had possessed a telescope which would have
reached so far, she might have seen a fine, large bay horse reined in to
a standstill in front of a modern-appearing country-house, well built of
a nearly white kind of limestone. Around this residence was a
wide-spreading lawn, with vines, shrubbery, flowers, and other evidences
of wealth and refinement. The rider of the horse appeared to sit him
easily, and he was a picture of health and high spirits, but for an
expression of discontent that was upon his sunburned face.

"This is all very beautiful," he said, as he glanced around him, "but I
wish I were out of it. I want to hear from home. They must have my
letters by this time, but they couldn't guess where I am now."

He was silent for a moment, and the horse curveted gracefully under him,
as if in doubt whether to gallop away again, or to ask his rider to get
off.

"Well!" said Ned, with a pull on the rein. "It seems like a long,
wonderful dream since I saw General Zuroaga ride away from us at the
cross-roads. What a skirmish that was! Then we made our way through the
mountains, and came here, and hasn't it been a curious kind of life ever
since? I've learned how to ride like a Mexican. I've seen all there is
to see for miles and miles around this place. I've seen lots of old
ruins, all that's left of ancient houses and temples and altars. I
believe the senora likes nothing better than to tell me yarns about the
Montezuma times and about her ancestors in Spain. That's a great
country. I think I'll go over there, some day, and see Granada and the
Alhambra and the old castles and the Spanish people. I like the Mexicans
first-rate, all that I have seen of them. They will be a splendid nation
one of these days, but they're awfully ignorant now. Why, every one in
these parts believes that our army is all the while being whipped all to
pieces by theirs, and I can't exactly swallow that. I'd like to know
just what is really going on. I'm all in the dark."

"Senor Carfora!" called out a clear, ringing voice.

He turned in the saddle, from seeming to gaze at the distant forest, and
there, in the piazza which ran all along the front of the house, stood
Senorita Felicia, her usually pale face flushed with excitement.

"We have a letter from father!" she shouted. "He has completed his
regiment, and he is to command it. President Paredes is going north, to
drive the gringos out of Mexico, and father may have to go with him. He
s