf of Mexico, but the wind +that was blowing was little more than a ten-knot breeze. Before this, at +distances of a few miles from each other, a trio of armed vessels, +representing three of the great powers of the world, were dashing along +under full sail, as if they were in a hurry. They were so, for they all +were searching hungrily after a double-flagged bark, which they had +caught the day before, but which had managed to escape from them in the +night. She had done it mysteriously and impudently. Instead of her, +there now toiled along, away behind them, a dingy-looking Brazilian +coffee schooner, the skipper of which did not conceal his satisfaction +over the idea that he had unintentionally aided some other sailor--he +did not care who--to get away from all those war-sharks. Well to the +westward, with every sail spread that she could carry, the _Goshhawk_ +sped along in apparent safety, but she was once more carrying the +American flag, and Ned Crawford, busy below at his breakfast, felt a +great deal easier in his patriotic mind. He could almost forget, for the +moment, that he was taking a cargo of the worst kind of contraband of +war goods to the armies of the enemies of his country. He was shortly on +deck again, to be heartily greeted by Captain Kemp with: + +"Hullo, my boy, where are all your ships of war?" + +Ned took a long, sweeping glance around the horizon, and replied: + +"It looks as if we'd lost 'em." + +"We've done it!" chuckled the captain. "I think we'll not see any more +of that lot. We made a fine run in the night, and we may be within three +days' sail of Vera Cruz. But that depends a great deal on the wind and +on our luck in keeping out of difficulties." + +The captain turned away to his duties, and Ned went forward among the +sailors. He could always manage to have good chats with them, and they +were especially ready just now to discuss the war and their chances for +running against more cruisers. Ned did not count as one of them exactly, +but he was not to be looked down upon as a mere passenger. His father +had sent him out as a kind of honorary supercargo, or ship's clerk, in +the hope that he might learn something which would be of use to him when +he should grow up into a full-sized merchant. Perhaps he had already +found out a number of things upon which his father had not calculated +when he said good-by to him. He was about to learn some other things +which were not upon the ship's books, for he had reached the heel of the +bowsprit, where Seņor Zuroaga was standing, gazing dreamily westward. + +"Good morning, seņor!" said Ned. "We did get away." + +"I don't know how good a morning it is for me," replied the dark-faced +Mexican, wearily. "I may have only three or four days to wait before I +shall know whether or not I am to be shot at Vera Cruz by order of his +Excellency, President Paredes. My best chance is that he cannot know +that I am coming. After I get ashore, my life may very soon depend upon +his being beaten out of power by the armies of the United States." + +"It couldn't be so in any other country," said Ned. "What have you ever +done against him?" + +"I won't say just now," replied the seņor, "but he knows that I am his +enemy. So I am of Santa Anna, if he is to get back. He murdered my +father and confiscated our property in Oaxaca. Do you know where that +is?" + +"No," said Ned; "I don't know anything about the States of Mexico. It's +hard enough to keep track of the United States. They make a new one +every few weeks. They may have let in half a dozen while we've been at +sea." + +"No," said Zuroaga, "but they've tightened their grip on Texas, and I +hope they'll hold on hard, if only to keep Paredes and Santa Anna from +murdering all the best men in it. Well, Oaxaca lies due south of the +State of Vera Cruz, and I can escape into it if I have half a chance. +I'd be safe then, for I have plenty of friends there. We have owned huge +tracts of land in Oaxaca ever since the Spaniards conquered Mexico." + +"How did your folks get so much of it?" inquired Ned. + +"I'll tell you," said the seņor, proudly, and with a fiery flash in his +coal-black eyes. "A man by the name of Hernando Cortes really conquered +Mexico, without much help from the King of Spain. The king made a great +deal of him for it, at first. He made him a marquis, which was a great +thing in those days, whatever it is now. He also gave him a royal grant +of some of the land he had won for Spain. This land was the valley of +the Tehuantepec River, that empties into the Pacific Ocean near the +eastern boundary of Oaxaca. So his title was Marquis del Valle, and his +descendants hold a great deal of that land to this day. I am one of +them,--one of the Marquisanas, as they call us. I am a direct descendant +of Hernando Cortes, and that isn't all. One of my ancestors married an +Aztec princess, and so I am also descended from the Montezumas, who were +emperors of Mexico before the Spaniards came. I'm an Indian on one side, +and I've more than one good reason for hating a Spaniard and a tyrant." + +Ned Crawford had read the story of the conquest of Mexico, like a great +many other American boys. That is, he had read it as if it had been a +tip-top novel rather than a reality. He had admired Hernando Cortes, as +a hero of fiction, but here he was, now, actually talking with one of +the hero's great-great-grandchildren, who was also, after a fashion, +one of the Montezumas. It was like a short chapter out of some other +novel, with the night race of the _Goshhawk_ thrown in by way of +variation. He was thinking about it, however, rather than asking +questions, and the seņor went on: + +"It's a rich, beautiful country, all that eastern part of Oaxaca. There +are splendid mountains and great forests of mahogany, rosewood, and +pine. Through it runs the Coatzacoalcos River, northerly, to the gulf. +Along the rivers and through the mountain passes, there is an old road +that Cortes himself made to lead his little army across to the Pacific." + +"I'd like to go over on it!" exclaimed Ned. "I guess I will, some day. I +want to know all about Mexico." + +He made up his mind, from what his companion went on to tell him, that +there would be a great deal worth seeing, but at that time nobody was +dreaming how many Americans, older and younger, were soon to travel over +the old Cortes road. California was to be annexed, as well as Texas, and +before Ned Crawford would be old enough to cast his first vote, there +was to be a great tide of eager gold hunters pouring along what was +called the Tehuantepec route to the placers and diggings. + +The days of California gold mining had not yet come, and while Ned and +the seņor talked on about the terrible history of Mexico, with its +factions, its bloody revenges, its pronunciamentos, and its fruitless +revolutions, the _Goshhawk_ sailed swiftly along toward Vera Cruz and the +powder-needing garrison of the castle of San Juan de Ulua. + +Whether or not the war had actually begun was still a puzzling question +in the mind of Captain Kemp, but he would have had no doubt whatever if +he had been with General Taylor and his remarkable gathering of young +students of the art of war. They all obtained several important lessons +that day. One of these was that it is both difficult and dangerous for +an advancing army to push on through dense bushes and high grass in hot +weather, with Mexican lancers ready to pounce upon them among the lanes +of the chaparral. It was found, not only before but after the short, +sharp collision with the Mexican forces at Resaca de la Palma that a +number of valuable lives had been lost in the bushy wilderness. + +The American army moved slowly forward, and before nightfall the long +lines of its blue uniforms went over the prairie rolls in full sight of +the fort. The Stars and Stripes were still flying above the badly +damaged ramparts, and cheer after cheer went up from thousands of +throats, including those of the rescued garrison. They had not really +lost many men, killed or wounded, but among the killed was their +commander, Major Brown, after whom the fort was now named. In later +years, a town grew up around the site of the frontier fortress, and it +is called Brownsville. General Taylor's men had triumphantly cut their +way through the difficult twenty miles from the sea to the siege, but +perhaps any individual hero among them might have safely quoted the wise +remark of Lieutenant Grant, as he looked at the fort and recalled his +exploits of the day. + +"Well, after all," he said to himself, "I don't know but what the battle +of Resaca de la Palma would have been won just as well if I had not been +there." + +Long years afterward, it was to be said of a number of other battles +that they would not have been won just as well if he had not been there +to win them, and the same would be equally true of several of his young +companions, as inexperienced as himself, and as ignorant of the great +things before them in the far future. + +Their army went into camp near the fort; and the Mexican forces, for the +greater part, were believed to have retreated across the Rio Grande. + +It is said that after every storm there comes a calm, but it was not a +pleasant calm in the neighborhood of the American camp. There were all +the while strong parties of Mexican lancers hovering around in all +directions, on the lookout for imprudent stragglers, and a sharp watch +had to be kept to guard against sudden dashes at the outposts, for the +"rancheros," as the Mexican horsemen were called, were both well-mounted +and enterprising. There was yet another kind of calm of a curious +character. General Taylor absolutely did not know what to do next, and +he could not know until after he should hear from the President what the +statesmen in Congress had decided. Beyond a doubt, war was going on +right here, but there was a dispute as to the nature of it and as to +what was to be done with it. The Mexican geographers claimed that the +southern boundary of Texas, even if it had been legally annexed to the +United States, was at the Nueces River, and that all their country +south of that line was still their own. According to them, therefore, +General Taylor's army was not in Texas at all, but in Mexico. On the +other hand, the American geographers placed the boundary at the Rio +Grande, many miles south of the Nueces, and claimed that the forces +defeated by General Taylor had invaded the United States. If both +parties were right, then it might have been said that all that land +between the rivers did not belong to anybody until the title to it +should be settled by a military court and gunpowder arguments. That was +really the way in which it was finally settled, and there is now no more +dispute about it. History tells us that so have all the great national +land titles of the world been argued and determined. + +There was what some people call a waiting spell, and all things on sea +or land might be spoken of as feverishly quiet for a day or two. In the +afternoon of the third day, however, there was a sort of change in the +weather at one spot away out on the gulf. There was not a cloud in the +sky, indeed, and the _Goshhawk_ was skimming along under full sail so +steadily that part of her crew had nothing better to do than to lie +around on the deck, and feel satisfied that the breeze was so very good. +In the same manner, the American soldiers in the neighborhood of Fort +Brown were lying around in and out of their tents, and wishing that they +had more shade to protect them from the hot sun of Texas or Mexico, +whichever it might be. At that hour, however, there arrived upon the +_Goshhawk_ a bit of unexpected news which awakened everybody, for the man +at the lookout announced, excitedly: + +"Schooner under Mexican flag, sir! Well away to loo'ard. Looks as if she +might come pretty nigh us." + +"Just the thing I wanted!" shouted Captain Kemp, springing to his feet. +"We'll bear away for her. Up with the British flag, too. She'd shy the +Stars and Stripes. They wouldn't tell us what the news is, either." + +Once more, therefore, the _Goshhawk_ became an Englishman, and her chase +after the latest news did not have to be a long one. Not many minutes +later, the two vessels were within hailing distance, and the stranger +spoke first, in a tone of evident anxiety: + +"What ship is that?" + +"_Goshhawk_, from Liverpool to Vera Cruz, with supplies for the Castle of +San Juan de Ulua. What ship is that?" + +"Schooner _Tampico_, from Havana to Matamoras, with supplies for General +Ampudia," came much more cheerfully back. "We had to run away from +Matamoras in ballast to escape the gringos. Their cruisers are around +like hawks. You won't get to Vera Cruz if they can help it." + +Captain Kemp already knew something about the reckless ways of +men-of-war, but he did not say so. He merely responded: + +"Is that so? How about the war? We've no news at all." + +"War?" shouted the Mexican skipper, triumphantly. "Why, there have been +three great battles already. We have whipped the Americans! General +Taylor is surrounded, and will have to surrender. So will the fort on +the Rio Grande. We shall drive the gringos out of Texas. I did not know +until now that you British were going to help us." + +There could be no further conversation, for the _Goshhawk_ was sweeping +on out of hearing, but Ned Crawford exclaimed, indignantly: + +"Our army defeated? How can that be? I don't believe it!" + +Everybody on deck could hear the captain when he laughingly responded: + +"The victories were won in that fellow's head, most likely. He was on +board his schooner at Matamoras, and he didn't see it done. All he knows +is that the war is really begun. It takes a long time, men, to make +either an American or a British army think of surrendering. We shall +hear a good deal more about those battles one of these days. I'd like to +read the newspaper reports, though, on both sides." + +"They would be good fun," dryly remarked Seņor Zuroaga. "There is nobody +on earth that can win victories like a newspaper editor." + +"Hullo!" suddenly exclaimed Ned. "Something's the matter with the +captain! Did you hear that?" + +There was quite enough to hear. A long, loud hail that came down from +the rigging was followed by almost a yell from Captain Kemp. + +"We're chased again!" he said. "Thank God, she's astern! Men, we're in +for it! Now for Vera Cruz or a prison! I'm ready!" + +Rapid orders went out, but hardly anything more could be done to +increase the speed of the ship. In fact, the lookout must almost have +taken it for granted that the strange sail away off yonder belonged to a +United States cruiser. Very likely it did, but it would have to draw a +good deal nearer before there could be any absolute certainty. In the +meantime, all on board the _Goshhawk_ might attend to whatever duties +they had, and discuss the remarkable tidings brought by the Mexican +schooner. While doing so, they could hardly have guessed correctly what +was doing and saying on board the other vessel which had caused their +anxiety. She was, indeed, a man-of-war, and she had received from a +returning army transport ship a whole lot of fresh news from General +Taylor's army, by way of Point Isabel on the coast, where he had been +encamped. Something like this had been shouted across the water by an +enthusiastic officer of the transport: + +"Awful fightin'! Half a dozen battles! Taylor's whipped the Greasers +into smithereens! He's goin' to march right on into Mexico. I don't keer +if Uncle Sam annexes the hull half-Spanish outfit. I'm goin' in for one +o' them there big silver mines, if we do. Hurrah for Gineral Taylor!" + +A chorus of ringing cheers had answered that, but here, also, there were +men of experience ready to question the entire accuracy of such +tremendous war news. The one thing, however, which was brought out +clearly to the mind of a naval commander was his greatly increased duty +of watchfulness to prevent any kind of munitions of war from reaching +the Mexican ports. That was the reason why he was now following at his +best speed what might after all prove to be an entirely innocent trader. +He even went below to consider the matter, and it was a full hour later +when the officer in charge of the deck came hastily down to tell him: + +"Same fellow we chased before, sir. I've made him out. He's under +British colors again. Are we to chase?" + +"Chase, sir?" roared the captain. "Of course we must chase! We know what +it means now. The old _Portsmouth_ must catch that rascal this time. +I'll come on deck." + +Just as good glasses as those on board of her had been watching her +during that hour of swift sailing, and Captain Kemp was even now +lowering his telescope with what sounded like a sigh of relief. + +"Mate," he said, "it's the same sloop that followed us before. It makes +me feel better. We know what's about the best she can do. If this wind +holds, I think we can fetch Vera Cruz at nightfall. No one Yankee'd +dare to follow us under the guns of San Juan de Ulua." + +"I reckon not," slowly responded the mate of the _Goshhawk_, "but we +don't need to get under that chap's bow-chasers, either." + +"No," said Captain Kemp, "but I'll risk a shot or two." + +Ned Crawford heard him, for he had been following him pretty closely, to +know what was coming. + +"I don't know," he was thinking, "how far one o' those cannon of hers'll +carry. I don't believe, either, that they can hit a mark that is +plunging along as we are. It'd be worse than shooting at a bird on the +wing. Still, it's kind of awful to be shot at by our own people." + +The sailors of the _Goshhawk_ were also thinking, and they were beginning +to look at one another very doubtfully. Not only were they Americans, +most of them, but they had not shipped for any such business as this, +and they did not fancy the idea of being killed for nothing. Moreover, +Ned himself heard one of them muttering: + +"There's an ugly look to this thing. If a shot from that cruiser were to +strike us amidships, we'd all be blown into the air." + +Decidedly that was not a pleasant thing to think of. Neither was there +any great amount of comfort in a suggestion made by another of the men: + +"Well, we'd never know what hurt us. We must keep out o' range." + +Not long afterward there was a flash at one of the bow-ports of the +cruiser. The report which followed was a peremptory order to heave to, +under penalty of consequences. The gun was shotted, and a great many +eyes watched anxiously for the dipping of that well-aimed ball of iron. +It skipped from crest to crest of several waves before it sank, and then +Captain Kemp shouted: + +"All right, men! Half a mile short! We shall get there. The coast's in +full sight now, and we've less than five miles to run." + +"Ay, ay, sir!" came back from them, half cheerfully, but one voice was +heard to grumble: + +"It's all right, is it? Well, if it wasn't for that half-mile o' +shortage, there'd be a mutinee-e on board o' this ship. I'd start it. I +ain't a-goin' to get myself knocked on the head by Uncle Sam's own men." + +There would very likely have been a mutiny, even as it was, if there had +now been time for it to take shape. Thus far, the excitement of the +chase had been in the captain's favor, but the seamen would have been +legally justified in resisting him and bringing the ship to. His +authority would have ceased, for he had no right to compel them to break +the law or to run the risk of a broadside from a man-of-war. + +Nearer, nearer, nearer, came both the dim outline of the Mexican coast +and the white sails of the pursuing _Portsmouth_. Louder and more +ominous grew the but half-suppressed murmurs of the sailors, but Captain +Kemp's face was now wearing a hard, set look, and he was known to be a +dangerous man to deal with. Something, which looked like the handle of a +pistol, stuck out of one of his side pockets, and his fingers wandered +to it now and then, as if he might be turning over in his mind the +possibility of soon having to shoot a mutineer. Ned was staring +anxiously back at the Yankee cruiser at the moment when his shoulder was +gripped hard, and Seņor Zuroaga almost whirled him around, exclaiming: + +"Look! Look yonder! That's the Castle of San Juan de Ulua! Oh, but don't +I wish it were a half-mile nearer! Hear that firing?" + +The guns of the _Portsmouth_ were indeed sounding at regular intervals, +and she was evidently almost within range. She was also, however, well +within the prescribed distance line which a hostile cruiser may not pass +without being regarded as making the attack herself. Beyond a doubt, +too, there must have been observers at the fort, who were already +watching the operations of the two approaching vessels. Minutes passed, +which were counted by Ned with a heart that beat so he almost thought he +could hear it. + +"I think we are safe now," began the seņor, but he had been looking at +the fort, and there was one important fact of which he was not aware. + +Only a couple of minutes earlier, the captain of the _Portsmouth_ had +shouted angrily to his first lieutenant: + +"No, sir! I will not let her get away. I will take her or sink her! Out +with that starboard battery, and let them have it!" + +Around swung the sloop, like the perfect naval machine that she was, and +there quickly followed the reports of several guns at once. It was not a +full broadside, but there was enough of it to have sunk the _Goshhawk_, +if the iron thrown had struck her at or near the water-line. None of it +did so, but the next exclamation of Seņor Zuroaga was one of utter +dismay, for the foremast of the bark had been cut off at the cap and +there was a vast rent in her mainsail. Down tumbled a mass of spars and +rigging, forward, and the ship could no longer obey her helm. + +"All hands cut away wreckage!" shouted Captain Kemp. "We're all right. +She won't dare come any nearer. Hurrah!" + +It was a deep, thunderous roar from the castle which had called out that +apparently untimely hurrah. It was the voice of a 64-pounder gun from +the nearest rampart, and the shot it sent fell within ten feet of the +_Portsmouth's_ bows. + +"Hullo!" exclaimed her captain, more angrily than ever. "We've run in +almost to pointblank range of those heavy guns. About! About! +Lieutenant, we must get out of this." + +"All right, sir," was anxiously responded. "It isn't worth while to risk +any more shot of that size--not for all there's likely to be under the +hatches of that wretched bark. I think we barked her, anyhow." + +He may have meant that for a kind of small joke, but she had been worse +hurt than he could know, for one 32-pounder shot had shattered her +stern, barely missing her sternpost and rudder gearing, and she was no +longer the trim and seaworthy vessel that she had been. One more heavy +gun had sounded from the seaward battery of the castle, but her garrison +had been in a genuinely Mexican condition of unreadiness, and it was +several minutes before they could bring up more ammunition and make +further use of their really excellent artillery. During those minutes, +the _Portsmouth_ had ample opportunity given her to swing around and +sweep swiftly out of danger. She had barely escaped paying dearly for +her pursuit of the _Goshawk._ Her satisfaction, however, consisted only +in part of the damage she had done to the bark, for, in getting around, +she had let drive her entire larboard broadside. It was a waste of +ammunition, certainly, but no Yankee man-of-war commander would ever +have forgiven himself if he had failed to make a good reply to a shot +from the Castle of San Juan de Ulua. Moreover, the sloop's gunners were +ready to swear solemnly that every ball they had sent had hit the fort. + +The excitement on board the _Goshhawk_ had been at fever heat, but it was +now diminishing rapidly, for she did not contain a man who was not well +pleased to see the _Portsmouth_ give the matter up. All signs of mutiny +disappeared, of course, for there was no more duty of a military +character to be required of the men. The bark was soon set free of her +wreckage, and prepared to make her way in still further, under the +protection of the fort batteries. Captain Kemp was too busy for any kind +of conversation, and Seņor Zuroaga came aft, to where Ned was curiously +studying the work of the 32-pound shot at the stern. The seņor leaned +over the side and did the same for a long moment before he remarked: + +"We have had a narrow escape. A few feet lower, and that shot would have +let the water in. Fifty feet forward, and it would have touched off the +gunpowder. As it is, our voyage is ended, and I shall know, in an hour +or two, whether or not I am to be shot in the morning." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +COMPLETELY STRANDED + + +"There don't seem to be any Mexican warships in the harbor," said Ned to +the seņor, as they looked landward from the deck of their badly mauled +bark. "There isn't one in sight to come out after that sloop." + +"There are two good reasons for it," growled the seņor, gloomily. "One +is that there isn't any harbor here. Nothing but an open roadstead, +exposed to all the storms that come, so that to anchor off Vera Cruz is +to run a fair chance of being wrecked. The other is that my unfortunate +country has no navy. There isn't a Mexican vessel afloat that would care +to go out after a Yankee man-of-war. We are not yet a nation, and I'm +half-afraid we never will be. This war may do something for us. There +they come! I shall know very soon now." + +As he spoke, he pointed at several boats which were pulling out toward +the _Goshawk._ Some of them appeared to come from the wharves of the +city, but one, which was nearer, was evidently from the castle, and it +was in this that the seņor took the deepest interest. Besides its +half-dozen of oarsmen, it contained a tall man in a gorgeous uniform, +and it was only a minute or so before Zuroaga exclaimed: + +"Yes, that is Colonel Guerra himself. I am glad he is all alone!" + +The bark was now drifting pretty rapidly landward, under such canvas as +she had left, and the _Portsmouth_ was safely out of range of the +Mexican guns, which were throwing away an occasional shot at her. She +had not been touched by one of them, and she had the honor of being the +first United States ship to try her batteries upon the renowned old +Spanish fortress. It was, indeed, a well-built fortification, and it +carried many guns, most of which had been brought over long ago from the +foundries of old Spain. It did not stand upon the main shore, but on an +island about half a mile out, and it therefore seemed unassailable, +except from the sea or by heavy siege-guns on the shore. It had been one +of the last places surrendered when the Spanish government reluctantly +gave up Mexico. From that day onward, in each of the successive +revolutions, it had been a first object with each new tyrant of the +nominal republic or empire to get control of the fortress, which +dominated nearly all of the commerce of Mexico with the outer world. At +the present time, it was commanded by an officer whom President Paredes +believed that he could trust--or he would have shot him. This, of +course, was the main reason for the dark doubts of Seņor Zuroaga. On the +other hand, it might be taken into account that any prominent Mexican +officer, like Colonel Guerra, would be willing to strengthen himself for +such political changes as were entirely likely to come. For the sake of +old friendship and family ties, for instance, he might be even desirous +of binding to his own interests a man who was known to have a large +number of personal adherents in the important State of Oaxaca. + +That very man stood aft upon the deck of the _Goshhawk_ when the boat of +Colonel Guerra touched her side, but he did not at once come forward to +extend a greeting. That ceremony was performed sufficiently well by +Captain Kemp, and the responses of the castle commander were to the last +degree enthusiastic. According to him, indeed, the fort could not have +held out against a siege for a week without the powder in the hold of +the bark. Therefore, it might be that not much of it was likely to be +distributed among the other forces of Mexico. The captain had many +things to say, but before long Colonel Guerra walked slowly aft without +anybody following him. He may have merely desired to look over the side +and examine the injuries inflicted by the shot of the _Portsmouth_, for +that was the first thing he did, without so much as appearing to +recognize any human being in the neighborhood. One of the two persons +who were there, however, drew slowly near him, and, as he did so, he +heard the colonel mutter, in a very low tone: + +"My dear friend, you have done well to bring me the powder. Thank you +for your devotion to me and to Santa Anna, but you are in deadly peril. +The orders of Paredes are out against you. General Morales, whom Paredes +trusts, will soon be here to supersede me, but he will really come to +hold this place for our general when he returns from exile. Consider +that I do not know that you are here, for my next in command is a spy on +me. This ship will never put to sea again. The captain and crew will be +cared for, but that gringo boy is not safe, now that there has been +bloodshed on the Rio Grande. Take him with you to the house of your +cousin, Colonel Tassara, in the lower part of the city. Then get away to +Oaxaca as soon as you can. President Paredes is still in the city of +Mexico, and he will not go to take command of the army in the north for +some time. You and I believe, of course, that he is really gathering it +to have it led by our one-legged hero, Santa Anna. Paredes, however, +suspects that a revolution is springing up under him, and he is watching +for it. Of course, for that reason, he would shoot you at once as a +returned conspirator against him. As for that matter, be careful how you +land, for there are many spies. No doubt you can go where you please, +after you get back among your own people. Farewell, but do not speak to +me." + +He turned and strolled carelessly away, and the seņor bowed his head for +a moment, as if in deep thought, while Ned Crawford was aware of an +entirely new idea, which had crept into his mind as he had listened to +the warning utterances of Colonel Guerra. + +"I declare!" he said to himself, "he believes that Seņor Zuroaga brought +the powder, and he didn't. He believes that the seņor is going in for +old Santa Anna, and he isn't. He believes that the seņor and I are +enemies of Paredes, and so we are. I am! I hope that he'll be beaten out +of his boots by General Taylor, and then upset by the new revolution. I +guess he's right, though, about this ship, and I must find out how I can +send a letter home. I want father and mother to know all about this +business. Go ashore and hide? I'm ready for that, but I'd like to get a +good look at the old city somehow." + +Ned had been laboring under many perplexities and a great deal of +depression of spirits during several days, but now he felt a kind of +exhilarating fever creeping all over him, and at first he did not know +exactly what it might be. When his father had taken him with him across +the Atlantic,--it seemed so long ago now,--he had gone eagerly enough, +and he had had a grand time looking at Liverpool and London. It had been +a rare treat for a youngster who had but recently passed up from a +grammar school into the counting-room of a New York shipping-house. +After that, when he had been sent on this trip, to make his voyage home +by way of Mexico, he had considered himself exceedingly lucky. But what +was all that in comparison with this in the way of strange and wild +adventure? Why, he had sailed through a naval engagement, cannonading +and all, and right on out of that into a full-grown war and a half-grown +revolution. The thrill which went over him was, therefore, the adventure +fever. Something like this fever, in the veins of all sorts of men, +young and old, has made the world what it is, discovering its new +countries, its new sciences, its new institutions, and leading it +forward and upward out of its old-time dullness and barbarism. So Ned +stood straighter and felt older and had a pair of very brave, bright +eyes when he walked forward to try and have a few words with Captain +Kemp. + +"Captain," he asked, "when can I go ashore?" + +"Not quite yet," said the captain. "Don't bother me now. Of course, the +ammunition for the castle goes out first. Then all the rest of the cargo +must go ashore as fast as it can, and you are bound to attend to that. +I'm glad that all of it is apparently on English account, and not for +the American part of the concern. That makes all things easy. I hardly +know what to do with the ship, though. We can't repair her here." + +That was evidently the disadvantage of having a vessel get out of order +in a place where there were no good dockyards. As for the unlading, +there were already "lighter" barges on their way from the fort, and +others, no doubt, would soon be on hand from the city. Haste was the +main object, under the circumstances, and the entire work would be +rapidly accomplished. + +Zuroaga went below, and Ned followed him, for there was nothing more +that he could do on deck just then. + +"Seņor," he asked, as soon as they were in the cabin, "how can I send a +letter home? I don't know exactly what to say, either." + +"Say anything you please," replied the seņor. "Your letter will go by +the mail of the English consul, and the mails for England will not be +meddled with by the Mexican authorities." + +"I'll sit right down and begin one," said Ned, but the seņor interrupted +him very soberly with: + +"One word before you begin, please. I know you overheard what Colonel +Guerra said to me. You and I must get on shore as soon as we can, and it +will not do for either of us to remain in Vera Cruz. I have decided +that I must take you with me to Oaxaca." + +"Well," hesitated Ned, "I understand that you must go, but what am I in +danger of if I should stay here?" + +"Edward, my dear fellow," said the seņor, "I will tell you, and you had +better put it into your letter. First, you just wait and see what +becomes of the _Goshhawk_. She will never sail out of the Gulf of Mexico +again. The captain and crew will get away as best they can, and I can't +tell how long it will be before they can do it. Meantime, you would be +around on shore, and you would be known for a Yankee, a gringo. That +might mean danger for you from any evil-minded Mexican. Some of this +coast population are worse than savages, and they all carry knives. +You'd never know who hurt you." + +"That's awful!" exclaimed Ned. "I never thought of that." + +"There is another reason," calmly continued the seņor, "for your not +lingering down here in the _tierra caliente_--the hot country--any later +in the season. It is the yellow fever, and that is pretty sure to show +itself before long. It takes people from the north quicker, a good deal, +than it does those who were born here. I have even heard that there is +a rumor of some cases occurring already. Your father is an old friend of +mine, and he would never forgive me if I were to permit you to be +exposed to it, when you can so easily get away into the uplands, where +it is never heard of. Be a good clerk now, and attend to your cargo, and +be glad that it hasn't been sent to the bottom of the gulf." + +Ned had been thinking of that pretty seriously, and he sat down to write +his home letter, well pleased that he had nothing to do with the +unloading of the contraband of war part of the cargo. With reference to +that, moreover, he had learned from Zuroaga that a Mexican +post-commander of the rank of Colonel Guerra was a kind of local +military dictator. Only so much of the ammunition as he might see fit to +send would ever find its way into any other hands than his own. The +seņor had added that it was almost the same with whatever customs duties +were collected by the civil officers of the port, with the one drawback +that a dishonest army collector, if discovered, might possibly get +himself shot as a kind of supposable revolutionist, stealing the profits +of the others. + +The lighter barges were now swarming around the bark, and a hundred busy +workmen were doing their best, quite patriotically, for the guns and +gunners of the castle. It was easy to see that the American sailors did +not fancy