Ahead of the Army Part 14

"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 Senora Paez at once arose and came to meet him, inquiring, anxiously:

"Senor 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 Senora Ta.s.sara, standing by her, grew much paler than his own.

"My dear Mercedes," said Senora Ta.s.sara 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. Senor Carfora, you are in no danger. Neither are we."

"No!" angrily exclaimed Senora 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!"

"n.o.body!" said Senora Ta.s.sara, sadly, but Felicia whispered to Ned:

"Senor 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 "p.r.o.nounced" 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 Senora Paez to have me in the house. She has troubles enough of her own. So has Senora Ta.s.sara. 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 ash.o.r.e 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 Senora 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. Senora Ta.s.sara's are already in a safe place. I hope Senor 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.

Senora 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 Senora Paez, as she handed him a small rosewood box. "Here is the money. Now, Senor Carfora, be a brave fellow. Learn all you can of our poor country. I hope to see you again."

Senora Ta.s.sara 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, senorita," 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 pa.s.sed 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 pa.s.s 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 a.s.sumed 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 a.s.sumed 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:

"Senor Carfora!"

"Dola!" he responded, sharply. "Don't say another loud word! Are either of the senoras at home? I must see them right away."

"Oh, yes!" she said, turning to run into the house. "I will tell them.