and then started toward La Viga, the canal that leads from the lower
part of the city toward the fresh water lakes, Chalco and Xochimilco. He
hoped to find at the canal one of the bergantins, or flat-bottomed
boats, in which vegetables, fruit and flowers were brought to the city
for sale. They were good-natured people, those of the bergantins, and
they would not scorn the offer of a stout lad to help with sail and oar.

Hidden in his serape and sombrero, and, secure in his knowledge of
Spanish and Mexican, he now advanced boldly through the more populous
and better lighted parts of the city. He even lingered a little while in
front of a cafe, where men were playing guitar and mandolin, and girls
were dancing with castanets. The sight of light and life pleased the boy
who had been so long in prison. These people were diverting themselves
and they smiled and laughed. They seemed to have kindly feelings for
everybody, but he remembered that cruel Spanish strain, often dormant,
but always there, and he hastened on.

Three officers, their swords swinging at their thighs, came down the
narrow street abreast. At another time Ned would not have given way, and
even now it hurt him to do so, but prudence made him step from the
sidewalk. One of them laughed and applied an insulting epithet to the
"peon," but Ned bore it and continued, his sombrero pulled well down
over his eyes.

His course now led him by the great palace of Yturbide, where he saw
many windows blazing with light. Several officers were entering and
chief among them he recognized General Martin Perfecto de Cos, the
brother-in-law of Santa Anna, whom Ned believed to be a treacherous and
cruel man. He hastened away from such an unhealthy proximity, and came
to La Viga.

He saw a rude wharf along the canal and several boats, all with the
sails furled, except two. These two might be returning to the fresh
water lakes, and it was possible that he could secure passage. The
people of the bergantins were always humble peons and they cared little
for the intrigues of the capital.

It was now about eleven o'clock and the night had lightened somewhat, a
fair moon showing. Ned could see distinctly the boats or bergantins as
the Mexicans called them. They were large, flat of bottom, shallow of
draft, and were propelled with both sail and oar. He was repulsed at the
first, where a surly Mexican of middle age told him with a curse that he
wanted no help, but at the next which