that job, and were willing to keep out of it. So they +sauntered around, attending to a few ship's duties here and there, while +now and then one or another of them might have been heard to grumble his +unwillingness to ever again go to sea under an English captain. The +truth was that they had excellent reasons for discontent concerning the +scrape into which they had been led, and they were well aware that they +had not yet by any means seen the end of it. Almost the best they could +hope for was that they were to be sent back to some country of Europe, +on some ship or other which had not yet arrived at Vera Cruz, and which +might not sail away with them on board for a number of weeks to come. +Any man among them was now almost willing to have had the _Portsmouth_ +sink the _Goshhawk_. + +Heavy shot may be craned over into boats, and kegs or barrels of +gunpowder may be let down tenderly, gently, as well by moonlight and +lantern-light as by any other. Therefore, the coming on of night did not +interfere with the landing processes. Moreover, any amount of sleep may +be performed by a healthy boy in a battered ship lying safely at +anchor. So Ned made up, more or less, for the sleep he had lost during +the long race of the _Goshhawk_, and it was not early when he came on +deck the next morning. When he did so, he found his duties as nominal +supercargo cut out for him, and Captain Kemp appeared to be especially +anxious that a son of one of the owners should supervise whatever was to +be done with the peaceable part of his cargo. He even explained to Ned +that he might yet be called upon in some law court to testify to the +honest accuracy of all the papers he was now to sign. + +"It'll take about two days more," he told him, "and you mustn't go +ashore till the ship's empty. The American consul hasn't taken his +passports yet, but he expects to get away soon, somehow or other. Most +likely, he'll be taken off by a ship of war. So, perhaps, will other +Americans. You might wait and get away then, if you think best, but you +can't hope to ever go on this ship." + +Ned had an increasingly strong feeling that he did not now care to go on +that or any other craft of war or peace. He would much rather go to +Oaxaca than to New York, and he felt more sure than ever that his +father would not wish him to run any risk of the dreadful yellow fever. +So he worked on industriously, learning a great deal concerning the +processes required in getting a cargo out of a ship. During several +hours, he was so occupied that he almost forgot the existence of his +Mexican friend, but he was dimly aware that a small rowboat had come to +the off-shore side of the ship, and had shortly pulled away without any +interference on the part of the officials, military or civil. Perhaps +she was understood to have come there by order of Colonel Guerra. Toward +nightfall, however, that boat came again, as she did before, not running +in among the barges, but seeming to avoid them. There were five men in +her, and one of them stood up to say to a sailor at the rail: + +"I wish to see young Seņor Carfora. Is he on board?" + +"Hullo!" thought Ned. "That's the Spanish name Seņor Zuroaga told me I +was to go by." Then he sang out aloud, as he hurried across the deck, +"Here I am. What do you want of me?" + +"Lean over and talk low," responded the man in the boat, but the one +sailor near them did not understand a word of Spanish, and he might +suppose, if he wished to do so, that it was something about the cargo. +Ned himself listened eagerly, while the speaker went on: "I am Colonel +Tassara. Seņor Zuroaga must not come to the ship again. I will be here +to-morrow evening. May I be assured that you will then be ready to come +to my house?" + +"Tell him of course you will!" said a voice behind Ned, peremptorily, +and it was Captain Kemp who had come over for a few words with Tassara. + +"I'll be ready, colonel," said Ned, when his turn came to speak, and the +boat pulled away, leaving him and the captain by themselves. + +"It's a good arrangement for you, my boy," said the captain. "Unless I +am mistaken, though, there are signs of the worst kind of a +northeasterly storm. This is a dangerous anchorage for that sort of +thing. I don't think I shall risk having too many men on board when the +norther gets here. The cargo will be all out, and the ship's well +insured. The American consul doesn't know a thing about the ammunition +or the running away from the cruisers. He has enough else on his hands +just now." + +Ned did not care a great deal about that, but he was more than ever in a +hurry to see the end of his supercargo business. The fact was that an +air of something like mystery appeared to be gathering around him, and +there is a tremendous fascination in anything mysterious. What if he +were now getting right in behind the war, after a fashion, and at the +same time into the darkest kind of revolution or rebellion against the +power of President Paredes, in company with that wonderful adventurer, +General Santa Anna, and all the desperate characters of Mexico? + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE WORK OF THE NORTHER + + +During the rest of that day and the earlier part of the next the weather +continued fairly good, and the unloading went steadily on. In the many +intervals of his duties, Ned tried hard to drive his mental fever away, +and amused himself as best he might. The city itself was worth looking +at, with its tiers of streets rising one above another from the shore. +He saw several churches, and some of them were large, with massive +towers and steeples. + +"The Mexicans must have been richer than they are now," he said to +himself, "when those things were built. They cost piles of money." + +He had no idea how rich a country it is, or how much richer it might be, +if its wonderful natural resources were to be made the most of. As for +the city, he had heard that Vera Cruz contained about seven or eight +thousand people, besides its military garrison, its foreigners, and a +continually varying mob of transient visitors from the interior. Zuroaga +had told him, moreover, that it was from the latter that any gringo like +himself would be in danger of violence. They were a vindictive, +bloodthirsty class of men, most of them, for they retained undiminished +the peculiar characteristics of their Indian ancestors. + +"I don't care to run against any of them," thought Ned. "I don't like +this _tierra caliente_ country, anyhow. It's too hot to live in." + +Then he thought a great deal of the wonderful land of forests and +mountains which lay beyond the fever-haunted lowlands, and he longed +more and more for a good look at the empire which Hernando Cortes won +from the old Montezumas and their bloody war-god, Huitzilopochtli. + +In the afternoon of the second day the sky was manifestly putting on a +threatening aspect. The wind began to rise and the sea began to roughen. +The men discharging the cargo hastened their work, and it was evident +that the last of the lighter barges would soon be setting out for the +shore. Ned was staring at them and recalling all the yarns he had heard +concerning the destructive power of a gulf "norther," when Captain Kemp +came walking slowly toward him, with a face which appeared to express no +sort of unusual concern for anything in the world. Nevertheless, he +said: + +"Get ready now, Ned, as sharp as you can. There comes your boat. I shall +send some papers by the colonel. Seņor Zuroaga's luggage all went on +shore yesterday. I think some other men will have to be looking out for +themselves before long. If the _Goshhawk_ should drag her anchors and go +ashore, I hope there won't be too much sea running for good boats to +live in." + +"I'm all ready now!" exclaimed Ned, as he sprang away, but he went with +a curious question rising in his mind: "What if a cable were more'n half +cut through? Wouldn't it be likely to break and let go of an anchor, if +it were pulled at too hard by a gale of wind? I don't really know +anything about it, but Seņor Zuroaga thinks that Captain Kemp is a +curious man to deal with. Father thinks that he is a good sailor, too." + +All the wardrobe that Ned had on board was easily contained in a +waterproof satchel of moderate size, and he was half-glad now that +there was no more of it, it went so quickly over into the large yawl +that was waiting alongside when he returned on deck. It was a four-oared +boat, and Colonel Tassara, at the stern, beckoned to him without +speaking, as if he might have reasons for silence as well as haste. + +"In with you, Ned," said Captain Kemp. "I'll try to see you within a day +or two. Take good care of yourself. Good day, colonel." + +The Mexican officer only bowed, and in a moment more the yawl was +fighting her difficult way over the rapidly increasing waves, for the +first strength of the norther had really come, and there might soon be a +great deal more of it,--for the benefit of the _Goshhawk_. + +"There!" muttered Captain Kemp, as he saw them depart, "I haven't more +than a good boat's crew left on board. We'll take to the life-boat as +soon as the cable parts. There isn't any use in trying to save this bark +under all the circumstances. I've done my duty. I couldn't have +calculated on heavy shot first, and then for a whole gang of cruisers +watching for me off the coast. This 'ere norther, too! Well, I didn't +make the war, and I don't see that I ought to lose any money by it. I +won't, either." + +Whatever was his exact meaning, the mate and four other men who remained +evidently agreed with him, from what they were shortly saying to one +another. It might also have been taken note of by a careful observer +that the mate was a Scotchman, and that the four others were all from +Liverpool. Whoever had put so much contraband of war on board the +_Goshhawk_ had not entrusted it entirely to the eccentricities of a lot +of out-and-out American sailors, with peculiar notions concerning their +flag. + +On went Colonel Tassara's yawl, and it was not likely to meet any other +boat that evening. As the rollers increased in size momentarily, Ned +began to have doubts as to whether such a boat had any reasonable hope +of reaching the shore. It was now pitch-dark also, and he could but feel +that his adventures in Mexico were beginning in a remarkably unpleasant +manner. The landing could not have been made at any place along the +beach, where the surf was breaking so dangerously, and it looked almost +as perilous to approach the piers and wharves. + +"How on earth are we to do it?" exclaimed Ned, in English, but no +answer came from the hard-breathing rowers. + +Colonel Tassara seemed now to be steering a southerly course, instead of +directly landward, and Ned calculated that this would carry them past +all of the usual landing-places. It also gave them narrow escapes from +rolling over and over in the troughs between several high waves. On the +whole, therefore, it was a pretty rough boating excursion, but it was +not a long one. It did take them almost past the city front, and at last +Ned thought he saw a long, black shadow reaching out at the boat. It was +better than a shadow, for it was a long wooden pier, old enough to have +been built by Cortes himself. The waves were breaking clean over it, +but, at the same time, it was breaking them, so that around in the lee +of it the water was less boisterous, and the yawl might reach the beach +in safety. There was no wharf, but all Ned cared for was that he saw no +surf, and he felt better than he had at any moment since leaving the +_Goshhawk_. It was the same, for they said so, emphatically, with the +boatmen and Colonel Tassara. + +"One of the men will take your bag," said the colonel to Ned, as soon as +they were out on shore. "We will go right along to my house, and we +shall hardly meet anybody just now. I'm glad of that. Santa Maria, how +dark it is getting! This will be the worst kind of norther." + +A couple of lanterns had been taken from the boat. They had previously +been lighted by the colonel with much difficulty, and without them it +would have been impossible to follow the stony, grassy pathway by which +Ned Crawford made his first invasion of the Mexican territory. He did +not now feel like annexing any of it, although Mexican patriots asserted +that their title to Vera Cruz or the city of Mexico itself was no better +than their right to Texas. His gloomy march was a short one, and only a +few shadowy, unrecognized human beings passed him on the way. + +The party came to a halt before a one-story stone dwelling, with a long +piazza in front of it, close to the weedy sidewalk of a crooked and +straggling street. It was apparent that this was not in the aristocratic +quarter of the city, if it had one. A door in the middle of the house +swung open as they arrived, and the boatman who carried Ned's bag put it +down on the threshold. The lanterns went away with him and his fellow +rowers, but other lights made their appearance quickly,--after the door +had closed behind Ned and Colonel Tassara. Not one of the boat's crew +had obtained a peep into the house, or had seen any of its occupants. +Ned was now aware that he had entered a broad hall-like passageway, +which appeared to run through the house, and to have several doors on +each side. One of these doors had opened to let the new light in, and +through it also came Seņor Zuroaga, two other men, and a young girl, who +at once threw her arms around the neck of Colonel Tassara. + +"O father!" she exclaimed, "I am so glad! Mother and I were so +frightened! We were afraid you would be drowned." + +"My dear little daughter," he responded, sadly, "I fear there will be +more than one lot of poor fellows drowned to-night. This storm is +fearful!" + +It seemed, in fact, to be getting worse every minute, and Ned was +thinking of the _Goshhawk_ and the state of her cable, even while he was +being introduced to the pretty Seņorita Felicia Tassara, and then to her +mother, a stately woman, who came to meet her husband without +condescending to say how badly she had been alarmed on his account. + +"She's just about the proudest-looking woman I ever saw," thought Ned, +for, although she welcomed him politely, she at once made him aware +that she did not consider him of any importance whatever. He was only a +young gringo, from nobody knew where, and she was a Mexican lady of high +rank, who hated Americans of all sorts. + +Ned's only really hearty greeting came from Seņor Zuroaga, who seemed to +him, under the circumstances, like an old friend. + +"Carfora, my dear fellow," he said, "you and the colonel must come in to +your supper----" + +"Why, seņor," expostulated Ned, "I'm wet through, and so is he." + +"I declare!" exclaimed Zuroaga. "What's in my head that I should +overlook that? You must change your rig. Come this way with me." + +Ned followed him, bag in hand, through a narrow passage which opened at +the right, and they went on almost to the end of it. The room which they +then entered was only seven feet wide, but it was three times as long, +and it was oddly furnished. Instead of a bedstead, a handsome hammock, +with blankets, sheets, and a pillow in it, hung at one side, and the +high window was provided with mosquito nettings. There was no carpet on +the floor, but this was clean, and a good enough dressing-bureau stood +at the further end of the room. Before the mirror of this, the seņor set +down the lamp he had been carrying, and said to Ned: + +"My dear Carfora, I have explained to the haughty seņora that you are +the son of an American merchant, and of a good family, so that she will +not really treat you like a common person. She is descended from the +oldest families of Spain, and there is no republicanism in her. The +sooner you are ready, the better. I will be back in five minutes." + +Open came the bag, but the best Ned could do in the way of style was a +very neat blue suit. What he would have called the swallow-tails, which +Seņora Tassara might have expected as the dinner dress of a more +important guest, could hardly be required of a young fellow just escaped +from a norther. As soon as he felt that he had done his best, he turned +toward the door, but it opened to let in Seņor Zuroaga in full +regulation dinner costume. How he could have put it on so quickly +puzzled Ned, but he asked no questions. It was quite possible, however, +that even the descendant of Cortes and the Montezumas was a little bit +in awe of the matronly descendant of the ancient Spanish grandees. She +might be a powerful personage in more ways than one. At all events, Ned +was led out to the central hall and across it, to where an uncommonly +wide door stood open, letting out a flood of illumination. + +"Walk in, seņors," said Colonel Tassara, from just inside this portal, +and the next moment Ned was altogether astonished. + +He had been impressed, on reaching this house, that it was an old and +even dingy affair, of no considerable size, but he did not yet know that +the older Spanish mansions were often built with only one story and +around a central courtyard. Moreover, at least in Mexico, they were apt +to show few windows in front, and to be well calculated for use as a +kind of small forts, if revolutionary or similar occasions should ask +for thick walls, with embrasures for musketry. One glance around Seņora +Tassara's dining-room was enough to work a revolution in Ned's ideas +relating to that establishment. It was large, high-ceilinged, and its +carpetless floor was of polished mahogany. The walls and ceiling were of +brilliant white stucco. Upon the former were hung several trophies of +weapons and antlers of deer. In the centre, at the right, in a kind of +ornamental shrine, was an ivory and ebony crucifix, which was itself a +priceless work of art. The long dining-table had no cloth to conceal the +fact that it was of the richest mahogany, dark with age and polished +like a mirror. On the table was an abundance of fine china ware, none of +it of modern manufacture, but all the more valuable for that reason. At +the end nearest Ned stood a massive silver coffee-urn, beautifully +molded, and it was not wonderful that he stood still a moment to stare +at it, for it had taken him altogether by surprise. + +Almost instantly a change came over the dark, handsome features of +Seņora Tassara. She smiled brightly, for Ned's undisguised admiration of +that mass of silver had touched her upon a tender spot, and she now +spoke to him with at least four times as much cordiality as she had +shown him in the hall. + +"Ah, my young friend," she said, turning gracefully toward him, "so you +are pleased with my coffee-urn? No table in your city of New York can +show anything like it. It is of the oldest Seville workmanship, and +there are not many such remaining in all the world. It is an heirloom." + +"Seņor Carfora," at that moment interrupted Colonel Tassara, "I will +show you something else that is worth more than any kind of silver +ware. Take a good look at this!" + +He stepped to a trophy of arms which hung upon the wall near him, and +took from it a long, heavy sword, with a worn-looking but deeply chased +gold hilt. He drew it from the sheath, gazing with evident pride at its +curving blade of dull blue steel. + +"I think you have never before seen a sword like that," he said. "It may +have been made at Toledo, for all I know, but it is centuries old. It +was won from a Moor by an ancestor of mine, at the taking of Granada, +when the Moorish power was broken forever by the heroes of Spain. Who +can tell? It may have come down from the days of the Cid Campeador +himself." + +Whoever that military gentleman may have been, Ned had no idea, but he +determined to find out some day, and just now he was glad to grasp the +golden hilt, and remember all that he had ever heard about the Moors. He +had not at all expected to hear of them again, just after escaping from +a norther in the Gulf of Mexico, but, without being aware of it, he was +learning a great deal about the old Spanish-Mexican aristocracy, and +why it could not easily become truly republican, even in the New World, +which is beginning to grow old on its own account. + +Dinner was now ready, and Ned voted it a prime good one, for it +consisted mainly of chicken, with capital corn-cakes and coffee. It was +a tremendous improvement upon the dinners he had been eating at sea, +cooked in the peculiar style of the caboose of the _Goshhawk_. + +One large idea was becoming firmly fixed in the acute mind of the young +adventurer, and it tended to make him both watchful and silent. Not only +was he in a country which was at war with his own, but he was in a land +where men were apt to be more or less suspicious of each other. It was +also quite the correct thing in good manners for him to say but little, +and he was the better able to hear what the others were saying. +Therefore, he could hardly help taking note that none of the party at +the dinner-table said anything about the powder on the _Goshhawk_, or +concerning a possible trip to be made to Oaxaca by any one there. They +all appeared ready, on the other hand, to praise the patriotism, +statesmanship, and military genius of that truly great man, President +Paredes. They made no mention whatever of General Santa Anna, but they +spoke confidently of the certainty with which Generals Ampudia and +Arista were about to crush the invading gringos at the north, under +Taylor. They also were sure that these first victories were to be +followed by greater ones, which would be gained by the President +himself, as soon as he should be able to take command of the Mexican +armies in person. If any friend of his, a servant, for instance, of the +Tassara family, had been listening, he would have had nothing to report +which would have made any other man suppose that the rulers of Mexico +had bitter, revengeful foes under that hospitable roof. + +The dinner ended, and Ned was once more in his room, glad enough to get +into his hammock and go to sleep. If the norther did any howling around +that house, he did not hear it, but he may have missed the swing motion +which a hammock obtains on board a ship at sea. His eyes closed just as +he was thinking: + +"This is great, but I wonder what on earth is going to happen to me +to-morrow." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +FORWARD, MARCH + + +The sun of the next morning arose upon a great deal of doubt and +uncertainty in many places. Some of the soldiers of General Taylor's +army were altogether uncertain into what bushes of the neighboring +chaparral the norther had blown their tents, and they went out in search +of their missing cotton duck shelters. The entire force encamped at the +Rio Grande border was in the dark as to what it might next be ordered to +do, and all sorts of rumors went around from regiment to regiment, as if +the rumor manufacturer had gone crazy. General Taylor himself was sure +of at least the one point, that he had no right to cross the muddy river +in front of him and make a raid into Mexico until he should hear again +from the government at Washington, and be officially informed that the +war, which he was carrying on so well, had really begun. He and all his +army believed that it was already going on, and they grumbled +discontentedly that they were compelled to remain in camp, and watch for +ranchero lancers on Texan soil, if it was legally Texan at all, until +permission arrived to strike their tents and march forward. + +The news of the fighting and of what were described as the great battles +on the Mexican border had reached New Orleans and Key West. It was +travelling northward at full speed, but it had not yet been heard by the +government or by the people of the North and West. None of these had as +yet so much as imagined what a telegraphic news-bringer might be, and so +they could not even wish that they had one, or they would surely have +done so. The uncertainties of that morning, therefore, hampered all the +councils of the nation. Almost everybody believed that there would soon +be a war, although a great many men were strongly opposed to the idea of +having one. Taking the war for granted, however, there were doubts and +differences of opinion among both military and unmilitary men as to how +it was to be carried on. Some were opposed to anything more than a +defence of the Rio Grande boundary-line, but these moderate persons were +hooted at by the out-and-out war party, whom nothing promised to +satisfy but an invasion which intended the capture of the city of +Mexico. Nothing less than this, they said, would obtain the objects of +the war, and secure a permanent peace at the end of it. Then, supposing +such an invasion to be decided on, an important question arose as to how +and where the Mexican territory might best be entered by a conquering +army. Many declared that General Taylor's forces were already at the +right place for pushing ahead, but the commander-in-chief, General +Winfield Scott, by all odds the best general the country possessed, +responded that the march proposed for Taylor was too long, too +difficult, and that it was likely to result in disaster. The shorter and +only practicable route, he asserted, was by way of the sea and Vera +Cruz. He was also known to be politically opposed to any war whatever. +Thereupon, a number of prominent men, who disagreed with him, set +themselves at work to have him removed or put aside, that a commander +might take his place who was not so absurdly under the influence of +military science, common sense, and of the troubles which might be +encountered in marching seven hundred miles or more through an enemy's +country. There were, it was said, eloquent politicians, who did not +know how to drill an "awkward squad," but who felt sure of their ability +to beat Old Scott in such an agreeable affair as a military picnic party +to the city of Mexico. + +The young military scholars in the camp near Fort Brown were ignorant of +all this. They were satisfied with their present commander, as well they +might be, for he was a good one. They were satisfied with themselves, +and were enthusiastically ready to fight anything which should be put in +front of them. They were dreadfully dissatisfied with camp life, +however, and especially with the fact that they and all the other raw +troops of that army were forced to undergo a great deal of drill and +discipline in hot weather. Perhaps, if this had not been given them, +they would hardly have rendered so good an account of themselves in the +severe tests of soldiership which they underwent a few months later. + +The first doubt that came to Ned Crawford that morning, as his eyes +opened and he began to get about half-awake, related to his hammock and +to how on earth he happened to be in it. Swift memories followed then of +the norther, the perilous pull ashore, the arrival at the Tassara place, +and the people he had met there. He recalled also something about +silver coffee-urns and Moorish warriors, but the next thing, he was out +upon the floor, and his head seemed to buzz like a beehive with +inquiries concerning his immediate future. + +"Here I am," he said aloud. "I'm in Mexico; in Vera Cruz; at this house +with Seņor Zuroaga; and I don't know yet what's become of the _Goshhawk_. +I don't really ever expect to see her again, but I hope that Captain +Kemp and the sailors didn't get themselves drowned. I must see about +that, first thing. Then I suppose I must see the American consul, write +another letter home, see the merchants our goods were delivered to,--and +what I'm to do after that I don't know." + +There was a loud rap at his door just then, and in a moment more he was +almost repeating that speech to Seņor Zuroaga. + +"Please say very little to Colonel Tassara or anybody else in this +house," replied the senor, emphatically. "Get used, as soon as you can, +to being called Carfora. We must make you look like a young Mexican +right away. I've bought a rig which will fit you. It is well that you +are so dark-complexioned. A red-haired fellow would never pass as you +will. All the American residents of Vera Cruz are already under +military protection, and I am glad there are so few of them, for there +are said to have been two or three assassinations. Part of the mountain +men who are loafing in town just now are wild Indians, as reckless and +cruel as any of your Sioux warriors on a war-path. Come along to +breakfast. You won't meet the ladies this time, but I believe the seņora +and seņorita like you a little, because you had the good taste to admire +their silver and china." + +"Oh, that old coffee-urn!" said Ned. "Well, it's as fine as anything I +ever saw, even in a jewelry window." + +"Yes," laughed the seņor, "but the seņora wants to have the American +consul killed because he told her she had better have that thing melted +and made over into one of the modern patterns. She will never forgive +him. Tell her again, when you have a chance, that the old-time Seville +silversmiths could beat anything we have nowadays, and she will love +you. I do not really believe myself that we are getting much ahead of +those ancient artists. They were wonderful designers." + +Ned was willing to believe that they were, and he made up his mind to +praise Seņora Tassara's pet urn to the best of his ability. + +He was not to have an opportunity for doing so immediately. Their +breakfast was ready for them in the dining-room, but they were allowed +to eat it by themselves. It seemed to Ned a very good one, but several +times he found himself turning away from it to stare at the silver +marvel and at the weapons on the walls. There was no apparent reason for +haste, but neither of them cared to linger, and before long they were +out on the piazza in front, Zuroaga with his hat pulled down to his eyes +and his coat collar up. Ned was at once confirmed in his previous idea +that the house was anything but new, and to that he added the conviction +that it was much larger than it had appeared to be in the night. He +believed, too, that it must have cost a deal of money to build it long +ago. He had only a moment for that calculation, however, for his next +glance went out toward the gulf, and he came near to being astonished. +The path which he had followed in coming up from the shore had been a +steep one, and he was now standing at a place from which he had a pretty +good view of the tossing water between the mainland and the castle of +San Juan de Ulua. The old fortress was there, unharmed by the norther, +but not in any direction, as far as his eyes could reach, was there any +sign of a ship, at anchor or otherwise. + +"Seņor!" he exclaimed. "What has become of them? They are all gone! Do +you suppose they have been wrecked?" + +"Not all of them, by any means," replied the seņor, but he also was +searching the sea with a serious face. "As many as could lift their +anchors in time to make a good offing before the norther came were sure +to do so. If there were any that did not succeed, I can't say where they +may have gone to just now." + +"The _Goshhawk_--" began Ned, but the seņor gripped his arm hard, while +he raised his right hand and pointed up the road. + +"Silence!" he commanded, in a sharp whisper. "Look! there he comes. +Don't even call him by his name. Wait and hear what he has to say. He +can tell us what has become of the bark. They are a used-up lot of men." + +So they were, the five who now came walking slowly along from somewhere +or other on the coast upon which the disastrous storm had blown. + +"Captain Kemp and the crew of his life-boat," thought Ned, but he obeyed +the seņor at first, and was silent until the haggard-looking party +arrived and came to a halt in front of him. Then, however, he lost his +prudence for a moment, and anxiously inquired: + +"Were any of you drowned?" + +"Not any of us that are here," responded the captain, grimly. "No, nor +any other of the _Goshhawk_ men, but there are more wrecks in sight +below, and I don't know how many from them got ashore. Our bark stranded +this side of them, and she's gone all to pieces. We took to the +life-boat in time, but we've had a hard pull of it. We went ashore +through the breakers, about six miles below this, and here we are, but I +don't want to ever pass such another night. I'm going on down to the +consul's now, to report, and Ned had better be there as soon as he can. +Then, the sooner he's out o' Vera Cruz, the better for him and all of +us." + +"I think so myself," said Seņor Zuroaga. "Don't even stay here for +breakfast. Nobody from here must come to the consul's with Seņor +Carfora." + +"Of course not," said the captain, wearily, and away he went, although +Ned felt as if he were full to bursting with the most interesting kind +of questions concerning the captain's night in the life-boat and the +sad fate of the swift and beautiful _Goshhawk_. + +"Come into the house," said the seņor, "and put on your Mexican rig. I +have a message from Colonel Guerra that we must get away to-night. I +must not bring any peril upon the Tassara family. Up to this hour no +enemy knows that I was a passenger on the powder-boat, as they call it." + +"All right," said Ned. "I'll write one more letter home. I couldn't get +out of the city in any other way just now, and I want to see Mexico." + +That idea was growing upon him rapidly, but his next errand was to the +seņor's own room, to put on what he called his disguise. He followed his +friend to a large, handsome chamber in the further end of the house, +and, as he entered it, his first thought was: + +"Hullo! are they getting ready for a fight?" + +In the corners of the room and leaning against the walls here and there +were weapons enough to have armed half a company of militia, if the +soldiers did not care what kinds of weapons they were to carry, for the +guns and swords and pistols were of all patterns except those of the +present day. Ned saw at least one rusty firelock, which put him in mind +of pictures he had seen of the curious affairs the New England fathers +carried when they went to meeting on Sunday. He had no time to examine +them, however, for here were his new clothes, and he must be in them +without delay. He admired each piece, as he put it on, and then one look +into the seņor's mirror convinced him that he was completely disguised. +He had been turned into a somewhat stylish young Mexican, from his +broad-brimmed straw hat to his Vera Cruz made shoes. He still wore a +blue jacket, but this one was short, round-cornered, and had bright +silver buttons. His new trousers were wide at the bottoms, with +silver-buttoned slashes on the outsides below the knees. He had not worn +suspenders on shipboard, but now his belt was of yellow leather and +needlessly wide, with a bright buckle and a sword-catch on the left +side. As to this matter, the seņor showed him a short, straight, +wide-bladed sort of cutlas, which he called a machete. + +"That is to be yours," he said. "You need not carry it in town, but you +will as soon as we get away. You will have pistols, too, and a gun. It +won't do to go up the road to Oaxaca unarmed. Now you may make the best +of your way to the consul's, and I'll stay here to finish getting +ready." + +He appeared to be laboring under a good deal of excitement, and so, to +tell the truth, was the disguised young American. Out he went into the +hall, trying hard to be entirely collected and self-possessed, but it +was only to be suddenly halted. Before him stood the stately Seņora +Tassara, and clinging to her was the very pretty Seņorita Felicia, both +of them staring, open-eyed, at the change in his uniform. The seņorita +was of about fourteen, somewhat pale, with large, brilliant black eyes, +and she was a very frank, truthful girl, for she exclaimed: + +"Oh, mother, do look at him! But it does not make a Mexican of him. He's +a gringo, and he would fight us if he had a chance. I want them all to +be killed!" + +"No, my dear," said the seņora, with a pleasant laugh. "Seņor Carfora +will not fight us. He and his ship brought powder for Colonel Guerra and +the army. I am sorry he must leave us. You must shake hands with him." + +"Oh, no!" said the wilful Felicia, spitefully. "I don't want to shake +hands with him. He is one of our enemies." + +"No, I'm not!" stammered Ned. "But did you know that our ship was +wrecked in the norther? If you had been on board of her when she went +ashore, you would have been drowned. The