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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.
Ned was feeling a certain degree of curiosity as to what kind of carriage was to carry him, when Señor 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.
"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!"
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 Señora Tassara's great ancestors for a moment, and then he did not really care a cent for pedigree.
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.
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 Señora Tassara's dining-room was enough to work a revolution in Ned's ideas relating to that establishment.
They were sitting near one of the drawing-room windows, when Señora Paez came quietly behind him and touched him on the shoulder. "Come with me," she said. "There is a man up in Señora Tassara's room who wishes to see you." "O Señor Carfora!" whispered Felicia. "Don't say a word! I know who it is. Go right along. He is an old friend of yours."
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. Señora Tassara's are already in a safe place. I hope Señor Carfora has enough." "Oh, yes!" exclaimed Ned.
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.
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 Señora 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.
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