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, Senor 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 Senora Paez were around Felicia.
"My darling! My dear little girl!" she exclaimed. "Senor 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 senora, "your father and mother are in their room.
Do not go there just now. You must not go out again, Senor 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 Senora 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 Senorita Felicia, and he saw a column of soldiers
coming up the street.
"Senorita!" 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 Senor 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 Senora Tassara
came forward to say to him:
"That is not all, Senor Carfora. For the sake of my husband's health,
and for other reasons, he and I and Felicia and Senora 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.
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