men in the life-boat had a hard +time in getting ashore. I'm glad you were at home." + +"There, dear," said her mother. "That is polite. You heard what Seņor +Zuroaga said about the wrecks. They were terrible! Can you not say that +you are glad Seņor Carfora was not drowned?" + +"No, mother," persisted Felicia. "I'll say I wish he had been drowned, +if--if he could have swum ashore afterward. Good enough for him." + +Seņora Tassara laughed merrily, as she responded: + +"You are a dreadfully obstinate young patriot, my darling. But you must +be a little more gracious. The gringo armies will never come to Vera +Cruz. They are away up north on the Rio Grande." + +"Well, mother, I will a little," said the seņorita, proudly. "Seņor +Carfora, your generals will be beaten all to pieces. You wait till you +see our soldiers. You haven't anything like them. They are as brave as +lions. My father is a soldier, and he is to command a regiment. I wish I +were a man to go and fight." + +Her eyes were flashing and she looked very warlike, but the only thing +that poor Ned could think of to say just then was: + +"Seņora Tassara, if you are not careful, somebody will get in some day +and steal your beautiful coffee-urn." + +"Ah me!" sighed the seņora. "This has been attempted, my young friend. +Thieves have been killed, too, in trying to carry off the Tassara plate. +There would be more like it, in some places, if so much had not been +made plunder of and melted up in our dreadful revolutions. Some of them +were only great robberies. I understand that you must go to your +business now, but we shall see you again this evening." + +"Good morning, Seņora Tassara," said Ned, as he bowed and tried to walk +backward toward the outer door. "Good morning, Seņorita Tassara. You +would feel very badly this morning if you had been drowned last night." + +The last thing he heard, as he reached the piazza, was a ringing peal of +laughter from the seņora, but he believed that he had answered politely. + +He knew his way to the office of the American consul, and the distance +was not great in so small a town, but as he drew near it, he saw that +there was a strong guard of soldiers in front of the building. They +were handsomely uniformed regulars from the garrison of San Juan de +Ulua, and there was cause enough for their being on duty. All up and +down the street were scattered groups of sullen-looking men, talking and +gesticulating. None of them carried guns, but every man of them had a +knife at his belt, and not a few of them were also armed with machetes +of one form or another. They would have made a decidedly dangerous mob +against anything but the well-drilled and fine-looking guards who were +protecting the consulate. Ned remembered what Felicia had said about her +soldiers, and he did not know how very different were these disciplined +regulars from the great mass of the levies which were to be encountered +by the troops of the United States. He was admiring them and he was +thinking of battles and generals, when one of the most ferocious-looking +members of the mob came jauntily sauntering along beside him. He was a +powerfully built man, almost black with natural color and sunburn. He +was not exactly ragged, but he was barefooted, and his broad-brimmed +sombrero was by no means new. A heavy machete hung from his belt, and he +appeared to be altogether an undesirable new acquaintance. Ned looked +up at him almost nervously, for he did not at all like the aspect of +affairs in that street. He was thinking: + +"I guess they were right about the excitement of the people. This isn't +any place for fellows like me. I must get out of Vera Cruz as soon as I +can. It's a good thing that I'm disguised. I must play Mexican." + +At that moment a good-natured smile spread across the gloomy face of his +unexpected companion, and he said, in a low tone of voice: + +"Say nothing, Seņor Carfora. Walk on into the consulate. I belong to +General Zuroaga. There are four more of his men here. We have orders to +take care of you. You are the young Englishman that brought us the +powder. There was not a pound to be bought in Vera Cruz, but some of +those fellows would knife you for a gringo." + +[Illustration: "WE HAVE ORDERS TO TAKE CARE OF YOU"] + +Quite a useless number of queer Spanish oaths were sprinkled in among +his remarks, but Ned did not mind them. He only nodded and strictly +obeyed the injunction against talking, even while he was asking himself +how on earth his friend, the seņor, ever became a general. He concluded, +for the moment, that it might be a kind of militia title, such as he had +heard of in the United States. However that might be, he and his +guide soon reached the door of the consulate, and he himself was +promptly admitted, as if the keeper of the door had been expecting to +see him. There were guards inside the house as well as in the street, +and they motioned Ned on through a narrow entry-way, at the end of which +was an open room. He passed on into this, and the next moment he was +exclaiming: + +"Hullo, Captain Kemp! I'm so glad you are here! What am I to do next?" + +"Almost nothing at all," said the captain, quietly. "Just sign your +papers and get away. The consul himself has gone to the city of Mexico, +with United States government despatches for President Paredes, and we +shall finish our business as easy as rolling off a log. You have nothing +to do with the wrecking of the _Goshhawk_, for you weren't on board when +she parted her cable. But just look at those people!" + +Ned did so, for the room, a large and well-furnished office, was almost +crowded with Americans of all sorts, mostly men, whose faces wore varied +expressions of deep anxiety. + +"What are they all here for?" asked Ned. + +"Safety!" growled the captain. "And to inquire how and when they can +find their way out of this city of robbers. I hear that a whole +regiment is to be on guard duty to-night, and that the mob is to be put +down. If I ever see your father again, I'll explain to him why I sent +you away." + +Before Ned could make any further remarks, he was introduced to the +vice-consul, a dapper, smiling little man, who did not appear to be in +the least disturbed by his unpleasant surroundings. Almost a score of +papers, larger and smaller, required the signature of the young +supercargo of the unfortunate _Goshhawk_. They were speedily signed, +although without any clear idea in Ned's mind as to what they all were +for, and then Captain Kemp took him by the arm and led him away into a +corner of the room. + +"Ned, my boy," he said, "you see how it is. You must keep away from the +seacoast for awhile. After things are more settled, you can come back +and get away on a British, or French, or Dutch vessel, if the port isn't +too closely blockaded. Whether I shall get out alive or not, I don't +know. You haven't enough money. I'll let you have a couple of hundred +dollars more in Mexican gold. You'd better not let anybody suspect that +you carry so much with you. This country contains too many patriots who +would cut their own President's throat for a gold piece. Don't ever show +more than one shiner at a time, or you may lose it all." + +Ned took the two little bags that were so cautiously delivered to him, +and while he was putting them away in the inner pockets of his jacket, +his mind was giving him vivid pictures of the knives and machetes and +their bearers, whom he had seen in the street. + +"Captain," he said, "those fellows out there wouldn't wait for any gold. +A silver dollar would buy one of them." + +"Half a dollar," replied the captain. "Not one of them is worth a +shilling. They ought all to be shot. But look here. I mustn't come to +Colonel Tassara's place again. I find that he is under some kind of +suspicion already, and President Paredes makes short work of men whom he +suspects of plotting against him. Go! Get home!" + +"That's just about what I'd like to do," said Ned to himself, as he +hurried out of the consulate, but the next moment his courage began to +come back to him, for here was Seņor Zuroaga's ferocious-looking +follower, and with him were four others, who might have been his cousins +or his brothers, from their looks, for they all were Oaxaca Indians, of +unmixed descent. Their tribe had faithfully served the children and +grandchildren of Hernando Cortes, the Conquistador, from the day when he +and his brave adventurers cut their way into the Tehuantepec valley. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE LAND OF THE MONTEZUMAS + +"Father Crawford, do read that newspaper! The war has begun! They are +fighting great battles on the Rio Grande! Oh, how I wish you hadn't sent +Ned to Mexico! He may get killed!" + +She was a woman of middle age, tall, fine-looking, and she was evidently +much excited. She was standing at one end of a well-set breakfast table, +and was holding out a printed sheet to a gentleman who had been looking +down at his plate, as if he were asking serious questions of it. + +"My dear," he said, as he took the paper, "I knew it was coming, but I +didn't think it would come so soon as this. I don't really see that Ned +is in any danger. Captain Kemp will take care of him." + +"But," she said, "the _Goshhawk_ may be captured." + +"No," replied Mr. Crawford, confidently. "She hasn't sailed across +prairie to the Rio Grande. There won't be any fighting at Vera Cruz for +ever so long. There can't be any on the sea, for Mexico has no navy. The +_Goshhawk_ is entirely safe, and so is Ned. It'll be a grand experience +for him." + +"I don't want him to have so much experience at his age," she said, +anxiously. "I'd rather he'd be at home,--if there's going to be a war." + +"I've often wished that I could see a war," replied her husband, as he +glanced over the black-typed headings of the newspaper columns. "I've +travelled a good deal in Mexico, and I wanted Ned to learn all he could +of that country. He will hardly have any chance to do so now." + +"He might see too much of it if he were taken prisoner," she exclaimed. +"I can't bear to think of it! Oh, how I wish he were at home!" + +Mr. Crawford was silent, and again he appeared to be thinking deeply. He +was not a pale-faced man at any time, but now his color was visibly +increasing. His face was also changing its expression, and it wore a +strong reminder of the look which had come into his son Ned's +countenance when the fever of Mexican exploration took hold of him. +People say "like father, like son," and it may be that Ned's readiness +for a trip into the interior belonged to something which had descended +to him from a father who had been willing to educate his son for the +southern trade by sending him to sea with Captain Kemp. The United +States has had a great many commercial men of that stamp, and there was +a time when almost all the navy the nation possessed was provided by the +merchant patriots, who armed and sent out, or themselves commanded, its +fleets of privateers. Very likely the Crawfords and a number of other +American families could point back to as adventurous an ancestry as +could any Spaniard whose forefathers had fought Moors or won estates for +themselves in Mexico or Peru. As for Mrs. Crawford, she was hardly able +to drink her coffee that morning, after reading the newspaper, and she +might have been even more willing to have Ned come home if she had known +what had become of the _Goshhawk_, and in what company he was a couple of +hours after she arose from her table. + +Company? That was it. He was now walking along one of the streets of +Vera Cruz with a squad of men of whom she would have decidedly +disapproved, but whose character her husband would have understood at +sight. Ned's first acquaintance, Pablo, as he called himself, with his +four comrades, made up so thoroughly Mexican a party at all points that +it was in no danger of being interfered with by the mob. Every member of +this had seen, often enough, the son of some wealthy landholder from the +upland country attended by a sufficient number of his own retainers to +keep him from being plundered, and it was well enough to let him alone. +On they went, but it was by a circuitous route and a back street that +they reached the Tassara place. Even then, they did not enter it by the +front door, but by a path which led down to the stables in the rear of +the house. No outsider would afterward be able to say that he saw that +party of men march into the courtyard to be welcomed by Colonel Tassara +and the mysterious personage whom Ned was trying to think of as General +Zuroaga. + +"He may be of more importance than I had any idea of," said Ned to +himself, "and I wish I knew what was coming next." + +He was not to find out immediately, for Zuroaga motioned him to go on +into the house, while he himself and Tassara remained to talk with +Pablo and the other machete-bearers. + +Hardly was Ned three steps inside of the dwelling, when he was met by +Seņora Tassara, apparently in a state of much mental agitation. + +"My dear young friend!" she exclaimed, "I am so glad you have escaped +from them! Come in. We shall have no regular dinner to-day. You will eat +your luncheon now, however. We are all busy packing up. We must set out +for the country as soon as it is dark. The colonel's enemies are +following him like so many wolves! Felicia, my dear, you will see that +Seņor Carfora is properly attended to." + +The saucy seņorita was standing a little behind her mother, and she now +beckoned to Ned, as if she had no hostility for him whatever. + +"Come right along in," she said, peremptorily. "I must eat my luncheon, +too. I want to hear where you have been, and what you have been doing. +Is there any more news from the war? Have your gringo generals been +beaten again? Tell me all you know!" + +She was evidently in the habit of being obeyed by those around her, and +Ned felt decidedly obedient, but this was his first intimation that it +was fully noon. Time had passed more rapidly than he had been aware of, +for his mind had been too busy to take note of it. He was hungrily ready +to obey, however, especially concerning the luncheon, and his first bit +of news appeared to please his little hostess exceedingly. + +"Not another ship is in," he told her, "and I don't believe there is +going to be any war, anyhow, but I saw some of your soldiers. They were +guarding the American consulate from the mob. They were splendid-looking +fellows. Is your father's regiment of that kind of men?" + +"Father's regiment?" she said, angrily. "That's just the difficulty now. +He hasn't any soldiers. Those that he had were taken away from him. So +he must go and gather some more, or President Paredes will say that he +is not patriotic. They took his old regiment away from him after he had +made it a real good one. Tell me about your gringo soldiers. Are there a +great many of them? Do they know how to fight? I don't believe they do." + +She was all on fire about the war and her father's enemies, and Ned was +ready to tell her all he knew of the American army, if not a little +more. At least, he described to her the elegant uniforms which were +worn on parade occasions by the New York City militia regiments, +feathers, flags, brass bands, and all, rather than the external +appearance of any martial array that General Taylor was likely to take +with him when he invaded Mexico. Felicia was especially interested in +those magnificent brass bands and wished that she could have some of +them taken prisoners to come and play in front of her house, but all the +while they were talking he was glancing furtively around the room. This +had undergone a remarkable change during his brief absence. The trophies +of arms were all gone, and the wonderful Seville coffee-urn had +disappeared. Perhaps it had walked away, beyond the reach of possible +thieves, and with it may have gone the other silverware of the Tassara +family. Seņorita Felicia's quick eyes had followed his own, for she was +watching him. + +"Yes, Seņor Carfora," she said, "it's all gone. The china is all stored +away in the deep cellar. I don't believe they could find it, and if they +did they could not carry it away to melt it up and make dollars of it. +That's what they did with all the silver one of my aunts had, except +some spoons that were hid in the stable, under the hay. One of the +robbers went into the stable to hunt, too, and a good mule kicked him +dead. If anybody comes to rob this house while we are gone, I wish he +might be kicked by one of our mules at the hacienda. He would not steal +any more." + +Ned had other things to tell her, about the United States forts, troops, +and ships of war, and she had stories to tell with excited vivacity that +set forth sadly enough the wretchedly unsettled condition of her +country, which she appeared to love so well, after all. Troubled as it +was, it was her own land, and she hated its enemies. + +It was a hot, oppressive day, with a promise of greater heat soon to +come, and the weather itself might be a good enough reason why any +family should be in a hurry to get out of the _tierra caliente_. As for +the removal of valuable property, Ned had already learned that Vera Cruz +was haunted not only by bad characters from the interior, but by +desperadoes from up and down the coast and from the West India Islands. +He was not near enough to hear, however, when Zuroaga remarked to his +friend Tassara: + +"You are right, my dear colonel. The Americans will hold the Texan +border with a strong hand, but if Paredes does not promptly come to +terms with them, we shall see a fleet and army at Vera Cruz before long. +This is the weak point of our unhappy republic." + +"I think not," replied Tassara, gloomily. "I wish it were a solid +nation, as strong as the castle out yonder. Our weak point is that we +are cut up into factions, and cannot make use of the strength that we +really have undeveloped. As for anything else, one case of yellow fever +was reported yesterday, and I am informed that his Excellency, President +Paredes, talks of coming here shortly to confer with Colonel Guerra. +That may mean trouble for him, and neither you nor I would wish to be +brought before any such council of war as might be called together." + +"It might not consist altogether of our friends," said Zuroaga. "In my +case, if not in yours, it might be followed quickly by an order for a +file of soldiers and a volley of musketry. I should not look for mercy +from a tiger." + +"On the other hand," responded the colonel, "it would be well for him to +be careful just now. He will need all the strength he can obtain." + +"Humph!" exclaimed Zuroaga. "He will try to leave no living, or, at +least, no unimprisoned enemies behind him when he marches for the +border." + +It was plain that they were not to be numbered among their President's +friends, whether or not they were altogether just to him. Bloody +severity in putting down sedition was the long-established custom in +Mexico, and one man might not be more to blame for it than another. It +had been handed down from the old days of Spanish rule, and the record +which had been made is not by any means pleasant reading. + +When the luncheon was over, the seņorita left Ned to himself, appearing +to feel somewhat more friendly than at first, but still considering him +as a gringo and a foreigner. She said she had some things to pack up, +and he went to look after his own. These did not require much packing, +and before long he had again found his way out to the courtyard and the +stables. These were indeed the most interesting spots about the place, +for they contained all the men, the horses, and the mules. Ned shortly +concluded that here were also gathered most of the firearms and at least +a dozen of the wildest kind of Mexican Indians, all ragged and all +barefooted. Preparations for a journey were going forward under Seņora +Tassara's direction, and Ned pretty quickly understood that the men +were a great deal more afraid of her than they were of her husband. He +felt so himself, and he instantly got out of her way, as she told him to +do, when he unwisely undertook to help her with her packing. + +The horses were of several sorts and sizes, and more like them were +shortly brought in. One large spring wagon and a covered carryall +carriage were in good order. Both were of American manufacture, and so +was the harness of the teams which were to draw them. Ned was feeling a +certain degree of curiosity as to what kind of carriage was to carry +him, when Seņor Zuroaga beckoned him to one side and said: + +"We shall be with Colonel Tassara's party only the first day. But I have +been thinking. When we were on the _Goshhawk_, you told me that you had +never ridden a horse in your life----" + +"Why, I'm a city boy," interrupted Ned. "There isn't any horseback +riding done there. I'd rather go on wheels." + +"Of course you would," laughed Zuroaga. "But there won't be any use for +wheels on some of the roads I am to follow. I've picked you out a pony +that you can manage, though, and you will soon learn. You will have to +be a horseman if you are to travel in Mexico." + +"So father used to tell me," said Ned. "He can ride anything. Which of +these is my horse? They all look skittish----" + +"Neither of these would do for you," replied the seņor. "But listen to +me sharply. Twice you have called me general. Don't do it again until we +are beyond the mountains. I'm only a plain seņor in all this region of +the country. I only hope that some men in Vera Cruz do not already know +that I am here. If they did, I am afraid I should not get out so easily. +This is your horse. He is a good one." + +Hitched to a post near the wall was a fat, undersized animal, black as +jet, and with more mane and tail than was at all reasonable. He carried +a Mexican saddle with wooden stirrups and a tremendous curb-bit bridle. +In front of the saddle were pistol holsters, and behind it hung an +ammunition case, as if Ned were about to become a trooper. He went to +examine the holsters, and found that each of them contained a large +horse-pistol with a flintlock. He also found powder and bullets in the +case, and he wondered whether or not he would ever be able to shoot +anybody with one of those heavy, long-barrelled things without having +something to rest it on. + +"I practised for an hour once in a pistol-gallery," he remarked, "but it +wasn't with anything like that." + +"You didn't hit centre even then, eh?" laughed the seņor. "Well, not +many men can do much with them, but they are better than nothing. They +are too heavy for a hand like yours. Here is your machete. Put it on." + +Ned felt a queer tingle all over him, as he took the weapon and hitched +it at his belt. Then he drew it from the sheath and looked at it, +swinging it up and down to feel its weight. It was a straight, one-edged +blade, with a sharp point, and a brass basket hilt, and he remarked: + +"Seņor Zuroaga, I could hit with that, I guess." + +His face had flushed fiery red, and it could be seen, from his handling +of the machete, that his muscles were unusually strong for his size and +age. The seņor nodded his approbation, as he remarked: + +"I think you will do. There is fight in you, but I hope we shall have no +fighting to do just now. I shall try to find a safe road home." + +"A fellow could cut down bushes with this thing," said Ned. + +"That's exactly what our rancheros use them for," replied the seņor. +"They will do almost anything with a machete. They will cut their way +through thick chaparral, kill and cut up beef cattle, split wood, fight +men or animals, and on the whole it's about the most useful tool there +is in a Mexican camp or hacienda." + +"What's that?" asked Ned. + +"Any kind of farm with a house on it," said the seņor. "You may have to +learn all about haciendas before you get home." + +"Just what I'd like to do," said Ned. "I'll learn how to ride, too. How +soon are we to set out?" + +"Not till after dark," said the seņor. "But you need not be in any hurry +to get into the saddle. You will have quite enough of it before you get +out of it again. There is a long ride before us to-night." + +"I'm ready," replied Ned, but nevertheless he looked at that Mexican +saddle with doubtful eyes, as if he were thinking that it might possibly +prove to be a place of trial for a beginner. + +At that very hour there were several gentlemen in uniform closeted with +Colonel Guerra in one of the rooms of the Castle of San Juan de Ulua. +The colonel appeared to have been giving them a detailed report of the +condition of the fortress and of its means for defence, whether or not +he had stated exactly the amount of the ammunition brought him by the +ill-fated _Goshhawk_. Other subjects of conversation must now have come +up, however, for one of them arose with great dignity of manner, +remarking: + +"My dear colonel, I am glad that I shall be able to make so encouraging +a report to his Excellency. As for Colonel Tassara, we shall serve our +warrant upon him some time to-morrow. We are informed that, beyond a +doubt, the traitor Zuroaga intends to return from Europe shortly. As +sure as he does, he will be engaged in dangerous intrigues against the +existing order of things, and the good of the country requires that he +shall be brought to justice before he can put any of his nefarious plans +in operation. At the same time, we are assured that the invaders upon +the Rio Grande will soon be defeated yet more thoroughly." + +All the rest had arisen while he was speaking, and one of them, a fat, +short man in a brilliant uniform, added, enthusiastically: + +"We feel that we can rely upon you, Colonel Guerra. We pity the gringos +if they should attempt to beleaguer this impregnable fortress. For my +own part, I believe that Colonel Tassara's court martial can have but +one result. His disobedience must be paid for with his life. All +conspirators like Zuroaga should be shot as soon as they are captured. +This is not a time, my friends, for undue leniency." + +"Gentlemen," responded Colonel Guerra with graceful courtesy, "I bid you +all a brief farewell with sincere regret. Your visit has given me +unmixed satisfaction. Do not forget that all of you are to dine with me +to-morrow. From my very heart I can echo your noble sentiments of valor +and patriotism and of devotion to our beloved commander-in-chief, his +heroic Excellency, President Paredes." + +Then followed smiles and handshakings of mutual confidence all around, +and the visiting officers took their departure. Hardly had the door +closed behind them, however, before Colonel Guerra again sat down, +hoarsely muttering between his set teeth: + +"The snake-hearted villains! What they really hoped for was to find the +fort and garrison in bad condition and unprovided, so that they might +ruin me. They want my disgrace and removal, to make room for one of +them. I don't believe they will catch either Tassara or Zuroaga this +time. The colonel will soon raise his new regiment, and my old friend +will be down in Oaxaca in safety, waiting for the hour that is to come. +Paredes would give something to see my last letter from Santa Anna." + +So there were many plots and counterplots, and the politest men might +not be always what they seemed. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +OUT OF THE TIERRA CALIENTE + + +Those were days of great commotion in the Congress of the United States. +The whole nation, South as well as North, was divided in opinion as to +the righteousness and expediency of the war with Mexico. There were two +great parties, both of which have long since passed away, for the +question of the annexation of Texas is no longer before the people, and +all this was more than half a century ago. One of the parties called +itself "Whig," but its enemies described its members as "Coons," in the +habit of roosting up a tree out of reach. The other party called itself +"Democratic," while its opponents lampooned its members as "Loco-focos," +comparing them to the blue-headed sulphur matches of that name, which +were largely manufactured and did not burn very well. Party feeling ran +high, and the debates in Congress were red-hot. The Democratic +President, James K. Polk, was a man of far greater ability and +statesmanship than his party enemies were willing to give him credit +for, and he was supported by a brilliant array of politicians. On the +other hand, the Whig party contained a number of our most distinguished +statesmen, and, curiously enough, most of the generals of the army, +including Winfield Scott and Zachary Taylor, were well-known Whigs. It +was not altogether unnatural, therefore, that the Democratic party in +power should wish to put the command of any army preparing for the +invasion of Mexico into the hands of officers who were in favor of the +war which they were to carry on. Questions like this, and some others +relating to the unprepared condition of the American army for so +tremendous an undertaking, were responsible for the fact that there was +a long delay in all military operations, even after the hard and +successful fighting done by General Taylor's forces at the Rio Grande. + +American cruisers were tacking to and fro over the waters of the Gulf of +Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, without any especial errand of which their +commanders were aware. Regiments of eager volunteers were forming in +several of the States, and were trying hard to discover officers who +knew how to drill and handle them. The politicians were everywhere +calling each other harder and harder names. Not one soul in all the +United States, however, knew anything of a party of mounted men, a +carriage, and a spring-wagon, which quietly made its way out of the city +of Vera Cruz, not long after sunset, one sultry and lazy evening. At the +head of this cavalcade rode two men, who sat upon their spirited horses +as if they were at home in the saddle. At their right, however, was a +young fellow on a black pony who was entirely satisfied with the fact +that the beast under him did not seem to have any spirit at all. He was +at that moment steadying his feet in the stirrups, and remarking to +himself: + +"I'm glad none of them saw me mount him. I got upon a high box first, +and even then my machete was tangled with my legs, and I all but fell +over him. I'll get the seņor to show me how, or I'll be laughed at by +the men." + +He was doing fairly well at present, for the road went up a hill, and +the night was not one for foolishly fast travelling. He could listen all +the better, and one of his companions was saying to the other: + +"My dear Zuroaga, we have gained four miles. Every one of them is worth +something handsome to you and me. In my opinion, we did not get away a +moment too soon to save our necks." + +"Not one minute!" replied the other, with strong emphasis. "Not even if +Guerra can succeed in gaining for us the best part of another day, as he +believed he could. Perhaps our best chance, after all, is that he has +only one company of lancers, and that any officer sent with it might +have instructions which would take him by another road than this." + +"The inspector-general had with him an escort of his own," said Tassara. +"If he should send those fellows, they would be likely to know how to +find us. They are not under the orders of Guerra." + +"If," exclaimed Zuroaga, fiercely, "they do not overtake us until after +the middle of our second day out, I believe they would be unlucky to try +to arrest us. I hope they will be wise, and not tire out their horses +with too much haste. I feel as if I could shoot pretty straight if I +should see them coming within range." + +"So could I," replied Tassara. + +The road which they were then following ran between cultivated lands on +either side. It was not tree-shadowed, and, as Ned looked back, the +moonlight showed him something that made him think rapidly. Additional +horsemen had joined them after they had left the city behind them, and +it occurred to him that arrangements had been made beforehand for +something like a small war. There were not less than twenty armed men, +besides himself and the pair who were with him. For some reason or +other, moreover, the wagon, which was drawn by four mules, and the +carriage, drawn by a pair of fine animals of the same sort, were driven +on well in advance. It appeared, therefore, as if no danger was expected +to meet them from the opposite direction, and that Seņora Tassara and +her daughter were fairly well protected from any peril which might come +after them along the road from Vera Cruz. The next thing that struck +Ned, little as he knew about war, was that these horsemen were riding +two and two, not in a straggling procession, but in as perfect order as +if they had been trained cavalry. If he had known a little more, he +would have declared: + +"That is just what they are." + +He might not also have known that all but six of them were from the +Tassara estates, and that the odd half-dozen were lifelong servants of +the proscribed descendant of Hernando Cortes. If he could have +understood those men, he might also have comprehended one important +feature of the tangled politics of Mexico, and why ambitious military +men were every now and then able to set up for themselves, and defy the +central government until it could manage to capture them, and have them +shot as rebels. Wiser men than he, looking at the matter from the +outside, might also have understood how greatly it was to the credit of +President Paredes that he was making so good a stand against the power +of the United States while hampered by so many difficulties. Ned was no +politician at all, and it was a mere impulse, or a tired feeling, which +led him to pull in his pony and let the men catch up with him, so that +he might chat with them, one after another, and get acquainted. He found +that they were under no orders not to talk. On the contrary, every man +of them seemed to know that Ned had come home from the school which he +had been attending in England, and that he had been instrumental in +procuring powder and bullets for them and for the Mexican army. They +were full of patriotism of a peculiar kind. It would have made them +fight gringos or any other foreigners to-day, and to-morrow to fight as +readily in any causeless revolution which their local leaders might see +fit to set going. They were eager for all the news Ned could give them, +and he was soon on good terms with them, for he took pains not to let +them know how uncomfortable he felt in that saddle. They surely would +have despised any young Mexican who had forgotten how to ride while he +was travelling in Europe. + +Hour after hour went by, and on every level stretch of road the wheeled +vehicles were driven at a moderate trot. The horses of what Ned called +the cavalry also trotted occasionally, but it was well for him that his +pony did not seem to know how. Whenever he was asked to go faster, he +struck into a rocking canter, which was as easy and about as lazy as a +cradle, so that his rider received hardly any shaking, and was able to +keep both his seat and his stirrups. Brief halts for rest were made now +and then. Bridges were crossed which Ned understood were over small +branches of the Blanco River, but they were still in the lowlands when, +at about midnight, the little column wheeled out of the road and went on +for a hundred yards or more into a magnificent forest, where the +moonlight came down among the trees to show how old and large they were. + +"Halt! Dismount!" came sharply from Colonel Tassara. "It is twelve +o'clock. We have made over twenty miles. We will camp here until +daylight. Pablo, put up the tents." + +Every rider but Ned was down on his feet in a twinkling, but he remained +upon his pony's back as still as a statue. He saw a white tent leave the +top of the baggage in the wagon and set itself up, as if by magic. +Another and another followed, and he said to himself: + +"They are little picnic tents. One is for the seņora and Felicia; one +for the colonel; and one for Seņor Zuroaga. Not any for me or for the +men. Oh, dear! How shall I ever get down? I can't move my legs. If I +can't, I shall have to go to sleep in the saddle!" + +That was just what he might have done if it had not been for his kind +and thoughtful friend, the general,--if he was one,--for Zuroaga now +came to the side of the pony to inquire, with a merry laugh: + +"How are you now, my boy? I knew how it would be. Tired