em, but President Paredes believes that it
is time for him to take command of the army in person."

It certainly was so. The Mexican President was a cunning politician, and
he had been by no means an unsuccessful general. He was well aware that
it would not be wise for him to now allow too many victories to be won
by any other Mexican. It might interfere with his own popularity. On the
other hand, if General Ampudia should be defeated, as he was quite
likely to be, then it was good policy for the commander-in-chief, the
President, to be promptly on hand with a larger force, to overwhelm the
invaders who had ruined Ampudia. Therefore, it might be said that the
Americans had the tangled factions and corrupt politics of Mexico
working for them very effectively.

Ned Crawford already knew much about the condition of military and
political affairs, but he was not thinking of them that evening. It was
a great deal pleasanter to sit and talk with Senorita Felicia about the
city of Mexico and others of the historical places of the ancient land
of Anahuac. She still could remind him, now and then, that she hated all
kinds of gringos, but at all events she was willing to treat one of them
fairly well. He, on his part, had formed a favorable opinion of some
Mexicans, but he was as firm as ever in his belief that their army could
never drive the Americans out of Texas.

There was one place which was even busier and more full of the
excitement of getting ready for a new movement than was the Tassara
hacienda. It was among the scattered camps of General Taylor's army,
near Matamoras, at the mouth of the Rio Grande. Reinforcements had made
the army more than double its former size, but it was understood that it
was still of only half the numbers of the force it was soon to meet,
under General Ampudia. It was a curious fact, however, that all of
General Taylor's military scholars were entirely satisfied with that
computation, and considered that any other arrangement would have been
unfair, as they really outnumbered their opponents when these were only
two to one. What was more, they were willing to give them the advantage
of fighting behind strong fortifications, for they knew that they were
soon to attack the mountain city of Monterey. Part of what was now
genuinely an invading army was to go up the river in boats for some
distance. The other part was to go overland, and it was an open question
which of them would suffer the more