ll. I feel sure that he is
not badly wounded, if at all. He has now but three men with him. There
are riderless horses. There are men on the ground. There are four only
that are riding back toward the Cordoba road. Thank God! The general has
made good his escape from that party of unlucky lancers. He is a
fighter!"

Then he lowered the glass to turn and shout fiercely to his own men:

"Forward! We must reach Orizaba before the news of this skirmish gets
there, if we kill all our horses doing it. Push on!"

CHAPTER IX.

LEAVING THE HACIENDA

It was near the close of a bright summer day, and a deeply interested
company had gathered in the dining-room of the Crawford home in New
York. Dinner was on the table, but nobody had yet sat down. The number
of young persons present suggested that Ned must have older brothers and
sisters.

"Father Crawford," exclaimed one of the grown-up young men, "what is
this about another letter from Edward? I came over to hear the news."

"Letter?" said Mr. Crawford. "I should say so! I guess I'd better read
it aloud. It was a long time getting out and coming around by way of
England. There are all sorts of delays in war-time. It is the last of
three that he wrote before escaping into the interior of Mexico with his
new friends. I am glad that he did go with them, though, and there must
be other letters on the way. We shall hear from him again pretty soon."

They all were silent then, and he read the letter through, with now and
then a few words of explanation, but Mrs. Crawford had evidently read it
before, and all she could say now was:

"Oh, dear! I don't like it! I wish he had come home!"

"It's all right, mother," said Mr. Crawford, "for I have something more
to tell. Captain Kemp is here, and, from what he says, it is plain that
it would not have done for Ned to have remained anywhere on the coast.
He will be safe where he is, and he will learn a great deal. I would not
have him miss it for anything. What's pretty good, too, we have been
paid all our insurance money for the loss of the _Goshhawk_, and our firm
has been given a contract to furnish supplies for the army. I shall be
down on the gulf before long myself, in charge of a supply ship, and I
can make inquiries about Ned. He will turn up all right."

Everybody appeared to be encouraged except Ned's mother, and it was a
pity she could not have seen how well he was looking at that very time.
If, for instance, she