out? Stiff with +so long a ride? Lean over this way and I'll help you down. Come!" + +Ned leaned over and tried to pull his feet out of the stirrups. They did +come out somehow, and then he made an extra effort not to fall asleep +with his head on the general's shoulder. + +"Used up completely!" exclaimed Zuroaga. "Can you walk? Stretch your +legs. Kick. It's your first long ride? You'll soon get used to it. +There! Now I'll put you into my tent, but we must be on the march again +by six o'clock in the morning. You can sleep till breakfast." + +"I can walk, thank you," responded poor Ned, and he did so, after a lame +and awkward fashion, but he was glad to reach the tent. "It's big enough +for two," he said, as he crawled in. + +"Is it?" said the general. "Bah! I do not use one half the time. I am a +soldier and a hunter, and I prefer to bivouac in such weather as this. I +must be on the lookout, too, to-night. Crawl in and go to sleep." + +Ned was already in. Down he went upon a blanket, without even unbuckling +his machete, and that was the last that he knew that night of the camp +or of anybody in it. Probably, nothing less than the report of a cannon +fired over that tent would have aroused him to go for his horse-pistols +or draw his Mexican sabre. + +Seņora Tassara and her daughter had disappeared immediately, and they, +also, must have been wearied with their long, hot journey, but all the +rest of the party were old campaigners, and they were ready to take care +of the horses and eat cold rations, for no fires were kindled. + +A few minutes later, if Ned had been awake instead of sleeping so +soundly, he might have heard what two men were saying, in half-whispers, +close to the door of his tent. + +"Colonel," said Zuroaga, "we are well-hidden in here. The bushes are +very thick along the edge of the road." + +"Hark!" interrupted Tassara. "Do you hear that? There they are!" + +"I hear them," replied the general. "It may be so. If it is, they have +followed us well. But there cannot be more than half a dozen of them. It +is not any mere squad like that that we need be afraid of." + +"This may be only an advance party, I think," said his friend, +thoughtfully. "A larger force may be on our trail before to-morrow +night. But they must not take us. They might merely arrest me, to have +me shot at Vera Cruz, but they would cut down you and poor young Carfora +at once. He is an American, and they would show him no mercy." + +There had been a sound of horse hoofs on the road, and it had gone by, +but before Zuroaga could make any response to so gloomy a prophecy, his +own man, Pablo, stood before him. Pablo had been running fast, but he +had breath enough left to say, quite coolly and not loudly: + +"Lancers, general. Officer and four men. They have been running their +horses, and they won't travel far to-morrow. I was in the bushes." + +"All right, Pablo," said Zuroaga. "It was kind of Colonel Guerra to +order them to use up their horses. We shall not hear of that squad +again. Put Andrea on watch, and go to sleep. Our first danger is over." + +Pablo bowed and turned away without another word, and Zuroaga resumed +his conference with Tassara, for those two were brave men, and were +well-accustomed to the peril-haunted lives they were leading. + +"Colonel," he said, "it is evident that my young friend Carfora must go +with you. He is not fit for a swift ride of three hundred miles. +Besides, he must have any chance which may happen to turn up for +getting home. Will you take care of him? He is a fine young fellow, but +he cannot ride." + +Therefore the pony and that saddle had done something good for Ned, and +Colonel Tassara cheerfully responded: + +"With great pleasure, my dear general. I shall be glad to make American +friends. I may need them. He will be safe enough with me, but I fear it +will be a long time before he can get out of Mexico. As for me, I shall +meet more than a hundred of my own men at Orizaba, ready to escort me +across the sierra into my own State of Puebla. After that, my reputation +for loyalty will soon be reëstablished by raising my new regiment. I +think, however, that it will not march into the city of Mexico until his +Excellency President Paredes has set out for the Rio Grande, or as far +north as the luck of this war will permit him to travel. Very possibly, +he may be hindered by the gringos before he reaches the border. Carfora +will remain with me until then. You are right. He would not be safe +anywhere else. As for yourself, you must push on." + +"I think," said Zuroaga, "that I shall be almost safe after I am a few +miles beyond Teotitlan. I may have a fight or two on the way. Carfora +must not be killed in any skirmish of that kind. You will not see me +again, dead or alive, until a week or two after the Americans have taken +the city of Mexico, as in my opinion they surely will. I shall be there +then, with five hundred lancers, to uphold the new government which will +take the place of the bloody dictatorship of Paredes, unless the new +affair is to be Santa Anna. In any event, I shall be able to help you, +and I will." + +"You are a gloomy prophet," responded Tassara, "but you are an old +student of military operations. Do you really think the Americans will +capture our capital? It will be well defended." + +"Bravely enough, but not well," replied Zuroaga. "We have not one +scientific, thoroughly educated engineer officer fit to take charge of +the defences against, for instance, General Scott. Not even Santa Anna +himself, with all his ability, is a general capable of checking the +invaders after they have taken Vera Cruz, and that they will do. He is a +scheming politician rather than a military genius. He and Paredes and +some others whom you and I could name must be whipped out of power +before we can put up an entirely new government, better than any we have +ever had yet. What do you think about it?" + +"Think?" exclaimed Tassara, angrily. "I think it will be after you and I +are dead and buried before this miserable half-republic, half-oligarchy, +will be blessed with a solid government like that of the United States." + +"And that, too, might get into hot water," muttered his friend, but +neither of the two political prophets appeared to have much more to say. +They separated, as if each might have something else to employ him, and +shortly all the night camp in the grand old forest seemed to be asleep. + +The remaining hours of darkness passed silently, and the sun arose with +a promise of another hot day. Small fires were kindled for +coffee-making, but the preparations for breakfast were hurried. Before +six o'clock the mules were harnessed, the horses were saddled, and all +things were made ready for a diligent push southward. It had been a +difficult business to get Ned Crawford out of his tent, but here he was, +trying his best to move his legs as if they belonged to him. His coffee +and corn-cakes did a great deal for him, and he made out to pretend to +help Pablo in getting the fat pony ready for the road. Then, however, he +was willing to see Pablo walk away, and he bravely led the pony to the +side of what may have been an old and apparently abandoned ant-hill. + +"I can get on board," he said, as if his patient quadruped had been the +_Goshhawk_. "I saw how some of them mounted. You put your left foot into +the stirrup, and then you make a kind of spring into the saddle. If my +knees will bend for me, I can do it without anybody's help." + +It was the ant-hill that helped him, for he did not make any spring. +After his foot was in the stirrup, he made a tremendous effort, and he +arose slowly, painfully to the level of the pony's back. Then his right +leg went over, and he was actually there, hunting a little nervously for +the other stirrup, with his machete away around behind him. + +"Glad you have done it!" exclaimed a decidedly humorous voice near the +pony's head. "We are all ready to be off now. Before long, you will be +able to mount as the rancheros do, without touching the stirrup. But +then, I believe that most of them were born on horseback." + +They also appeared to be able to do pretty well without much sleep, for +Ned could not see that they showed any signs of fatigue. The +camping-place was speedily left behind them, but it was no longer a +night journey. Ned was almost astonished, now that the darkness was +gone, to discover that this was by no means a wild, unsettled country. +Not only were there many farms, with more or less well-built houses, but +the cavalcade began to meet other wayfarers,--men and women,--on foot +and on horseback, and hardly any of them were willing to be passed +without obtaining the latest news from Vera Cruz and from the war. + +"I guess they need it," thought Ned. "The general says there are no +newspapers taken down here, and that, if there were, not one person in +five could read them. They seem a real good-natured lot, though." + +So they were, as much so as any other people in the world, and they were +as capable of being developed and educated to better things. As to this +being a new country, it came slowly back into Ned's mind that there had +been a great and populous empire here at a time when the island upon +which the city of New York was afterward built was a bushy wilderness, +occupied by half-naked savages, who were ready to sell it for a few +dollars' worth of kettles and beads. + +"I guess I'm beginning to wake up," thought Ned. "When the _Goshhawk_ was +lying in the Bay of Vera Cruz, I was too busy to see anything. No, I +wasn't. I did stare at the Orizaba mountain peak, and they told me it is +over seventeen thousand feet high. First mountain I ever saw that could +keep on snow and ice in such weather as this. I don't want to live up +there in winter. Well! Now I've seen some of the biggest trees I ever +did see. I wonder if any of them were here when the Spaniards came in. I +guess they were, some of them." + +He was really beginning to see something of Mexico, and it almost made +him forget the hardness of that unpleasant saddle. At the end of another +mile, he was saying to himself: + +"That field yonder is tobacco, is it? The one we just passed was +sugar-cane, and Pablo said the plantation across the road was almost all +coffee. He says that further on he will show me orange groves, bananas, +and that sort of thing. But what on earth are grenaditas and mangoes? +They'll be something new to me, and I want to find out how they taste." + +Nothing at all of a military or otherwise of an apparently dangerous +character had been encountered by the fugitive travellers when, at about +the middle of the forenoon, they came to a parting of the ways. A +seemingly well-travelled road went off to the left, or southward, while +the one they were on turned more to the right and climbed a hill, as if +it were making a further effort to get out of the _tierra caliente_. A +great many things had been explained to Ned, as they rode along, and he +was not surprised, therefore, when Seņor Zuroaga said to him: + +"My young friend, this is the place I told you of. We must part here. +You and your pony will go on with Colonel Tassara, and I will take my +chances for reaching my place of refuge in Oaxaca. It is not a very good +chance, but I must make the best of it that I can. Take good care of +yourself. I have already said good-by to the seņora and the seņorita. I +think they will soon be out of danger." + +Ned was really grateful, and he tried to say so, but all he could think +of just then was: + +"General Zuroaga, I do hope you'll get through all right. I hope I shall +see you again safe and sound." + +"You never will," said Zuroaga, as he wheeled his horse, "unless I get +out of this Cordoba road. It is a kind of military highway, and I might +meet my enemies at any minute--too many of them." + +"Good-by!" shouted Ned, and the general, who was still a great mystery +to him, dashed away at a gallop, followed by Pablo and the wild riders +from the Oaxaca ranches. + +The cavalcade had hardly paused, and it now went on up the long, steep +slope to the right. Not many minutes later, it was on high enough ground +to look down upon the road which had been taken by Zuroaga. Ned was not +looking in that direction, but at some snow-capped mountains in the +distance, northward, and he was saying to himself: + +"So that is the Sierra Madre, is it? This country has more and higher +mountains in it-- Hullo! What's that? Is she hurt?" + +His change of utterance into an anxious exclamation was produced by a +piercing scream from the carriage, and that was followed by the excited +voice of Seņora Tassara calling out: + +"Husband! The general is attacked! Look! Hear the firing!" + +"O father! Can we not help him?" gasped Seņorita Felicia. + +Her mother was holding to her eyes with trembling hands what Ned took +for an opera-glass, and he wished that he had one, although he could +make out that something like a skirmish was taking place on the other +road. It was too far to more than barely catch the dull reports of what +seemed to be a number of rapidly fired pistol-shots. + +"They are fighting!" he exclaimed. "I wish I was there to help him! He +may need more men. I could shoot!" + +Whether he could or not, he was almost unconsciously unbuckling the +holster of one of his horse-pistols, when the seņora spoke again. + +"Santa Maria!" she exclaimed. "The dear general! They are too many for +him. Madre de Dios! Our good friend will be killed!" + +"Give me the glass, my dear," said her husband. "Your hands are not +steady enough. I will tell you how it is." + +"Oh, do!" she whispered, hoarsely, as she handed it to him. "They are +lancers in uniform. Oh, me! This is dreadful! And they may follow us, +too." + +Colonel Tassara took the glass with apparently perfect coolness, and +Ned took note that it did not tremble at all, as he aimed it at the +distant skirmish. It was a number of seconds, however, before he +reported: + +"Hurrah! The general rides on, and he rides well. I feel sure that he is +not badly wounded, if at all. He has now but three men with him. There +are riderless horses. There are men on the ground. There are four only +that are riding back toward the Cordoba road. Thank God! The general has +made good his escape from that party of unlucky lancers. He is a +fighter!" + +Then he lowered the glass to turn and shout fiercely to his own men: + +"Forward! We must reach Orizaba before the news of this skirmish gets +there, if we kill all our horses doing it. Push on!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +LEAVING THE HACIENDA + + +It was near the close of a bright summer day, and a deeply interested +company had gathered in the dining-room of the Crawford home in New +York. Dinner was on the table, but nobody had yet sat down. The number +of young persons present suggested that Ned must have older brothers and +sisters. + +"Father Crawford," exclaimed one of the grown-up young men, "what is +this about another letter from Edward? I came over to hear the news." + +"Letter?" said Mr. Crawford. "I should say so! I guess I'd better read +it aloud. It was a long time getting out and coming around by way of +England. There are all sorts of delays in war-time. It is the last of +three that he wrote before escaping into the interior of Mexico with his +new friends. I am glad that he did go with them, though, and there must +be other letters on the way. We shall hear from him again pretty soon." + +They all were silent then, and he read the letter through, with now and +then a few words of explanation, but Mrs. Crawford had evidently read it +before, and all she could say now was: + +"Oh, dear! I don't like it! I wish he had come home!" + +"It's all right, mother," said Mr. Crawford, "for I have something more +to tell. Captain Kemp is here, and, from what he says, it is plain that +it would not have done for Ned to have remained anywhere on the coast. +He will be safe where he is, and he will learn a great deal. I would not +have him miss it for anything. What's pretty good, too, we have been +paid all our insurance money for the loss of the _Goshhawk_, and our firm +has been given a contract to furnish supplies for the army. I shall be +down on the gulf before long myself, in charge of a supply ship, and I +can make inquiries about Ned. He will turn up all right." + +Everybody appeared to be encouraged except Ned's mother, and it was a +pity she could not have seen how well he was looking at that very time. +If, for instance, she had possessed a telescope which would have +reached so far, she might have seen a fine, large bay horse reined in to +a standstill in front of a modern-appearing country-house, well built of +a nearly white kind of limestone. Around this residence was a +wide-spreading lawn, with vines, shrubbery, flowers, and other evidences +of wealth and refinement. The rider of the horse appeared to sit him +easily, and he was a picture of health and high spirits, but for an +expression of discontent that was upon his sunburned face. + +"This is all very beautiful," he said, as he glanced around him, "but I +wish I were out of it. I want to hear from home. They must have my +letters by this time, but they couldn't guess where I am now." + +He was silent for a moment, and the horse curveted gracefully under him, +as if in doubt whether to gallop away again, or to ask his rider to get +off. + +"Well!" said Ned, with a pull on the rein. "It seems like a long, +wonderful dream since I saw General Zuroaga ride away from us at the +cross-roads. What a skirmish that was! Then we made our way through the +mountains, and came here, and hasn't it been a curious kind of life ever +since? I've learned how to ride like a Mexican. I've seen all there is +to see for miles and miles around this place. I've seen lots of old +ruins, all that's left of ancient houses and temples and altars. I +believe the seņora likes nothing better than to tell me yarns about the +Montezuma times and about her ancestors in Spain. That's a great +country. I think I'll go over there, some day, and see Granada and the +Alhambra and the old castles and the Spanish people. I like the Mexicans +first-rate, all that I have seen of them. They will be a splendid nation +one of these days, but they're awfully ignorant now. Why, every one in +these parts believes that our army is all the while being whipped all to +pieces by theirs, and I can't exactly swallow that. I'd like to know +just what is really going on. I'm all in the dark." + +"Seņor Carfora!" called out a clear, ringing voice. + +He turned in the saddle, from seeming to gaze at the distant forest, and +there, in the piazza which ran all along the front of the house, stood +Seņorita Felicia, her usually pale face flushed with excitement. + +"We have a letter from father!" she shouted. "He has completed his +regiment, and he is to command it. President Paredes is going north, to +drive the gringos out of Mexico, and father may have to go with him. He +says it is time for us to move to the city of Mexico. We are to live +with my aunt, Mercedes Paez, and you are to come with us. Is it not +grand?" + +"It is just what I was wishing for!" exclaimed Ned. "I'd give almost +anything to see that city, after what your mother has told me." + +"Oh," said Felicia, "she was born there, and she'll make you see all +there is of it. But we were all ready, you know, and we are to set out +early to-morrow morning." + +"Hurrah!" responded Ned. "But I'd like to hear from General Zuroaga. I +wish I knew whether or not he was much hurt in that fight in the road." + +"Father does not believe he was," said Felicia. "Sometimes I almost +think he knows all about it. But there are some things he won't speak +of, and General Zuroaga is one of them." + +Ned sprang to the ground, and a barefooted "peon" servant took charge of +his horse. It was not at all the kind of dismounting he had performed at +the camp in the woods on the road from Vera Cruz. Neither did he now +have any machete dangling from his belt, to entangle himself with, and +there were no pistol holsters in front of the saddle. He went on into +the house with the seņorita, and in a moment more he was hearing +additional news from her mother. Seņora Tassara was as stately as ever, +but it was apparent that she had taken a liking to her young American +guest, whether it was on account of his deep interest in her old +stories, or otherwise. It may have been, in part, that company was a +good thing to have in a somewhat lonely country-house, for she could not +have thought of associating with Mexican neighbors of a social rank +lower than her own. Was she not descended from Spanish grandees, and +were they not, for the greater part, representatives of the mere Aztecs +and Toltecs, whom her forefathers had conquered? It was that very +feeling, however, which in the minds of such men as Paredes and similar +leaders was standing in the way of every effort to construct a genuine +republic out of the people of the half-civilized States of Mexico. + +Ned's next questions related to the war, and he inquired how many more +great battles Colonel Tassara had reported. + +"Battles?" exclaimed Seņora Tassara. "Why, there has not been one fought +since Resaca de la Palma. But he says that General Ampudia sends word +that the American army is about to advance upon him. They will attack +him at the city of Monterey, and they never can take so strong a place +as that is. He is ready for them, but President Paredes believes that it +is time for him to take command of the army in person." + +It certainly was so. The Mexican President was a cunning politician, and +he had been by no means an unsuccessful general. He was well aware that +it would not be wise for him to now allow too many victories to be won +by any other Mexican. It might interfere with his own popularity. On the +other hand, if General Ampudia should be defeated, as he was quite +likely to be, then it was good policy for the commander-in-chief, the +President, to be promptly on hand with a larger force, to overwhelm the +invaders who had ruined Ampudia. Therefore, it might be said that the +Americans had the tangled factions and corrupt politics of Mexico +working for them very effectively. + +Ned Crawford already knew much about the condition of military and +political affairs, but he was not thinking of them that evening. It was +a great deal pleasanter to sit and talk with Seņorita Felicia about the +city of Mexico and others of the historical places of the ancient land +of Anahuac. She still could remind him, now and then, that she hated all +kinds of gringos, but at all events she was willing to treat one of them +fairly well. He, on his part, had formed a favorable opinion of some +Mexicans, but he was as firm as ever in his belief that their army could +never drive the Americans out of Texas. + +There was one place which was even busier and more full of the +excitement of getting ready for a new movement than was the Tassara +hacienda. It was among the scattered camps of General Taylor's army, +near Matamoras, at the mouth of the Rio Grande. Reinforcements had made +the army more than double its former size, but it was understood that it +was still of only half the numbers of the force it was soon to meet, +under General Ampudia. It was a curious fact, however, that all of +General Taylor's military scholars were entirely satisfied with that +computation, and considered that any other arrangement would have been +unfair, as they really outnumbered their opponents when these were only +two to one. What was more, they were willing to give them the advantage +of fighting behind strong fortifications, for they knew that they were +soon to attack the mountain city of Monterey. Part of what was now +genuinely an invading army was to go up the river in boats for some +distance. The other part was to go overland, and it was an open question +which of them would suffer the more from the hot summer sun. It was to +be anything but a picnic, for here were nearly seven thousand Americans +of all sorts, who were obtaining their first experiences of what war +might really be, if made in any manner whatever in the sultriest kind of +southern weather. Much more agreeable for them might have been a march +across the central table-lands beyond, at an elevation of four thousand +feet above the sea level and the _tierra caliente_. + +That was precisely the kind of pleasant journey that was performed by +Ned Crawford and the imposing Tassara cavalcade on the morrow and during +a couple of wonderful days which followed. There being no railway, +whatever the seņora wished to take with her had to be conveyed in wagons +or on pack-mules, and the ladies themselves now preferred the saddle to +any kind of carriage. In fact, Ned shortly discovered that Seņorita +Felicia was more at home on horseback than he was, and he more than once +congratulated himself that she had never witnessed his first +performances in mounting his fat pony. + +"How she would have laughed at me!" he thought. "But at that time there +wasn't another spare saddle-horse, and she and her mother didn't care a +cent whether I could ride or not. They were thinking of Guerra's +lancers." + +The scenery was exceedingly beautiful as well as peaceful. There was +nothing whatever to suggest that a dreadful war was going on. There were +houses of friends to stop at, instead of hotels. There were towns and +villages of some importance to be rapidly investigated by a tourist like +Ned, from New York by way of England, and now a good young Mexican for +the time being. Then there was an exciting evening, when all who were on +horseback rode ahead of the wagons and on into the city, which occupies +the site of the wonderful Tenochtitlan, which was captured by Hernando +Cortes and his daring adventurers ever so long ago. From that time +onward, during a number of busy days, Ned became better and better +satisfied with the fact that his father had sent him across the sea to +learn all that he could of Mexico and the Mexicans. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +PICTURES OF THE PAST + + +"Oh, how I wish we had some news from the war!" exclaimed Ned. + +"Well," said Seņorita Felicia, doubtfully, "there isn't much, but I +suppose there is some almost ready to come." + +"I'm tired of waiting for it," replied Ned, "and if there isn't to be +any war news, I wish I had some books!" + +The thought that was in Ned Crawford's mind had broken out suddenly, as +he sat at the dinner-table of Seņora Mercedes Paez, at the end of those +first days after his arrival in the city of Mexico. There were a number +of persons at the table, and at the head of it was Seņora Paez herself. +She was shorter and stouter, but she was every ounce as stately and +imposing as was even Seņora Tassara. In front of her sat one affair +which had, from the beginning of his visit in that house, made him feel +more at home than he might otherwise have done. He had become used to +it, and it seemed like an old friend. That Seville coffee-urn had +ornamented the table in the house at Vera Cruz, his first refuge after +he came ashore out of the destructive norther. It had winked at him from +a similar post of honor in the country-house out in Puebla, and Seņora +Tassara had affectionately brought it with her to the residence of her +city cousin. She had said that she thought it would be safer here, even +if the city should be captured by those terrible robbers, the Americans. +They could not be intending to steal and melt up all the old silver in +Mexico. + +"Why, Seņor Carfora!" exclaimed Seņorita Felicia, indignantly. "Did you +not know? Aunt Paez has piles and piles of books. They are up in the +library. If you wish to read them, she will let you go there. I had +forgotten that you know how to read. He may do it, may he not, Aunt +Mercedes?" + +"Of course he may," replied the seņora, "but it is a curious idea for a +boy of his age." + +"Oh, thank you!" exclaimed Ned. "But what I'd like to have are some +books that tell about old Mexico and about the city of Tenochtitlan, +that stood here before the Spaniards came. I've been all around +everywhere. I've seen the swamps and the lakes and the walls and forts +and everything. The great cathedral--" + +"That," interposed Seņora Tassara, "stands on the very spot where an old +temple of the Aztec war-god stood. There were altars in it, where they +used to kill and burn hundreds and thousands of human sacrifices to +Huitzilopochtli, and there were altars to other gods." + +"I can't exactly speak that name," said Ned, "but I want to know all +about him and the sacrifices. I want to learn, too, just how Cortes and +his men took the old city. I suppose that when the Americans come, it +will be a different kind of fight--more cannon." + +"They won't get here at all," quietly remarked a military-looking old +gentleman sitting near the other end of the table. "It is a long road +from the Rio Grande, and President Paredes is to march, in a few days, +to crush our enemies with an army of twenty thousand men. They have not +so much as taken Monterey yet. You are right, though. If they should +ever get here, they will find the city harder to take than Cortes did. +They will all die before the walls." + +He spoke with a great deal of patriotic enthusiasm, and Ned knew that it +was his turn to keep still, for the old gentleman had no idea that he +was talking to a wicked young gringo. Seņora Paez, however, calmly +replied: + +"Ah, Colonel Rodriguez, my dear friend, the President himself has said +that, after he has beaten them at the northern border, as he surely +will, the Americans are sure to make another attempt by way of Vera +Cruz. That, too, was the opinion of our brave friend, Colonel Guerra, +and he is making every preparation for a siege. It is part of our +grateful hospitality to our guest, Seņor Carfora, that his friends have +supplied the Castle of San Juan de Ulua with the ammunition which will +be needed. He came over on the ship which brought it, and he has +remained with us ever since." + +Just then Ned Crawford knew what it was to feel very mean indeed. He +felt as if he himself were telling a large lie, and his cheeks flushed +red-hot. He was aware, nevertheless, that even Seņora Tassara had not +been told everything, and that Seņora Paez was reasonably honest in what +she had been saying. There was no necessity for enlightening Colonel +Rodriguez. Hardly, therefore, had the old gentleman vehemently +exclaimed, "They never can take San Juan de Ulua!" than Ned went hastily +back to his first subject of the ancient history. + +"That's it," he said. "I want to find out how Cortes got ashore, and how +he fought his way from the coast to this place. He must have had to +cross the mountains, through the passes, just as our party did when we +came." + +"Yes," said the colonel. "He had to climb seven thousand and five +hundred feet up out of the _tierra caliente_, and, if any gringos ever +try that path, they will find all the passes full of fighting Mexicans +and good artillery well posted. Hernando Cortes had all the gunpowder +there was in America when he tried that road." + +"My dear young friend," said Seņora Paez, "you will find plenty of the +books you wish for. My husband was fond of collecting them. After +dinner, the seņorita will show you the library, and you may read +anything there." + +Ned was silent once more, for he was still feeling mean, and was asking +himself whether he were not, after all, a kind of spy in the Mexican +camp, going around in disguise, and all the while wishing that he could +help the American army to capture the city. + +"Anyhow," he thought, "I can't help myself just now, and when the city +is taken, everything in the Paez house will be entirely safe. I +shouldn't wonder if that old coffee-urn will be safer from thieves than +it is now. There have been half a dozen burglaries since we came, and +I've seen hundreds of the wildest-looking kinds of fellows from the +mountains. Every man of them looked as if he'd like to steal some +silver." + +While he was thinking, he was also listening, with a great deal of +interest, to a description which the old officer was giving of the +defences of Monterey, and of the reasons why the American troops would +surely be defeated. It appeared that he had at one time been the +commander of the garrison of the fortress known as the Black Fort, just +outside of the walls of Monterey, on the north, and he evidently +believed it to be impregnable. Ned was no soldier, and it did not occur +to him to ask, as General Taylor might have done, whether or not it was +possible to take the town without wasting time in taking the fort first. + +"Come, Seņor Carfora," said Felicia, as they all arose from the table, +"I will show you the library. You can't do much reading there to-night, +though, for the lamps have all been taken away. I do not wish to go +there, anyhow, except in the daytime. It is a pokerish kind of place. Do +you believe in ghosts? I do not, but, if I were a ghost, I would pick +out that library for a good place to hide in. Come along. You are a +foreigner, and any kind of good Mexican ghost won't like you." + +Whether she herself did so or not, she led the way, and no lamp was as +yet needed, although the day was nearly over and the shadows were +coming. Up-stairs they went and through a short passageway in the second +story of the Paez mansion, and they were almost in the dark when she +said to him: + +"Here we are. Hardly any one ever comes here, and it will be dreadfully +dusty. Books are dusty old things anyhow." + +She turned the big brass knob in the dusky door before them, and shoved +against it with all her might, but Ned had to help her with his +shoulder, or the massive mahogany portal would not have yielded an inch. +It did go slowly in, upon its ancient-looking bronze hinges, and then +they were in a room which was worth looking at. It was not so very +large, only about fifteen feet by twenty, but it was unusually high, and +it had but one tall, narrow slit of a window. Close by this, however, +were a finely carved reading chair and table, ready to receive all the +light which the window might choose to let in. Ned was staring eagerly +around the room, when his pretty guide remarked: + +"You had better see all you can before it gets any darker. Take down as +many books as you want. I don't care much for those fusty-musty old +histories. I must go away now--" + +"Hullo, seņorita!" exclaimed Ned. "There is a lamp on the table. I have +some matches--" + +"I don't believe you can make it burn," she said, "but you can try. It +has not been lighted for this ever so long, and the oil may have dried +up." + +Around she whirled and away she went, leaving Ned to his own devices. +His next thought was almost impolite, after all, for he was more than +half glad that she did go, so that he might have the library all to +himself to rummage in. He did not instantly examine the lamp, for he had +never before been in just this kind of room, and it fascinated him. All +its sides were occupied by high bookcases, every one of them crammed +full of volumes of all sorts and sizes. He thought that he had never +seen larger books than were some of the fat folios on the lower shelves. +There were great, flat, atlas-looking concerns leaning against them, and +out on the floor stood several upright racks of maps. Old Seņor Paez may +have been what is called a book-worm. At all events, Ned had understood +that he was a very learned man, with a strong enthusiasm for American +history. + +"Heavens and earth!" suddenly exclaimed Ned. "What is that?" + +He darted forward to a further corner of the room, as if he were in a +great hurry to meet somebody who had unexpectedly come in. It certainly +was something almost in human shape, but it had been standing there a +long while, and the hand which it appeared to hold out to him was of +steel, for it was nothing in the wide world but a complete suit of +ancient armor. It was so set up in that corner, however, that it almost +seemed alive, with its right hand extended, and its left holding a long, +pennoned lance. Its helmet had a barred vizor, so that if there had been +any face behind that, it would have been hidden. Ned went and stood +silently before it for a moment, staring at that vizor. + +"I say," he muttered, as if he did not care to speak any louder. "I +don't believe General Taylor's men would care to march far with as much +iron as that on them--not in hot weather. But the old Aztecs didn't have +anything that would go through that kind of uniform. If Cortes and his +men wore it, there is no wonder that they went on killing the Indians +without being much hurt themselves." + +In fact, not all of them had been dressed up in precisely such a manner, +although they did wear armor. + +Ned examined the whole affair, piece by piece, from head to foot, and +then he turned away from his inspection, for the room behind him was +getting dim and it was time for him to look at his lamp. He took out a +match as he went toward the table at the window, and in a moment more he +was busy with a wick which seemed to be determined not to burn for him. + +"It's an old whale-oil lamp," he remarked. "Mother had one, once. I +remember seeing her try to light it and it would sputter for ever so +long. There! It's beginning to kindle, but it's too big for me to carry +around and hunt for books with. I wish I had a smaller one. Hullo! +Here's one of the biggest of those old concerns, right here on the +table." + +It was a folio bound in vellum, and when he opened it a great deal of +dust arose from the cover which banged down. Then Ned uttered a loud +exclamation, and was glad he had succeeded in lighting the lamp, for +there before his eyes was a vividly colored picture of a most +extraordinary description. Moreover, it unfolded, so that it was almost +twice the size, length, and width of the book pages. + +"They are all in Spanish," he said, "but I guess I can read them. +They're more than a hundred years old. People don't print such books, +nowadays. Nobody would have time enough to read them, I suppose, and +they couldn't sell 'em cheap enough. This is wonderful! It's a picture +of the old Mexican god, Huitzilopochtli." + +There was an explanatory inscription, and the artist had pictured the +terrible deity sitting upon a throne of state, gorgeously arrayed in +gold and jewels, and watching with a smile of serene satisfaction the +sacrifice of some unfortunate human victims on the altar in the +foreground at the right. One of the priests attending at the altar had +just cut open the bosom of a tall man lying before him, and was tossing +a bleeding heart upon the smoking fire, where other similar offerings +were already burning. + +"That must have been a horrible kind of religion," thought Ned. "I'm +glad that Cortes and his men in armor came to put an end to it. Seņora +Paez told me that in only a few years before he came, and her +great-grandfather and his father with him, those priests cut up more +than twenty thousand men, women, and children. He's a curious kind of +god, I should say, to sit there and grin while it was going on." + +He could not linger too long over one picture, however, for he had +discovered that there were others in that volume which were as +brilliantly colored and as interesting. On the whole, it was not +necessary to hunt for anything better than this the first evening, and +it appeared as if he were asking a useless question of the steel-clad +warrior in the corner, when at last he turned to him to say: + +"Did you ever see anything like this before? I never did. Were you +there, in any of these battles? This is the way that Cortes and his +cavalry scared the Indians, is it? They were awfully afraid of horses. +You can buy horses for almost nothing, nowadays, anywhere in Mexico. +I've learned how to ride 'em, too, but didn't I get pitched off by some +of those ponies! It would have scared mother half to death. I wish I +could see her to-night, and show her some of these pictures. I'd like to +see Bob and the girls, too. They never saw a book like this." + +He had examined a number of the pictures, and the lamp was burning +fairly well, but a long time had elapsed since he came into that room, +and he was not at all aware of it. + +"Seņor Carfora?" called out a voice in the doorway. "Oh, you are here. +You did light the lamp. I was almost afraid you were in the dark." + +"No, I'm not," said Ned. "I made it burn, and I've been looking at all +sorts of things. These pictures are just wonderful." + +"Oh!" she said, "I would not be in this room in the dark for anything! I +know all those things in that book, though. They are hideous! But they +say that that suit of armor has the worst kind of ghost in it." + +"Maybe it has," said Ned. "I don't believe he can get out, anyhow. He's +just stuck in it. I'd rather wear the clothes I have on." + +"Well," she replied, "mother sent me to find if you were here, and it +is dreadfully late--" + +"Oh, yes!" interrupted Ned. "I suppose it is time for me to go to bed. +I'll go, but I mean to see all there is in this library, seņorita. I +won't try to read it all. I don't care for ghosts, but I'd like to see +one." + +"I do not care for them in the daytime, either," she told him. "But old +Margarita, the Tlascalan, says that they come at night and sit here and +tell stories of all the Mexican idol gods. All of them hate us, too, +because we turned them out of their temples, and I hate them." + +"I'm glad they are gone, anyhow," said Ned, but it was really time to +go, and he carried some of the most brilliant of those illustrations +into some of his dreams that night. