gh alternations of stagnant marsh and shifting sand
affected him most unpleasantly. Offensive odors assailed him and he
remembered that this was a stronghold of cholera and yellow fever. He
ate rough food with the Tlascalans again, and then Cos sent for him.

"You have reached your home," said the General. "You will occupy the
largest and most expensive house in the place, and my men will take you
there at once. Do you not thank me?"

"I do not," replied Ned defiantly. Yet he knew that he had much to
dread.

"You are an ungrateful young dog of a Texan," said Cos, laughing
maliciously, "but I will confer my hospitality upon you, nevertheless.
You will go with these men and so I bid you farewell."

Four barefooted soldiers took Ned down through the dirty and
evil-smelling streets of the city. He wondered where they were going,
but he would not ask. They came presently to the sea and Ned saw before
him, about a half mile away, a somber and massive pile rising upon a
rocky islet. He knew that it was the great and ancient Castle of San
Juan de Ulua. In the night, with only the moon's rays falling upon its
walls, it looked massive and forbidding beyond all description. That
cold shiver again appeared at the roots of the boy's hair. He knew now
the meaning of all this talk of Santa Anna and Cos about their
hospitality. He was to be buried in the gloomiest fortress of the New
World. It was a fate that might well make one so young shudder many
times. But he said not a word in protest. He got silently into a boat
with the soldiers, and they were rowed to the rocky islet on which stood
the huge castle.

Not much time was wasted on Ned. He was taken before the governor, his
name and age were registered, and then two of the prison guards, one
going before and the other behind, led him down a narrow and steep
stairway. It reminded him of his descent into the pyramid, but here the
air seemed damper. They went down many steps and came into a narrow
corridor upon which a number of iron doors opened. The guards unlocked
one of the doors, pushed Ned in, relocked the door on him, and went
away.

Ned staggered from the rude thrust, but, recovering himself stood erect,
and tried to accustom his eyes to the half darkness. He stood in a
small, square room with walls of hard cement or plaster. The roof of the
same material was high, and in the center of it was a round hole,
through which came all the air that entered the cell. In a corne