ine had sent them to carry off the endangered garrison, it being
expected that a Liberal army under a General Pavon would shortly besiege
the place. The Frenchman was astounded to find that the Liberals, as he
imagined the Missourians, had already arrived. Driscoll allowed him to
embark the dislodged garrison, as well as the defenders of the other
fort, Casa Mata; that is, all except those who might want to change
sides. And nearly every Mexican among the Cossacks did change. It was a
sign of the panic that had spread throughout the Empire. Driscoll also
insisted on the burial of certain guerrilla corpses which Dupin had left
hanging to the town's lamp posts. After which the gunboats took
themselves out of republican waters.

Yet they left behind expectancy. So, a Liberal army two thousand strong
was approaching? The Missourians provisioned themselves from the town
and rested on their arms. The Liberal host appeared, variegated of
costume, piratical of aspect.... Again a flag of truce.... "If the
senores Imperialistas desired to surrender?"... "We are not
Imperialists," came the reply from the fort, "and we're blessedly d-n-d
if we desire to surrender."... "Then, the saints bless us, _who_
are you?"... "The Republic of Tampico, de facto and determined."

The dumfounded Liberals scratched their heads. They were Republicans,
and here was a republic, and naturally it bothered them. But when they
had gotten it tangled unmistakably enough, they decided that they wanted
surrender anyhow, if the senores Tampicoistas would have the kindness
... and on refusal from the fort, they withdrew to load their siege
guns.

They had sent a shot or two and received a dozen, when an Indito,
emaciated and loathsome from scales of dirt, dashed from nowhere through
the cross-fire and pounded at the fortress door. Driscoll ordered him
admitted. The first President of the Tampico Republic seemed
extraordinarily anxious about this ragged vagabond, especially as he had
perceived a second one, likewise from nowhere, dash into the Liberal
camp. Ten minutes later the enemy ceased firing. "Now come, all of you,"
Driscoll then said to his little army, "and hear what he's got to tell.
I reckon he's a Shorter Yet."... "From Shorty, then!" exclaimed his men.
And so it proved, for the Indito produced the usual bit of parchment,
signed El Chaparrito and countersigned Benito Juarez, Libertad y
Reforma. The message thereon demanded why the Coronel Driscoll