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +NED'S NEWS + + +"Hullo, young man! I've been looking for you. How are you?" + +"Captain Kemp!" shouted Ned, in astonishment. "Where did you come from? +Who dreamed of seeing you here?" + +"Nobody, I hope," said the captain; "but here I am, and I've brought you +half a dozen letters. They are among my baggage. First thing, though, +tell me all about yourself. Where have you been?" + +They were standing in the grand plaza, not many paces from the front of +the cathedral, and Ned had come there for another look at the building +which had taken the place of the old-time temple of the murderous +Mexican god of war. He was wildly excited for a moment, and he began to +ask questions, rather than to tell anything about himself. + +"Keep cool, now, my boy," said the captain. "We don't know who's +watching us. I didn't have much trouble in running the Yankee blockade +at Vera Cruz. I brought a cargo from New York, just as if it had been +sent from Liverpool, but I've had to prove that I'm not an American ever +since I came ashore. Spin us your yarn as we walk along." + +Ned was now ready to do so, and the captain listened to him with the +most intense interest, putting in remarks every now and then. + +"All this," he said, "is precisely what your father wishes you to do, if +you can do it. The way of it is this. He knows, and we all know, that +this war can't be a long one. As soon as it's over, his concern means to +go into the Mexican trade heavier than they ever did before. They think +it will be worth more, and I mean to be in it myself. So it just suits +him to have you here, making friends and learning all about the country +you are to deal with. He says you are in the best kind of business +school. There will be a fortune in it for you some day." + +"I don't exactly see how," remarked Ned, doubtfully. + +"Well," replied the captain, "not many young American business men know +ten cents' worth about Mexico. You'd better go right on and learn all +there is to know. Keep shy of all politics, though. This war is going to +break Paredes and a lot of others. After they are out of power, your own +friends, like Tassara, Zuroaga, and the rest of them, may be in office, +and you will be in clover. It's a wonderfully rich country, if it were +only in the right hands and had a good government. I'll give you the +letters when we get to my lodgings. Then I must make my way back to Vera +Cruz, but I had to come all this distance to get my pay from the +authorities. I obtained it, even now, only by promising to bring over +another cargo of British gunpowder, to fight the Yankees with." + +That was a thing which Ned did not like, but he could not do anything to +prevent it. He could not expect an Englishman to be an American, and it +was all a matter of trade to Captain Kemp, aside from his personal +friendship for Ned and his father. There was more talk of all sorts, and +Ned obtained a great deal of information concerning the war and what the +United States were likely to do. After he had received his precious +letters, however, and had said good-by to Captain Kemp, he almost ran +against people in his haste to reach the Paez mansion. He did not pause +to speak to anybody on arriving, but darted up-stairs and made his way +to the library. It was lighter now in the wonderful book-room, and the +man in armor did not say anything as Ned came in. In a moment he was in +the chair by the window, and he appeared to himself to be almost talking +with the dear ones at home, from whom he had so long been separated. + +"Stay where you are," he read from his father's long letter, and at that +hour he felt as if he did not wish to stay. He dropped the letter on the +table, and leaned back in his chair and looked around him. Pretty soon, +however, a little slowly to begin with, but then faster and faster, the +strong and fascinating spirit of adventure came once more upon him. His +very blood tingled, and he sprang to his feet to all but shout to his +mailed acquaintance in the corner: + +"Yes, sir, I'll stay! I'll do anything but become a Mexican. Tell you +what, before the war's over, I mean to be in the American army, somehow. +I don't exactly see how I'm to do it, though." + +It was time to go down-stairs and report to his faithful friends, for he +knew it would be very mean not to do so, and the first person he met was +Seņora Tassara herself. + +"I have letters from home!" he exclaimed, bluntly--"newspapers, too!" +and she held up both hands in astonishment, as she responded: + +"Letters from the United States? How on earth did they come through the +blockade, and how did they know where you are?" + +"I guess they didn't," said Ned. "The English captain that used to +command the _Goshhawk_ brought them. I met him at the plaza, hunting for +me. He was a friend of General Zuroaga, and besides, the British consul +at Vera Cruz knew I was with Colonel Tassara's family. So, if I hadn't +met him, he would have tried to find you. My father writes that I am to +stay in Mexico, and learn all about it." + +"I am glad of that," she said. "Why, you could not get out at all just +now without danger to yourself and getting all of us into trouble." + +"I wouldn't do that for anything!" exclaimed Ned, and then he went on +with his tremendous budget of miscellaneous news. + +It was an exceedingly interesting heap of information, for the captain +had given him both English and American journals, which were a rare +treat at that time in the interior of the beleaguered Mexican republic. +Seņora Tassara was busy with these, when Ned and all the other +news-bringers were pounced upon by a yet more eager inquirer. + +"Seņor Carfora!" exclaimed Felicia, her black eyes flashing curiously at +him. "Where did you get them? I never before saw such big newspapers. +They won't tell us about our army, though." + +"Yes, they will," he said, and, while she was searching the broad-faced +prints for army information, he repeated for her benefit all that he had +previously told her mother. Poor Seņorita Felicia! She did not obtain at +all what she wanted, for there were no accounts of brilliant Mexican +victories. All of these must have been meanly omitted by the editors, +and at last she angrily threw down a newspaper to say to him: + +"Seņor Carfora, I am glad you are to stay here, but you will never be +anything better than a gringo, no matter how much you learn. I was up in +the library this morning, and I pulled out six more books for you. You +may read them all, if they will do you any good. One of them is about +Spain, too. What I want to do is to travel all over Spain. It must be +the most beautiful country in the world." + +Ned had noticed long ago that her eyes always grew dreamy whenever her +thoughts were turned toward the peninsula which has had so wonderful a +history, but he did not know that his own longings for foreign travel +were very like her own in their origin when he replied: + +"Well, I'd like to see Spain. I mean to some day, but I want to see +England first, and Scotland and Ireland. One of my ancestors was an +Irishman, and the Crawfords were from Scotland. It isn't as hot a +country as Spain is. You are a Mexican, not a Spaniard." + +"So I am," she said, "and most of the Mexicans are Indians. We ought to +have more Spaniards, but we can't get them. Anyhow, we don't want too +many gringos to come in. They are all heretics, too." + +Ned knew what she meant, and he hastened to tell her that his country +contained more church people of her religion than Mexico did, and he +added, to her great disgust: + +"And our priests are a hundred times better than yours are. General +Zuroaga says so, and so does your father. I don't like your Mexican +priests. The general says he wishes they were all dead, and their +places filled by good, live men from Europe and the United States." + +"Felicia," interrupted her mother, "you must not talk with Seņor Carfora +about such things. What I wish is that we had the American common +schools all over our poor, ignorant country. Oh, dear! What if this +horrible war should prove to be really a blessing to us? As things look +now, we are to have another revolution within a year. More men will be +shot, just as they have been before, and nobody can see what the end is +to be." + +It was now time for the noonday luncheon, and they went to the +dining-room, where Seņora Paez herself was glad to see the foreign +journals and to know that Ned had letters from home. + +Many things appeared to be settled, as far as he was concerned. At all +events, his mind was no longer to busy itself with wild plans for +squirming out from among the Aztecs and finding his way to the United +States. After luncheon he went up to the library again. At first it was +only to read his letters over and over, and then it was a kind of relief +to go to his books and try to forget everything else in going on with +his queer schooling. It was unlike any that his old schoolmates at the +North were having, and he caught himself wondering what kind of man it +might make of him. He could not tell, but he was to have yet another +lesson that day, and with it came a promise of a strange kind of +vacation. + +It came to him in the evening, when he was so tired of books that he +preferred the company of Seņorita Felicia, no matter what saucy or +overpatriotic things she might see fit to say to him. They were sitting +near one of the drawing-room windows, when Seņora Paez came quietly +behind him and touched him on the shoulder. + +"Come with me," she said. "There is a man up in Seņora Tassara's room +who wishes to see you." + +"O Seņor Carfora!" whispered Felicia. "Don't say a word! I know who it +is. Go right along. He is an old friend of yours." + +Up jumped Ned, and he and the seņorita followed Seņora Paez eagerly. +Half a minute later, he felt as if he had never been so astonished +before in all his life, for his hand was heartily grasped, and the voice +of General Zuroaga said to him: + +"Here I am, Seņor Carfora. How are you?" + +"Oh, but I'm glad to see you!" exclaimed Ned. "I'm all right, but isn't +it awfully dangerous for you to be here?" + +"It would be, if some men knew it," replied Zuroaga, "or if I were +unwise enough to remain too long. The fact is that I can give you only a +few minutes, anyhow, this evening. I must be out of the city before +daylight, if I can, but I will return at the end of a week or so. Then I +shall take you with me to the valley of the Tehuantepec. You must see +all that region. After that I shall have a tour to make on political +affairs, through several States, and you will have a chance to see two +thirds of the republic before winter." + +"That is just what my father would wish me to do," said Ned, and he +proceeded to tell the general the contents of his letters and all the +news he had heard from Captain Kemp. + +"Very good!" said Zuroaga, at last. "I would have been glad to have seen +the captain. He is a rough sort of fellow, but he can be depended on. It +is evident that your father's firm trusts him, but I believe they do not +know exactly all that he has been doing. He is quite willing to make a +few dollars for himself while he is working for others." + +The general was in good spirits, but more than once he spoke of the +necessity he was under of keeping out of the reach of his old enemies, +and among these he appeared to consider the absent Santa Anna even more +dangerous, in the long run, than President Paredes himself. Seņora +Tassara had now joined them, but she seemed disposed to be silent, and +most of the conversation was in the hands of Seņora Paez. It was +noticeable that she appeared to have a remarkably good knowledge of the +politics of her country. Perhaps, if Ned had been a few years older and +the least bit of a politician, he might have suspected the truth, that +she was one of the most subtle plotters in the whole country. If she was +also a deadly enemy of President Paredes, it was because she was a +sister of a revolutionary leader whom he had caused to be shot, years +ago, without the formality of a court-martial. Ned saw her eyes flash +and her bosom heave when she spoke of him, and after that he somehow +felt safer than ever under her roof. He also saw that she and General +Zuroaga were the best of friends, and that they had a long private +conference of their own. + +"I guess he feels at home here," thought Ned, as he went down-stairs +with Felicia and Seņora Tassara, and his confidence in that state of +affairs grew stronger as he walked along the central hall of the house. + +"Pablo!" he exclaimed, to a man who lay sprawled out upon the floor, but +the general's Oaxaca follower made him no reply. He and three more like +him, who lay near him, were sound asleep, and there was no good cause +for stirring them up just then. + +"They are all well armed," said Ned to himself. "The general will be +protected when he rides away in the morning. But this is the biggest +kind of thing to come to me. The best _I_ can do will be to take to my +books till he gets back. Oh, but won't it be grand fun to make a +complete tour of the mountains and of all the Pacific coast of Mexico? +He says I shall see the tallest peaks of the Cordilleras and that I may +visit some of the great silver mines." + +With all that exciting expectation running through his head, it was not +easy for him to get to sleep that night. When he arose in the morning, +his friend, the mysterious general, had already departed. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +A STORM COMING + + +"A monarchy! a monarchy! nothing but the one-man power will ever do +anything for this miserable multitude of Indians, negroes, and +rebellion-making Spanish aristocrats. Royalty is our only resource, and +I am nearly ready to strike the required blow. I think that Don Maria +Paredes would make as good an emperor as Augustin de Yturbide, and he +will wear the crown of Mexico somewhat longer. But I must look out for +Santa Anna. If he were to return from Cuba too soon, there would be +nothing left for me but to have him shot as soon as he came ashore. Or +else he might have me shot not many days afterward. His emissaries and +spies are all the while working against me, but I shall catch some of +them. Oh, how I would like to get hold of that venomous conspirator, +Zuroaga!" + +The President and practically the dictator of the nominal republic of +Mexico was standing in his own luxurious chamber of the government +palace in the city of Mexico. He was in the full uniform of a general +officer, for he was preparing to ride out and attend a review of a +division of the really large army which he had gathered to move against +the American invaders at the north. He deemed himself favored by +fortune, for all things had thus far appeared to operate in the +direction of his high ambition. He was in possession of undisputed +power, and his time for making his supremacy permanent had arrived. It +was the morning of the 4th of August, 1846, and it promised to be a +splendid day for a parade. He had eloquently appealed to all the +patriotism in the land, and he had used his last dollar in raising the +troops who were to win his victories and place him firmly upon the +throne of Anahuac, the lost throne of the Montezumas. A large part of +his forces had already marched, and he was now to follow with the +remainder. It was high time that he should do so, for General Taylor's +army was daily drawing nearer the Mexican lines at the city of Monterey. +Not many minutes later, he rode away from the palace, attended by a +brilliant staff, through crowded streets, where every hat went off and +all the voices shouted "Viva Paredes" with every appearance of +enthusiasm. + +That morning Ned Crawford had not felt like going out of the city to see +any review. Days had passed since the departure of General Zuroaga, but +Ned's head was full of what his friend had said to him, and he did not +care much in what direction his feet might take him. So, having all that +responsibility to themselves, they carried him on across the city until, +when he looked around him, he saw that he had almost reached the front +gate of the out-of-date fort, which was known as "the citadel." It +always contained a large garrison, not by any means for the defence of +the capital from external foes, but for the protection of whatever might +be the "government" for the time being from any sudden tumult or +attempted revolution. There were officers and a squad of soldiers +standing a few paces out in front of the wide-open military portal, and +they all were gazing intently in the same direction. Ned also turned to +look, but all that he could see was a solitary rider, upon what seemed +to be an all but exhausted horse, urging the panting animal toward the +citadel. + +"Colonel Guerra!" exclaimed Ned. "What has brought him all the way from +Vera Cruz? Has our army come? Is the city taken?" + +Nothing of that kind had yet occurred, but there was a reason for the +arrival of the trusted commander of the important fortress on the sea. +Ned was very near him when the horse fell, and his rider sprang to the +earth, covered with dust and evidently in great excitement. The officers +at the gate rushed forward toward him, and one of them loudly demanded: + +"Colonel Guerra! What is it? Has he come? All is ready here!" + +Guerra himself had not fallen with his horse. Off came his hat and his +sword flashed from the sheath, while his voice rang out clearly, +fiercely: + +"Viva Santa Anna! The entire force at Vera Cruz and the garrison of San +Juan de Ulua have pronounced for him. He is now on his way home from +Havana. We shall soon have with us the one hero who can save us from the +American invaders and from the tyranny of King Paredes!" + +Possibly, this had been the day calculated upon for the arrival of +precisely such tidings. It might even have been that all these officers +and soldiers were gathered there, prepared both to hear and to act, +while President Paredes should be temporarily absent from the city. At +all events, they were swinging their hats, drawing their swords, and +their enthusiastic acclamations for the returning general were at once +followed by a rush back into the citadel and a hasty closing of its +gates. When that was done, and when the rest of the garrison had joined +in "pronouncing" for Santa Anna, the military control of the Mexican +capital had passed out of the hands of President Paredes. + +It was startling news, therefore, which was brought out to him by a +friendly messenger, as he rode so proudly on in front of his shouting +soldiery, believing that they were all his own and ready to do his +bidding. The grand review ended instantaneously, and he came galloping +back in all haste to look out for his tumbling crown. He came with his +brilliant staff and a mixed crowd of friends and unfriends, only to +discover that crown and throne and scepter had disappeared like the +changing figures in a kaleidoscope. He could not even order anybody to +be arrested and shot, for the Vice-President, General Bravo, and all the +members of the national Congress, then in session, were thoughtfully +saying to themselves, if not to each other: + +"Santa Anna is coming! The seacoast forces are already his. He will be +right here in a few days. We must be careful what we say or do just now. +We do not even know what these new troops will say to this thing." + +They were not to remain long in ignorance upon that point. As the news +went out from regiment to regiment that afternoon, the undisciplined, +ragged mobs of raw recruits began to shout for Santa Anna. Perhaps many +of them had previously served under the one-legged veteran of the old +French and Texan wars and at least half a dozen revolutions. + +Ned Crawford turned and hurried homeward, as soon as he felt sure that +his head was still upon his shoulders and that he had heard his +remarkable news correctly. His eyes were busy, too, and he heard what +men were saying to each other. Excited shouts were carrying the errand +of Colonel Guerra swiftly over the city, and everywhere it was +discovering hearers as ready for it as had been the officers at the +gate. He may have been looking a little pale when he entered the parlor +of the Paez mansion, for Seņora Paez at once arose and came to meet him, +inquiring, anxiously: + +"Seņor Carfora, what is the matter? Has anything happened?" + +"Santa Anna--" began Ned, but she stepped quickly forward and put her +hand upon his mouth, whispering sharply: + +"Speak lower! we do not know who may hear you. What is it?" + +She took away her hand, and Ned also whispered, as he hurriedly told her +what he had seen and heard at the citadel. As he did so, her face and +that of Seņora Tassara, standing by her, grew much paler than his own. + +"My dear Mercedes," said Seņora Tassara to her cousin, "this is all as +my husband and General Zuroaga predicted. But the tiger is not here yet, +and by the time he arrives they will be beyond his reach. It takes some +days to travel from Vera Cruz to the city of Mexico. Seņor Carfora, you +are in no danger. Neither are we." + +"No!" angrily exclaimed Seņora Paez. "Not for to-day nor to-morrow, +perhaps, but down goes the Paredes monarchy! Ah, me! There is a terrible +time coming for poor Mexico. Who shall tell what the end of it all will +be!" + +"Nobody!" said Seņora Tassara, sadly, but Felicia whispered to Ned: + +"Seņor Carfora, the gringos could not do us much harm if their army had +a revolution springing up behind it at home. I wish they had one." + +"I don't," replied Ned. "If we did have one, though, it would be bigger +than this is. I don't believe we have any Santa Annas to make one, +anyhow. There isn't a man in all America that would think of being king. +I guess that if we found one we'd hang him." + +"Well," said Felicia, "President Paredes would like to hang a great many +people, or shoot them, but I hope he can't. What are you going to do?" + +"He does not know, dear," interposed her mother. "We must stop talking +about this thing now. Some of our friends are coming in. It is better to +let them tell us what has happened, just as if we had not heard it at +all. Be very careful what you say." + +Perhaps everybody in the Paez mansion was accustomed to that kind of +caution, and when a number of excited women neighbors poured into the +parlor to bring the great tidings and discuss the situation, they found +no one in it who was to be surprised into saying a word which might not +have been heard without offence by the friends of either Paredes or +Santa Anna. + +Great changes in public affairs may produce changes in the plans of +individuals, and it was not remarkable if General Zuroaga's intended +week of absence should be somewhat shortened. It may have ended at the +moment when the garrison of the citadel "pronounced" in favor of the +tyrant in exile and against the tyrant in nominal power. Ned, however, +had a small surprise waiting for him. It actually arrived not a great +while after luncheon, when he was feeling as if he would like to sit +down by himself and think over this very curious piece of political +business. He went up into the library, as the safest kind of +thinking-place, and, hardly had he opened the door, before he discovered +that it had another tenant besides the man in armor in the corner. + +"General Zuroaga!" he exclaimed, in astonishment. + +"Not quite so loud, please," quietly responded the general. "Yes, +Carfora, here I am. Here I must hide, too, for a few hours. The camp is +no longer a safe place for me, even in the disguise I was wearing. There +is really nothing more to keep me there now. I do not need to run any +further risks on account of Paredes and his tin monarchy. He is already +utterly ruined. I must get out of the reach of Santa Anna's +lieutenants, however, if I do not wish to be locked up. You and I can +slip away all the more easily while this tumult is going on, and by noon +to-morrow we may be well out on the road to Oaxaca. Will you be ready?" + +"It's just what I was wishing for!" exclaimed Ned. "I know enough to see +that it isn't a good thing for Seņora Paez to have me in the house. She +has troubles enough of her own. So has Seņora Tassara. If an enemy of +theirs found that they had a gringo here, it would make things worse for +them. They've been real good to me, but I want to go with you." + +"Right!" said the general. "And there will be sharp eyes on the watch +while Santa Anna's friends are getting ready for his arrival. He may +appear to come peaceably, but do I not know him? He never yet forgot or +forgave an enemy. He will come back to settle up all old accounts." + +"Well," said Ned, "we need not be here to be shot at. I packed up, all +ready, days ago. But, general, I guess I can ride better than I did the +other time. I don't need to have so fat a pony." + +"My dear fellow," replied the general, soberly, "you will be mounted on +a horse that can make a swift run, if necessary. I am glad that you +will know what to do with him." + +In other things than horsemanship, Ned had made wonderful advances since +he came ashore out of the norther, in the Bay of Vera Cruz. It was as if +he had grown a number of years older in becoming so much more +experienced. Moreover, he knew so much already about the plots and +counterplots which were going on that it was of little use to keep some +things from him. He was, in fact, almost full-grown as a Mexican +conspirator, and he was sure to do whatever he could against either a +monarchy under Paredes or a dictatorship under Santa Anna. It was a full +hour later when they were joined by Seņora Paez. She came on a special +errand, for almost her first remark was: + +"General, there will be danger from robbers of all sorts. I shall not +dare to keep a great deal of money in the house. I have not much, +either, that I can spare for yourself, but you must take this and spend +it to beat them. What's more, I want you to take my jewels with you and +hide them somewhere in the mountains. Seņora Tassara's are already in a +safe place. I hope Seņor Carfora has enough." + +"Oh, yes!" exclaimed Ned. "I have hardly spent anything, and Captain +Kemp gave me another hundred, from father. I almost wish it were all in +bank-bills, though, for gold and silver are heavy things to carry." + +"Well, as to that," laughed the general, "I do not know what kind of +paper money we could make in Mexico, just now. That sort of thing will +do only under a pretty solid government. But then, a dollar will go +further in this country than it will in the United States. It looks as +if horses were worth only five dollars a head, and men about half as +much. There are too many that seem ready to sell themselves for +nothing." + +He said that wearily and sadly, for he was at heart a true patriot and +he believed himself to be doing his best to bring a better state of +things out of all this anarchy and confusion. + +Seņora Paez left the room. Ned and the general lay down on the floor to +sleep for awhile, and it was just when the first dim light of dawn was +beginning to creep in at the narrow window that Pablo came to awaken +them. He put his finger on his lip as he did so, and they understood +that there might be danger close at hand. It was not until they were +out of the house, however, leaving it silently by way of the back door, +that he ventured to whisper: + +"General, there is a guard already stationed in front. President Paredes +is making his last effort to stop his downfall, and he has heard that +you are in the city. All your friends will be closely watched, to-day." + +"I wanted to say good-by to them," began Ned, but here they were. + +"General, this is the jewel case," said Seņora Paez, as she handed him a +small rosewood box. "Here is the money. Now, Seņor Carfora, be a brave +fellow. Learn all you can of our poor country. I hope to see you again." + +Seņora Tassara was saying something in a very low voice to Zuroaga, when +Felicia turned to Ned and said to him: + +"You are a wicked gringo, but I like you pretty well and I do hope you +will get away safely. Take good care of yourself." + +"Well, seņorita," replied Ned, "I will do that, and so must you. I'd +rather be out among the mountains than here in the city. You'd be safer +there, too. Anyhow, you are not a Mexican. You are a Spaniard and you +would rather be in Spain." + +"Maybe I would, just now," she told him with a very melancholy look in +her brilliant black eyes. "But I do love Mexico, and I do know enough to +wish we were not to have any more revolutions. That is, not any more +after Paredes and Santa Anna and some other men have been killed." + +"That is the way they all feel about each other," broke in the general. +"Come, Carfora. We have horses waiting for us on one of the back +streets." + +There were a few hasty good-bys then. The three fugitives passed out of +sight among the shadows of the buildings, and the women returned to the +house to wait for the downfall of King or Emperor Paredes. