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 youhalf 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 ofthe cathedral, and Ned had come there for another look at the buildingwhich had taken the place of the old-time temple of the murderousMexican god of war. He was wildly excited for a moment, and he began toask questions, rather than to tell anything about himself.
"Keep cool, now, my boy," said the captain. "We don't know who'swatching us. I didn't have much trouble in running the Yankee blockadeat Vera Cruz. I brought a cargo from New York, just as if it had beensent from Liverpool, but I've had to prove that I'm not an American eversince 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 themost intense interest, putting in remarks every now and then.
"All this," he said, "is precisely what your father wishes you to do, ifyou can do it. The way of it is this. He knows, and we all know, thatthis war can't be a long one. As soon as it's over, his concern means togo into the Mexican trade heavier than they ever did before. They thinkit will be worth more, and I mean to be in it myself. So it just suitshim to have you here, making friends and learning all about the countryyou are to deal with. He says you are in the best kind of businessschool. 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 knowten cents' worth about Mexico. You'd better go right on and learn allthere is to know. Keep shy of all politics, though. This war is going tobreak Paredes and a lot of others. After they are out of power, your ownfriends, 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 wereonly in the right hands and had a good government. I'll give you theletters when we get to my lodgings. Then I must make my way back to VeraCruz, but I had to come all this distance to get my pay from theauthorities. I obtained it, even now, only by promising to bring overanother cargo of British gunpowder, to fight the Yankees with."
That was a thing which Ned did not like, but he could not do anything toprevent it. He could not expect an Englishman to be an American, and itwas all a matter of trade to Captain Kemp, aside from his personalfriendship for Ned and his father. There was more talk of all sorts, andNed obtained a great deal of information concerning the war and what theUnited States were likely to do. After he had received his preciousletters, however, and had said good-by to Captain Kemp, he almost ranagainst people in his haste to reach the Paez mansion. He did not pauseto speak to anybody on arriving, but darted up-stairs and made his wayto the library. It was lighter now in the wonderful book-room, and theman in armor did not say anything as Ned came in. In a moment he was inthe chair by the window, and he appeared to himself to be almost talkingwith 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 thathour he felt as if he did not wish to stay. He dropped the letter on thetable, and leaned back in his chair and looked around him. Pretty soon,however, a little slowly to begin with, but then faster and faster, thestrong and fascinating spirit of adventure came once more upon him. Hisvery blood tingled, and he sprang to his feet to all but shout to hismailed acquaintance in the corner:
"Yes, sir, I'll stay! I'll do anything but become a Mexican. Tell youwhat, 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 heknew it would be very mean not to do so, and the first person he met wasSenora 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 theblockade, and how did they know where you are?"
"I guess they didn't," said Ned. "The English captain that used tocommand the _Goshhawk_ brought them. I met him at the plaza, hunting forme. He was a friend of General Zuroaga, and besides, the British consulat Vera Cruz knew I was with Colonel Tassara's family. So, if I hadn'tmet him, he would have tried to find you. My father writes that I am tostay in Mexico, and learn all about it."
"I am glad of that," she said. "Why, you could not get out at all justnow without danger to yourself and getting all of us into trouble."
"I wouldn't do that for anything!" exclaimed Ned, and then he went onwith his tremendous budget of miscellaneous news.
It was an exceedingly interesting heap of information, for the captainhad given him both English and American journals, which were a raretreat at that time in the interior of the beleaguered Mexican republic.Senora Tassara was busy with these, when Ned and all the othernews-bringers were pounced upon by a yet more eager inquirer.
"Senor Carfora!" exclaimed Felicia, her black eyes flashing curiously athim. "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-facedprints for army information, he repeated for her benefit all that he hadpreviously told her mother. Poor Senorita Felicia! She did not obtain atall what she wanted, for there were no accounts of brilliant Mexicanvictories. All of these must have been meanly omitted by the editors,and at last she angrily threw down a newspaper to say to him:
"Senor Carfora, I am glad you are to stay here, but you will never beanything better than a gringo, no matter how much you learn. I was up inthe library this morning, and I pulled out six more books for you. Youmay read them all, if they will do you any good. One of them is aboutSpain, too. What I want to do is to travel all over Spain. It must bethe most beautiful country in the world."
Ned had noticed long ago that her eyes always grew dreamy whenever herthoughts were turned toward the peninsula which has had so wonderful ahistory, but he did not know that his own longings for foreign travelwere 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 seeEngland first, and Scotland and Ireland. One of my ancestors was anIrishman, and the Crawfords were from Scotland. It isn't as hot acountry as Spain is. You are a Mexican, not a Spaniard."
"So I am," she said, "and most of the Mexicans are Indians. We ought tohave more Spaniards, but we can't get them. Anyhow, we don't want toomany gringos to come in. They are all heretics, too."
