long way, too. Bah! they are ten miles off,
and, even if we could ride straight down the bluff with winged horses,
what could our hundred men do in that jungle below? Look yonder!--there
are a thousand of them crawling over the rocks?"

"And what signify numbers?" asked I, now speaking for the first time.
"They are already defeated and flying--half of them, I'll wager, without
arms. Come, Major, let us go! We can capture the whole party without
firing a shot."

"But, my dear Captain, we cannot reach them where they are."

"It is not necessary. If we ride up the cliffs, they will come to us."

"How?"

"You see this dark line. It is not three miles distant. You know that
timber like that does not grow on the naked face of a cliff. It is a
gorge, and, I'll warrant, a watercourse too. They will pass through
it."

"Beautiful! We could meet them as they came up it," cried several at
once.

"No, lads--no! You are all wrong. They will keep the bottom--the heavy
timber, I warrant you. It's no use losing time. We must round to the
road, and forward. Who knows that we may not find work enough yet?
Come!"

So saying, our commanding officer rose up, and, walking back to the
arroyo, leapt into his saddle. Of course we followed his example, but
with no very amiable feelings. I, for one, felt satisfied that we might
have made a dashing thing of it, and entered the camp with flying
colours. I felt, and so did my friend Clayley, like a schoolboy who had
come too late for his lesson, and would gladly have been the bearer of a
present to his master: moreover, we had learned from our comrades that
it was the expressed intention of the commander-in-chief to capture as
many of the enemy as possible on this occasion. This determination
arose from the fact, well authenticated, that hundreds who had marched
out of Vera Cruz on parole had gone direct to Cerro Gordo, with the
intention of fighting us again; and no doubt some of these honourable
soldiers were among the gentry now climbing down the barranca.

With these feelings, Clayley and I were anxious to do something that
might cover our late folly, and win our way back to favour at
head-quarters.

"Let me take fifty of your men and try this. You know, Major Twing, I
have a score to rub out."

"I cannot, Captain--I cannot. We must on. Forward!"

And the next moment we were moving at a trot in the direction of El
Plan.

For the first time I felt angry at