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE REVOLUTION + + +There had been a curious impression upon the minds of some American +statesmen that General Santa Anna would return to his native country +with a purpose of making peace. It was for that reason that he was +permitted to pass unhindered through the blockading fleet in the Gulf, +but he had no such idea in his cunning and ambitious head. His real +objects in returning were to take vengeance upon his enemies, to restore +himself to the supreme power which he had lost by the revolution of +1840, and, for that purpose, to prosecute the war with the United States +with all possible vigor. His personal feeling in that matter might have +been understood by recalling the fact that his downfall had resulted +from his severe defeat in attempting to conquer the earlier American +settlers in Texas. On his arrival in Vera Cruz, on the 16th of August, +a proclamation which he at once issued, denouncing alike the +monarchical ambition of President Paredes and the wicked invasion of +Mexico by the armies of the northern republic, opened the eyes of all +concerned. When, however, with all the troops at his disposal, he slowly +approached the city of Mexico, he put on a cloak of patriotic +moderation. The existing government, consisting of Vice-President Bravo +and the Congress, had succeeded in imprisoning and then in banishing +their would-be emperor, Paredes. They now, as the returning exile drew +near the capital, offered him a temporary dictatorship of the disordered +national affairs, but he modestly replied that he did not desire so +much. He had returned, he said, as a pure and unselfish patriot, only to +serve his country. All that he would be willing to accept would be the +absolute control of the army, as if any power worth speaking of might be +supposed to remain outside of his bayonets and lances. This small +request was readily granted, and from that hour onward he was, for the +time being, more completely the dictator of Mexico than he or any other +man had ever been before. He entered the city and assumed command on the +15th of September. Only a week later, on the 22d and 23d, the fall and +surrender of Monterey strengthened his hold upon the people, for it made +them feel more keenly than ever their need of a good general. He +certainly did act with great energy, for, as early as the 8th of +October, he had advanced with his army as far north as San Luis Potosi, +and was straining every possible resource to prepare for his coming +conflict with General Taylor. It is said that he even mortgaged his +private property to obtain the money required for his military supplies. + +During all these weeks and months there had been stormy times in the +Congress of the United States, and the war of the politicians was by no +means ended. General Winfield Scott, however, had been left at the head +of the army, with authority to invade Mexico in any manner he might +choose, but with about half as many troops as he declared to be +necessary for such an undertaking. It was late in December, 1846, when +General Scott in person arrived at the mouth of the Rio Grande and +assumed the direction of military operations. As he did not propose any +considerable further advance into Mexico, except by way of Vera Cruz, he +decided to take his best troops with him to that field of the coming +campaign. This meant that General Taylor was to lose nearly all his +regular army men and officers, their places being filled, as to numbers, +by new regiments of exceedingly brave but untried volunteers. He was +therefore left to face, with raw troops, any intended onslaught of Santa +Anna, who would bring with him several times as large a force, of all +sorts, most of it composed of recent levies, imperfectly organized and +disciplined. It remained to be seen which of the two kinds of men, the +Mexican Indian or the American rifleman, could be the more rapidly +changed into a trained soldier, fitted for a hard day's fight. + +Throughout all the interior of Mexico there was a fair degree of peace +and order, although robber bands were reported here and there. No signs +of a coming revolution appear to have been discovered, for nearly all +the great leaders who might have set one on foot were either banished or +shot, or were serving in Santa Anna's army, half hoping for his defeat +and destruction that he might be taken out of the way of their +ambitions. + +There came one cloudless day near the end of February, when a kind of +cool and beautiful summer seemed to rule over all the fair land of +Anahuac, except among the snow-clad Cordilleras. There were roses in +bloom in many gardens of the city of Mexico, and all things in and about +the national capital wore an exceedingly peaceful air. The very guards +at the citadel were pacing listlessly up and down, as if they were +lazily aware that all evil-minded gringos and other foes of their +comfort were several hundreds of miles away. At the city gates there +were no sentries of any kind, and a young fellow who rode in on a +spirited pony, at an hour or so after noon, was not questioned by +anybody as to where he came from or what he was doing there. He cast +sharp glances in all directions as he rode onward, but he seemed to have +no need for inquiring his way. He went steadily, moreover, as if he +might have business rather than pleasure on his hands, and he did not +pull in his pony until he had reached the front of the Paez mansion. +There was no one on the piazza but a short, fat old woman, in a blazing +red cotton gown, who sprang to her feet almost as if he had frightened +her, exclaiming: + +"Seņor Carfora!" + +"Dola!" he responded, sharply. "Don't say another loud word! Are either +of the seņoras at home? I must see them right away." + +"Oh, yes!" she said, turning to run into the house. "I will tell them. +They are in the parlor, and the seņorita." + +Down sprang Ned and hitched his pony to a post, but then he hurried +through the front door as quickly as Dola herself had done. Perhaps it +was well that he should get in without being recognized by too many +eyes. He did not have to actually get into the parlor before he was +welcomed, for a light form sprang out into the hall, and Felicia herself +shouted, eagerly: + +"Oh, Seņor Carfora! Are you here? This is wonderful!" + +"Seņorita," he interrupted her, "I have letters for your mother and +Seņora Paez. Where are they?" + +"They are right here," she said, "but we have letters, too. All the +flags in the city are out and they are firing salutes of rejoicing." + +"I saw the flags," he said, "and I heard some firing, but what on earth +are they rejoicing over? Is there any news?" + +The two grown-up women were standing behind her, with faces in which +there was no joy whatever when Felicia exultingly told him: + +"Why, have not you heard? General Santa Anna has beaten your gringo army +all to pieces. The United States fleet is coming to Vera Cruz with +another army, and the American soldiers will not dare to come on shore. +All they can do will be to sit there in their ships and look at the +city." + +"Come in, Seņor Carfora," said Seņora Paez. "I cannot tell you how glad +we are to see you. Yes, we have very important letters. I may suppose +that yours are from the general. Please let me have them." + +"Do, Seņor Carfora!" said Seņora Tassara. "I cannot wait a moment. We +will retire to read them, and, while we are gone, Felicia may tell you +all the news from the great battle at the north." + +"Yes, so I will," she exclaimed. "And I want him to tell me all about +the places he has been in, and what he has been doing." + +In a moment more they two were alone in the parlor, and she was +repeating to him the substance of Santa Anna's report of the manner in +which, at the hard-fought battle of Angostura, or Buena Vista, on the +22d of February, he had shattered the American army under General +Taylor. He had, he said, effectively prevented its further advance into +Mexico, and there was really a strong appearance of truth in his way of +presenting the consequences of the battle, for the American army seemed +to have retreated. Horse after horse had been ridden to death in taking +such great tidings to the city of Mexico, and, for the hour, at least, +the great Mexican commander was more firmly fixed in supreme power than +ever. + +Of course, the triumphant bulletin did not make any mention of the fact +that General Taylor had had no intention of advancing any further, being +under express orders from General Scott not to do so, and that Santa +Anna's well-planned and at first nearly successful attempt to crush the +northern invaders had really proved a failure. Ned Crawford listened to +Felicia's enthusiastic account of the battle with a curious question in +his mind which he was too polite to utter. + +"Why," he thought, "if Santa Anna was so completely victorious, did he +not make General Taylor surrender?" + +There was no one to inform Ned that the Mexican commander had invited +General Taylor to do so before the fight was half over, and that the +stubborn old American had unkindly refused the invitation. At this +moment, however, the seņorita's tongue began to busy itself with quite +another matter. The United States fleet, under Commodore Connor, had, +indeed, begun to arrive in front of Vera Cruz on the 18th of February, +with a vast convoy of transport ships under its protection, having on +board the army of General Scott. Neither Ned nor the seņorita was aware, +however, how many important questions have to be answered before so many +military passengers might undertake to land, with all their baggage, +within possible reach of the artillery of an enemy. Felicia, for her +part, was positive that they all were too badly scared by the Castle of +San Juan de Ulua and by the bad news from Buena Vista to so much as try +to make a landing. + +"General Santa Anna himself is now marching down to meet them," she told +him, "with his whole victorious army, and he will crush them as fast as +they can get out of their ships." + +Owing to the grand reports from their army, this was precisely the idea +which was forming in the minds of all the people of Mexico. + +"Oh, Seņorita Felicia!" said Ned, as if he were quite willing to change +the subject. "I've had a wonderful time. I've been travelling, +travelling, travelling, everywhere with the general." + +"Tell me all about it!" she commanded him. "I want to know. It seems to +me as if I had been shut up here and had not seen anybody." + +"Well, I can't tell it all just now," he said, "but when we left here we +hurried all the way to Oaxaca. Then we stayed there awhile, among his +own people, and nobody gave us any trouble. No, I mustn't forget one +thing, though. A band of those mountain robbers came one night, and we +had an awful fight with them--" + +"Did you kill any of them?" she asked, hastily. "They all ought to be +killed. They are ready to murder anybody else." + +"Well," said Ned, "we beat them, and ten of them were shot. I was firing +away all the while, but I don't know if I hit any of them. It was too +dark to tell. The rest of them got away. But I've hunted deer, and I +killed a good many of them. I shot a lynx, too, and a lot of other game. +There's the best kind of fishing on the general's estates. I like +fishing. Then we went south, to the Yucatan line, and I saw some queer +old ruins. After that, the general's business took him away up north of +Oaxaca, and I went with him, and I saw half the States of Mexico before +we finished the trip. I've seen the silver mines and Popocatepetl and +Istaccihuatl, and I don't care to ever see any higher mountains than +they are." + +"I have seen Popocatepetl," she said, "and it almost made me have the +headache. They say it is full of sulphur, to make gunpowder with." + +Before she could tell anything more about the possible uses of the tall, +old volcano, her mother reëntered the parlor. + +"Seņor Carfora," she said, "Felicia will have to give you up. Here are +some letters for you that came while you were absent. You had better +read them now, for I cannot say how long it will be best for you to +remain here. Step this way a moment, if you will." + +Ned followed her, all in a sudden whirl of excitement at the unexpected +prospect of hearing from his far-away home, but she still held his +promised envelopes in her own hand, while she said to him: + +"My dear young friend, you know that Colonel Tassara is with his +regiment. He was in the thickest of the fight at Angostura. He was +wounded, but he hopes to recover soon, and we have not told Felicia. He +writes me that it was really a lost battle, and that the fall of Santa +Anna is surely coming, but that nobody can foretell what course he will +take, cruel or otherwise, when he and his army return to fight with +General Scott, on the road from the sea to this city. Go and read your +letters, and then I will see you again." + +Felicia had to give him up, and away he went. The best place to read +home letters seemed to him to be the library, and when he entered the +dim old room, he half imagined that the man in armor nodded at him, and +tried to say how d'ye do. After that, Ned almost forgot that he was in +Mexico, while he devoured the news from home. It was a grand thing to +learn, too, that the letters which he had feared would never get to New +York had all been carefully delivered under the kindly care of the +British consular system. He had never before felt quite so high an +admiration for the British Empire as he acquired just then. + +"I'll do something good for the next Englishman I get hold of!" he +declared, with energy, and then he sat still and stared around the room. + +"It was just as well," he said, "that I did not stay here and try to +read all those books. I read enough about the ancient times, too. What +father wanted me to know about is Mexico as it is now, and I've seen a +great deal of it. What I want to see next is our army, and I'm going to +find my way to Vera Cruz. Then I'll get on board an American ship, +somehow or other. I wonder if the Mexican officers will manage to arrest +me between this and the seacoast." + +That was a point worth thinking of, for General Zuroaga had told him +very plainly that some ignorant or overhasty patriot might easily find +an excuse for calling him a spy, and having him shot at a moment's +notice. He did not have a long time to consider that matter, however, +for the door opened, and the two seņoras walked in, with clouded faces. + +"Seņor Carfora," said Seņora Tassara, "you will have no time to lose. +General Zuroaga is right, and his letter must go at once to his friend, +General Morales, who is now in command at Vera Cruz. So must one from my +own husband. It is important, for the best interest of Mexico, that +Morales should know the whole truth. That is, he must be informed that +he cannot expect any help from Santa Anna's beaten army. Are you too +tired to set out immediately? I can give you a fresh horse." + +"I'll go!" exclaimed Ned. "My pony isn't tired. He is a first-rate +traveller. I want something to eat, though, and I wish I knew whether or +not the army patrols will stop me on the way." + +"I can take care of that," said Seņora Paez. "I have had to send special +messengers before this. You will be able to show a government pass." + +As she spoke, she held out to him a sealed envelope. Where or how she +had obtained such a thing, she did not explain, but it was an official +envelope, and on it was a printed lettering which might have been +translated: "Government Business. From the Headquarters of the Army. +Despatches from His Excellency, General Bravo." In her own handwriting +was added, moreover: "To His Excellency, General Morales, Vera Cruz." + +"There!" she said. "If it becomes necessary, show that, and any man +hindering you will be promptly punished. Do not show it if you can help +it, however, for there are many kinds of army officers nowadays." + +"I have seen some of them," said Ned, but what he was really thinking +about most seriously, at that moment, was the supper he had asked for, +and he was well pleased to be led down into the dining-room. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE DESPATCH-BEARER + + +There are hills to climb, on the crooked highway from the city of Mexico +to the sea, but the greater part of the distance is down, down, down, +for its highest point is over seven thousand feet above tidewater. It +was in a pass leading over this ridge that Ned Crawford looked around +him, up and down and ahead, and exclaimed, as well as his chattering +teeth would let him: + +"Well, I'm glad there are no snow-drifts in my way. I suppose the army +men look out for that. But don't I wish I had an overcoat and some furs! +Old Mount Orizaba can get up a first-class winter on his own account." + +It looked like it, and this part of his experiences had not been at all +provided for. The Cordillera was very white, and its garment of snow and +ice went down nearer to its feet than when Ned had first seen it. +Moreover, the pony which had travelled so well when he cantered away +from the Paez mansion, some days before, was showing signs of +exhaustion, and it was manifestly well for him that he was now going +down instead of climbing. So it was for Ned, and his uppermost wish was +to hurry down into a more summery climate. He was still doing so, to the +best of his shivering ability, two hours later, when a loud summons to +halt sounded in the road before him. + +"Whoop!" shouted Ned, and the soldier, who had presented his bayonet so +sternly, was greeted as if he had been an old friend. Rapid explanations +followed, in Spanish, but before they were completed an officer had made +his appearance from a small but comfortable guard-house at the side of +the road. He was only a lieutenant, and he appeared to gaze with more +than a little awe upon the superscription of Ned's precious government +envelope. He turned it over and over, and almost smelled of it. + +"Seņor Carfora!" he exclaimed. "This must not be delayed for a moment! +You must ride on, if it kills you. Come in and get a dinner. We will +give you a fresh mount. Tell us the news while you are eating." + +"I will do so," replied Ned, with a tremendous effort to stop shivering +and look important. "But I will say that I was told that any man +interfering with that despatch would be shot in one hour." + +"Beyond a doubt!" declared the lieutenant, with emphasis. "It would +serve him right, too. This is no time for trifling with orders." + +A hearty dinner by a blazing log fire made the despatch-bearer feel a +great deal better, but at the end of it no mercy was shown him. His +fresh pony was ready, and he was ordered to mount and ride. He did so +without offering any objections, and he carried with him the +lieutenant's written pass, for possible use further down the mountain. +It was a good thing to have, but he was called upon to present it only +twice, receiving in each instance positive instructions to push onward +if it killed him and his new pony. + +"I can't stand this much longer!" he exclaimed, as the sun was setting. +"I'm almost beyond the snow-line. I think I'll disobey the guards a +little, but I'll keep on obeying Seņora Paez. She told me on no account +to try to sleep in a large town or village. They are all military posts, +and too many questions might be asked. I'll try a hacienda, just as I +did on the other side of the mountains. Everybody wants to hear the +news." + +Everybody in that region was also genuinely hospitable, and it was +barely dusk when Ned rode in at the gate of a substantial farmhouse, to +be welcomed with the utmost cordiality. Men, women, and children crowded +eagerly around him, to hear all he could tell them of the great battle +and victory of Angostura, and of the current doings in the capital city. +A warm bed was given him, and after a long sleep he awoke somewhat +better fitted for whatever else might be before him. Once more he pushed +on, but before noon of that day all signs of winter were far behind him. +He had passed through more than one considerable village, but so had +other travellers, coming or going, who bore about them no appearance of +being worth the attention of the military authorities. Another and +another night in wayside farmhouses compelled him to admire more than +ever the simple ways and the sincere patriotism of the Mexican farmers. +All the while, however, his anxieties concerning the result of his +perilous errand were growing upon him, and he was obediently using up +his army pony. It was the forenoon of the third day before he was +aroused from his other thoughts into anything like enthusiasm for the +exceeding beauty of the luxuriant vegetation on either side of the road. + +"Leaves! flowers! grass!" he exclaimed. "Oh, how beautiful they all are! +Summer here, and winter only a few miles away. Hurrah for the _tierra +caliente_! It's a bully place at this time o' year." + +At all events, it was a pleasanter place to be in than any icy pass +among the Mexican sierras, and his thoughts were at liberty to come back +to his present situation. He was not now upon the Cordoba road, by which +he had left the gulf coast ever so long ago. This was the highway from +the city of Jalapa. He was cantering along only a short distance from +the seashore, and he was within a few miles of the gates of Vera Cruz. + +"I remember them," he was thinking. "I never had a good chance for a +look at the walls, but I suppose I shall have one pretty soon. I wonder +if they are thick enough to stop a cannon-ball. Captain Kemp told me +they were built all around the city, but he didn't say how high they +are." + +Walls there were, indeed, but their masonry was not the next thing that +was to be of especial interest to Ned. There is no kind of stonework +which can compare, under certain circumstances, with the point of a +lance or the edge of a machete, and the bearers of a number of such +weapons were to be seen coming toward him at a gallop. + +"It looks like a whole company of lancers!" exclaimed the anxious +despatch-carrier. "Now I'm in for it! Everybody I met on the way was +civil enough, but these may be a different kind of fellows." + +Whether they were or not, the whole force under General Morales was in a +state of unusual excitement that day, for the report was going around +that the American army brought by Commodore Connor's fleet was rapidly +coming ashore near Sacrificios Island, only three miles south of Vera +Cruz. If Ned himself had been aware of it, he might have changed his +plans and ridden right in among his own friends. As it was, however, in +less than three minutes he had cantered in among a swarm of angry +Mexicans and glittering spear-points. Their state of discipline was +witnessed to by the fact that the captain in nominal command of them had +some difficulty in obtaining from them permission to ask his own +questions of this newcomer. When at last he succeeded in doing so, +without first having his captive run through by a lance, it shortly +looked as if Ned had been learning diplomacy, if not strategy also, +during his varied and wonderful Mexican experiences. + +"Seņor Captain," he said, quite coolly, pulling out his official +envelope, "I am ordered to deliver this to General Morales in person. I +am commanded to answer no questions. Any man daring to hinder the +delivery of my despatches will be shot. They are important." + +"Where are you from?" came savagely back. + +Ned only pointed at the envelope and shut his mouth hard. + +"What is your errand to General Morales?" + +Ned's brain was working with tremendous rapidity just then, and one of +his swift thoughts got away from him. + +"Captain," he said, "you had better ask that question of his Excellency, +General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna." + +The officer's swarthy face turned pale for a moment, and all the men who +had heard Ned's reply broke out into loud vivas for their great +commander-in-chief, the illustrious victor of the bloody field of +Angostura. The entire company became at once the zealous guardians of +that sacred envelope, which so few of them could have read, and the +captain was forced to restrain his curiosity, and allow Ned to continue, +keeping his mouth closed. For all that, however, the despatch-bearer was +still a prisoner, and was to be conducted as such to the presence of +General Morales. The lancers turned their horses toward the city, and +the gates were reached as quickly as Ned's tired pony could carry him. +At this barrier, of course, there were other guards and officers of +higher rank, and there might have been further delay, or even danger, if +Ned had not promptly exhibited the magical envelope, while the captain +himself repeated his own words for him, and curtly added: + +"His Excellency, General Bravo! Viva Morales! Viva Santa Anna!" + +That last word sealed the matter. The envelope was returned to its +bearer, and he was conducted onward under the care of two colonels, +several other officials, and a half-dozen of watchful lancers. + +Ned shortly understood that General Morales had returned from the Castle +of San Juan de Ulua to go out for a telescopic inspection of the +American landing, and was now at his headquarters in the city. + +"I guess I shall feel better after I get to him," thought Ned, as he and +his excited party halted before the headquarters building. "I may get +stuck with a machete yet, if I have to wait long out here." + +He was neither to be delayed nor slaughtered, and in a few minutes more +he was ushered into a handsomely furnished chamber, where the general +was sitting, apparently entirely calm and self-possessed, surrounded by +his staff and a throng of other important men, soldiers and civilians. +He did not say a word while a colonel of the escort was delivering his +report concerning this messenger, but he was all the while sharply +scrutinizing Ned from head to foot. + +"Gentlemen," he then said to those around him, "this may be something of +extraordinary importance. Come with me, Carfora!" + +He arose from his chair, and Ned silently followed him into another +room. As soon as they were shut in here by themselves, he turned +fiercely upon the young despatch-bearer and demanded: + +"Have you said anything to those men? Have you told a living soul what +you know about these tidings?" + +"No, general, not one word to anybody," replied Ned, bravely, but there +was a strange thrill at his heart, for he saw that he was in deadly +peril. + +Morales tore open the envelope, and found in it several official-looking +papers which it did not take him long to read; but now Ned took out from +an inner pocket three others which were much smaller. The general's face +flushed fiery red, and his eyes were flashing with excitement while he +swiftly examined them. + +"Carfora," he exclaimed, "you are too young to have been sent on such an +errand as this. General Bravo! Colonel Tassara! Seņora Paez! General +Zuroaga! Ah, Santa Maria! And our brave army was shattered at Angostura, +after all. This is dreadful news! You shall die before I will allow you +to spread it among my men!" + +"I shall not do so," said Ned, with his heart in his throat "But may I +not tell them that General Santa Anna has checked the invasion at the +north? Ought I not to say that he is now marching down to defend the +capital, and that he is going to strengthen your army at Vera Cruz? Why, +general, that is just what he is going to do." + +The general was silent for a moment, and appeared to be lost in thought. + +"No, not now!" he then whispered between his set teeth, but Ned heard +him. "If I shot him, it would make enemies of Zuroaga and the Tassaras +and Seņora Paez. Bravo would not care. Carfora," he added, aloud, "you +may go. You may talk as you have said, but you must not leave the city, +and, if you say one word about our being defeated at Buena Vista, I will +have you shot. There are too many desertions already, and I can't afford +to have my whole army stampeded by bad news." + +There was, therefore, an imperative military reason for keeping secret +the truth concerning Santa Anna's great victory, and Ned responded: + +"General Morales, everybody will be asking me questions. I guess I know +exactly what you wish me to tell. I was ordered to keep my mouth shut." + +"See that you do!" growled the general. "Or a musket-ball will shut it +for you. Go out now. If I want you, I shall be able to find you." + +They walked out of the inner room together, and they found the main +office crowded, as if many more had hurried in to hear the expected +news. + +"Gentlemen! Fellow citizens!" shouted the general, enthusiastically, as +he waved his packet of despatches over his head. "This is glorious! Our +illustrious commander-in-chief, after having given such a severe lesson +to our barbarous invaders at the north, is marching with his entire +force to our own assistance. He will soon crush our assailants on the +seacoast as he has the gringo mob under Taylor!" + +A storm of cheers responded, and the entire crowd seemed disposed to +exchange hugs and handshakes, while he turned to an officer at a table. + +"By the Way, major," he said, "write an order for quarters and rations +for General Bravo's messenger, Carfora. I may need him again in a few +days. Keep track of him. He is a civilian, but he is a trusted agent of +certain parties whom you may know." + +The major began to write something, and, as he did so, Ned believed that +he heard him muttering words which sounded like: "Humph! Messenger of +his Excellency, Santa Anna! We will take good care of him!" + +Then the general carelessly signed the paper, which the major prepared +for him, and Ned walked quietly out into the open air. Once there, +however, he took a hasty look at his "order for rations," and discovered +that with it he had now in his possession a full headquarters army pass, +which permitted him to come and go anywhere, through the gates and all +the lines, without hindrance from anybody. He was established as an +accepted and even honored confidential despatch-bearer of the +commander-in-chief of all the armies of Mexico. He was not now to get +entirely away without difficulty, however, for the whole building had +been full of men who were eager for all the news he could give them, and +they had followed him. They seized upon him as if he had been the last +edition of an evening newspaper, containing the reports of all the past +and with, probably, the news for to-morrow morning also somewhere inside +of him. He did not get away from them for some time, and when he did so, +at last, he was sure of being recognized by a considerable number of +patriotic Mexicans, if they ever should meet him again. That might make +him safer, although he was no longer in any immediate danger. Moreover, +although he was not in uniform, the cut and quality of his clothing +informed every person he met that he belonged to the higher orders, +while the machete at his side and the pistols in his belt appeared to +indicate that he was in some way connected with the army. + +"I know what I want to do next," he was thinking. "My pony and my +satchel are at the headquarters stables. I can get them whenever I want +them. I must go to the Tassara place. I can find it. Then I must manage +to put them there, so that I won't have to show myself at the +headquarters unless I'm sent for." + +He had no difficulty in finding the Tassara homestead, and there was no +observer anywhere near him when he stood in front of the dwelling which +had been his first hospitable refuge in Mexico. It had now, of course, a +lonely and shut-up look, and there was no getting in at the front door, +for much knocking failed to bring a door-keeper. Giving that up, +therefore, he made his way around to the rear, through the unoccupied +stables. + +"There is hay enough here for my pony," he remarked, "but I had half +expected that the house would be turned into quarters for troops." + +He may have overlooked the fact that the Tassaras were friends of +General Morales, and that their house was under his protection. If it +were supposed to be so, nevertheless, he had cause to forget it again +when he came to the back door, for it stood wide open, with an +appearance of having been unlocked with a hammer. + +"Hullo!" he exclaimed. "I wonder if there is anybody in there now?" + +The thought somehow made him draw his machete, and he went on into the +house as if he were looking for a fight. The dining-room was entered +first, and it was utterly empty. Not so much as a chair was left, +although its owners had certainly not taken any furniture away with them +in their hasty escape by night, with Ned and Zuroaga. It looked a little +queer, to say the least, and, as he went on from room to room, he found +precisely such a state of things everywhere else. + +"I declare!" said Ned. "Either their friends or some robbers have +cleaned this place of all there was in it that was worth stealing. Not +so much as a bed left. I'll go and take a look at my old room. It was a +cubby-hole of a place, but it would do first-rate for me now." + +Perhaps it was so small and so out of the way that Ned had an agreeable +surprise ready for him when he reached it, for there still hung his +hammock, and nothing else in the room had been molested. + +"Hurrah!" he shouted. "I've looked into every other room in the house, +and this is the only one they didn't finish. I guess I'll camp here +to-night, after I've been out to get something to eat." + +It was true that he had orders for army rations, if he had known where +to find them, but he was also able to purchase whatever he might need, +and he preferred to do so. At the same time, he had a clear +understanding that, if he expected to ever see the United States again, +he had better not show a great deal of cash in the city of Vera Cruz +just now. + +"There are plenty of fellows here," he remarked, "who would cut my +throat for a silver dollar, let alone a gold piece." + +He sheathed his machete peaceably, and went out by the back door, +determining to let as few people as possible suspect that the Tassara +mansion contained a boarder,--or it was more nearly correct to say +lodger. This was a wise decision to make, but he was not to hunt far for +his supplies that evening. Hardly had he gone a hundred paces from the +Tassara place before he was unceremoniously halted, and it was not by a +lancer this time. Before him, blocking his way, stood a very fat and +apparently much astonished woman. + +"Madre de Dios!" she loudly exclaimed. "Seņor Carfora! Santa Maria! +Santa Catarina! San Jago! Diablos! Where did you come from?" + +Ned had never before heard himself called by all those pet names, but he +knew at a glance that this was no other than Anita, formerly the cook +of Seņora Tassara, and believed to be a devoted friend of the family. + +"Anita!" he exclaimed. "I'll tell you!" and he proceeded to do so, to +her great gratification, for she was as hungry for news as he was for +his rations. + +"You come to my house," she said, "and I will give you something fit to +eat, and that is a good deal to say in Vera Cruz in these days. Santa +Maria! How these ragged banditti do devour everything. We are to be +devoured by the accursed gringos, too, and we must eat while we can." + +Her idea, as a good cook, appeared to be that, if several thousands of +people were about to be shut up and starved to death, they ought all to +feed themselves as liberally as possible before the actual process of +starvation should begin. Ned felt a strong sympathy with that notion, as +he walked along with her, and he was ready to tell her anything but the +perilous truth concerning the lost battle at the north. As to that, it +was quite enough to assure her and half a dozen other patriotic Mexican +women, who were at her humble home when he went in, that the great and +successful General Santa Anna was hastening to rescue them from the +American barbarians who were at this hour getting ashore with a great +deal of difficulty through the surf, which was wetting every uniform +among them. If anything at all resembling a "norther" had been blowing, +the landing would necessarily have been postponed until it had blown +over. Among other things, however, Ned told Anita of his visit to the +house, and when the very good supper was ended, she led him to a room +which must have contained at least a third of all the space under her +roof. It was anything but hollow space now, for it was heaped to the +ceiling with furniture, beds, bedding, and a miscellaneous collection of +other household goods. + +"There, Seņor Carfora!" she said, exultingly. "The Puebla robbers did +get some things, but we saved all these. They were not ready to carry +off heavy stuff, and when they came again, with a cart, at night, it had +all been cared for. The seņora has not lost so much, after all." + +"You are a faithful woman!" said Ned, admiringly. "I'm glad, too, that +they could not steal the house, for I want to sleep there." + +"It's the best place you can find," she told him. "But you had better +always bar the door at night, and sleep with your machete and pistols +where you can reach them." + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +UNDER FIRE + + +"Where am I?" exclaimed Ned, as his eyes came lazily open the next +morning, and in a moment more they were open very widely. + +He knew the room he was in, and his thoughts came swiftly back to him. +There hung his sheathed machete at the head of the hammock, and his +pistols lay at his side. There was as yet only just enough light to see +them by, but he sprang out and began to get ready for his first day in a +besieged city. His satchel and pony, he remarked, would be safe enough +at headquarters, and he could go after them whenever he might need them. + +"I'll go to Anita's for breakfast," he added. "I can pay her for it, +too. Then I want to see the American fleet, if I can. Oh, but am I not +glad that General Zuroaga gave me that old telescope? I've seen lots of +mountains with it, and now I'll make it show me the ships and the army. +Oh, my soul and body! I'm part of the garrison of Vera Cruz." + +That was stretching the facts of the case a little, but he certainly was +serving under the wrong flag that morning. He felt queer and lonely in +that empty, robber-haunted house, and he was glad to get out of it +without being seen. Anita welcomed him enthusiastically, for he had +brought to her and her neighbors the good news of the coming of Santa +Anna's victorious army, and he was a young Mexican patriot for whom she +was glad to cook a good breakfast for a fair price. After that was +eaten, however, Ned's perplexities began, for the first Mexican officer +whom he met, on leaving Anita's house, curtly demanded a look at his +papers. He was altogether too well dressed a fellow to be allowed to +pass by unnoticed. With almost a fainting heart, Ned produced the pass +given him by the major at headquarters, but the next moment the brave +soldier's arms were around him, and he was hugged as a true comrade who +had ridden hard and far to bring good tidings. + +"I will show you the gates myself!" exclaimed the lieutenant, for such +he was. "I shall be in command of a patrol that is going out toward +Sacrificios for a look at the gringos. Come on with me." + +This was precisely what Ned was wishing for, and, as they hurried along, +he was pumped for all the news he had and a good deal more. In fact, he +found it a task of some difficulty to obey the stern commands of General +Morales and still keep within the truth. + +A gate was reached and passed, the officer at the gate receiving a kind +of pay in news, and then Ned drew a long breath, for he suddenly +remembered that he had left the city, contrary to orders. + +"Never mind," he said to himself, "I'm inside the Mexican army lines." + +In a moment more, he had forgotten everything but his spy-glass, a +pretty good one, for he and the squad of patrollers were at the summit +of a low sand-hill, and there before them, only two miles away, the +boats of the ships of war and the transport ships were coming and going +through the surf with loads of American soldiers. With them, and on all +the vessels in the offing, Ned saw something which had never before +seemed to shine so splendidly, and it brought the hot blood fiercely +from his heart to his cheeks, because he could not just then break out +into a hurrah for the Stars and Stripes. The hurrah did get up into his +throat, but there it had to stop, and it almost choked him. His prudence +got the better of it, somehow, and his next thought was: + +"Oh, but won't they have a tough time getting their cannon ashore!" + +He was not so far wrong, for that was a problem which was troubling +General Scott and his engineers, but there was one thing more which Ned +did not so much as dream of. In one of those boats a tall man, who was +not in uniform, was leaning forward and gazing earnestly at the shore. + +"Mexico!" he muttered. "Ned is in there somewhere. I must have a hunt +for him as soon as I can. I wonder if I did right to ever let him go. +Even after we take Vera Cruz, there will be a long campaign and any +amount of hard fighting. O Ned, my son, where are you?" + +Ned was there, indeed, very near and yet very far, and he was wondering, +as were many American officers and soldiers, why the Mexicans did not +cannonade the invading army while it was coming ashore. They might have +done so effectively, and in a day or two they did put a few guns in +position to send an occasional shot, but all the harm they did was to +kill one man. + +The patrol party had now performed its duty, and it marched back again, +but in that morning adventure Ned had discovered that he was really free +to come and go. Perhaps the Mexican commander had forgotten him in the +pressure of his other affairs. Even when Ned went to the headquarters +for his pony and baggage, he was treated by everybody as a young fellow +of no importance whatever, and at dinnertime he was able to tell Anita +all about the terrible ships and the swarms of invading gringos on the +shore. + +That night the lonely room in the Tassara house was almost too lonely. +Ned lay awake in his hammock through long hours, and was glad that he +had two armies to think of, so that he might keep from listening for +possible footsteps outside of his little chamber, or for an attempt by +some marauder to force open his door. He had barred that, and he had +fastened his window firmly, but he could not feel entirely secure, and +he got up twice to go to the door and listen. + +Day after day went by from that time in very much the same manner, and +Ned believed that he was learning a great deal about war, whether or not +it would ever do him any good in business affairs after the war had +come to an end. The entire American army, guns and all, reached the +shore in safety, and all the while Santa Anna and his army were reported +as coming, coming, but they did not come, and the hearts of the besieged +garrison and the terror-stricken people began to die within them. + +"They will be too late now," thought Ned, but he did not dare to say as +much to any of his Mexican friends. + +From time to time he had been out to ply his telescope upon the fleet +and upon the army. He knew that all the American camps had been +established beyond the reach of any guns in the city fortifications, and +he had watched with intense interest the slow, sure processes of a +regular siege, conducted by a rarely capable general. He had seen the +erection of battery after battery, of which General Scott's artillerymen +were as yet making hardly any apparent use. He did not quite understand +that, in merely being there, more and more of them, those batteries were +already capturing the city. They were sending so few shots at the walls, +or even at the grim Castle of San Juan de Ulua, because the American +general wished to take Vera Cruz without bloodshed, if he could, and he +came very near to the accomplishment of his humane purpose. +Undoubtedly, he would have succeeded in starving out the city, if he, +too, had not received daily notice of the nearer approach of Santa Anna +and all the forces which he could gather. Nobody but that general +himself and his confidential officers knew how really few they were, or +how unfit to assail the Americans in their fortified camps on the shore +of the sea. So, a final day came when the surrender of Vera Cruz was +formally demanded, under the awful penalty of a general bombardment by +the American fleet and army in case of a refusal. Resistance, it was +declared, was now hopeless, and there was no military necessity for +killing anybody. General Morales sent back a positive rejection, for he +still entertained a faint hope of the timely arrival of assistance, and +he did not inform General Scott how sadly he had failed in all his +attempts to obtain supplies for the inhabitants and his army. Famine was +already beginning to threaten all of the poorer classes who had +neglected their opportunities to leave the city, or who had been unable +to do so. As for Ned Crawford's provisions, he had continued to board +with Anita, or with any mess of military men among whom he might happen +to be. He had made many acquaintances, and he had found the ragged, +unpaid, illiterate Mexican soldiers a genuinely hospitable lot of +patriotic fellows. He came to his supper somewhat late on the evening of +March 21st, and that night, after going to care for his pony, he came +back and slept on a blanket on the floor of Anita's kitchen. On the +morning of the 22d, he had but just walked out into the street when +suddenly all the air around him seemed to be full of thunder. Roar +followed roar, and peal followed peal, and then he heard affrighted +shrieks in all directions. The bombardment had begun! + +"O Madre de Dios!" moaned the voice of poor Anita behind him. "O Seņor +Carfora! We shall all be killed! What shall we do? Oh, the wicked +gringos! What did they come here for? I never did them any harm." + +That was a terrible war question which was troubling Ned himself. +Whatever might have been the evil doings of either of the two +governments, or of all the scheming, ambitious politicians, the helpless +people of Mexico were in no manner to blame. Why, then, he asked +himself, should any of them, like Anita, for instance, be killed by +cannon-shot or torn in pieces by bursting shells? He could not settle +the matter in his mind just then, but he said to her, encouragingly: + +"Don't be so badly scared. Up here in this northern part of the town, we +are as far away from the shooting as we could be. I'll go over to the +southern side of the city and see what is going on. As soon as I find +out, I'll come back and tell you." + +"Oh, do!" she said, "but do not get killed. Come back and get some +dinner. I will cook you a real good one, if you will." + +That was something of a promise, for he knew that she was one of the +prudent folk who had looked out for their supplies in time, but he +walked away toward the southerly wall and the forts with a strong +feeling that he must be in the middle of a kind of dreadful dream. He +reached the line of antiquated and defective defences, which had been +good enough long ago, but which were not constructed to resist modern +artillery. Old as it might be, the wall was in the way of his intended +sightseeing, but he saw a ladder leaning against the masonry, and up he +went without asking permission of anybody. He was now standing upon the +broad parapet, with his glass at his eye, and he was obtaining a +first-rate view of the bombardment. On the land, stretching away to the +west and south, were the long lines of the American batteries, within a +not very long range of him, and from each of them at intervals the red +sheets of fire burst forth, while over them the black clouds of powder +smoke arose to be carried away by the brisk March wind that was blowing. +Far away to his right, or seaward, all at anchor in the positions +assigned them, lay the United States ships of war, of all kinds and +sizes, and these, too, were getting at work, although they were as yet +by no means putting forth their whole destructive power. It was as if +they were but studying this siege business, getting the ranges +correctly, and were preparing to do worse things than this in the days +which were to come. Ned was gazing intently at a great 44-gun ship, +which appeared to be sending her missiles at the castle, when a heavy +shot from one of the batteries struck the wall within a few yards of +him. It seemed to go deeply in, and the entire top of the parapet was +torn away for a width of several feet. Ned hurried at once to get a good +look down into the chasm, for it was the first time that he had seen +anything of the kind. + +"I wonder if our shot are doing this kind of thing for their batteries +yonder," he said aloud, in the Spanish which was now habitual with him, +but at that moment a not unfriendly hand was laid upon his shoulder, and +a quiet, firm voice said to him: + +"What are you doing here, Seņor Carfora? You seem to have no fear." + +"General Morales!" exclaimed Ned, in astonishment. "No, your Excellency. +I was not thinking of that, but of this big hole. I was wondering if the +walls of the castle are not stronger than these. If they are not--" + +"They are much stronger, my brave fellow," interrupted the general. "I +am going over now to see how they are standing it. The Americans are +very accurate gunners. Now, sir, you must not expose yourself in this +manner. You are not a soldier. Go back into the city!" + +"General," said Ned, pointing in the direction of the cathedral, "do, +please, look! Some of their shot go over the wall and strike away +inside. I am safer here than I would be in yonder. What I am afraid of +is that a great many of the women and children may be killed. I think, +sir, that you ought not to be here, either. You are the general." + +"My boy," said Morales, sadly, "I was thinking of the non-combatants +myself. This firing of the Yankees at the city is hideous. But it is +war, and it cannot be helped. Ah, me! Feeling as I do this morning, I +would ask nothing better than that one of these accursed shot or shell +should come for me. I would a hundred times rather die than be compelled +to surrender Vera Cruz." + +He again motioned Ned toward the ladder, and no disobedience was +possible. He himself followed, for his solitary reconnoissance was +ended, and he had been practically assured that his walls were of small +value against heavy siege-guns. When he reached the ground, several +subordinate officers came to join him, and Ned heard him say to them: + +"That reckless young scamp, Carfora, has the nerves of an old soldier. +He will make a good one by and by. We need more like him, for some of +our artillerymen left their guns under the American fire." + +There was never any lack of courage among men of his kind, a Spaniard +descended from the old conquistadors, while some of the officers around +him were Indians fit to have led their tribes for Montezuma against the +men of Hernando Cortes. + +As Ned walked homeward, he halted several times to tell some of his +army acquaintances what he had seen from the wall, and how he had talked +about it with General Morales. No doubt they esteemed him more highly +than ever for his patriotism and high social standing, but he spoke also +of the danger to the people, and they were sure that his heart was with +them. Truth to tell, so it was, for the bombardment shortly became to +him more horrible than ever. Something he could not see passed over his +head, with a hiss that was almost like a human screech. Then followed a +loud explosion, and there before him, on the bloody pavement, he saw the +mangled corpses of a Mexican mother and two small children, who had been +killed while they were hurrying away to a place of safety. + +"Oh, the poor things!" sobbed Ned, as he burst out into tears. "What had +they to do with the war!" + +He could not bear to take a second look at them, and he hurried on, but +when he reached the house he did not say anything about them to Anita. +He told her about the batteries and the ships, and about the brave +general on the parapet, and then she and her friends who were with her +went away back into the kitchen, to be as safe as possible from flying +shot and shell. It was not, they appeared to think, at all likely that +any wicked gringo gunner would take aim at that kitchen. + +As for Ned, he had only come in to go out again, for keeping indoors, +with all that cannonading going on, was altogether out of the question. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +GENERAL SCOTT AND HIS ARMY + + +"There they come! They are going to march right in! But what I want, +most of all, is to see the general himself. There he is!" + +Telescope in hand, Ned Crawford was standing on the parapet, near one of +the southerly gates of Vera Cruz, watching the triumphant entrance of +the American army. He could hardly have told whether he was more glad to +see them come, or because the siege and the bombardment were over. He +was already familiar with the various troops of Mexico, and he knew that +some of them, but not many, could perform their military evolutions in +pretty good style. The one thing which struck him most forcibly now, +however, as his glass was aimed here and there over the approaching +columns and lines, was that at no point was there a flaw or a defect in +the orderly movements of the American soldiers. With admirable drill +and under perfect management, they swung forward across the broad level +between their earthwork batteries and the badly shattered wall of the +captured city. Compared with them, the garrison which had surrendered +was, for the greater part, only a little better than an ill-provided, +half-armed, undisciplined mob. Wealth, arms, civilization, scientific +generalship, had all been on the side of the great republic of the +North, and there had been no doubt, from the beginning, as to what the +result must be. The one important seaport of Mexico, with all its +foreign commerce, was now under the control of the United States, and +could not be taken from them. + +Ned saw one of the advancing lines melt beautifully into the shape of a +long column, and file through the gate near him. Then followed a section +of field artillery and a small detachment of cavalry. All these were to +be admired, of course, but his eyes watched them only for a moment, for +just behind the horsemen came an exceedingly brilliant cavalcade, in +front of which rode the remarkable man whom Ned was most anxious to see. + +Beyond a doubt, General Winfield Scott had many severe critics and not a +few personal enemies. By these, he was said to be arrogant, blunt in +manners, opinionated, and also a military martinet with terribly +unvolunteer ideas relating to the rigid discipline required for success +in war. He had seen, however, a deal of hard service in the war of 1812 +and otherwise, and his military record was without a flaw. There were +good judges, both in America and Europe, who believed and declared that +for the management of a difficult campaign he had no superior among the +generals then living. He was now actually called upon to prove that he +could perform apparent impossibilities under very trying circumstances +and with somewhat limited resources. Physically, he was a large, +fine-looking man, and he was even excessively particular concerning the +fit and elegance of his parade uniform. He was therefore looking his +best when he rode in to take possession of Vera Cruz. + +Ned went down a ladder as soon as he could, after breathlessly staring +at the great commander, but he did not succeed in witnessing the +formalities of the surrender, whatever they were. The crowds in his way +were too much for him, but not long after General Scott and his staff +disappeared through the portal of the building which had been the +headquarters of poor General Morales, Ned worked his way through a +throng of downcast Mexicans toward a young officer who appeared to be in +command of about a half company of infantry. From the excitement of the +moment and from a good many months of daily custom, he spoke to the +lieutenant in Mexican Spanish, in a recklessly eager manner and without +touching his hat. + +"What on earth do you want?" was the curt and gruff reply. "I'm only +Lieutenant Grant. You'll have to see somebody else, whatever it is. You +had better go and speak to one of the staff." + +If Ned had really been a young Mexican, speaking no tongue but his own, +he might not have understood that perfectly. As it was, however, he at +once broke out with energy into a language to which he had for some time +been unaccustomed. Even now, nevertheless, he forgot to touch his hat. + +"Well, Mr. Grant," he said, "I've been all over the country. I've been +in the city of Mexico and among their troops, and I believe I know a lot +of things that I ought to report to General Scott, or somebody." + +It was a patriotic idea which had been growing in his mind all that +morning, and it had driven out of him every ounce of bashfulness. + +"You have, have you?" said Grant. "I declare. Seems to me you speak +English pretty well for a greaser--almost like a born American. I guess +the general's willing to hear almost anything. But you will have to see +some member of the staff. Hullo! I say! Captain Lee! Here's a kind of +spy. I think you'd better hear him. I can't leave my post." + +"Spy?" exclaimed Ned. "No, I'm not any such thing, but my name is Edward +Crawford, and I'm from New York. I got stuck in Mexico and I couldn't +get out. I've been all around everywhere. Things are mixed--" + +"Grant," said Captain Lee, "he may have something worth while. I'll take +him in to see Schuyler Hamilton. Let the captain pump him." + +Captain Robert E. Lee was not exactly off duty at that hour, for he and +other engineer officers had been ordered to make a survey of the +fortifications, but he was there to receive instructions and he could +take Ned in with him. He was a taller, handsomer fellow than Grant, and +he was all of three times as polite in his treatment of Ned. Perhaps, +however, Grant's first manners had been damaged by being addressed in +such a style, in Spanish, by an excited young Mexican. + +In went Ned and Lee, and there was no difficulty in obtaining an +interview with Captain Hamilton. Ned had never heard of him before, but +he was now aware, from Captain Lee, that he was a descendant of General +Philip Schuyler and General Alexander Hamilton of the Revolutionary War. +Ned thought of Seņora Tassara's great ancestors for a moment, and then +he did not really care a cent for pedigree. He even startled Hamilton +himself by the energy and rapidity with which he told what he knew of +the condition of things throughout the country, the movements of Santa +Anna, and the political plots and conspiracies. Hamilton was a slender, +graceful young man, handsomer than even Lee, and with piercing black +eyes. + +"Lee," he said, "the cub is a genuine curiosity. I can't imagine how on +earth he learned so much. He isn't a fool, by any means. General Scott +will be at liberty in a few minutes, and Crawford must see him." + +"All right," said Lee. "I have my instructions now, and I'll leave him +with you. They say the old castle's badly knocked in pieces." + +If, as Lee intimated, the fortress of San Juan de Ulua was just then in +bad condition, so was Ned when he heard what they were going to do with +him. He had supposed that his errand had been completely done to the +sharp-eyed staff officer, but now they threatened to bring him before +the general, whom he considered the most tremendous man on the earth. It +was a little too much, but he drew a long breath and stood as straight +as a ramrod, looking very red indeed. In three minutes more he was +brought face to face with the commander-in-chief of the armies of the +United States, and he felt as if he had been surrounded and compelled to +surrender. Captain Hamilton reported the matter in the fewest words +possible, but all the while the general had been watching Ned, looking +right through him, and in a moment Ned found himself feeling perfectly +easy. If General Scott had been his uncle, he could not have spoken to +him in a kinder or more carelessly familiar way. He questioned him about +all his experiences, and an acute listener might have gathered that he +paid more attention to Ned's political information than to anything of +a strictly military nature. + +"Hamilton," he slowly remarked, at last, "General Taylor did an +exceedingly good thing for us down here, after all. The battle of Buena +Vista was our own battle. Santa Anna will not be able to raise another +army like the one that was so roughly handled up there. If it had been +here, in good shape, we would have had ten times as much trouble in +taking Vera Cruz. Santa Anna's power is already half broken." + +"Perhaps a little more," suggested Hamilton. + +"Perhaps," said the general, "but our patriotic young friend here has +made a valuable report. Ah, McClellan! You and Beauregard are to make +the inspection of the castle with Captain Lee. Take Crawford back to +Grant, as you go. He may serve with the Seventh as an unenlisted man. +Let him have his orders, Hamilton. He is a brave fellow." + +Out went Ned with a pair of as yet undistinguished officers, both of +whom were to be heard of again in after time, and it did not occur to +the very much elated "scout," as he now considered himself, to correct +General Scott's apparent idea that Lieutenant Ulysses S. Grant was a +particular friend and guardian of his. + +"Now, if this isn't bully!" he thought. "I've been on the Mexican side +all the while till now. I've been kind of part of the garrison of Vera +Cruz, but I've been praised by General Scott, for all that. I wonder +what our folks at home would say to it!" + +It was a grand thing to think of, and Ned felt as proud as if he had +been promoted for storming an enemy's entrenchments. + +There was another experience of an entirely unexpected character just +before him, however. Hardly had McClellan and Beauregard turned him over +to Grant, and while the latter was inspecting the order written by +Captain Hamilton, Ned was suddenly shaken from head to foot. Not that +anybody, Mexican or American, was actually handling him roughly, but +that a hoarse, eager voice at his right ear exclaimed: + +"Edward! My son! Is this you? Are you a prisoner?" + +"No, Mister," responded Grant, before Ned could gather his wits to utter +a word. "He isn't a prisoner, but I'm ordered to stick him into the +outside of the Seventh somewhere. Is he your son?" + +"He is, lieutenant," said Mr. Crawford. "And, oh, how glad I am!" + +"Father!" Ned had shouted, as a pair of strong arms went around him. +"How did you happen to be here?" + +"I came on one of our own supply-ships," said Mr. Crawford. "I'll tell +you all about it by and by. I had all but given up hearing anything of +you, and we sail for New York to-morrow. Lieutenant, I haven't seen him +for more'n a year. I want a good long talk." + +"Of course you do!" said Grant, heartily. "Take him along, and let him +report at the camp of the Seventh to-morrow morning. You may go now, my +young greaser, but you'd better get on another rig than that before you +come." + +"He will do that," said Mr. Crawford. "Come along, Ned. Let's go where +we can be by ourselves. I want to hear your whole yarn, from beginning +to end, and I've all sorts of things to tell you." + +"Father," said Ned, "I know just the place. We'll go and get supper at +old Anita's, and we can talk all the way. Hurrah! How's mother?" + +All the most important home news followed quickly after that, and Ned +felt that the capture of Vera Cruz was more important than ever. + +"I am going to let you stay here, though," said his father. "You can +learn more than in any other way that I know of." + +"That's what I want," said Ned. "And now I shall be in our army." + +The father and son were not walking very fast, but they could talk +rapidly, and they had a great many things to say. They had some things +to see, as well, for everywhere, as they went, they encountered +detachments of United States soldiers patrolling the city, restoring +order and setting things to rights. That they were doing so appeared to +be a tremendous surprise to large numbers of the inhabitants, who had +almost been expecting to be ruthlessly plundered, if not murdered +outright, by these cruel barbarians from the awful republic of the +North. Not all of them were panic-stricken in this way, however, for +when the house of old Anita was reached, she was standing in the +doorway, and she greeted them loudly with: + +"O Seņor Carfora! I knew all the while that you were a gringo. I am so +glad that we have surrendered! Santa Maria Gloriosa! Praise all the +saints! We shall have no more cannonading! We shall have plenty to eat!" + +"That is just what we want, Anita," replied Ned. "This is my father. He +has come to see me, and you must give him some dinner. Then I will tell +you all about General Scott and the American soldiers." + +She had neighbors with her, as usual, and some of them had become +accustomed to regarding Ned as a kind of newsboy. They were now also +prepared to thank a large number of religious personages that he was a +genuine gringo, and on good terms with the conquering invaders, who were +henceforth to have the control of affairs in Vera Cruz. + +It was late that night when Ned said good-by to his father, and it was +like pulling teeth to let him go, but there was no help for it, as the +sailing of the supply-ship could not be delayed. Ned was once more alone +in Mexico, and it took all his enthusiasm for his expected army life to +reconcile him to the situation. Perhaps there was not a great deal of +sound sleeping done, in the hammock that swung in the little room in the +Tassara mansion, but at an early hour next morning he was on his way to +hunt up the camp of the Seventh Infantry and the tent of Lieutenant +Grant. This was accomplished without much difficulty, and almost +immediately Ned made a discovery. His probable coming had, of course, +been reported to the colonel commanding the regiment, and that +officer's common-sense remark was: + +"Unenlisted orderly, eh? Yankee boy that can speak Spanish, and that +knows every corner of this miserable city? Just what we want. I'm glad +old Fuss and Feathers sent him to us. He is the greatest general in the +world. Send your scout right here to me. I've errands for him." + +Therefore, the next chapter in Ned's Mexican experiences was that he +found himself sent out, soldierlike, upon a long list of duties, for +which he was peculiarly well prepared by knowing where to find streets +and houses which were as yet unknown to the rank and file of the gallant +Seventh. The men, on their part, soon came to regard him as a soldier +boy, like themselves, and he had a fine opportunity for learning, from +day to day, the processes by which General Scott was organizing his +force for his intended march across the sierra, on the road he had +selected for reaching the city of Mexico. It was soon to be plainly +understood that, whenever that army should march, it would do so as a +sort of human machine, ready to perform any military work which its +commander might require of it. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +THE MOUNTAIN PASSES + + +"Grant," said Captain Lee, "what did Crawford say to you about that +Cerro Gordo road? I want to know all I can." + +"Well, Captain Lee," replied Grant, "here he is, to speak for himself. +He says he came down that trail in midwinter. He studied it, too, +because his friend, General Zuroaga, told him it was built by a Spanish +fellow by the name of Cortes." + +"Good!" said Lee. "Seems to me I've heard of him somewhere, but who is +Zuroaga? Tell me about him, Crawford. Does he know anything?" + +By this time, Ned had become pretty well acquainted with Lee and a +number of other officers, and with their free, open-hearted way of +dealing with each other. He could tell, therefore, without any restraint +or bashfulness, all that was necessary concerning his distinguished +Mexican friend and benefactor. + +"I see," said the captain. "He is one of their many revolutions. All +right. But I wish old man Cortes hadn't left his road so narrow and +steep as they say it is. Tell me all you saw, Crawford. I have other +accounts, but I want yours. Look at this map and answer my questions." + +He held in his hand what purported to be a very rough sketch of the +highway from the city of Jalapa to the city of Mexico. It also pretended +to give a fair idea of the section of that road which crossed the +mountain spur known as Cerro Gordo. + +"From there to there," said Lee, "how is it?" + +"Crooked as a rail fence," replied Ned. "It isn't like that at all. It's +a zigzag, with rocks on one side and ravines on the other." + +"Just as I supposed," said Lee. "Now, mark the zigzags on this other +paper, as well as you can remember them." + +They were sitting in Grant's tent, in the camp of the Seventh Regiment, +and the entire advance-guard of the army was encamped in like manner, +waiting for orders from General Scott to climb the mountains before +them. Ned took the crayon handed him, and he really appeared to do +pretty well with it, but he explained that the rough weather and the +condition of his pony had compelled him to dismount and come part of +the way down the mountain on foot, so that he had more time for making +observations. + +"If they put cannon on a breastwork on that road," he said, "they can +blow anything in front of them all to pieces." + +"Grant," said Lee, "that's just what they can do. Santa Anna has posted +his artillery at Crawford's zigzags, and that Cerro Gordo position +cannot be carried in front. It is perfectly unassailable." + +"What on earth are we to do, then?" said Grant. "Our only road to Mexico +seems to be shut and bolted." + +"I don't know about that," said Lee. "There are others, if we chose to +try them. But the general has ordered me, with an engineer party, to go +out and find if there is not some way for getting around Santa Anna's +obstructions. I want you to let Crawford go with me." + +"O Lieutenant Grant!" eagerly exclaimed Ned, "General Zuroaga told me +there was another place as good for a road as that is." + +"Go along, of course," said Grant. "I'd give a month's pay to go with +you. Anything but this sleepy camp." + +Ned was ready in a minute, but he found that he was not expected to +carry with him any other weapon than his machete. + +"Take that," said Captain Lee. "It will do to cut bushes with. I believe +I'll carry one myself. We shall have a few riflemen, but we must be +careful not to do any firing. We must scout like so many red Indians." + +Ned had formerly been on the wrong side of the army lines. During all +the long months of what he sometimes thought of as his captivity among +the Mexicans, he had been occasionally worried by a feeling of disgrace. +He had felt it worst when he was a member of the garrison of Vera Cruz, +and on such remarkably good terms with the rest of the garrison and its +commander. So he had been exceedingly rejoiced when General Scott +battered down his walls and compelled him to surrender. It had been a +grand restoration of his self-respect when he found himself running +errands for the officers of the Seventh, but now he suddenly felt that +he had shot up into full-grown manhood, for, with a bush-cutting sword +at his side, he was to accompany one of the best officers in the +American army upon an expedition of great importance and much danger. + +It was still early in the day when Captain Lee's party, all on foot, +passed through the outer lines of the American advance, at the base of +the mountain. All of them were young men, as yet without any military +fame, and there was no one there who could tell them that their little +band of roadhunters contained one commander-in-chief and one +lieutenant-general of the armies of the Southern Confederacy, and one +commander-in-chief and four major-generals, or corps commanders, of the +armies of the United States. It was not by such subordinates as these +that General Santa Anna was assisted in his engineering or other +military operations. That day, however, and for a few days more, he felt +perfectly sure of his really well-chosen position among the rocks and +chasms of the Cerro Gordo. + +The engineering party was well aware that its movements might possibly +be observed from the heights beyond, as long as it remained in the open, +therefore it wheeled out into the fields as it went onward, and was soon +lost to view among woodlands. + +"Now, Crawford," said Captain Lee, "recall and tell me, as well as you +can, all that Zuroaga told you about his proposed new road." + +Ned proceeded to do so, but, at the end of his recollections, he added: + +"Well, the general said it would cost a pot of money to do it, now, and +that Cortes had no gunpowder to throw away. He could not have done any +rock-blasting." + +"Our difficulty about that is as bad as his was," replied the captain. +"We can have all the gunpowder we need, but we can't use any of it, for +fear of letting his Excellency, General Santa Anna, know what we are up +to. As for the cost of a new road, there is no government in Mexico that +will think of undertaking it. It would cost as much, almost, as a +brand-new revolution." + +There was a great deal of hard work done after that, searching, +climbing, and bush-cutting, and Ned wondered at the ready decisions made +here and there, by the engineers. It seemed to him, too, that Captain +Lee and other officers paid a great deal of deference to a young +lieutenant by the name of McClellan. A small force of riflemen was with +them and a party of sappers and miners, but there had not been a sign of +military opposition to the work which they were trying to do. +Nevertheless, it began to dawn upon Ned's mind that sometimes picks and +spades and crowbars may be as important war weapons as even cannon. That +is, there may be circumstances in which guns of any kind are of little +use until after the other tools have been made to clear the way for +them. + +Night came, and the entire reconnoitring party camped among the cliffs +of Cerro Gordo, but at about the middle of the next forenoon all the +officers gathered for a kind of council. They were not yet ready to send +in a full and final report, but they had formed important conclusions, +and at the end of the council Ned was called for. + +"Crawford," said Captain Lee, "take that despatch to Captain Schuyler +Hamilton, or whoever else is on duty at General Scott's headquarters. In +my opinion, this Zuroaga road will do, after we shall have made it, and +we can climb around into the rear of the Mexican army. If so, all their +batteries in the old road are but so many cannon thrown away." + +Ned's heart gave a great thump of pride as he took that carefully folded +and sealed up paper. To carry it was a tremendous honor, and he was not +half sure that it did not