Ned knew what she meant, and he hastened to tell her that his countrycontained more church people of her religion than Mexico did, and headded, to her great disgust:
"And our priests are a hundred times better than yours are. GeneralZuroaga says so, and so does your father. I don't like your Mexicanpriests. The general says he wishes they were all dead, and theirplaces filled by good, live men from Europe and the United States."
"Felicia," interrupted her mother, "you must not talk with Senor Carforaabout such things. What I wish is that we had the American commonschools all over our poor, ignorant country. Oh, dear! What if thishorrible war should prove to be really a blessing to us? As things looknow, we are to have another revolution within a year. More men will beshot, just as they have been before, and nobody can see what the end isto be."
It was now time for the noonday luncheon, and they went to thedining-room, where Senora Paez herself was glad to see the foreignjournals and to know that Ned had letters from home.
Many things appeared to be settled, as far as he was concerned. At allevents, his mind was no longer to busy itself with wild plans forsquirming out
from among the Aztecs and finding his way to the UnitedStates. After luncheon he went up to the library again. At first it wasonly to read his letters over and over, and then it was a kind of reliefto go to his books and try to forget everything else in going on withhis queer schooling. It was unlike any that his old schoolmates at theNorth were having, and he caught himself wondering what kind of man itmight make of him. He could not tell, but he was to have yet anotherlesson that day, and with it came a promise of a strange kind ofvacation.
It came to him in the evening, when he was so tired of books that hepreferred the company of Senorita Felicia, no matter what saucy oroverpatriotic things she might see fit to say to him. They were sittingnear one of the drawing-room windows, when Senora Paez came quietlybehind him and touched him on the shoulder.
"Come with me," she said. "There is a man up in Senora Tassara's roomwho wishes to see you."
"O Senor Carfora!" whispered Felicia. "Don't say a word! I know who itis. Go right along. He is an old friend of yours."
Up jumped Ned, and he and the senorita followed Senora Paez eagerly.Half a minute later, he felt as if he had never been so astonishedbefore in all his life, for his hand was heartily grasped, and the voiceof General Zuroaga said to him:
"Here I am, Senor Carfora. How are you?"
"Oh, but I'm glad to see you!" exclaimed Ned. "I'm all right, but isn'tit awfully dangerous for you to be here?"
"It would be, if some men knew it," replied Zuroaga, "or if I wereunwise enough to remain too long. The fact is that I can give you only afew minutes, anyhow, this evening. I must be out of the city beforedaylight, if I can, but I will return at the end of a week or so. Then Ishall take you with me to the valley of the Tehuantepec. You must seeall that region. After that I shall have a tour to make on politicalaffairs, through several States, and you will have a chance to see twothirds of the republic before winter."
"That is just what my father would wish me to do," said Ned, and heproceeded to tell the general the contents of his letters and all thenews he had heard from Captain Kemp.
"Very good!" said Zuroaga, at last. "I would have been glad to have seenthe captain. He is a rough sort of fellow, but he can be depended on. Itis evident that your father's firm trusts him, but I believe they do notknow exactly all that he has been doing. He is quite willing to make afew dollars for himself while he is working for others."
The general was in good spirits, but more than once he spoke of thenecessity 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 moredangerous, in the long run, than President Paredes himself. SenoraTassara had now joined them, but she seemed disposed to be silent, andmost of the conversation was in the hands of Senora Paez. It wasnoticeable that she appeared to have a remarkably good knowledge of thepolitics of her country. Perhaps, if Ned had been a few years older andthe least bit of a politician, he might have suspected the truth, thatshe was one of the most subtle plotters in the whole country. If she wasalso a deadly enemy of President Paredes, it was because she was asister of a revolutionary leader whom he had caused to be shot, yearsago, without the formality of a court-martial. Ned saw her eyes flashand her bosom heave when she spoke of him, and after that he somehowfelt safer than ever under her roof. He also saw that she and GeneralZuroaga were the best of friends, and that they had a long privateconference of their own.
"I guess he feels at home here," thought Ned, as he went down-stairswith Felicia and Senora Tassara, and his confidence in that state ofaffairs 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, butthe general's Oaxaca follower made him no reply. He and three more likehim, who lay near him, were sound asleep, and there was no good causefor stirring them up just then.
"They are all well armed," said Ned to himself. "The general will beprotected when he rides away in the morning. But this is the biggestkind of thing to come to me. The best _I_ can do will be to take to mybooks till he gets back. Oh, but won't it be grand fun to make acomplete 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 mayvisit some of the great silver mines."
With all that exciting expectation running through his head, it was noteasy for him to get to sleep that night. When he arose in the morning,his friend, the mysterious general, had already departed.