make him, for the time being, a regular member +of General Scott's corps of military engineers. He hastened back to the +Jalapa highway, and the first advanced post that he came to furnished +him with a pony. Then he galloped on to the camps and to the general's +headquarters, as if he had been undergoing no fatigue whatever. He +seemed to himself, however, to have seen hardly anything or anybody +until he stood before Captain Hamilton, and held out that vitally +important despatch. Even then he did not quite understand that it was +almost as important as had been the surrender of Vera Cruz. But for that +surrender, the American expedition would have been stopped at the +seashore. But for this feat of the engineers, it would have been +disastrously halted at the foot of the Cerro Gordo pass. One minute +later, Ned's heart jumped again, for he heard the deep voice of the +general himself commanding: + +"Hamilton, bring Crawford in. He seems to know something." + +Whether he did or not, he could answer questions quite bravely, and he +could tell a great many things which had not been set forth in the brief +report of the engineers. Probably they had not felt ready to say or +assert too much until they had done and learned more, but Ned was under +no such restriction, and he thoroughly believed in what he still +regarded as General Zuroaga's road. That is, if somebody like Cortes, +for instance, could and would afford the necessary amount of gunpowder +to blast away the rocks which he had seen were in the way. + +"That will do," said the general, at last. "You may go, Crawford. +Captain Hamilton, we have beaten Santa Anna!" + +There may have been a slightly arrogant sound in that confident +assertion, but it was altogether in accord with the positive and +self-reliant character of General Winfield Scott. He had unbounded faith +in his own mental resources, and, at the same time, he had perfect +confidence in the men and officers of his army. It was, therefore, less +to be wondered at that they on their part entertained an almost absurd +respect for their martinet commander. + +Orders went out immediately for putting all the force which could be +employed upon the construction of the mountain road. Much of the work +would have to be performed at night, to keep it secret, and the +Mexicans, behind their impassable entrenchments on the old Cerro Gordo +pass, had no idea of the hidden plans of their enemies. Santa Anna +himself may have believed that his antagonist had given up the hope of +ever reaching the city of Mexico by that route. The new one, by which he +did intend to reach it, grew rapidly to completion, and Ned Crawford +obtained from his friend Grant repeated permissions to go and see if +Captain Lee wanted him, and then to come back and report progress to his +own camp. + +"Lieutenant Grant's a man that hardly ever says anything," said Ned to +himself, "but he's a prime good fellow, and I like him. He says he isn't +much of an engineer, though, and he couldn't build that road." + +Such a road it was, too, with bridges over chasms, where the builders +had to climb up and down like so many cats. Even after it was said to be +complete, it was fit for men only, for not even the most sure-footed +mule could have passed over it. It was finished on the 17th of April, +and on the following day General Scott issued his orders for all the +various parts of the coming battle of Cerro Gordo. Strong bodies of +infantry were to engage the Mexican front, and keep Santa Anna's army +occupied, while the engineers piloted another and stronger column to the +real war business of the day. Ned had managed to get himself tangled up +with this climbing force, if only to see what use was to be made of his +and Zuroaga's new road. The morning came, and even before the sun was up +some of the troops were moving. + +"I guess it'll be an all-day's job," thought Ned, as he and one of the +engineer officers reached the first steep declivity. "Hullo! they are +unhitching those artillery horses. What's that for?" + +He was soon to know, for strong men took the places of the animals, and +the guns were hauled up and over the mountain by human hands. It was +severe work, but it was done with eager enthusiasm, and a few hours +later Ned was able to shout: + +"Hurrah! Here we are, right in behind them. Hurrah for General Scott!" + +Anything else that he might have felt like saying was drowned in the +wild cheering which arose from thousands of soldiers, for there was no +longer any need for silence or secrecy. That part of the Mexican army +which had been posted beyond the head of the pass was taken utterly by +surprise. Its commanders were for the moment unable to imagine whence +had come this numerous body of United States infantry, which appeared so +suddenly upon their unprotected flank. They therefore retreated, and the +Mexican army was cut in two, so that all of it which had been stationed +in the pass itself was caught as in a trap, and compelled to surrender. +These trapped prisoners were about three thousand in number, and Ned +kindly remarked concerning them: + +"Oh, but ain't I glad we didn't have to kill 'em! We didn't catch old +Santa Anna himself, though. They say the Mexicans made him President for +the battle of Angostura. I guess they wouldn't have done it if they had +waited till now." + +Whether or not he was correct in that calculation, the road to the city +of Mexico seemed now to be open, unless the unfortunate republic could +provide its President with another army. As for the American commander, +his troops had more faith in him than ever, and with better reasons for +it. It was afterward said that General Scott's written orders for the +battle of Cerro Gordo, and for others which followed, would answer very +well for full reports of them after they were won. + +The whole American army, except the garrison of Vera Cruz and small +parties posted here and there along the road, had now escaped from the +_tierra caliente_ and the yellow fever. Immediately after the battle of +Cerro Gordo, it marched on to the old city of Jalapa, among the +mountains, where its quarters were cool and comfortable. Not many miles +beyond Jalapa begins the great central tableland of Anahuac, and it was +needful that the road leading into it should be taken possession of +before the remnant of Santa Anna's army should rally and construct +barriers at positions from which it might prove difficult to drive them. + +"If they do," thought Ned, when he heard that matter under discussion by +the soldiers, "I hope General Scott'll send for me and the other +engineers. I'd like to trap some more prisoners." + +He was not to have any such chance as that, but he was not to be idle +altogether,--he and his engineers and his army. The division to which he +and the Seventh Regiment belonged, under the command of General Worth, +was shortly ordered on in the advance, to take and hold a strong +position, known as the town and castle of Perote, and here there was +indeed a long delay which was not engineered by the military forces of +Mexico. The politicians and particularly the Congress of the United +States had interfered very effectively on behalf of President Santa +Anna. They had spent so much time in debates upon the legislation +required for the gathering of fresh troops that the terms of enlistment +of about half of the soldiers under Scott were expiring. It was of no +use for him to move forward with a steadily vanishing army, and he was +compelled to wait for months at and about Perote, until the new men +could arrive and take the places of those who were going home. + +"I guess I won't enlist," thought Ned, as that idea came again and again +into his mind. "Neither mother nor father would wish me to do so. But +I'm getting to be an old soldier, after all, and I won't leave the +Seventh till it gets into the city of Mexico." + +Whether it ever was to accomplish that feat was only to be determined by +hard fighting, and there came a day, the 7th of August, 1847, when the +division of General Worth, then encamped at Puebla, received orders to +go forward. The entire army was to move, and General Scott had about as +many soldiers with him as when he had landed at Vera Cruz in the spring. + +"Hurrah for the city!" shouted Ned, when the news reached him. "I want +to make a morning call at the Paez house." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +SEŅOR CARFORA TRAPPED + + +"I never saw anything finer than this," said Ned, aloud, as he slowly +turned his telescope from one point to another. "It is the old +battle-ground of Cortes, when he and his Spaniards and Tlascalans took +the city of Mexico. It was called Tenochtitlan, then." + +He was standing upon a granite ledge, on the slope of the mountains +south of the city, and below him the nearest objects of interest were +the white tents of the American army, encamped there while negotiations +for peace were going forward between the United States government and +Santa Anna. These were not progressing well, for the invaders were +demanding more than any Mexican government could be ready to grant. Not +only was Texas itself demanded, but with it also all the vast +Territories of California, New Mexico, and Arizona. + +"Here we are," said Ned again, "but it has taken us two weeks of awful +fighting to get here. There isn't any use in disputing the pluck of the +Mexicans. Away yonder is Churubusco, and over there is Contreras. Didn't +they fight us there! General Scott and his engineers laid out the +battles, but I was with the Seventh everywhere it went. I'll have loads +of yarns to spin when I get home, if I ever do." + +Battle after battle had been fought, and the Americans had paid dearly +for the long delay in the arrival of their reinforcements. All that time +had been employed by the Mexican President, with really splendid energy, +in raising a new army and in fortifying the approaches to the city. It +was almost pitiful to see with what patriotism and self-sacrifice the +Mexican people rallied for their last hopeless struggle with superior +power. It was not, however, that they were to contend with superior +numbers, for the forces under Santa Anna were at least three times those +under General Scott. The difference was that the latter was a perfect +army led by a great general, while the former were not an army at all +and had very few capable officers. + +Ned had apparently gazed long enough, and he now made his way down the +rugged slope. He did not halt until he reached the door of his own +tent, and there he was met by his friend and supervisor somewhat tartly. + +"Well! You are back, at last, are you? I didn't know but what you'd run +away. You may come along with me to-night. You may try and see your +friends. The provision train I am to take in will get out again about +daylight. You may stay there one day, and come away with a train that +will run in to-morrow night, but you'd better wear your Mexican rig, if +you don't mean to have your throat cut." + +"All right, sir," said Ned. "I'll run the risk." + +"I might not let you," said Grant, "if you were an enlisted man, but you +may learn something of value to them and to us, too. Get ready!" + +The fact was that Ned and his army, commanded for him by General Scott, +were in a somewhat peculiar position. An armistice had been declared +while the negotiations were going on, and while, at the same time, the +power of Santa Anna was crumbling to pieces under him. It had been +agreed, on both sides, that all military operations should temporarily +cease, and that American army-trains of wagons might come into the +city, with armed escorts, to obtain supplies. After some unpleasant +experiences with the angry mob of the city, it had been deemed best that +the trains should come and go in the night, when the unruly Mexican +soldiers were in their quarters, and the too patriotic citizens were in +their beds. Ned had several times asked permission to accompany a train, +and it had been refused, but it was now explained that this train would +like to have one more man with it who could talk Spanish. When, however, +an hour or so later, he reported for duty, Lieutenant Grant remarked to +him: + +"Well, yes, you can talk it and you can look it, but you can't walk it. +Don't step off so lively, if you mean to pass for a Mexican." + +"Hold on, Grant," said another officer, standing near them. "Don't you +think the Mexicans have been lively enough since we left Perote? I've +had to step around a good deal myself on their account." + +"Just so," said Grant. "But that's while they're fighting. When they're +at anything like work, though, it's a different kind of movement. Don't +walk fast, Ned, or they'll shoot you for a gringo." + +It was nearly midnight when the supply-train, commanded by Lieutenant +Grant, entered the city, and an hour was consumed in obtaining the +supplies and getting them into the wagons, for not a pound of anything +had been made ready for delivery. No true-hearted Mexican really wished +to sell provisions to the enemies of his country. + +"Lieutenant, may I go now?" asked Ned, as the last wagon prepared to +move away. "There isn't a patrol in sight, and the Paez place is within +a few squares from this." + +Grant replied only by a wave of the hand, for at that moment he had +become engaged in a sharp controversy with the one Mexican officer who +was present on duty for his own side. He had been fairly polite, but he +had not pretended to be pleased to see gringos in Mexico. Therefore, it +was almost without express permission that Ned slipped away from his +train and his escort upon his exceedingly perilous errand. + +The streets were dark and deserted, for the heavy-hearted people had +nothing to call them out of their houses at that hour. Nevertheless, Ned +was feverishly on the alert, and, almost without his knowing it, his +machete had jumped out of its sheath, ready for whatever might turn up. + +"Halt!" suddenly came from a deep voice at his right, as he stealthily +turned a street corner, and a tall form stepped out of the near shadows +to stand in front of him. + +Ned saw the long, bright blade of a lance pointed at his bosom, and +there seemed but one thing left for him to do. The holder of the lance +was beyond his reach, even if he had wished to strike him, but the lance +itself was not. All the strength he had in him seemed to go into the +sudden blow with which he severed the wooden shaft, an inch or so behind +its fitting of sharp steel. + +"Diablos!" exclaimed the astonished Mexican, as he struck back a heavy +blow with the cudgel which remained in his hand. + +Ned parried as well as he could with his machete, but there was some +force left in the stick when it reached his head, and down he went. He +had made a discovery at that very moment, however. + +"Pablo!" he exclaimed, just as a second Mexican sprang toward him with a +long knife in his hand. + +"Seņor Carfora!" loudly responded Pablo. "Hold back your knife, Manuelo! +It is one of our own men. O Santos! My lance! I have no other weapon. I +told them it was of the soft wood. How are you here, seņor?" + +[Illustration: NED SAW A LONG, BRIGHT BLADE OF A LANCE POINTED AT HIS +BOSOM] + +"To see Seņora Paez and General Zuroaga," said Ned. "Is he in the city?" + +"Hush! Be careful, Seņor Carfora!" said Pablo, as Manuelo almost +reluctantly sheathed his too ready long knife. "We were waiting here for +him. He has been to the palace, to meet General Bravo. Our regiment has +already joined the army, but he is not yet sure about Santa Anna and +some other men. It is a dark time, seņor!" + +"Now, Pablo," said Ned, "there isn't much to tell about me. I was +captured when Vera Cruz surrendered. I was with General Morales. I got +in to-night, and I have a great deal to say to the general and Seņora +Paez and the Tassaras." + +"Zuroaga is here now," said a low, cautiously speaking voice behind him. +"Put up your sword, Carfora, and come along with me. I want to see you +more than you do me. I must know the latest news from General Scott's +army. Pablo, it was of no use. Santa Anna would make no terms with me, +but his day is nearly over. Bravo's government has rejected the treaty +offered by the United States, and we are to fight it out to the bitter +end. The gates have been shut, and there will be no more sending out of +supplies. I think the war will begin again to-morrow." + +"Oh, dear me!" thought Ned. "There goes all my chance for getting out +again until after our army has captured the city. How my head does +ache!" + +The rap from Pablo's lance-staff had not really injured him, however, +and all three of them walked on till they reached the Paez place without +saying another word. Here it was at once evident that they, or, at +least, the general and Pablo, were waited for. The front door opened to +admit them, and shut quickly behind them as they passed in. + +"Seņora Paez," said Zuroaga to a shadow in the unlighted hall, "the +armistice is ended, but I shall command my Oaxaca regiment in the +fighting which is now sure to come. Let us all meet in the parlor and +hear from Seņor Carfora the American account of these lost battles." + +"Carfora?" she exclaimed. "Is he here? Oh, how I do wish to hear him! I +believe we have been told altogether too many lies. Our troops do not +half know how badly they have been beaten, nor what is the real strength +of the American army." + +They walked on into the parlor, and here there were lights burning, but +Ned was not thinking of them. He was gazing at the pale face of a man +in uniform and on crutches, who came slowly forward between a woman and +a young girl, with a mournful smile upon his face. + +"Colonel Tassara!" exclaimed Ned. "I knew you were wounded, but are you +not getting well?" + +"Seņor Carfora!" quickly interrupted Seņorita Felicia. "He was hit in +the leg by a bullet at Angostura. He had a bayonet wound, too, and they +thought he would die, but they made him a general--" + +"I am getting better, Carfora," said General Tassara, courageously, "but +I can do no more fighting just now. I sincerely wish that there might +not be any. The plans of Santa Anna--" + +"Tassara!" exclaimed Zuroaga. "What we heard is true. He is utterly +ruined. But the peace terms are rejected by all the government we have +left, and our city defences must soon go down as did those at Cerro +Gordo, Contreras, and Churubusco. We are to hear more about those +affairs from Seņor Carfora. He was an eye witness of them." + +"Oh, my dear young friend," said Seņora Tassara, "were you with the +American army in all those battles?" + +"No, not exactly," said Ned. "I was with General Morales at Vera Cruz. +Then I came on with General Scott all the way from the seacoast to this +place. He has troops enough now, and he will fight his way in. I'm real +sorry about it, too, for no more men need to be killed." + +"I think the gringos are just terrible," said Felicia, as she came over +and sat down by Ned. "I want to hear about them. I do hope they won't be +defeated now, though, for if they are nobody can guess who will be +Emperor of Mexico when they are driven away." + +"She is not so far wrong," said Tassara, sadly. "The future of our +country is all in the dark. Please let us hear your report." + +Pablo, of course, had not followed his superiors into the parlor, and +all who were there were free to discuss the situation. The morning sun +was looking in at the windows when all of the talk was finished. Ned had +learned that only the family and a few trusted servants remained in the +house, but he would have eaten his breakfast with even a more complete +sense of security from any emissaries of the military authorities if he +had known how much they had upon their hands that day, the 4th of +September, 1847. There had already been a sharp correspondence between +the commanders of the two armies, and now General Scott himself declared +the armistice at an end. All the angry patriotism of the Mexican people +arose to meet the emergency, and every possible preparation was rapidly +made for the last desperate struggle in defence of their capital. It was +as if the idea prevailed that, if this American force now here could be +defeated, the United States would give the matter up, instead of sending +more troops to the assistance of their first insufficient battalions. + +"Seņor Carfora," said Senorita Felicia, "you must not go out of the +house. I do not want you to be killed." + +"That is so," added her father. "As the affair stands now, they would +surely regard you as a spy. You would be shot without a trial. All is +confusion. I fear that even General Zuroaga is safe from arrest only +among his own men. The army is the government. This nation needs a +change." + +"General Tassara," said Ned, "isn't our army bringing one?" + +"The war is promising a great deal," replied Tassara, gloomily. "It has +already delivered us from King Paredes and Santa Anna and from half a +dozen other military usurpers. Moreover, all the lands which the United +States propose to take away will be rescued from any future anarchy and +will be made some use of. They will be lost to Mexico forever within one +week from to-day, for we cannot hold the city." + +General Zuroaga had quietly disappeared. Very soon, the Tassara family +went to their own room. Then not even the servants could tell what had +become of Seņora Paez. Ned Crawford did not at all know what to do with +himself. He walked around the rooms below; then he went out to the +stables and back again, but he was all alone, for Pablo and the Oaxaca +men had gone to their regiment. He went up to the library and had a +one-sided talk with the man in armor, but it did not do him any good, +and he did not care a cent for all the books on the shelves. They could +tell only of old wars, fought long ago, and here was a real war right on +hand, that seemed to be wandering all around the house. + +During all the long, hot days of the armistice, a kind of dull quiet had +appeared to brood over the city and its forts and over the camps and +entrenchments of the besiegers. It had been something like a +thundercloud, which was all the while growing blacker and hanging +lower, and before the end of the first day of renewed hostilities the +anxious watchers in the city houses could hear something which sounded +like distant thunder. It was the occasional roar of a gun from one or +another of the batteries on either side, as a warning of the more +terrible things which were about to come, and more than once Ned groaned +to himself: + +"Oh, how I wish I were out there, with Lieutenant Grant and the Seventh. +This is worse than being shut up in Vera Cruz. I didn't have any +regiment of my own, then, but now I belong in General Scott's army." + +Evening came at last, and all of the family was gathered behind the +lattices of the parlor windows, to watch the detachments of soldiers +march past, and to wonder where they were going. General Zuroaga was not +there, but there had been a message from him that there would be a great +battle in the morning, for the Americans were moving forward. + +"We are in greater numbers than they are," muttered General Tassara. +"But we have no General Scott, and we have no officers like his. Almost +all that we really have is courage and gunpowder, and these are not +enough to defeat such an attack as he will make. The city is lost +already!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +THE STARS AND STRIPES IN TENOCHTITLAN + + +"What a roar it is! And so very near! I hope General Scott will not +bombard this city, as he did Vera Cruz. It would be awful to see +bombshells falling among these crowds of people!" + +The American commander had not the slightest idea of doing anything of +the kind, but there had been almost continuous fighting in the days +following the termination of the armistice. Perhaps the hardest of it +had been at Molino del Rey, and the defences there had been carried by +the assailants. There appeared now to be but the one barrier of the +Chapultepec hill between them and a final victory. + +A hand was on Ned's shoulder, and a trembling voice said to him: + +"Oh, Seņor Carfora! Where have you been? I'm so frightened! Are those +cannon coming right on into the city?" + +"No," said Ned, "but I have been out all day. I went almost everywhere, +and it seems as if the city were full of wounded men. The soldiers are +crowding in. Oh, how I wish I knew how things are going!" + +There was a sound of sobbing behind them, and in a moment more the arms +of Seņora Paez were around Felicia. + +"My darling! My dear little girl!" she exclaimed. "Seņor Carfora, too! +The end has come. The Americans have stormed Chapultepec, and the city +is at their mercy. Alas, for me! General Bravo was taken prisoner, and +my beloved old friend, Zuroaga, was killed at the head of his regiment. +We shall never see him again!" + +Ned felt as if somebody had struck him a heavy blow. He could not say a +word for a moment, and then he whispered: + +"Poor General Zuroaga! Why, I had no idea that he would be killed!" + +That is always so after a battle. Those who read the lists of the killed +and wounded expect to find the names of other people's friends there, +and not the names of those from whom they were hoping to hear an account +of the victory. + +"Felicia," said the seņora, "your father and mother are in their room. +Do not go there just now. You must not go out again, Seņor Carfora. You +have been running too many risks. Talk with me for awhile." + +Whether or not he had been in any danger, it had been impossible for Ned +to remain in the house during an entire week of military thunder storm, +and he had ventured out almost recklessly. There had, indeed, been so +much confusion that little attention had generally been paid to him, and +he had even gone out through the gates to use his telescope upon the +distant clouds of smoke and the movements of marching men. He had seen, +therefore, the steady, irresistible advances of the American troops, and +he had almost understood that to General Scott the capture of the city +was merely a matter of mathematical calculation, like an example in +arithmetic. + +He went into the parlor with Seņora Paez and Felicia, and there they +sat, almost in silence, until long after their usual bedtime, but the +sound of guns had ceased, for the siege of Mexico was ended. + +It was during that night that General Santa Anna, with nearly all that +was left of his army, marched silently out of the city, and the last +remnants of his political power passed from him as the American troops +began to march in, the next morning. Of all the negotiations between the +remaining Mexican authorities and General Scott, Ned Crawford knew +nothing, but there was disorder everywhere, and it would have been more +perilous than ever for a fellow like him to have been caught in the +streets by any of the reckless, angry men who swarmed among them. On the +evening of the 14th of September, nevertheless, he was standing in the +Paez piazza with Seņorita Felicia, and he saw a column of soldiers +coming up the street. + +"Seņorita!" he suddenly exclaimed. "Look! Our flag! Our men! Hurrah! +Those are the colors of the Seventh! It is my own regiment, and if there +isn't Lieutenant Grant himself!" + +"Do not go!" she said. "Do not leave me!" but she was too late, for he +had darted away, and in a moment more he was greeted with: + +"Hullo, Ned! I'm glad you didn't make out to get killed. I knew you +couldn't get out, and I'd about given you up. Is that where you live?" + +"It's the house I told you of," said Ned. "They are the best kind of +people--" + +"Go back there, then," commanded the lieutenant. "Your father is out +among the hospitals just now, taking care of the wounded, but I want to +know where to send him. I'll see you again. I must go on to my post." + +Back he ran to the piazza, and even Felicia was compelled to admit that +her friend Seņor Carfora's own regiment was splendid, as its close ranks +swung away in such perfect order. + +"But," she said, "you might have been killed, if you had been with them, +and I am glad you did not have to kill any of our people." + +"So am I," said Ned, "now that it is all over. I guess this is the end +of the war. But how I shall miss poor General Zuroaga!" + +Rapidly and prudently, General Scott was occupying the city and +restoring order. With such wisdom and moderation did he perform his +duties as military governor that almost immediately the previously +distressed inhabitants began to regard the arrival of the United States +army as a positive blessing. At the same time, it was obvious to +everybody that months might be required for the necessary peace +negotiations. A new and firm Mexican government would have to be +established, and much difficult legislation would be called for on the +part of the Congress of the United States, since that body was to +appropriate large sums of money in payment for the territory to be +acquired from Mexico. + +During three whole days, Ned went from camp to camp and from hospital to +hospital, in search of his father, but Mr. Crawford had heard tidings of +his son which satisfied him, and he stuck to his wounded soldiers. It +was not, therefore, until the afternoon of the third day that Ned found +a grand reception prepared for him in the parlor of the Paez mansion. + +"Father!" he shouted, as he hurried in, after Felicia, at the door, had +warned him of what was before him. "Hurrah! Here I am!" + +What happened or was said next, he did not know until he felt himself +somewhat roughly shaken by somebody, and was forced to exclaim: + +"Hullo, Captain Kemp! Are you here, too? I declare!" + +"Here I am," said the captain, "and I'm going to take you and your +father back to New York on the ship that brought us. You have been in +Mexico long enough." + +Ned did not so much as have time to hurrah again before Seņora Tassara +came forward to say to him: + +"That is not all, Seņor Carfora. For the sake of my husband's health, +and for other reasons, he and I and Felicia and Seņora Paez are +intending to spend our next winter in the United States. We have +accepted your father's invitation to be passengers with you. What do you +think of that?" + +Ned could hardly say what he thought, but he tried to, and perhaps his +best effort was made when he said to Felicia: + +"Isn't it tip-top! I'll show you all over the city,--but I'm afraid you +will get awfully seasick on the way. I did at first." + +"She will have to run the risk of that," laughed her mother, but after +Ned's long conference with his father was ended, she and Ned spent the +rest of the evening in a discussion of the sights which were to be seen +in the great city of the Americans. + +"There would be no use in your remaining here now," Mr. Crawford had +said to Ned. "My business with the army will run right along for a time, +but nothing else can be done until all things are quiet and settled. +Then we may try and find out what good your Mexican experience has done +you." + +Mr. Crawford went away at a late hour, but Ned was out of the house +early enough the next morning. He had a strong notion in his head, and +it led him to the grand plaza, to stand in front of the government +building which had been the headquarters of so many different kinds of +governments of Mexico. It was really a fine and costly affair, but the +Mexican national banner was no longer floating from its tall flagstaff. +Instead of it was a broad and beautiful Stars and Stripes, and it had +never before appeared to Ned so very beautiful. + +He was gazing up at that evidence that the city was in the hands of +General Scott and his army, when a voice that he knew hailed him with: + +"Hullo, youngster! That's our flag. Where's your friend Grant? Have you +seen him?" + +"Captain Lee!" exclaimed Ned. "Yes, I've seen him. He's all right." + +"So I hear," said Lee. "And they say he distinguished himself at Molino +del Rey. His regiment lost a number of men, too." + +"Well," said Ned, "I wasn't with my regiment in these battles here, but +I'm glad that my army has taken Mexico. Grant's a splendid fellow." + +"My regiment! My army!" laughed Captain Lee. "All right; that's the way +every American boy ought to feel. I guess you are right about Grant, +too. He may be heard of again some day." + +"Tell you what," said Ned. "When I get to New York, I mean to join one +of our city regiments as soon as I can. Then, if there ever is another +war, I'm going to join him. I'd like to serve under him." + +"Good!" said Lee. "And then I may hear of Colonel Crawford, of Grant's +Division, United States Volunteers. Good-by. Take care of yourself." + +THE END. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +W. O. STODDARD'S BOOKS + +AHEAD OF THE ARMY. Four illustrations by C. Chase Emerson. 12mo. +Pictorial cover in color. Price, $1.00, net; postpaid, $1.15. + + This is a lively narrative of the experiences of an American boy who + arrives in Mexico as the war with the United States is beginning, is + thrown into contact with such young officers as Lieutenant Grant and + Captains Lee and McClellan, all of them destined to become famous + later in American military history. + +THE ERRAND BOY OF ANDREW JACKSON: A War Story of 1812. Illustrated by +Will Crawford. Cloth, 12mo, $1.00, net; postpaid, $1.12. + + This tale is of the War of 1812, and describes the events of the + only land campaign of 1812-1814 in which the Americans were entirely + successful. + +JACK MORGAN: A Boy of 1812. Illustrated by Will Crawford. 12mo, cloth, +postpaid, $1.25. + + It is the adventures of a boy of the frontier during the great fight + that Harrison made on land, and Perry on the lakes, for the security + of the border. + +THE NOANK'S LOG: A Privateer of the Revolution. Illustrated by Will +Crawford. 12mo, postpaid, $1.25. + + The further adventures of the plucky Guert Ten Eyck, as he fought + King George on land and sea. + +THE DESPATCH BOAT OF THE WHISTLE: A Story of Santiago. Illustrated by +Frank T. Merrill. 12mo, postpaid, $1.25. + + A breezy story of a newspaper despatch boat, in the war with Spain. + +GUERT TEN EYCK. Illustrated by Frank T. Merrill. 12mo; postpaid, $1.25. + + A hero story of real American girls and boys, in the American + Revolution. + +THE PARTNERS. Illustrated by Albert Scott Cox. 12mo, postpaid, $1.25. + + A capital story of a bright, go-ahead country girl and two boys who + helped her keep store. + +CHUCK PURDY: A New York Boy. Illustrated. 12mo, postpaid, $1.25. + + A delightful story of boy life in New York City. + +GID GRANGER: A Country Boy. Illustrated. 12mo, postpaid, $1.25. + + A capital story of American life. + +Lothrop Publishing Company--Boston + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +GEORGE CARY EGGLESTON'S JUVENILES + +THE BALE MARKED CIRCLE X +A Blockade Running Adventure + +Illustrated by C. Chase Emerson. 12mo, red cloth, illustrated cover. +Net, $1.20. Postpaid, $1.35. + + Another of Mr. Eggleston's stirring books for youth. In it are told + the adventures of three boy soldiers in the Confederate Service who + are sent in a sloop on a secret voyage from Charleston to the + Bahamas, conveying a strange bale of cotton which holds important + documents. The boys pass through startling adventures: they run the + blockade, suffer shipwreck, and finally reach their destination + after the pluckiest kind of effort. + +CAMP VENTURE +A Story of the Virginia Mountains + +Illustrated by W. A. McCullough. 12mo, dark red cloth, illustrated +cover, $1.50. + + The _Louisville Courier Journal_ says: "George Cary Eggleston has + written a decidedly good tale of pluck and adventure in 'Camp + Venture.' It will be of interest to young and old who enjoy an + exciting story, but there is also a great deal of instruction and + information in the book." + +THE LAST OF THE FLATBOATS +A Story of the Mississippi + +Illustrated by Charlotte Harding. 12mo, green cloth, illustrated cover, +$1.50. + + The _Brooklyn Eagle_ says: "Mr. George Cary Eggleston, the veteran + editor and author, has scored a double success in his new book, 'The + Last of the Flatboats,' which has just been published. Written + primarily as a story for young readers, it contains many things that + are of interest to older people. Altogether, it is a mighty good + story, and well worth reading." + +Lothrop Publishing Company--Boston +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Ahead of the Army, by W. O. 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